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KPop Sensation BTS Wins Readers Poll for TIME Person of the Year
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Korean boy band BTS has won the online reader's poll for TIME's Person of the Year, beating out other artists, world leaders and politicians among those who voted. The seven-member K-Pop band which includes members RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook held on to their long lead in the poll. Planet Earth narrowly trailed BTS in the poll. With millions of votes cast, BTS outpaced Planet Earth by 0.12. The Thai cave divers finished third. Other top finishers South Korean president Moon Jae-in undocumented children former First Lady Michelle Obama Mohammed Bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia embroiled in controversy over past few months for his alleged involvement in the brutal murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi Brazil's new president Jair Bolsonaro Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Every year, TIME selects the most influential person of the year, noting, for better or for worse, the person or group of people who have had the greatest impact on the news and the world over the past 12 months. TIME's final Person of the Year will ultimately be chosen by editors, the poll provides insight into who readers believe believe had the greatest influence on the events of the past year. TIME's choice for the 2018 Person of the Year will be revealed on December 11.
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How Canadas RighttoDie Ruling Could Boost Movement in US
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The Canadian Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision Friday that will allow physicians to provide life-ending medication to terminally ill patients. The court ruled in part that banning a right to die in fact "deprives some individuals of life, as it has the effect of forcing some individuals to take their own lives prematurely, for fear that they would be incapable of doing so when they reached the point where suffering was intolerable.", The groundbreaking 9-0 decision, which makes Canada one of just a handful of states to allow some form of "aid in dying," comes as states in the U.S. consider allowing the practice for mentally competent patients with terminal illness. So-called death with dignity advocates said Friday that the decision by the U.S.'s northern neighbor could increase momentum across the border. MORE Death is Not Only for the Dying, "I think it will have a significant impact in the U.S." says Barbara Coombs-Lee, president of Compassion Choices, a death with dignity advocacy group. "This isn't happening in a far-off country. It sends a strong message throughout the continent.", The "aid in dying" movements in Canada and the U.S. have similar histories. Both began around the late 1980s and early 1990s, and both have tried to achieve policy reforms through the courts and at the state or provincial level. But Friday's Canadian court decision, which allows the practice nationwide, is a significant breakthrough for death with dignity advocates in Canada. It remains an unlikely scenario in the U.S. however, where reforms will likely come at a state level. Peg Sandeen, executive director of the Death With Dignity National Center in the U.S. says she believes the court's decision "will have a tremendous positive effect on a state-by-state level," but that policy changes will continue to happen outside of Washington. The issue hasn't gained much traction in Congress, and the Supreme Court isn't likely to take up the issue anytime soon. MORE Why a Young Woman With Brain Cancer Moved to Oregon to Die, But there is considerable progress at the state level. End-of-life practices are legal in Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Vermont, while legislation has been introduced in California, Colorado, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Wyoming, plus the District of Columbia. Coombs-Lee says it's being considered in some form in 25 states. The movement began making significant strides thanks to the widely publicized story of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old newlywed with brain cancer who moved from California to Oregon, which is just one of five states that allow terminally ill patients to obtain life-ending medication. One state that aid-in-dying advocates are currently watching closely is New York, where terminally ill patients recently filed a lawsuit that would allow the practice. State lawmakers are also reportedly considering introducing a death with dignity bill. But any sort of movement in U.S. federal courts like what happened in Canada will likely only occur once there's more progress at the state level. "I think a federal constitutional protection could be acknowledged at some point," says Coombs-Lee, "but only after there is already a critical mass of states where it is already authorized.", The Canadian decision struck down laws that banned doctors from participating in ending a patient's life and reversed an earlier Supreme Court ruling, saying that current bans violated rights of life, liberty and security as protected by the country's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Last year, Quebec passed right-to-die legislation, making it the only Canadian province to allow the practice.
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Hillary Clinton Gets a Standing Ovation at Broadways The Color Purple
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The cast of the Broadway play The Color Purple may have received a big applause after their final performance Sunday, but Hillary Clinton apparently got an even bigger one. Clinton received a "sustained standing ovation" from the sold-out crowd, the New York Times reports. She attended the performance with her daughter, Chelsea, and husband, Bill Clinton. The Sunday matinee was the last performance for the Tony Award-winning production, according to the Times. Other famous faces, such as Phylicia Rashad and Debra Messing, were also in the crowd. Rashad won a Tony in 2004 for best actress in the play Raisin in the Sun, and Messing made her Broadway debut in 2014 in Outside Mullingar the Times reports. The former Democratic nominee has kept a relatively low profile since losing the election in November, notes the Times. However, she has since been sighted in the woods near her home in Chappaqua, N.Y. and again at an independent bookstore in Rhode Island. Clinton's standing ovation was drastically different than what Vice President-elect Mike Pence received when he attended Hamilton, the hit Broadway musical, on Nov. 18 Pence was booed, and the cast of the show publicly addressed a message to him during the performance.
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Chris Christie Slammed For Sunbathing on a New Jersey Beach he Closed to the Public
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A social media storm is blowing around New Jersey Governor Chris Christie after photos showed him appearing to relax on a state beach with his family on Sunday. A few days earlier, Christie had closed the state's beaches and parks to the public after hitting a deadlock over budget allocation. The photos, obtained by local news site NJ.com, show Christie on a deck chair among beach towels, cooler boxes, and sun-bathing family members at the Island Beach State Park, where the state keeps a beach house residence for the governor's use. According to NJ.com, at a press conference later on Sunday afternoon Christie was asked whether he'd gotten any sun that day. He said he had not. After being informed of the photographs, Christie's spokesperson Brian Murray acknowledged the governor had been at the beach "briefly" before heading to the office. "He did not get any sun," Murray said. "He had a baseball hat on.", , On Saturday, Christie defended his use of the beach during the shutdown, saying to a reporter "That's the way it goes. Run for governor, and you can have the residence.", The shutdown, the second in New Jersey's history, has closed the state's beaches, parks, tourist attractions and other public amenities. Although it does not effect essential services such as schools and hospitals the shutdown has drawn considerable flak in the run-up the July 4 weekend, which typically brings holiday business to the state. NJ. com
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It Wasnt Difficult to Find Him How a Photographer Caught Chris Christie Sunbathing on a Beach He Clo
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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie sparked widespread outrage Sunday after he was pictured sunbathing on a beach he closed to the public. Aerial photos snapped by Andrew Mills, a multimedia specialist at NJ Advance Media, captured the Republican governor lapping up the sun in a beach chair and sandals, surrounded by about a dozen friends and family members, with no one else in sight. "They were enjoying the beautiful summer day on a beach closed to the public by Christie," Mills wrote in a piece for NJ.com. A day earlier, Christie shut down the state's government, which closed public parks and beaches. He cited a budget standoff in the Legislature. Mills and a pilot took off in a small plane Sunday afternoon to see whether they could spot Christie near the state-owned governor's beach house at Island Beach State Park. The plane had already been booked to cover July 4 festivities. "Did we know he would be sunbathing on a closed beach? No, but we took a shot and it paid off," Mills said. Hovering about 1,000 feet in the air, the photographer and pilot soon spotted Christie and his crew. "It wasn't difficult to find him," Mills said. "There Christie was, with family and friends, on a long and empty stretch of beach near the governor's shore residence, nobody else within a country mile.", Mills, who has been a photojournalist for 23 years, said the plane passed Christie and then circled back. That's when he fired away with his long-range lens. "In one photo, Christie looks me dead in the eye," Mills said. At a later news conference, Christie denied spending time at the beach. "I didn't get any sun," he told reporters, according to NJ.com. After the photos surfaced, Christie changed his tune. The governor said he had previously said he would be at the beach house. He said the media only "caught a politician keeping his word," according to WTXF-TV. Christie is the least popular governor in two decades, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released last month. The survey found only 15 of New Jersey voters approve of him.
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These 170MillionYearOld Dinosaur Tracks Were Uncovered in Scotland
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If you've ever wished Jurassic Park was real, taking a trip to Scotland may be the next best thing. Scientists have discovered ancient dinosaur tracks on the Isle of Skye in Scotland dating back to the Middle Jurassic period. The discovery of dozens of dino footprints that are about 170 million years old holds international significance because fossils from the Middle Jurassic era are few and far between, according to the University of Edinburgh, one of three academic institutions which helped produce the study. The Middle Jurassic era was "an important period in dinosaur evolution," the University explains on its website. Finding the giant fossilized prints was also a win because scientists were able to identify two kinds of dinosaurs based on the tracks sauropods and therapods. A majority of the prints were made by long-necked sauropods cousins of the Brontosaurus as well as the therapods, which are cousins of the Tyrannosaurus rex, according to the University. "The more we look on the Isle of Skye, the more dinosaur footprints we find," Dr. Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh explained on the school's website. "This new site records two different types of dinosaurs long-necked cousins of Brontosaurus and sharp-toothed cousins of T. rex hanging around a shallow lagoon, back when Scotland was much warmer and dinosaurs were beginning their march to global dominance.", Although "tidal conditions, the impact of weathering and changes to the landscape" made the two dinosaur trackways hard to identify, scientists were able to use clues like "shape and orientation of the toes" and whether or not the prints had claws to differentiate between the kinds of dinosaurs that walked on the island hundreds of millions of years ago, according to the University of Edinburgh's website. The approximately 50 footprints were found on a peninsula on the northeast coast of the Isle of Skye, where researchers used a combination of drone footage and software to create models of the fossilized tracks. The study was led by University of Edinburgh master's candidate Paige dePolo, with the Staffin Museum and Chinese Academy of Sciences also helping to carry out the research, which was was published by the Scottish Journal of Geology.
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Chicago Police Release Suspects in Empire Actor Jussie Smollett Attack
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CHICAGO Chicago police released without charges two Nigerian brothers arrested on suspicion of assaulting "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett and said they have new evidence to investigate as a result of questioning them. "The individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete," Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a brief statement late Friday. He gave no details of the new evidence. Smollett, who is black and gay, has said two masked men shouting racial and anti-gay slurs and "This is MAGA country!" beat him and looped a rope around his neck early on Jan. 29 before running away. He said they also poured some kind of chemical on him. Smollett, 36, said he was out getting food at a Subway sandwich shop in downtown Chicago when the attack happened. A spokeswoman for Smollett said she had no comment on the release of the two men Friday. The two men, identified only as Nigerian brothers, were picked up at Chicago's O'Hare Airport on Wednesday on their return from Nigeria after police learned at least one worked on "Empire," Guglielmi said. He said he did not know what the man's job was. Guglielmi also said police searched the Chicago apartment where the men lived. But he said he had no information on what was found. Police have said they found no surveillance video of an attack but continue to look. Investigators also said they were contacting stores in the hope of finding out who bought the rope that was around Smollett's neck. But police earlier this week said there was "no evidence to say that this is a hoax" and that Smollett "continues to be treated by police as a victim, not a suspect.", In an interview with ABC News, the singer and actor said he didn't remove the rope from around his neck before police arrived "because I wanted them to see.", Smollett also said he initially refused to give police his cellphone because the device contained private content and phone numbers. He later gave detectives heavily redacted phone records that police have said are insufficient for an investigation.
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Police Arrest Ahmad Khan Rahami Suspect in New York New Jersey Blasts
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Police have arrested the man sought in connection with explosions over the weekend in New York City and New Jersey, as New York's mayor said he believed the blasts were "an act of terror.", Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was taken into custody in Linden, N.J. following a shootout with police, officials said. Rahami was sought in the Saturday evening New York City bombing, which injured 29 people in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, and in an explosion in Seaside Park, N.J. on Saturday morning. Authorities in New Jersey charged Rahami with attempted murder Monday evening over the police shootout. "We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters during a news conference on Monday afternoon. De Blasio said investigators are not looking for anyone else in connection with the explosions. FBI special agent Bill Sweeney said there was no indication of a terrorist cell operating in the area, and that Rahami was not on police radar prior to the bombings. His motives remain unclear. "I do not have information yet to show what the path to radicalization was," Sweeney said during the news conference. Sweeney did not comment on how the explosive devices found in Manhattan and New Jersey were connected, but said Rahami was "directly linked" to both. U.S. Attorney for New York's southern district Preet Bharara said his office will pursue charges against Rahami. Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters at a news conference in New Jersey that two officers were injured while apprehending Rahami. One officer was shot in his bulletproof vest and another was shot in the hand. Rahami sustained gunshot wounds and was taken away in an ambulance, Bollwage said. Rahami was found sleeping in a bar hallway, the AP reported. The bar's owner initially thought he was a vagrant and called the police, Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said. Police officers who responded quickly realized Rahami was the suspect sought in the explosions. Armstead said Rahami pulled out a handgun and fired at the officers, hitting one in a bulletproof vest. He then began firing his handgun while running down the street, and police shot him in the leg. Rahami was bleeding and conscious when an ambulance took him away. Linden police Capt. James Sarnicki told the AP three police officers were taken to the hospital. One officer was struck by shrapnel and another had high blood pressure. New York and New Jersey police issued photos of Rahami on Monday morning, saying he was wanted in connection with both bombings. Rahami is a naturalized citizen of Afghan descent, the FBI said. Linden is about four miles from Elizabeth, N.J. the site of Rahami's last known address. Officials found five suspicious devices near a train station in Elizabeth on Sunday night one exploded early Monday when a bomb squad was trying to disarm it with a robot.
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Oklahoma Votes to Add Death Penalty to Its Constitution
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Oklahoma voted Tuesday to provide explicit constitutional protections for its death penalty that declare it cannot be deemed cruel and unusual punishment by state courts. Oklahomawhich has the highest number of executions per capita in the U.S.is the first state to ensure the legality of the death penalty by placing it in its constitution. With 1,666 of 1,956 precincts reporting Tuesday night, 67 of voters said yes to State Question No. 776, which will add a new section to the Oklahoma Constitution stating that "any method of execution shall be allowed, unless prohibited by the United States Constitution" and that the method "shall not be deemed to be, or to constitute, the infliction of cruel or unusual punishments.", Read more The Dawn of a New Form of Capital Punishment, The ballot referendum followed a series of problems implementing lethal injection in the state, including the botched execution of Clayton Lockett in 2014, which led to a temporary moratorium on capital punishment. The execution, in which Lockett reportedly writhed and groaned on the gurney, forced the state to halt executions and rewrite its drug protocol. Read more Obama Calls for Death Penalty Inquiry After Oklahoma Execution, In 2015, the state's drug combinationparticularly the use of a sedative midazolamsurvived a Supreme Court challenge. That same year Oklahoma legislators approved the use of nitrogen following difficulties in obtaining lethal injection drugs.
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Gay Marriage Rulings Could Ripple Across the South
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Last week's back-to-back rulings by federal judges in Kentucky and Virginia were the first to embrace gay marriage in the South, but they almost certainly won't be the last. Similar cases are moving to trial in federal courts across the region, from Louisiana to Texas to Tennessee, in Arkansas and in both the Carolinas. Their prospects in Dixie aren't certain, but this much is clear They've never been better. Eight months after the Supreme Court cleared the way for same-sex marriage in U.S. v. Windsor, federal judges have used its reasoning to advance gay marriage in five straight cases, including last week's decisions out of Louisville and Norfolk. Federal judges in 17 states are facing new gay marriage cases, including at least eight states in the South, according to the LGBT rights organization Lambda Legal. Five state courts in the South will also be presented with cases challenging bans on gay marriage. The South is home to some of the deepest objections to gay marriage in the nation. Every state in the region save Maryland explicitly bans legal same-sex unions. Until last week, no federal judge or top state court there had ever ruled in favor of gay marriage. And 11 years ago, when Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the landmark opinion Lawrence v. Texas striking down anti-sodomy laws in 14 states where it was still illegal to have gay sex, eight of those states were in the South. That history made it unsurprising that the Virginia ruling prompted some anguished responses. The president of the Family Foundation of Virginia called the decision by U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen of Norfolk, who was appointed by President Obama, "an emotional outburst by a judge." The Washington Post reported that a state lawmaker who had co-authored the ban on gay marriage called for her to be impeached. But those kinds of reactions are becoming more rare as public opposition to gay marriage softens. In Kentucky, a Bluegrass State Poll released one week ahead of the Feb. 12 decision striking down part of its ban on gay marriage showed that 55 percent of registered voters in the state oppose gay marriage. Ten years ago, voters adopted the ban on gay marriage with 74 percent of the vote. "If you took a referendum in Virginia today, it would turn out in favor of gay marriage," says Michael Klarman, a professor at Harvard Law School and author of From the Closet to the Altar Courts, Backlash, and the Struggle for Same-Sex Marriage. "That might not be the case in Alabama or Mississippi, but it is changing.", And it may change with increasing speed as retiring judges are replaced with younger appointees. "It's getting harder and harder to find any of the younger judges on the bench appointed by Obama who can tolerate the restrictions on gay marriage," Klarman says. "They see it as rank discrimination, and now that they have the Windsor case to draw from and changing public opinion, I just don't think they will be inhibited any more from ruling in favor of gay marriage.", Even opponents of gay marriage recognize the broader social shift. "We are at a fundamentally changed cultural moment," says the Rev. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's flagship seminary in Louisville and an outspoken critic of gay marriage. "There is a sense of inevitability in these cases.", When gay marriage finally made it before the Supreme Court last summer, the justices sidestepped the chance to end the legal debate for good. While Windsor has since cleared the way for gay marriage, it was seen at the time as a far more cautious approach than the one many advocates had desperately hoped for A ruling on whether California's controversial Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, could stand. Instead, the justices dispensed with the case on a technicality. The justices will surely take into account the public mood should they address gay marriage again in 2015. "The tide of history is moving and, indeed, accelerating," says Arthur Leonard, a professor at New York Law School and an expert on gay rights. "During 2013, the number of jurisdictions in which same-sex couples could marry more than doubled, and now close to 40 percent of the country lives in such jurisdictions. In addition, public opinion continues to move in support of allowing same-sex couples to marry.", One reason the justices acted with caution last time was they are mindful of the risks to the court's standing and ultimately its legitimacy in such a ruling. "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was, as she signaled in some of her remarks last spring, concerned about the Court getting too far ahead of the country in civil rights decisions," Leonard says. But those concerns have turned out to be unfounded. Indeed, the Windsor decision was followed by a series of other rulings that echoed its reasoning. "The consistency of lower court rulings striking down laws prohibiting marriage equality in the last month in Utah, Oklahoma and Virginia will make it much easier for the Court to come to the same conclusion," says Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California, Irvine law school. With Kentucky and Virginia joining more liberal states in finding for gay marriage, the national mood has clearly shifted. "It won't be over till it's over," says Marc Spindelman, a professor of law The Ohio State University. "But if part of what kept the Court last year from declaring marriage equality to be a fundamental right was concern about potential political backlash to a decision making the announcement and that hasn't happened.", Not even in the South.
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The FDA Plans to Ban ECigarette Sales to Minors
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Updated 941 a.m. ET Thursday, The FDA announced Thursday long-awaited regulations for electronic cigarettes that would for the first time ban their sale to minors and require health warnings on the devices nationwide. The FDA rules will require that makers of e-cigarettes and other tobacco-related products register their products and ingredients with the FDA within the next two years. The FDA-required warning labels will caution users against the risks of nicotine addiction. "This proposed rule is the latest step in our efforts to make the next generation tobacco-free," said outgoing U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a statement. Sebelius announced her upcoming retirement earlier this month. However, the government will not immediately restrict television advertisements and flavorings that could target younger consumers. The new regulations will be open to public comment and the possibility of legal challenges before becoming final. E-cigarettes have been exploding in popularity, recently becoming a multibillion-dollar industry. Cities and states across the U.S. have already begun imposing their own restrictions on the nicotine-delivering devices in the absence of federal regulations. "I call the market for e-cigarettes the wild, wild West in the absence of regulations," Mitchell Zeller, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, told reporters, the Los Angeles Times reports. The health impact of the devices remains unclear.
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1 in 10 Americans Has Gone to Work High on Cannabis Poll Says
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One in 10 Americans has turned up for work high on marijuana, according to new statistics. A joint Mashable.com and SurveyMonkey poll of 534 Americans found that about 9.7 of U.S. workers have gone to work after smoking weed. Some 81 of those people bought the drug illegally, the poll found that is, did not purchase it in Colorado or Washington, where the drug is legal for recreational purposes, or were not taking it for medical reasons in one of the 23 states where doing so is legal. The poll also found that 28 of poll respondents have gone to work under the influence of a prescription drug, and 7 of those people took it for recreational, not medical, purposes. About 95 of people who have been at work while on a prescription drug got the medicine from their doctor. Last month, a poll from Blowfish the company sells a tablet to treat hangovers said that half of all Americans have gone to work hungover.
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These Are the Internet Acronyms the FBI Thinks You Use
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The FBI's 83-page list of Internet acronyms was made publicly available this week. "The Directorate of Intelligence's Intelligence Research Support Unit has put together an extensivebut far from exhaustivelist of shorthand and acronyms used in Twitter and other social media venues such as instant messages, Facebook and MySpace," the list called "Twitter Shorthand" reads. It's exhaustive indeed. But according to Google Trends data for a few acronyms pulled from the list, it's also outdated. Most peaked in popularity years ago SWMBO she who must be obeyed, BOGOF buy one get one free, 2MORO tomorrow and DNFTT do not feed the troll all peaked before around or before 2010. IITYWTMWYBMAD if I tell you what this means, will you buy me a drink?, meanwhile, has flatlined. , And some, like IITYWTMWYBMAD, have been and continue to be obscure, View the full list here.
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Girlfriend of Minnesota Man Killed by Police They Took My Lifeblood
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The girlfriend of the Minnesota man shot dead by a police officer, who filmed the aftermath of the shooting, wept Thursday as she pleaded for justice and mourned the loss of a man who she called her "lifeblood.", Diamond Reynolds whose video shows the moments after Philando Castile was gunned down recounted the gruesome incident as supporters and reporters swarmed her outside the Minnesota governor's residence. A police officer shot Castile, 32, during a traffic stop, authorities said. Reynolds and her young daughter were in the car. "My daughter will be forever scarred by what the police at Falcon Heights did to us for no apparent reason," she told the crowd. "They took my lifeblood. That was my best friend. I don't have any family in Minnesota. I don't have nobody," she later added, sobbing. "I never got to say my last words to that man.", Reynolds, who was detained following the incident at about 9 p.m. said she was finally released and returned home about 5 a.m. Thursday. Castile was not the father of her daughter but still raised her as his own. Reynolds said. "It's not fair and it's not right," she said. "I will not be able to sleep until I get justice. I need justice. And even after justice, this will never go away.", Reynolds says in the video that the vehicle was pulled over for a "busted taillight." The officer asked Castile for his license and registration, she says. Castile reached for the information as requested and also informed the officer that he had a gun in the car and was licensed to carry before the officer opened fire, according to Reynolds. "Nothing within his body language said shoot me," she told reporters Thursday.
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Louisiana Police Officers Charged With Murder of 6YearOld Boy
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Two police officers in central Louisiana have been arrested on second-degree murder charges in the shooting death of a 6-year-old boy after they opened fire on his father's vehicle, state police said Friday. , Louisiana state police said in a statement that Norris Greenhouse Jr. and Lt. Derrick Stafford opened fire on an S.U.V. after a pursuit on Tuesday evening in Marksville, a city in north central Louisiana, the New York Times reports. The young boy, Jeremy Mardis, was struck in the head and chest in the shooting. His father, Chris Few, was critically injured. "He didn't deserve to die like that and that's what's important," state police Superintendent Colonel Michael Edmonson said in a news conference Friday. "That little boy was buckled in the front seat of that vehicle and that was how he died.", "I can tell you as a father it was one of the most disturbing things I have witnessed," Colonel Edmonson said, the Times reports, referring to body camera footage. Officials declined to say why the officers had been pursuing Few's vehicle or why they opened fire, or whether two other police officers who were involved in the chase were suspected of any misconduct. NYT
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Betsy DeVos Wants to Spend Millions on School Vouchers Two New Studies Say They Dont Actually Work
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President Donald Trump's proposed 2018 budget includes 250 million for voucher initiatives, state-funded programs that pay for students to go to private school. Another 1 billion is set aside for encouraging schools to adopt school choice-friendly policies. Betsy DeVos, Trump's education secretary, is an outspoken advocate for such programs, which she has argued would lead to better educational outcomes for students. But a pair of new studies released Monday provide evidence that voucher programs don't improve students' performance on standardized tests, one quantifiable method of testing educational outcomes. "There may be some places where vouchers are working for some students, but generally we need to understand a lot more about the conditions under which vouchers are effective or not," Mark Berends, co-author of the Indiana study, told TIME. The first study, a joint project from Tulane University's Education Research Alliance and the University of Arkansas' School Choice Demonstration Project, found that voucher programs did not produce improvement on students' test scores. The researchers used standardized test scores spanning from 2012 to 2015 to analyze students' outcomes from the Louisiana Scholarship Program, an initiative that paid for 7,000 children from low- and moderate-income families to attend private schools. They found that students in the Louisiana voucher program initially had lower test scores, but after three years, their scores matched those of students who stayed in public schools. A second study, meanwhile, examined the statewide school voucher program in Indiana, one of the largest initiatives of its kind in the U.S. The unpublished study from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Kentucky, which is pending peer review, found that Indiana's 34,000-student program had a negligible effect on educational performance for children in third grade through eighth grade from 2011 to 2015. The researchers found that the Indiana program resulted in an initial drop in math test performance for low-income students. They made up the losses only if they stayed in the private school for three or four years, though many students who performed the worst left and went back to public school. The study found no significant difference in students' performance in English. But nothing is "going to be a fix-all for everything," said R. Joseph Waddington, who co-authored the Indiana study.
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See What Flints Poisoned Water Looks Like
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Correction appended, Jan. 21, 2016, A shocking image from a study in Flint, Mich. where significant levels of lead have been found in the water supply, depicts the severity of the crisis since last year, as the water color ranges, chronologically, from yellow to orange to red. The bottles contain water drawn from a home in Flint. The water in the two bottles on the far left were drawn Jan. 15, 2015, the next was drawn Jan. 16, 2015 and the water on the far right was drawn on Jan. 21, 2015. The studies are conducted by Virginia Tech scientists at FlintWaterStudy.org. The Flint crisis is the subject of the new cover of TIME, The Poisoning of An American City. The toxic water in the city of nearly 100,000 people has prompted President Barack Obama to sign an emergency declaration, and led Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to mobilize the National Guard. Under fire for his handling of the crisis, Snyder released a batch of related e-mails and defended his response in an interview with TIME. Correction The original version of this story misidentified the collection dates of the water samples. The samples were taken in January 2015.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger Furious About Indiana Law
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Arnold Schwarzenegger says the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which sparked outrage from critics concerned it could lead to discrimination against LGBT people in Indiana, is a "distracting, divisive law" that is "bad for the country" and bad for his Republican Party. The former California governor wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post arguing that American politicians and Republicans in particular should be focusing on solutions to real problems that affect Americans' health and wallets, like pollution and traffic. To attract and retain young voters, he writes, "We must be the party of limited government, not the party that legislates love.", Read more at the Washington Post.
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Endlessly Appetizing 37YearOld Royal Wedding Cake Up For Auction
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It's unlikely that digging into a slice of 37-year-old cake is an appealing prospect to many people but some are prepared to pay hundreds of dollars for the privilege. That said, the decades-old cake in question could be seen to be a historical artifact, given that it formed part of the original wedding cake of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana on 29 July 1981. A slice of the decade-old wedding cake is just one of several slices of historic cakes being auctioned by the Beverly Hills-based Julien's Auctions in celebration of Prince Harry and Meghan Markles upcoming nuptials. The auction will take place at the Planet Hollywood Resort Casino in Las Vegas on June 23. Also up for grabs is a slice of Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge's 2011 wedding fruitcake, which is estimated to be sold for 600-800 and comes with a special card that reads "With best wishes from TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall in celebration of the wedding of TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.", There are also wedding cake samples being auctioned from the marriage of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson held at Buckingham Palace on July 23, 1986 estimated to sell for 600-800, and the marriage of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips on November 14, 1973 expected to go for 300-500. But, the auction's pice de rsistance is the slice of cake from the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, which is expected to be auctioned off for as much as 800-1,200. The cake comes inside a white box with silver printing that reads "CD/ Buckingham Palace/ 29th July 1981," and is wrapped in a paper doily with an original paper envelope bearing Queen Elizabeth's royal stamp. Julien's Auctions specializes in sales of iconic artifacts and in 2009 received a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the sale of Michael Jackson's white glove, which sold for 480,000 making it the most expensive glove ever sold at auction.
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Mexican Cartel Drug Trafficker Sentenced to 22 Years
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Vowing to send a message to drug traffickers around the world, a U.S. judge sentenced Alfredo Vasquez-Hernandez, 59, to 22 years in prison for his role in a billion dollar narcotics trafficking conspiracy. Hernandez, reputed to be a lieutenant in a Mexican drug cartel led by Joaquin El Chapo' Guzman, asked for "forgiveness and pity" moments before the sentence was read out, reports the Associated Press. Chief U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo was unmoved, however. "I tell you on behalf of all citizens of Chicago we are tired of this drug trafficking," he said. Hernandez pleaded guilty of possessing heroin and cocaine with intent to distribute. However, his attorney, Paul Brayman, requested the minimum 10-year sentence, maintaining that "anything more is a death sentence," considering his client's advanced years. The prosecution relied primarily on the testimony of twins Pedro and Margarito Flores, former associates of the Sinaloa cartel turned government witnesses. They portrayed Hernandez as a close aide who helped Guzman move tons of illicit drugs from Mexico to Chicago within furniture cargo. In mitigation, Brayman said Hernandez was merely an auto-mechanic caught in a one-off drug deal while the testimony of the Flores twins could not trusted, as they had to have cut a deal with prosecutors. Castillo maintained that while the legitimacy of what the twins said could be called into question, it was not the ranking of Hernandez within the cartel that mattered. The judge also questioned the portrayal of Hernandez as an hapless auto-repairman caught in the act for which he was extradited to Chicago in 2012. "I am not going to sit here and think for one second this was the first time you happened to do this," said Castillo. After hearing the sentence, Gabriel Vasquez, the 43-year-old son of Hernandez, told reporters his father was "not the monster that everyone says he is," and that the sentence was too harsh. Associated Press
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AntiDefamation League Adds Echo to Hate Symbols Database
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The Anti-Defamation League ADL announced Monday it has added a new symbol of anti-Semitism to its hate symbols database. The symbol, which places triple-parentheses around Jewish or suspected Jewish names online, is called "echo" and was reportedly invented in 2014 on a anti-Semitic podcast. In recent months, it's been used to target journalists, including Jonathan Weisman and Julia Ioffe, both after they wrote critical pieces involving Donald or Melania Trump. In a press release, the ADL called echo "the latest gimmick used by white supremacists and anti-Semites to single out Jews on Twitter and other social media," with CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt calling it "the online equivalent of tagging a building with anti-Semitic graffiti or taunting someone verbally." , After the meaning of the symbol became known outside of anti-Semitic circles, some Jews added the triple-parentheses to their user names on social media in a display of solidarity with those who've been targeted.
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San Francisco Weeps With Orlando Following Nightclub Attack
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At a plaza in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood, a place where LGBT people have rallied and partied and held vigils many times before, a local named Larry Bisagni busily scrawled on the ground with chalk. It took him about a half hour Monday afternoon to write the names and ages of all the people who were killed in Orlando at a gay club the day before, in the deadliest shooting in U.S. history. Though the shooting happened across the country in Florida, San Francisco feels the tragedy and "weeps," as one protest sign said. The plaza was named for local hero and LGBT icon Harvey Milk, an openly gay lawmaker who was shot to death and publicly mourned in this same neighborhood nearly 40 years ago. At the bottom of his long list, Bisagni wrote a quote from the namesake "Hope will never be silent." Strangers cried and hugged each other. Friends kissed and held hands. "When is this going to stop?" said Bisagni, a consultant. "These senseless mass shootings. As human beings, we are better than this." Asked why he made the list, he said, "I did this because these people deserve to be remembered. To somebody, whether a partner, whether a sibling, whether a child, whether a parent, somebody on this list was everything to someone.", "You stop and look at how many names are here," he said, looking at 49 of them. " It gives you perspective.", Bisagni's somber, yet colorful, decorations were not the first on this corner. Streamers in all the colors of the rainbow had been tied to nearby posts, alongside blue pieces of paper with notes scribbled on them. "In memory of everyone at Orlando. You will always be loved," read one. "Let us love each other. We are all human beings," read another. In a city that has long prided itself as a celebratory haven for LGBT people, the assault on Orlando felt, in part, like an assault on people here. Many residents of the Castro feel broken. Some are struggling not to let anger take them over as the facts still come in whether anger at the shooter, at homophobia, at ISIS, at the FBI who interviewed the shooter and let him go, or at the failure of progressive politicians to pass stricter gun control laws. "I can't let the anger take hold of me," said Jim Martinez, a limo driver who lives in the neighborhood. "We can't let violence get in the way of our way of life.", , , Dressed in a T-shirt bearing Harvey Milk's face, Martinez had been embracing another tearful onlooker, though they'd never met before Devin Ampola, a young man who works in his parents' jewelry store in nearby Pacifica, Calif. Ampola said his first thoughts on hearing about the shooting were of young, closeted people who were already too scared to come out. "The simplest, most powerful form of protest is just to be who you are," he said. Thousands of locals including many local politicians appeared in the neighborhood Sunday night for speeches and a vigil. For about a mile, nearly every lamppost leading to the spot where they spoke had been decorated with a rainbow flag because it is LGBT Pride Month. But for the first time in years, the grand flag that sits at the top of Castro Street had been lowered to half mast. Down the block from Harvey Milk's plaza, outside the local Bank of America, was a growing memorial piled with signs, candles and flowers. The same space has been used before to remember those who died of AIDS, and on Monday onlookers remembered other tragedies that had brought them to this spot. Signs showed the states of California and Florida decorated with defiant messages of solidarity like, "You only made us stronger." Others mentioned Sandy Hook, the elementary school in Connecticut where 20 children were killed in a 2012 mass shooting. A young mother who lives a few blocks from the memorial was one of several dozen people gathered in silence, which was occasionally broken by a hug or a smile. She brought her 14-month-old son, Diego, and dressed him in rainbow stockings, under American flag shorts. "It's not just the queer community. It's all of us," said Melissa Porras. "I just don't understand it. I see it as a hate crime whether it's within the U.S. or without." People must embrace each other, she says, "instead of lashing out."
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14 Dead in Washington State Mudslide With 176 Still Missing
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Updated March 24, 2014, 1005 pm. E.T. Fourteen people have been confirmed dead in a devastating mudslide that struck a small riverside neighborhood in Washington State on Saturday morning. Authorities said Monday that 176 people were still missing or unaccounted for, a huge increase of prior estimates that 18 people were missing, though that number may include duplicates. Snohomish County emergency management director John Pennington emphasized that not all of the missing were necessarily injured or killed. The larger number is from a combined list of names reported missing in the wake of the mudslide from various sources. Screams and cries for help could be heard by rescue teams beneath the wreckage on Saturday evening, but the mud was so thick that the searchers had to turn back. On Sunday, no sounds were heard among the sludge-covered debris. "We didn't see or hear any signs of life out there today," said Snohomish County Fire District 21 chief Travis Hots. Still, Hots said crews were in a "search-and-rescue mode. It has not gone to a recovery mode at this time.", The operation was discontinued at nightfall because of dangerous conditions. Rescue workers had already sunk down to their armpits into the mud and had to be pulled to safety. The massive slide, destroying about 30 homes, occurred at about 11 a.m. Saturday. "In three seconds everything got washed away," a witness who was driving on a highway when the mudslide happened told the Seattle Times. "Darkness covering the whole roadway and one house right in the middle of the street.", Washington Governor Jay Inslee described the scene as "a square mile of devastation" after flying over the area on Sunday, and declared a state of emergency. Residents have been advised to evacuate the area, as debris from the slide has dammed up the north fork of the Stillaguamish River, threatening severe flooding if the water, rising roughly a foot every half hour, bursts through the blockage. , The Seattle Times, CBC, ABC
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We Are Putting Out a Damn Paper Tomorrow Capital Gazette Journalists Defiant After Deadly Shooting
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Hours after a shooting that left five people dead and several injured at the Capital Gazette office in Annapolis, Maryland Thursday, reporters from the local newspaper were defiant and determined to continue covering their community. "I can tell you this We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow," Capital Gazette reporter Chase Cook wrote on Twitter. , Police said they had the shooting suspect in custody on Thursday afternoon. They did not identify the suspect, but said he was a white male and was being interviewed by authorities. There were about 170 people who were safely evacuated from the building, police said. Beyond the Capital Gazette, the building houses 30 tenants, according to The Baltimore Sun, which owns the Capital Gazette. But even as journalists at the Capital Gazette reacted to tragedy, they vowed to continue reporting the news. The Capital Gazette runs several newspapers out of its Annapolis office, and The Capital is the daily newspaper. Some journalists said that colleagues from the Baltimore Sun, would help produce the newspaper Thursday night. "There will be a Capital Friday," tweeted photojournalist Joshua McKerrow. , Others encouraged their fellow journalists and spoke out about the importance of local journalism. , Capital editor Jimmy DeButts tweeted that he was "devastated heartbroken" but presented an eloquent defense of his profession. "There are no 40 hour weeks, no big paydays just a passion for telling stories from our community," he wrote. "The reporters editors put their all into finding the truth. That is our mission. Will always be," he added. , , , , Many reporters took the moment to reflect on their own jobs and explain to followers why they are committed to their work. Anti-journalism sentiment has been on the rise and has seemed to increase in recent months, particularly as politicians including President Donald Trump use terms like "fake news" and call journalists the "enemy of the American people." But reporters in Maryland on Thursday stressed that they are focused on their communities and that they wanted that to continue the work even on the most difficult of days.
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IsraeliAmerican Suspect in Jewish Center Bomb Threats Charged in US
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The Israeli-American man arrested in March as the primary suspect in a series of bomb threats against Jewish community centers and other institutions throughout the U.S. has been charged in America, the Justice Department announced on Friday. Michael Ron David Kadar, 18, faces charges in federal courts in Florida and Georgia. Kadar is accused of phoning in multiple bomb threats and active shooter threats to several Jewish community centers in Florida. No explosives were found, but many of the calls caused temporary closure, evacuation or lockdown of facilities and stoked fears across the U.S. The string of threats, which numbered around 120 since Jan. 9, led to criticism of the White House for not denouncing them quickly enough. The White House eventually condemned the threats in February. "Today's charges into these violent threats to Jewish Community Centers and other represent this Department's commitment to fighting all forms of violent crime," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. "These threats of violence instilled terror in Jewish and other communities across this country and our investigation into these acts as possible hate crimes continues.", Kadar was charged with making threatening calls to Jewish community centers, conveying false information to police in Georgia and cyberstalking. The investigation into the threats continues.
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Morgan Freeman John Grisham and Others Take Out Ad Against Mississippis Flag
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John Grisham and Morgan Freeman are among the dozens of prominent Mississippi natives calling on their home state to remove the Confederate battle flag from the official state flag in a full-page ad in the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger. , "It's simply not fair, or honorable, to ask black Mississippians to attend schools, compete in athletic events, work in the public sector, serve in the National Guard, and go about their normal lives with a state flag that glorifies a war fought to keep their own ancestors enslaved," the ad reads. The letter, which was also signed by Archie Manning, Hugh Freeze and Jimmy Buffet, touches on the history of the flag and notes that Confederate General Robert E. Lee asked that the flag be removed after the Civil War. The confederate battle flag, once a mainstay on state flags in the South, has seen a backlash in recent years. The alleged June killing of nine black churchgoers in South Carolina by a white supremacist who posed with the flag prompted national discussions about the flag's place and led the state to remove the symbol from state grounds. Read Next Watch the Emotional Speech That Helped Bring Down the Confederate Flag
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Florence Shatters North Carolinas Record for Most Rain Fallen from a Single Storm
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Tropical Storm Florence has broken rainfall total records in North Carolina and it still has a way to go. Preliminary reports from the National Weather Service say that as of noon on Saturday, over 30 inches of rain has fallen in Swansboro, N.C. Florence's 30 inches of rainfall has broken the statewide rainfall record set by Hurricane Floyd in 1999 of 24.06 inches. , Florence made landfall on the North Carolina coast Friday morning with wind speeds of 195 mph. As of Saturday morning, the National Hurricane Center NHC downgraded Florence to a tropical storm with maximum wind speeds of 45 mph and said heavy rains and catastrophic flooding will continue across portions of North and South Carolina. NHC said wind speeds are expected to continue to slow down during the weekend but rainfall will increase in certain areas. The National Weather Service has issued flash flood warnings all across the Carolinas, including Moore County and Lee County. NWS warns residents living in areas with flash flood warnings to avoid roads. "Turn around," the advisory said. "Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Stay away or be swept away. River banks and culverts can become unstable and unsafe. Flash flooding is extremely dangerous. If you are experiencing flooding or live in a flood prone area, move to higher ground.", According to a 2014 study from the American Meteorological Society, storm surge and rain are the cause of 76 of direct deaths from hurricanes. The study found that from 1963 to 2012 90 of deaths occurred in water related incidents, mostly drowning.
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Read Hillary Clintons Wellesley College Commencement Address
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Katie Couric Said Matt Lauer Pinches Me on the Ass a Lot in 2012 Interview
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A 2012 video in which Katie Couric said Matt Lauer "pinches me on the ass a lot" resurfaced Wednesday after Lauer was fired by NBC due to accusations of sexual misconduct. "He pinches me on the ass a lot," Couric told Andy Cohen in a 2012 interview during a segment called "Plead the Fifth" on Watch What Happens Live, when asked what Lauer's most annoying habit was. Multiple news outlets published video of the interview Wednesday. "Wow, I wouldn't have a problem with that," Cohen said in response. "Katie Couric did not plead the fifth.", Couric and Lauer were co-anchors on Today from 1997 to 2006, when Couric departed the show. Lauer was fired on Wednesday due to a complaint of "inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.", "It represented, after serious review, a clear violation of our company's standards. As a result, we've decided to terminate his employment," NBC News Chairman Andy Lack said in a statement on Wednesday. "While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he's been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.", Couric has not yet commented publicly about news of Lauer's firing. Lauer, who has been a Today anchor for 20 years, is the latest high-profile figure to be fired following accusations of sexual misconduct in recent weeks. Watch the clip below,
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Bill and Melinda Gates Took On President Trump and the Privileges of Wealth in Their Annual Letter
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In the tenth edition of the Gates Foundation's annual letter, Bill and Melinda Gates have chosen a different tact, tackling head-on "The 10 Tough Questions" they're often asked about their 40 billion foundation. Questions range from the political to the personal, including,"Are you imposing your values on other cultures?" and, "What do you have to show for the billions you've spent on U.S. education?", However, the most frequently asked question on the Gates' list is about the current U.S. president "How are President Trump's policies affecting your work?", In the joint letter, Bill Gates, who recently revealed that his father is suffering from dementia, writes that over the past year, he's been asked "about President Trump and his policies more often than all the other topics in this letter combined.", The Microsoft founder and billionaire addressed President Trump's U.S centric foreign policy, writing that "the America First worldview concerns me.", "For decades the United States has been a leader in the fight against disease and poverty abroad," he said. "These efforts save lives. They also create U.S. jobs. And they make Americans more secure by making poor countries more stable and stopping disease outbreaks before they become pandemics.", "The world is not a safer place when more people are sick or hungry," Gates added. , Melinda Gates also criticized how the president conducts himself on social media. "I wish our president would treat people, and especially women, with more respect when he speaks and tweets," she wrote. She added that President Trump "has a responsibility to set a good example and empower all Americans.", The couple also addressed their own personal privilege in answer to the eighth question"Is it fair that you have so much influence?", Melinda Gates responded that "it's not fair" that their "wealth opens doors" and "world leaders tend to take their phone calls," but added that the Gates Foundation is "committed" to maintaining transparency.
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Two Commercial Pilots Had a Close Encounter With a Possible UFO Over Arizona Listen to the Eerie Rad
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The truth is out there. The Federal Aviation Administration has released radio traffic from two commercial pilots, including the pilot of an American Airlines flight, who reported an unidentified flying object over southern Arizona last month. Tyler Rogoway of The Drive originally broke the story. One pilot, who was flying a Learjet for Phoenix Air Group on Feb. 24, reported seeing a possible UFO pass his plane. "Was anybody, uh, above us that passed us like 30 seconds ago?" the pilot said, according to an audio recording released by the FAA and obtained by The Drive. "Negative," the air traffic controller replied. "Okay," the pilot responded. "Something did.", "Maybe a UFO," the air traffic controller joked, prompting the Learjet pilot to laugh. , The air traffic controller then radioed American Airlines Flight 1095, which was nearby, to ask the pilot to report if anything passed over the plane "here in the next 15 miles." The object was reportedly flying at about 37,000 feet. The Learjet pilot chimed in to say, "I don't know what it was, it wasn't an airplane but it was the path was going in the opposite direction.", The American Airlines pilot then radioed the air traffic controller about a minute later to report a strange sighting. "Yeah, something just passed over us, like a I don't know what it was," he said. "But it was at least two, three thousand feet above us. Yeah, it passed right over the top of us.", Asked if he could tell if the object was moving or just hovering, the pilot said he couldn't really tell. "It was just really beaming light or could have had a big reflection and was several thousand feet above us going opposite direction," he said. Lynn Lunsford, a spokesperson for the FAA, told the Phoenix New Times the air traffic controller was not able to confirm that another aircraft was flying in the same area, but suggested that the object could have come from elsewhere. "We have a close working relationship with a number of agencies and safely handle military aircraft and civilian aircraft of all types in that area every day, including high-altitude weather balloons," Lunsford said.
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President Trump Clashes with CNNs Jim Acosta Other Journalists at Fiery Press Conference
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Bloomberg President Donald Trump engaged in one of his most direct confrontations with a reporter, arguing with CNN's Jim Acosta at a news conference on Tuesday and calling him rude. Trump invited Acosta, a frequent foil, to ask him a question at the White House news conference, which followed his party's loss of control of the House of Representatives in Tuesday's midterm elections. Acosta questioned him about his rhetoric on immigration during the campaign and his deployment of troops to the U.S. border with Mexico purportedly to stop a so-called "caravan" of migrants. Trump's critics have called the deployment a political stunt. The back and forth between Trump and Acosta quickly grew heated after the reporter asked why the president had "demonized" immigrants in a widely criticized ad rejected by networks. Trump told Acosta that he should "let me run the country" and Acosta "should run CNN.", When Acosta tried to ask further questions, Trump became angry, demanding that the reporter sit down and give up the microphone. Acosta refused. Trump backed away from his podium and briefly paced the stage. "You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn't be working for CNN," Trump said. "The way you treat Sarah Huckabee Sanders is horrible," he said, referring to his press secretary. "And the way you treat other people is horrible.", Acosta wasn't the only reporter with whom the president sparred. The next questioner, NBC reporter Peter Alexander, defended his CNN colleague as a fine reporter. "Well, I'm not a big fan of yours, either, honestly," Trump told Alexander. "Just sit down please," he said to Acosta. "When you report fake news, which CNN does a lot, you are the enemy of the people," Trump said. Later, he criticized PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor for asking a "racist question." Alcindor, who is black, asked whether Trump thought his declaration during the campaign that he's a "nationalist" had emboldened white supremacists who call themselves "white nationalists.", "Such a racist question," Trump complained, adding that he found it "insulting."
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FLOTUS and the Penguins of Madagascar Team Up for Veterans Day
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First Lady Michelle Obama has enlisted the help of the plotting Madagascar penguins to spread a positive message about our nation's veterans, just in time for Veterans Day Nov 11. In a six-minute video, the penguins take a light-hearted approach to a heavy topic the misconceptions many Americans hold about veterans returning from duty. As a part of the GotYour6 campaign, an initiative focused on empowering veterans and shifting public perceptions of veterans through media, the penguins are joining a number of actors and organizations in sharing stories about the positive impact veterans have on their communities when they come home.
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Students at a Florida High School Planned to Join the National Walkout Against Gun Violence But Then
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The students at Forest High School in Ocala, Florida had planned to participate in the national walkout against gun violence Friday morning. But a student was shot at the high school before the walkout started, sparking a school evacuation and sending the rest of the district into lockdown. One 17-year-old student was injured and has been hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. The shooter a 19-year-old man who is not a student at the school was taken into custody by a school resource officer within three minutes of the shooting at 839 a.m. Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said at a press conference Friday. The school resource officer did not fire any shots, and the shooter was taken into custody without resistance. Woods said the shooting was intentional, but could not confirm whether the shooter and the victim knew each other. "It's a shame what society has come to, and that we even have to be here on a school campus. You know, society has changed since I was a kid, since I was in school. This is not just a law enforcement problem, this is a society problem," Woods said, adding that he spent Thursday in nearby Gilchrist County, where two sheriff's deputies were shot and killed at a restaurant. "We as a whole need to do something. My feelings, my emotions are running rampant.", On Thursday, Forest High School shared information about the walkout, which was scheduled to start at 1020 a.m. inviting any student to participate in the "student-led civic demonstration" if they chose to. Students across the country participated in the National School Walkout on Friday, which marks the 19th anniversary of the mass shooting at Columbine High School. , Woods said he did not know whether Friday's shooting was related to the date of April 20, given that it coincided with the national walkout and the Columbine anniversary. The Forest High School shooting came more than two months after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida a mass shooting that has sparked multiple marches and walkouts against gun violence. "What happened down south almost came here to Marion County, and they need to stop," Woods said at Friday's press conference. "I'm angry, I'm sad, and I want to do something," he said. "And we will do something, and we are doing something, and it's evident by what was accomplished the success of the actions of the first responders today.", Forest High School students were evacuated to the First Baptist Church of Ocala, where their parents picked them up. Authorities said there was no shooting at any other Marion County school, but all schools were placed on lockdown as a precaution.
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The Morning Brief Donald Trumps Immigration Ban Mosque Shooting and SAG Awards
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Good morning. These are today's top stories, President Donald Trump defended his executive order that suspended the U.S. refugee program and banned travel for people from seven Muslim-majority countries. In a series of Monday morning tweets, he said "all is going well with very few problems" and reminded Americans that the order was a major focus of his campaign. The measure was met with fierce opposition over the weekend, including from some Republicans. Thousands of people protested at several major U.S. airports, including JFK Airport. A group of Democratic lawmakers will call for Trump to reverse his executive order during a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court today. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will lead the 6 p.m. demonstration in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Senate is set to vote on whether it will approve Rex Tillerson as the next Secretary of State. The legislative body will convene about 5 p.m. for an executive session. At least two gunmen opened fire inside an Islamic center in Quebec City, Canada, killing six people and wounding eight others during a Sunday evening prayer session. Police said two suspects have been arrested. Esteban Santiago is set to be arraigned in federal court in Florida. The Iraq war veteran is accused of fatally shooting five people inside a baggage claim area at Florida's Fort LauderdaleHollywood International Airport earlier this month. Some Hollywood stars got political during speeches they gave at last night's Screen Actors Guild Awards. Among those who slammed President Trump's immigration order was Scandal star Kerry Washington, who urged other A-listers to speak up. "The truth is, actors are activists no matter what, because we embody the worth and humanity of all people," she said. Also, Miss France was crowned the new Miss Universe in the Philippines. Serena Williams triumphed over her older sister, Venus, to win her record 23rd Grand Slam singles title. On the men's side of the Australian Open, Roger Federer took home his 18th grand slam title. Tomorrow is the last day anyone can enroll in a health plan through the Affordable Care Act.
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California Removes Drought Restrictions
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California's state water regulators eased measures aimed at reducing water waste Wednesday following a winter of El Nio rains that have eased somewhat the state's years-long drought. The state will now allow local water authorities to set water reduction standards rather than mandating them at the state level, according to reports. Emergency measures implemented by Governor Jerry Brown had required cities and towns to reduce water use by more than 25. Water wasters could face fines that measured in the tens of thousands of dollars. The emergency rules were widely reported to succeed in reducing water use. The most recent occurrence of El Nio, which began last fall, can be thanked for much of the relief the state has felt. The climate phenomenon increased rain and snowfall, including in the region that supplies water for the state's 40 million residents. But despite improved conditions drought remains in the state. And officials hope many of the actions taken by state residentslike installing drought-resistant yardscould permanently benefit the state. "We are still in a drought, but we are no longer in the-worst-snow-pack-in-500-years drought," Felicia Marcus, head of the state water board, told the New York Times. ""We had thought we are heading toward a cliff."
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A Federal Appeals Court Will Examine Trumps Revised Travel Ban in May
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A federal appeals court in San Francisco will hear arguments on the legality of President Donald Trump's revised travel ban executive order next month. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted the Trump administration's request for expedited review on Monday and issued a brief order scheduling a hearing for some time in May, CNN reports. Three judges will examine a Hawaii-based judge's order blocking the President's travel ban, which would bar citizens of Somalia, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Yemen and Iran from entering the U.S. for 90 days and put a halt to all refugee resettlement for 120 days. Trump's order was blocked by a federal judge in Hawaii on the grounds that it discriminated against Muslims. The 9th Circuit has not announced which three judges will hear the administration's appeal of the Hawaii ruling. CNN
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Voters Deliver a Big Win for Democrats and a Blow to Trump
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The Trump backlash has begun. One year after their stinging defeat, Democrats bounced back in the off-year elections on Nov. 7 with a surprise sweep from coast to coast, delivering an ominous rebuke to an unpopular President and his party. By resounding margins, Democratic candidates took the marquee gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey. But those triumphs were only the start of a blue wave that crashed across the map. Democrats won control of the Washington state senate and ushered in the first Democratic mayor of Manchester, N.H. in 14 years. They passed progressive ballot measures in Maine and New York won key local races in Georgia and Florida and elected a slate of candidates that mirrored the diversity of the party, from Ravi Bhalla, the first Sikh to become a mayor in New Jersey, to Virginia's Danica Roem, the first person to run and win a legislative seat as an openly transgender individual. "We are taking our country back from Donald Trump, one election at a time," crowed Tom Perez, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. For the beleaguered party, it was the first proof that the anti-Trump fervor that has galvanized the President's opponents could be channeled into significant election victories. Until this week, despite Trump's abysmal approval rating and a gridlocked GOP Congress, the opposition had failed to notch a win at the ballot box. Throughout 2017, Democratic candidates running in congressional special elections in red states had narrowed margins but fallen short of victory. Democrats have yet to show they can win in GOP strongholds. But the off-year election wave was a sign that antipathy to the Trump Administration is a force powerful enough to shake the nation in 2018 and beyond. The election returns reflected surging enthusiasm among college-educated suburbanites, minorities and women. Turnout was up 16 over four years ago in Virginia, where Democrat Ralph Northam, the commonwealth's lieutenant governor, won an unexpectedly easy nine-point victory over Ed Gillespie, a Republican lobbyist and former national party chairman. The moderate Northam had ended his campaign on a messy note, with progressive organizations denouncing his pledge to sign legislation barring the establishment of so-called "sanctuary cities" that do not enforce federal immigration laws. But just as a divided and rudderless GOP succeeded in the Obama era, the Democrats' internal dramas may not matter if public opinion keeps cresting in their favor. The elections also were a testing ground for tactics the left hopes to take national in next year's midterms. In a bid to rebuild the party's bench, new grassroots groups like Indivisible, Run for Something, Swing Left and Flippable poured money, volunteers and tech savvy into low-profile contests. Last December, a prosecutor in suburban Seattle named Manka Dhingra, disturbed by the presidential election, attended her first Democratic Party meeting. On Nov. 7, she won a Republican-held seat in the Washington state senate, flipping control of the chamber. She called her win a rejection of "the politics of tribalism, misinformation and mistrust.", In Virginia, more than 30 different organizations coordinated to contact more than a million voters. The party's 88 state legislative candidates nearly doubled the previous field. The resultmore than a dozen delegate seats flipped from Republican to Democratcould, pending local recounts, swing the chamber from a Republican supermajority to narrow Democratic control. It is these down-ballot races that have given Democrats hope of taking back the U.S. House of Representatives with next year's elections. Republicans had dominated the Virginia House of Delegates in part by drawing legislative maps that aided their candidates. Democrats will have to overcome similar obstacles to defeat congressional incumbents in Republican-friendly territory. That prospect, once improbably, looks brighter now. "For the first time since last November," one giddy Democratic strategist says, "the sky is above us and the ground is below us.", Beyond the results themselves were even graver signs for the GOP. Only 40 of Virginia voters said they approved of how the President was doing his job, and 34 said they cast their ballot to send a signal of their opposition. Six in 10 voters said they had an unfavorable view of the Republican Party. Health care was the top issue of Virginia voters, according to exit polls, and those concerned about it overwhelmingly voted for Democratsa sign that Republicans are taking the blame for their failure to reform the health-care system. In Maine, a ballot measure calling for the expansion of Medicaid won easily, over the objections of the state's Republican governor and an ugly campaign that cast it as a welfare handout. Despondent Republicans worry that their predicament may only get worse. They fear that the voters who said Trump needed some time to get his sea legs are beginning to go wobbly on him. Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's involvement with the President and his campaign may continue to dog the GOP all the way to the midterms. Strategists are comparing the looming threat to the ethics scandals that hobbled the party in the 2006, helping hand Democrats majorities in the House and Senate. The rage Trump channeled to win the White House doesn't translate naturally to governing, and lawmakers have struggled to deliver on their promises to an angry base. The challenge is one reason the GOP is seeing a wave of retirements already 29 current House Republicans and three GOP Senators have left or are leaving their jobs. All this is especially bad news for the Republicans running in the 23 districts that also supported Hillary Clinton last year. Each of them will have to make the tough call next year of whether to strike the same edgy chords that carried the President into office. For his part, Gillespie, despite his establishment credentials, ran TV ads castigating immigrants for job losses and blaming Hispanic gangs for violence. In the weeks after a white-nationalist march on Charlottesville, Va. erupted in violence, he defended Confederate monuments as the last vestiges of tradition. At the same time, he sought to differentiate himself from the President, rarely uttering his name on the campaign trail. Gillespie learned you can't be half-pregnant when it comes to the President. Moments after the loss, Trump weighed in from Asia, blaming the candidate's defeat on his unwillingness to fully embrace the President and his brand of politics. But if this week's results are to be believed, there is indeed a Trump effectand it's helping the Democrats.
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Smithsonian American Ingenuity Awards Winners Announced
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Innovators in fields ranging from theater to space travel are among the winners of the 2015 American Ingenuity Awards. The Ingenuity Awards recognize "breakthroughs in the arts and sciences, education and social progress," according to Smithsonian. This is the fourth annual class of winners. One of this year's winners is Lin-Manuel Miranda, the composer and star of Broadway's hit musical Hamilton, who was awarded in the history category. The performing arts award was given to Saturday Night Live alums Fred Armisen and Bill Hader for their parody "Documentary Now!" television series. Other recipients include Alan Stern, the scientist leading the New Horizons Pluto mission, and Doo Yeon Kim and Rudolph Tanzi, neurologists making progress in Alzheimer's research. The awards will be given at the National Portrait Gallery Thursday night, with presenters including Sen. Al Franken and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Read more about the recipients here.
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California Men Fall Off Ocean Bluff While Playing Pokmon Go in FencedOff Area
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Two men were rescued after falling more than 40 feet from an ocean bluff while playing the gaming hit Pokmon Go in San Diego. The men, both in their early 20s, fell off the cliff after crossing into a fenced-off area in an attempt to catch digital monsters while playing the game, the Los Angeles Times reported. Firefighters rescued the men on Wednesday, and took them to trauma centers in the area. They suffered moderate injuries. One man fell between 75 and 100 feet, and the other fell about 50 feet down the bluff. "I think people just need to realize this is a game," Sgt. Rich Eaton of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department told the Los Angeles Times. "It's not worth your life. No game is worth your life.", Further north in California, an Anaheim man in his late 20s was stabbed several times while playing the game early Wednesday morning in a park, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was taken to an area hospital and reported to be in fair conditions.
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What to Know About Suspected Virginia Shooter James Hodgkinson
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A top Republican congressional leader and four other people were injured Wednesday when a gunman fired bullets at a baseball field in Virginia where GOP members of Congress and their staffs were practicing for their annual charity baseball game. The shooter was taken into custody after exchanging fire with law enforcement and later died in a hospital from his injuries, the FBI said. The FBI and Capitol Police identified the shooter as James Hodgkinson, of Illinois. Here's everything you need to know about Hodgkinson, Hodgkinson was a 66-year-old was a business owner of Belleville, Ill. who had had at least one previous run in with the law, the Washington Post reported, citing law enforcement officials. Hodgkinson was upset that Trump won last year's presidential election, his brother told the New York Times. Hodgkinson had gone to Washington, D.C. in recent weeks to join in on protests against the President. "I know he wasn't happy with the way things were going, the election results and stuff," brother Michael Hodgkinson said, adding that the two did not have a close relationship. Illinois Rep. Mike Bost, a Republican who represents the district that includes Belleville, said in a post on Facebook that Hodgkinson contacted his office 10 times beginning in June 2016 through May 2017 and "continually expressed his opposition to the Republican agenda in Congress." However, "the correspondence never appeared threatening or raised concerns that anger would turn to physical action," Bost said. In a briefing late Wednesday, Tim Slater, the FBI special agent in charge of the Washington, D.C. field office, said law enforcement believes Hodgkinson has been living out of his white cargo van in Alexandria, Va. since March. Bill Euille, the former Democratic mayor of Alexandria, Va. told the Post Hodgkinson lived out of his gym bag for the past month and a half and would see him daily at the local YMCA. Euille said he spoke to the suspected shooter almost every morning when he'd see Hodgkinson on his laptop in the gym's lobby "for hours and hours.", "He was a very friendly person. But what I did notice about this gentleman is he'd open up his gum back and in it, he had everything he owned," Euille told the Post. "He was living out of the gym bag.", "Outside of myself, I don't think he knew anyone else in town," he said. Hodgkinson had worked on Sen. Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign in Iowa, according to the Post, which cited another campaign volunteer who knew Hodgkinson. The acquaintance from the campaign trail, Charles Orear, told the newspaper he thought Hodgkinson was a "quiet guy" who was "very mellow, very reserved.", Hodgkinson had owned a home inspection business, but state records show his home inspection license expired in November 2016, according to the Post. The Belleville News-Democrat reported local police had told Hodgkinson to stop shooting a shotgun at trees near his home in March when neighbors complained after hearing about 50 shots fired. Hodgkinson had a valid Firearms Owner's ID, the News-Democrat reported. In April 2006, suspected shooter also had two battery charges and a charge for aiding damage to a vehicle, which were was later dismissed, the newspaper reported. In a 2011 interview with Fox 2 News in St. Louis, Hodgkinson voiced his support for the Occupy Wall Street movement. "The 99 are getting pushed around, and the 1 are just not giving a damn," he said at the time. "So, we've got to speak up for the whole country.", , A motive is still unclear, and the FBI is investigating the incident. Slater, of the FBI, said it's too soon to say whether the GOP lawmakers were targeted in a deliberate attack. "We're exploring all angles," Slater said. The FBI is investigating if Hodgkinson had any associates, his whereabouts before the shooting, his social media presence and potential motivations. Slater did not comment when asked if Hodgkinson had a "vendetta" against Republicans during a press briefing Wednesday. He also said there is no other person in custody. In the last seven years, Hodgkinson has written several letters to his local newspaper, the Belleville News-Democrat. He often slammed the Republican Party and has stated that he supports President Barack Obama. "Let's vote all Republicans out of Congress, and get this country back on track," he wrote in 2012. The Republican baseball team practices every morning at 630 a.m. at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, Va. according to Rep. Roger Williams, who coaches the GOP baseball team. The legislators were warming up for practice about 7 a.m. when gunfire erupted on the field, he said. Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks, who witnessed the shooting, told CNN he "never heard the shooter utter a word."
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Colorados Marijuana DUIs Are Down 33
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Far fewer people in Colorado are getting citations for driving under the influence of marijuana than in 2016, but officials are still worried about people driving high. In the first quarter of 2017, the number of marijuana DUIs dropped by 33.2 from the same period last year, according to the Colorado State Patrol. From January to March of this year, 155 people received citations for marijuana-use-only impairment while driving in Colorado, the Denver Post reports, compared to 232 people in 2016. "We're still troubled by the fact that marijuana users are still telling us they routinely drive high," Colorado Department of Transportation spokesman Sam Cole said Monday, according to the Post. "We're pleased with the awareness, but we're not so pleased with the behaviors that are actually happening.", A survey conducted by the Colorado Department of Transportation CDOT found 55 of marijuana users said they believed it was safe to drive while high, Cole added. And among people who reported using marijuana in the last 30 days, half said they had driven high. When the state first legalized recreational marijuana three years ago, CDOT launched a "Drive High, Get a DUI" initiative to raise awareness that it is illegal to drive under the influence. Since then, they have partnered with ride share companies to encourage Colorado residents to "plan a ride before you're high" and offered discounts on 4/20. Leading up to the unofficial pot holiday, Cole said 4/20 is an important time for these messages. He told the Post he hoped CDOT could "introduce behavior changes to marijuana users during 4/20 so they can get in the habit of planning for a safe ride home."
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Punxsutawney Phil Just Emerged for Groundhog Day Find Out When Spring Is Coming
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Bad news for warm-weather fans beloved groundhog Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow, therefore predicting that winter will stick around for another six weeks in 2018. The famously prophetic creature emerged from his den early Friday morning, this year's Groundhog Day, with his behavior indicating a seasonal change soon to come. Most of the year, Phil lives an unbothered life in his home town of Punxsutawney, Pa. secure in an enclosure at the town library and cared for by a special group of Groundhog Club members called the Inner Circle, known for their tuxedo uniforms and top hats. But once a year on Groundhog Day for 132 years now Phil is transported to a den at Gobbler's Knob, where crowds of thousands descend upon the area at sunrise to see what he foretells for the season ahead. As the Groundhog Day website notes, there's a bit more to the tradition than you might think. "After Phil emerges from his burrow on February 2, he speaks to the Groundhog Club president in Groundhogese'a language only understood by the current president of the Inner Circle. His proclamation is then translated for the world," the site explains. They claim that Phil has always been 100 accurate in his predictions, while some fact check sites suggest his calls of a "long winter" or "early spring" map out to about a 39 accuracy rate. The first Groundhog Day dates back to the 1800s, when early settlers in Pennsylvania began celebrating the occasion. Gobbler's Knob became the home site of the event in 1887. On most years, Phil has predicted that winter will last longer.
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25 Secret Minutes Inside Oklahomas Execution Chamber
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A little after 640 p.m. on Tuesday, Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton entered the viewing room of the state penitentiary's lethal injection chamber and announced that a stay of execution had been issued for death row inmate Clayton Lockett, who was then on the other side of a lowered beige curtain writhing and twitching from the drugs entering his veins. The announcement surprised those watching the execution from behind the glass window. "My impression was, my God, they're going to try to save this poor guy so they can kill him later," says Dean Sanderford, one of Lockett's attorneys. Sanderford and his co-counsel David Autry were asked to leave the viewing room, believing Lockett would be revived and executed at a later date. At 706 p.m. the D.O.C. announced that Lockett had died of a heart attack. Exactly what happened in those 25 minutes is known only to the prison officials inside the execution chamber. The attorneys were told to leave the viewing room. A few reporters stayed behind, but the curtain remained drawn and their view was blocked. However, some facts are not in dispute. Lockett, a convicted murderer, was injected with an untested blend of drugs obtained from an undisclosed source. Lockett had been declared unconscious after an examination by an attending physician, only to then start moving his body, rolling his head from side to side and mumbling, according to Tulsa World editor Ziva Branstetter, who observed the execution. The question of just what went wrong in Lockett's execution, the latest in a series of recent state-sanctioned killings that have not gone as planned, has fueled a renewed debate over the use of lethal injection in the United States. On Wednesday, the White House implied that Lockett's protracted death may have violated the ban on cruel and unusual punishment established in the Eight Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. "We have a fundamental standard in this country that even when the death penalty is justified, it must be carried out humanely," said Jay Carney, President Obama's press secretary. "And I think everyone would recognize that this case fell short of that standard.", Read More America's Long and Grisly Search for the Perfect Way to Kill, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin on Wednesday announced an investigation into what went wrong as well as a 14-day stay of another execution that had been scheduled for that same day, while vigorously defending the state's right to administer capital punishment. "I believe that the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for those who commit heinous crimes against their fellow men and women," Fallin said. "However, I also believe that the state needs to be certain that its protocols and procedures for executions work.", Lockett's attorneys believe that it did not and they are planning to pursue legal recourse. "We have not yet determined what those will be," Seth Day, a member of Lockett's defense team, told TIME, "only that there will be a legal action.", Oklahoma corrections officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The fight over the application of the death penalty in the U.S. has been revived by a spate of executions that have gone awry since states began experimenting with different drug combinations after being unable to obtain more standard lethal injection drugs. On Jan. 9, Michael Lee Wilson, who was convicted of murdering a convenience store clerk, declared he "felt his whole body burning" after Oklahoma administered a combination of pentobarbital, vecuronium bromide to stop respiration and potassium chloride to stop the heart. A week later, Dennis McGuire, who was sentenced to die for raping and killing a 22-year-old pregnant woman, thrashed and snorted before finally succumbing after about 25 minutes following Ohio's use of a new lethal drug mix. McGuire's family is now suing Hospira, a pharmaceutical company, for providing the state with execution drugs. Ohio said this week that its review found McGuire's execution was "conducted in a constitutional manner," but that it was increasing drug dosages in future executions. Death penalty opponents and critics of the current system of lethal injection are trying to use these bungled executions to build a case against the constitutionality of the method while shedding light on the increasingly murky details surrounding it. Oklahoma has been at the center of the debate since January, when Lockett and another death row inmate, Charles Warner, sued the state over a law that shields the source of drugs used in lethal injections. Read More Every Execution in U.S. History in a Single Chart, Numerous states have passed similar laws as a way to protect drug suppliers from boycotts and other political backlash. As commercial pharmaceutical companies increasingly refuse to allow their products to be used in executions, states have turned to compounding pharmacies for their supply. These pharmacies, which mix drugs to order, are not regulated by the federal government. A 2012 meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people was linked to a contaminated supply from one compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts. Capital punishment opponents have challenged these secrecy laws on the grounds that sub-standard drugs from anonymous suppliers are more likely to lead to botched executions. Courts have rejected their arguments in many states. It surely doesn't help their cause that many of the condemned have been convicted of horrific crimes. Lockett was sentenced to death for kidnapping and assaulting a 19-year-old woman and ordering an accomplice to bury her alive, while Warner was convicted of raping and murdering an 11-month-old. After a messy, months-long legal fight that included a standoff between Fallin and the Oklahoma Supreme Court, the state's secrecy law was ruled constitutional, and Lockett and Warner's execution dates were officially set for Tuesday. Lockett's lawyers hadn't seen their client all day until they were seated in the execution chamber's viewing room and prison officials lifted the curtain. There, on the other side of the glass, Lockett was strapped down on a gurney, covered in a sheet and surrounded by the warden, a physician and prison guards. They asked Lockett if he had any final words. He said no, and the warden signaled for the execution to begin. Sanderford says that Lockett became visibly drowsy and that his eyes glazed over. It appeared that midazolam a sedative meant to put Lockett to sleep was beginning to take effect. The doctor came over to see whether Lockett was still conscious. He said he was, so they waited a few more minutes. "At that point, the warden says in this formal tone, Mr. Lockett is now unconscious,'" Sanderford says. "I took that as a cue to the executioners to start with the second and third drug.", A couple more minutes passed, and that's when things started going horribly wrong. "It was almost subtle at first," Sanderford says. "He started writhing and twitching, and then the writhing and twitching just got stronger and more violent. It looked like he was trying to lift his whole upper body off the table, as if he was trying to sit up. He was mumbling things that were clearly words but I couldn't understand. His eyes opened at one point. It was the most gruesome spectacle I've ever seen in my life.", A few minutes into Lockett's jostling, the warden had the curtain lowered in the viewing room and the audio feed from the chamber cut. Sanderford says he could see shadows moving behind the curtain but couldn't tell what was going on. At that point, several department of corrections officials began using a phone located in the visiting room. "They kept pulling the cord outside the door and shutting the door so we couldn't hear what they were saying," Sanderford says. "They kept calling one guy out, calling another guy out. It was fking chaos. They knew something was going wrong.", Sanderford and Autry were told that a stay had been issued for both Lockett and Warner, who was scheduled to be executed later that evening. The lawyers said they were ordered to leave the visiting room and later to leave the prison grounds altogether. At 706 p.m. prison officials announced Lockett had died of a heart attack and said that "the line had blown," indicating that there was a problem administering the drugs into Lockett's veins. While it's unclear what exactly happened inside the chamber, medical and legal experts attribute the prolonged death to a combination of incorrect dosage and inadequate training of the corrections personnel administering it. Midzolam, the first drug used, was intended to put Lockett to sleep. He was given 100 mgs of it, according to Autry, one-fifth the dosage used in Florida, the only other state to use midazolam in a lethal three-drug combination. "The takeaway I had was the so-called anesthetic agent was totally ineffective," Autry says. "It was evident to me that he was not completely unconscious and he was going through a great deal of pain because he was visibly struggling throughout the process.", Prison officials told reporters that there was a vein failure, but Sanderford believes it may have been an error on the part of those administering the drugs. At one point, a physician did declare Lockett unconscious. "I think they screwed up putting it in or it somehow came loose during the procedure," he says. Leading medical organizations discourage their members from participating in executions, so the act often falls to corrections staffers. The extent of their training varies by state, but experts say it is rarely enough to make them as skilled as physicians. Other problems can arise simply because prison systems don't put that many people to death. "They're only doing it a few times a year," says Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham University Law School and an expert in lethal injection. "They're not executing enough people to get good at it.", Dr. Jonathan Groner, a professor of surgery at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, says the problems with Lockett's execution may have come from prison officials trying to give the inmate too much too fast, causing a vein to rupture. Dr. David Waisel, who often testifies on behalf of inmates suing states over lethal injection protocols, says it's possible that the drugs were absorbed not through Lockett's veins but through the soft tissues surrounding it, which could cause severe pain over a prolonged period of time. Meanwhile, Warner, the inmate who was scheduled to die after Lockett, awaits news of his fate. Fallin said that if the investigation surrounding Lockett's execution isn't complete by May 13, she would issue an additional stay of execution. Attorneys involved in Lockett's case hope the review will shed some light on what happened, but they're skeptical that the state will perform the kind of thorough investigation they believe is required. "That 25 minutes, that's what I'm thinking about," says Sanderford. "They kept the drugs secret all this time. Now they kept those 25 minutes secret. And God knows what went on then.",
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Your Ignorance Could Kill You How Minnesotans Are Preparing for Minus 60 Wind Chills
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Northern Americans know a thing or two about cold weather. But the unusually cold temperatures expected this week have even them hunkered down. Temperatures are forecasted to drop well below zero from Canada to Chicago on Tuesday, but the worst is expected to hit the Dakotas and Minnesota. Temperatures may dip into the -30s and -40s there on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a wind chill as low as the -60s, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Nick Carletta. "This is going to be very cold, even for us," Carletta said. Some of the worst cold is expected to hit the city of Bemidji, Minn. For the first time in five years, the superintendent has ordered schools closed, and some of the heartiest people are planning to take extreme measures to stay warm. Austin Graser, who has lived in the area for his whole life, isn't one to be bothered by the cold. Graser runs Bemidji Transport and Rental, a company that specializes in helping drivers whose cars break down in areas where tow trucks can't reach. Graser said that he often finds himself digging cars out of ditches in extremely cold temperatures, and has gotten used to it over time. "When it's below zero, I'll still check the mail in my pajamas. It doesn't bother me much," Graser says. However, Graser says, extremely cold weather can be particularly dangerous for drivers. When cars get stuck in a ditch or a driveway, it can be difficult to move them because door handles and bumpers can snap. Even plastic snow shovels can snap when the weather gets cold enough, Graser says. "Everything is more brittle, even plastic shovels shatter," Graser says. Tomorrow may also be "excruciating" without proper clothing, Graser says. He plans to wear a neck guard, snow goggles heated foot insoles, thermal liners, waterproof gloves and a face mask. Wind-proof jackets are also especially important. "If it's high winds, your fancy furry jacket won't do any good," says Graser. "One breath of wind can suck the heat out of you.", Graser says that it's also important to make sure that you wear waterproof clothes. People often sweat in heavy clothes, which can lead to hypothermia. "If you're not dressed properly, it's intensely painful," Graser says. "If you don't know these things, your ignorance could kill you.", Tim Lutz, Bemidji's local school district's superintendent, said that he had decided to close the schools on Tuesday in order to protect the district's children. The temperature is potentially life-threatening, Lutz says which is especially dangerous because some children walk to school. "There are certain temperatures that you can't get used to, even when you're from here," he said. Lutz says that the school will remain unlocked and that several staff members will remain on-site. Some families in the school district do not have access to a phone or television, Lutz says, so there is a possibility that some parents will not hear about the cancellation. "We want to make sure that the doors are open, that there's a warm place and someone's there to say, Jimmy, there's no school today,'" Lutz says. Ami Aalgaard, the principal of Gene Dillon Elementary, says that the children at her school are taught about staying safe in the cold every October from kindergarten to third grade. According to Aalgaard, the kids are told to be aware of their surroundings when they're outside, and to constantly be aware of where to seek shelter. "We are kind of hearty people by nature, but you have to be mindful when it's that cold," Aalgaard says.
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Kidnapped California Woman Escapes After 10 Years in Captivity
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A 25-year-old missing California woman escaped from nearly a decade of captivity after contacting the police Tuesday, leading to the arrest of the man who allegedly kidnapped her. Police in Santa Ana, California, arrested Isidro Garcia, 41, Tuesday. He faces charges of kidnapping for rape, committing a lewd act with a minor and false imprisonment. According to an account given by the unidentified woman to the police, Garcia was living with the 15-year-old girl's mother when he started sexually assaulting her in June 2004. Garcia allegedly kidnapped and drugged the girl after assaulting the mother in August 2004. The victim says she was first imprisoned in a house in Compton then moved to different locations in the years that followed. Garcia allegedly obtained fake identity documents for the girl and secured employment for both of them in a night cleaning service "so he could keep a close eye on the victim," police say. The girl said Garcia told her that her family had given up looking for her and threatened that if she called police they would be deported. In 2007, the victim said, Garcia forced her to marry him. They had a child in 2012. Police say the victim gained the courage to contact police after communicating with her sister on Facebook. The case comes a year to the month after three women were freed after years of captivity in a house in Cleveland. The man who imprisoned them, Ariel Castro, died while in custody of a possible suicide.
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These Are the Best Places to Live in the United States
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A planned community in Maryland, an eco-friendly town in Minnesota and a riverside collection of villages in New York are now among the top places to live in the United States, according to a new ranking by our partners at Money. The magazine's annual list judges small towns based on 60 factors, looking for places with affordable housing, low taxes, good schools and strong job opportunities. The list prioritized economic factors this year. Columbia, Md. a planned community that turns 50-years-old next year, received the top spot on the list because of its job growth and highly-rated school system. The town is specifically designed to accommodate and promote diversityone of the characteristics its residents are most proud of. Among the places featured on the magazine's list of the best big cities are Boston Raleigh, N.C. and Portland, Ore. See Moneys complete list here.
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Doctor Who Advocated for Assisted Suicide Chooses to End His Life
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A doctor who was an advocate of terminal patients right to die, died Tuesday with help from an Oregon law. Dr. Peter Rasmussen, 70, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in spring 2014. His wife says that he was surrounded by family when he committed suicide by a lethal dose of drug, USA Today reports. His wife told the paper that he died peacefully and the family held a private ceremony Sunday. Rasmussen, an oncologist, was among the few physicians who initially supported of Oregon's Death with Dignity measure when it was proposed in the 1990s, and was a vigilant advocate of a right to die. "He was probably one of the most bravest and received some of the most vitriolic comments from opponents," Former State Rep. George Eighmey, who worked with Rasmussen to save the Oregon law from efforts to nullify it, told USA Today. "They vilified him and it was unfortunate, because Peter is one of the most compassionate, understanding physicians I've ever met.", USA Today
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A Dallas Hospital Worker SelfMonitoring for Ebola Left Texas on a Cruise
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A Dallas hospital employee, described as possibly having come into contact with fluid samples from the deceased Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, left the U.S. on a cruise ship on Sunday, the State Department said early Friday morning. The news follows the announcement of plans to keep at home all health care workers flagged as having encountered Duncan or his fluid samples, in an aggressive effort to contain the virus' spread in the U.S. after a Dallas nurse was allowed to take a commercial flight just before getting diagnosed with Ebola, the Guardian reports. Seventy-five staff members at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallaswhere Duncan was treated and diedhave been asked to sign legally binding agreements not to go out in public, Clay Jenkins, the Dallas County judge, told reporters on Thursday. Any of the workers who refuse the sign the agreement would be subject to a legal control order, Jenkins said, though he added "These are hometown healthcare heroesThey're not going to jail.", The State Department said the hospital employee who boarded a cruise ship from Galveston, TX, did not have direct contact with Duncan, but "may have processed the since deceased patient's fluid samples.", The unidentified employee, who was checked by a doctor on the cruise ship and is self-monitoring, does not have any symptoms of illness, according to the State Department. The employee and his traveling companion have agreed to a self-imposed quarantine in their cruise cabin. "We are working with the cruise line to safely bring them back to the United States out of an abundance of caution," read the statement. The employee would have come into contact with the sample 19 days ago, according to the White House. Ebola symptoms can appear 2 to 21 days after initial exposure, according to the Centers for Disease Control CDC, but on average they manifest 8 to 10 days after the illness is contracted. U.S. officials have been rushing to contain the spread of Ebola after two Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nurses who treated Duncan, Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, tested positive for the illness. Numerous parties have been trading barbs over where to put blame for the infection of the two nurses and for the growing number of people who are believed to have come into contact with them and Duncan. National Nurses United, a union not affiliated with Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, has excoriated both the hospital and the CDC for failing to enact proper standards for treating the contagious patient and for keeping the hospital's nursing staff safe. Daniel Varga, senior vice president of Texas Health Resources, which owns Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, on Thursday apologized to a House committee for the hospital's failure to diagnose Duncan with Ebola sooner. But the hospital has bristled at charges that it failed to protect its nurses and in a statement on Thursday put fault with the CDC for constantly changing its guidelines and failing to set clear protocols for treating Duncan. U.S. lawmakers at the House hearing on Thursday also chastised the CDC for allowing Vinson, the second Dallas health worker to test positive for Ebola, to fly from Cleveland to Dallas after she self-reported a mild fever but had not yet been diagnosed with the virus. Meanwhile, the international community is still reeling over how to contain the worldwide spread of Ebola, which has killed 4,493 people and is believed to have infected 8,997 in seven countries, according to the most recent WHO estimates. The situation in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, is "deteriorating, with widespread and persistent transmission," the WHO said Wednesday, in its latest status update. Cases have been spiking in the Guinean capital of Conakry, the health organization said. On Thursday, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon urged U.N. member states to donate to the world body's trust fund for Ebola, which currently stands at a lowly 100,000all of it from just one nation, Colombia, and a pathetic fraction of the 1 billion the U.N. has said it needs to stop the outbreak, the BBC reports. World governments have in total pledged just 20 million to the fund.
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Sixty Percent of Americans Support Legal Pot
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Support for legal marijuana has reached record levels, with 60 percent of American adults supporting legalizing the drug, according to a new Gallup poll. The survey found that support for legalizing pot has nearly doubled in the last ten years and has reached its highest level in 47 years. In 2013, supporters of the drug reached a majority of the first time. In 2012, Colorado and Washington legalized recreation marijuana usesince then Alaska, Oregon, and the District of Columbia have all followed suit. The legal marijuana business is expected to hit over 6.7 billion in sales this year, and in November, four more states including California, Arizona, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada will vote on marijuana legislation, possibly tilting the percentage of states where pot is legal to as much as 25 percent. "If recreational marijuana use becomes legal in California this year, many other states will likely follow, because the Golden State' often sets political trends for the rest of the U.S." states the Gallup report.
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Trump Will No Longer Attend a Scheduled RNC Fundraiser
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Republican GOP frontrunner Donald Trump will not be attending a scheduled fundraiser Wednesday for the Republican National Committee, the party confirmed, in the wake of his call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. Trump had been scheduled to attend the RNC Presidential Trust Dinner in New York City on Dec. 9, and a Trump spokesperson confirmed his attendance at the event when it was first reported in late October. But those plans have now changed. "There will be no presidential candidates attending the dinner," an RNC spokesperson told TIME late Monday. It was not immediately clear whether the decision was directly tied to Trump's statement calling for an end to Muslims visiting the United States. In a speech in South Carolina, Monday, Trump doubled-down on his proposal, defending it from criticism from most of his GOP rivals. A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Arkansas Executions Whats Next for the Inmates Who Were Scheduled to Die
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If Arkansas had its way, the state would have two fewer inmates on death row today. Bruce Ward and Don Davis had originally been the first of eight Arkansas inmates scheduled to die within 11 days of each other. But a series of legal challenges has spared the lives of both inmates and thrown the state's capital punishment process into chaos. Here's where things stand, Late Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal from the state to allow it to go forward with Davis's execution. Justice Samuel Alito referred the request to the full court, which ruled just minutes before Arkansas's execution warrant for Davis expired. That decision followed a ruling by the Arkansas Supreme Court that blocked both Davis's and Ward's executions. Ward, who was convicted of killing 18-year-old Rebecca Doss in 1990, had received a stay of execution from the state supreme court earlier in the week over his mental health. The state chose not to appeal that decision. But it did ask the Supreme Court to allow it to move ahead with the execution of Davis, who was convicted of killing 62-year-old Jane Daniel in 1990. Read more We've Never Seen Anything Like This' Why Arkansas is Executing 7 People in 11 Days, Lawyers for Ward and Davis argued that delays in their executions were needed due to a separate upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case McWilliams v. Dunn concerning inmates' access to independent mental health experts. Ward and Davis's attorneys say their clients were denied access to independent experts even though both have forms of mental illness. The lawyers say Ward has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenia while Davis has an IQ low enough to be considered to have an intellectual disability. Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, initially scheduled eight executions in 11 days because one of the state's lethal injection drugs the sedative midazolam was expiring at the end of the month. States around the country have struggled to obtain execution drugs over the last few years because of drug shortages and pressure from anti-death penalty groups, and the governor said he was unsure whether the state could refresh its supply. Arkansas has since run into multiple obstacles in carrying out the executions. A federal judge stayed the execution of Jason McGehee, who was sentenced to death in 1996 for killing 15-year-old John Melbourne Jr. earlier this month after a state parole board said the inmate's request to change his sentence to life in prison without parole had merit. Last week, Wendell Griffen, a federal judge, blocked the state from using vecuronium bromide, a muscle relaxant that causes paralysis, after several pharmaceutical companies filed briefs questioning how Arkansas obtained their lethal injection drugs. Following that decision, U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker issued a stay for seven inmates still scheduled to be executed, citing the possibility that midazolam could inflict severe pain and potentially violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. But the state did see some victories. On Monday, the Arkansas Supreme Court reassigned the cases overseen by Judge Griffen after he took part in anti-death penalty demonstrations that same week. The state's highest court also later vacated Griffen's order blocking executioners from using vecuronium bromide. Read more Arkansas Lawyers Scramble to Defend 7 Death Row Inmates at Once , The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit also reversed the decision by Judge Baker halting the executions over the use of midazolam. Those decisions mean that five of the original eight executions may go forward. The executions of Stacey Johnson and Ledell Lee are scheduled for April 20, but their attorneys are working to halt those as well. Lee, who was convicted of killing his neighbor Debra Reese with a tire iron in 1993, is asking a federal court to allow him to test evidence from his trial that could prove his innocence. "There are five scheduled executions remaining with nothing preventing them from occurring, but I will continue to respond to any and all legal challenges brought by the prisoners," said Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge in a statement. "The families have waited far too long to see justice, and I will continue to make that a priority."
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See What Puerto Ricos Blackout Looks Like From Space
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released powerful images showing what Puerto Rico looked like from space before and after Hurricane Maria devastated the region. The satellite images, which were released Monday, juxtapose the island the night before the hurricane hit and four days after it made landfall. With the exception of a glow from the capital city of San Juan, Puerto Rico remains nearly completely blacked out after the hurricane knocked out the entire island's power. Authorities say that Puerto Rico could be without power for months. Even San Juan, which has restored some of its power lines, is noticeably darker in the aftermath of Maria. "The San Juan that we knew yesterday is no longer there," Mayor Carmen Yuln Cruz told NBC last week. "We're looking at four to six months without electricity" in Puerto Rico, she added. , The U.S. commonwealth's governor, Ricardo Rossell, described Maria as the "worst hurricane in modern history." He is now pleading for the federal government to step up its humanitarian efforts, emphasizing that Puerto Ricans are American citizens. "We need something tangible, a bill that actually answers to our need right now," he told CNN Monday. "Otherwise, there will be a massive exodus to the mainland United States.", President Donald Trump, whose administration has been criticized for its response to the crisis, is scheduled to visit Puerto Rico next Tuesday. "Texas Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure massive debt, is in deep trouble.." he tweeted Monday morning. , The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Tuesday in a tweet that "10 thousand federal staff" have been deployed to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, another victim of Maria, to assist with search and rescue and power restoration.
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California Lawyers Say President Trumps Sanctuary City Order Is a Gun to Your Head
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Two California jurisdictions faced off with the Department of Justice in federal court over immigration on Friday. The city of San Francisco and county of Santa Clara attempted to get a preliminary injunction against President Trump's executive order that seeks to deprive sanctuary cities and states of federal funds, arguing that it is unconstitutional. It was the latest high-stakes tussle between local officials and the federal government over immigration policies that Trump has moved to make stricter since he took office policies that are deeply unpopular in the immigrant-friendly Golden State. During the campaign, Trump vowed to starve sanctuary cities of taxpayer funds, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a follow-up on that threat in late March, saying that Department of Justice would deny federal grants to jurisdictions that restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities and seek to "claw back" past grants. But arguments in the U.S. District Court for Northern California centered on the big unknowns that remain with many definitions available, what exactly qualifies a "sanctuary" jurisdiction as far as the order is concerned? And what array of federal funds a very limited or potentially crippling amount is at stake for cities and counties?, Both the city and county have filed cases challenging the Trump Administration, and their lawyers argued in a joint hearing that all "federal funds" could be at stake based on the language in the order. That would include funds used on services such as medical care, social services and emergency management, amounting to roughly 1.2 billion for San Francisco and roughly 1.7 billion for Santa Clara. Though enforcement of the order has yet to take place, the California lawyers argued that they are already experiencing harm, by spending money today that might later be "clawed back" and by being forced into a "Hobson's choice" of complying with an order they view as unconstitutional or violating what they believe to be the constitutional rights of individuals that federal officials ask them to detain. The order "is a weapon to deprive jurisdictions of the money they need to operate," said John Keker, arguing for Santa Clara. He characterized it as "a gun to your head." Lawyers for the San Francisco City Attorney's office said that the hundreds of cities and counties that could have funding at risk do not have to "wait for the arrow to hit the target" because the threat is clear. "We believe they are coming for San Francisco's funds," said Sara Eisenberg. "There is this pressure and coercion San Francisco is facing.", The Department of Justice, represented by acting assistant attorney general Chad Readler, characterized that reading of the order as "dramatic," saying that a far narrower amount of federal money was at issue and suggesting that it was too early for the court to take action. Because the federal government has yet enforce the order and neither jurisdiction has been officially designated as a sanctuary city or county he said, there is no "concrete" dispute. While immigration policy is the purview of the federal government and federal law preempts state law, courts have also found that there are limits to what the federal government can force states and cities to do. Case law suggests that the federal government can only attach strings to funds when that money is "reasonably related" to the policy at stake. So the federal government would be on very shaky ground trying to withhold transportation funds related to a health care policy, for instance. And case law also suggests that state and local officials cannot be "commandeered" and made to enforce federal laws. Judge William Orrick appeared dubious about the assertion that only three grants from the Department of Justice and a similarly limited amount of grants from the Department of Homeland Security would be at issue, as Readler suggested. The Justice Department's counsel said that might mean no money at all for San Francisco and less than 1 million for Santa Clara. A provision in the executive order directs a federal agency to collect information "on all federal grant money that currently is received by any sanctuary jurisdiction," and Orrick said that begs the question of whether the order was truly designed to affect broader funds. The opposing lawyers emphasized that neither Sessions nor Trump had signed off on such an interpretation, and argued that the court could not rely on an argument made by a Justice Department lawyer that might not square with actual actions the federal government would take. "If this interpretation were limited to what they have said," said Keker, the Santa Clara counsel, "why do we have this executive order?", Orrick promised that he would issue a ruling as soon as possible, though he did not set a timeline. The plaintiffs, who have had dozens of other cities and counties write briefs in support of their cases, argued that they were in dangerous limbo in the meantime, spending money they counted on from the federal government that might later prove not to be there. "There's still no clarity for San Francisco about precisely which funds are at stake," argued Mollie Lee, representing the city attorney's office. "We lacked that clarity coming into court and we still lack it now.", Lawmakers in Sacramento are meanwhile considering a bill that could make California a "sanctuary state," which means the precedent set in this case will be an important bellwether for even bigger legal battles that may be on the horizon.
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What Anonymous Is Doing in Ferguson
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On Aug. 12, Ferguson City Hall's website went black, its phone lines died and officials had to communicate by text, according to the St. Louis Dispatch and the New York Times. Self-identified members of the amorphous, hard-to-define hacker community Anonymous had struck again, according to the papers, this time in response to the shooting of a black teenager, Michael Brown, by a white police officer. A Twitter account allegedly associated with Anonymous @TheAnonMessage threatened Jon Belmar, the St. Louis County police chief, with publicly releasing his daughter's information "in one hour" unless he released the name of the officer who killed Brown. While Belmar didn't give in, and @TheAnonMessage dropped the ultimatum, the account and other self-identified Anonymous members would post two days later the home address, Social Security number and phone number of Belmar, telling him to "run, Jon, run." While that practice, known as doxing, is a common Anonymous cyberattack, @TheAnonMessage would go on to wrongly accuse a citizen of killing Brown. Twitter subsequently shut down the Twitter account @TheAnonMessage without much uproar from the Anonymous community, which prides itself on fighting censorship. A week later, Anonymous is still at work, marking Thursday as a nationwide "day of rage" to protest police brutality. To better understand why Anonymous, whose targets have been varied including MasterCard, a Tunisian dictator and Kiss singer Gene Simmons, is interested in the Brown shooting, TIME spoke with Jay Leiderman, an attorney who includes among his clients Anonymous hackers, and Gabriella Coleman, a McGill University anthropology professor who is writing a book on the loose-knit community. We also spoke about how many people were involved in Operation Ferguson and how the organization dealt with one of its own after falsely accusing someone of murder. Why is Anonymous involved in the Ferguson protests? Anonymous' "main demand" is "justice" for Brown and his family, Leiderman says. They can grab the attention of the Ferguson police and "let them know that they're serious," he says. Operation Ferguson falls in line with previous Anonymous efforts to unmask alleged perpetrators, like the 2012 Operation Red Roll, which released private information about people allegedly complicit in the rape of a 16-year-old girl in Steubenville, Ohio. The "whole reason why" Anonymous got involved was a local rap artist Tef Po who called out for help on Twitter, according to Coleman, and the affiliated members responded. A day after the Brown shooting, Anonymous, through Operation Ferguson, released a statement asking Congress to pass a bill to set "strict national standards for police conduct." It also warned the Ferguson government and police department of cyber-counterattacks if the protesters were abused, harassed or otherwise harmed. "If you attack the protesters, we will attack every server and computer you have," wrote the Operation Ferguson author. "We will dox document trace and release the personal information on every single member of the Ferguson Police Department, as well as any other jurisdiction that participates in the abuse. We will seize all your databases and e-mail spools and dump them on the Internet. This is your only warning.", Coleman says that there isn't unanimous support within the hacker community nor Anonymous on shutting down websites. "It's a big contentious debate between hackers who have a purist, free-speech view, and others who have a more contextual one," says Coleman. "There's also a debate within Anonymous itself where a lot of hackers who really do the work of intrusion are not fans of doxing for two reasons a it's technically uninteresting and b sometimes they're actually trying to gain access to those sites to hack them.", "Really the main point is to gain media attention," she says. "That's kind of why that's done more than anything else.", How many Anonymous members are involved in Ferguson? Anonymous is by definition a secretive group, one without leaders, an agenda or a set list of members. "No one has any idea" how many people are involved in Operation Ferguson, according to Leiderman, who called Anonymous a "nebulous and decentralized collective.", "It's impossible to say who is and who isn't a member of Anonymous," says Leiderman. "There is now way to disprove it.", But Coleman says you can see which causes are more popular than others. After the arrest of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange in 2010, and Anonymous disrupted the websites of MasterCard, Visa and PayPal for declining to serve WikiLeaks, around 7,000 people logged onto the Anonymous chat channel and downloaded hacking tools, according to Coleman. That ad hoc association was "probably the largest ever," Coleman says, and by her estimates, much more than the current Operation in Ferguson. Anonymous distanced itself from Assange in October 2012 after he asked supporters to pay money for access to documents. The Ferguson channel is used by up to 160 people, she says, although "thousands and thousands" are "within the orbit" supporting the cause through Twitter. "It is really hard to tell in terms of the numbers," says Coleman. "You do get a sense of which ones are bigger and smaller and I would probably put this in the definitely not small, but definitely not as big as something like WikiLeaks. Probably in between.", How is the Anonymous community dealing with the member who misidentified the officer who shot Michael Brown? The Twitter account @TheAnonMessage was not a very well-respected one within the Anonymous community, according to Coleman and Leiderman, despite the fact that it had been around for awhile. "People had suspicions, but because he was being really active and contributing a lot to the operation," says Coleman, "they kind of put their skepticism aside in some ways until it was too late This is something that in some ways is perennially a problem and just has to do with the kind of architecture of Anonymous where you can't really control what people are doing. There are norms and rules and ethics that definitely push behavior towards certain areas and not others, but by no means are they foolproof.", After Twitter took down the account, an Anonymous member wrote a post to show a detailed ticktock "that this was the work of an Anon who was acting against the advice of others." Other Twitter accounts associated with the group, like Operation Ferguson's account, declined to name the Brown shooter as it looked for additional sources. Coleman says that with the exception of a few cases, Anonymous has "generally been correct" in uncovering the right information. She calls @TheAnonMessage a "loose cannon" that had earned "skepticism" because of erratic actions in the past. Coleman says there "was no outcry" when Twitter shut down @TheAnonMessage despite Anonymous being "so famous for hating censorship.", "Anonymous attracts people who are willing to push the envelope," she says. "But there is always a hope that people who are doing it are getting the right names and information I think that there was this expectation that people are doing that work carefully so when they're not, people in Anonymous get really pissed off.", When asked if Anonymous' reputation was hurt after @TheAnonMessage released inaccurate information, Leiderman first blamed the media for going with an untrusted source before saying that Anonymous usually does a better job of establishing a correct verdict. "Really you can't pin that all on Anonymous," he says. "The media that ran with it failed to confirm or deny the veracity of the statement If the older and larger accounts run with something, it usually has a better chance of being more accurate.", "You really want to see more consensus in the collective before you run with something like that," he adds. "People that identify with Anonymous are really good at asking, Are you sure?', How do you know?', Can you share the data with us in a secure way?' and I'm not sure that happened in this case."
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Support for ISIS Is Growing in the US Report Finds
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Authorities in the U.S. have arrested more than 50 people so far this year for activities related to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria ISIS, according to a new study released Tuesday. So far, 2015 has already seen the largest number of terrorism-related arrests in a single year since 9/11, according to an analysis of legal documents and social media accounts by George Washington University. Many of those arrests were connected to ISISof the 71 people who have been charged with supporting or plotting with ISIS since March 2014, 56 of those arrests came in 2015 alone, the study found. According to the study, "ISIS in America From Retweets to Raqqa," there are hundreds of American ISIS sympathizers who have not been arrested, and they are "particularly active on Twitter," creating accounts that get suspended in a cat-and-mouse game with authorities. Most ISIS supporters in the U.S. are radicalized online, but many also discuss their interest in ISIS with others in person, the study found. While the threat of radicalization exists in the U.S. the study concludes that it is "significantly smaller, more decentralized, and less professional than that of most European countries." Authorities in U.K. alone arrested nearly 300 people on terrorism-related charges in the past year, according to the Wall Street Journal. Authorities have spoken to some 250 Americans regarding their attempts to travel to Syria or Iraq to join ISIS, while authorities have 900 active investigations against ISIS sympathizers, the George Washington study found. The six-month study's release comes shortly after the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, claimed by ISIS, which left 130 people dead.
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Court Rules Against NSAs Bulk Collection of Phone Records
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The National Security Agency's mass collection of phone call records without a search warrant is illegal, an appeals court ruled on Thursday. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals said the practice, largely exposed to the public by the Edward Snowden leaks two years ago, is not authorized by Section 215 of the Patriot Act passed by Congress, as the government claims. The decision returned the case, brought by civil rights groups, to a lower court judge. But it neither ordered the data collection to stop immediately nor passed judgement on the constitutionality of the data collection, saying that Congress could still try to pass a measure that does sanction the practice. "We hold that the text of 215 cannot bear the weight the government asks us to assign to it, and that it does not authorize the telephone metadata program," the court wrote in its ruling. The ruling comes as Congress considers whether to extend the Patriot Act by June, including with potential revisions to limit the government's data collection. Anthony Romero, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the case, said in a statement that Thursday's ruling should guide that process. "The current reform proposals from Congress look anemic in light of the serious issues raised by the Second Circuit," Romero said. "Congress needs to up its reform game if it's going to address the court's concerns.", In a statement to TIME, National Security Council spokesperson Ned Price said it was still evaluating the decision. "Without commenting on the ruling today, the President has been clear that he believes we should end the Section 215 bulk telephony metadata program as it currently exists by creating an alternative mechanism to preserve the program's essential capabilities without the government holding the bulk data," Price said. "We continue to work closely with members of Congress from both parties to do just that, and we have been encouraged by good progress on bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would implement these important reforms."
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Former New Orleans Mayor Nagin Sentenced to 10 Years for Accepting Bribes
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Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a federal judge Wednesday for accepting bribes from city contractors. Nagin, a two-term mayor who received national attention for his handling of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in 2005, was convicted in February on 20 counts of bribery, wire fraud and money laundering. Wednesday's sentence was lenient by most accounts, as sentencing guidelines called for 20 years or more, according to the Times-Picayune. Nagin spoke briefly during sentencing on Wednesday to thank his staff, while he adamantly maintained his innocence during the trial. In written statements to the judge, members of Nagin's family argued that the former mayor was wrongly convicted and defiantly pleaded for leniency. "The local federal agents of New Orleans have large resources and can indict anything. In this case, its as an innocent man, my father Ray Nagin," the former mayor's son, Jeremy Nagin wrote, according to the Times-Picayune. "Prosecutors pimped criminally convicted and questionable witnesses to lie on the stand for future rewards.", For local officials, the February conviction and Wednesday's sentencing represent an opportunity to move past a drawn-out scandal that has captured the region's attention. "Hopefully, this closes a very kind of ugly chapter in the history of the city of New Orleans," the city's current mayor, Mitch Landrieu, told the Times-Picayune.
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Rachel Dolezal I Didnt Want to Be Limited to My Biological Identity
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The former NAACP chapter leader accused of falsely portraying her racial identity continued on Tuesday to defend her controversial decision to "live blackness.", Rachel Dolezal, whose parents said last week that she was misidentifying passing herself off as part-black, told People how she came to self-identify as black. "From a very young age I felt a spiritual, visceral, instinctual connection with black is beautiful," Dolezal said. "I was socially conditioned to be limited to whatever biological identity was being thrust upon me and being narrated to me.", The former leader of the Spokane, Wash. chapter of NAACP broke her silence earlier on Tuesday in a televised interview. "This is not some freak, Birth of a Nation blackface performance," she told TODAY. "This is on a real connected level how I've had to go there with the experience.", Read more at People.
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Pope Francis Blurs Political Lines in White House Speech
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Pope Francis introduced himself to the United States with a brief speech that confounded the left-right divide in American politics, urging Americans to come together to make the world a better place. In a scant 600 words, the pontiff thanked the 15,000 people assembled on the South Lawn of the White House for a warm welcome and urged them to work together on several difficult and divisive issues, including ones dear to both conservatives and liberals. For the left, he began by noting that he was the son of "an immigrant family" and that America was "largely built by such families," remarks that come at a time when immigration is a hot topic in U.S. politics. He also obliquely endorsed the multilateral approach to foreign policy behind the rapprochement with Cuba and the Iran nuclear deal, although he did not name either. Read More Here is the Song Everyone is Playing for Pope Francis, For the right, he made clear that he views religious liberty as an important part of American freedoms, arguing that U.S. bishops must be vigilant to "preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it." And he argued for supporting the institution of marriage and the family. In one striking moment, Pope Francis departed from his broader talk of principles to specifically endorse one of President Obama's signature second-term achievements a clean energy plan designed to reduce power plant emissions by roughly a third by 2030. "Mr. President, I find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution," he said. "Accepting the urgency, it seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation.", Francis then quoted from his encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si', which calls for "a sustainable and integral development" to alleviate poverty while also protecting the environment. Read More Pope Francis Urges Climate-Change Action in Encyclical, In a deft display of familiarity with American politics, Francis then alluded to a lesser-quoted section of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, given at the opposite end of the National Mall more than a half-century ago. In that speech, the civil rights leader argued that the Declaration of Independence was like a bounced check written to black Americans, promising them fundamental rights but failing to deliver. Francis extended that logic to economic justice, just as Dr. King did in the twilight of his career, and then to the environment itself. "Our common home has been part of this group of the excluded which cries out to heaven and which today powerfully strikes our homes, our cities and our societies," he said. "To use a telling phrase of the Reverend Martin Luther King, we can say that we have defaulted on a promissory note and now is the time to honor it.", Francis had a welcome audience in the thousands who thronged the White House for the ceremony. Read More Here Are the 5 Controversies Over Pope Francis' Visit, Alexander Kurien, 51, an Indian Orthodox pastor, came at midnight in order to get a good spot. Although he is not Catholic, Kurien said he sees "the reflection of Christ" in Francis and tries to emulate him by not taking any pay. He found particular resonance in Francis' approach to immigration, a topic of some controversy in the presidential primary underway. "All this commotion about immigration should not be there," he said. "This nation is all about immigrants. To see all that wrapped in one personit's amazing. This nation, especially Washington has a lot to learn from him.", Indu Jain, 52, came from Potomac, Maryland, at 2 a.m. to wait to hear the pope speak. A Hindu, she said she appreciated his message, specifically on the topic of climate change. "Climate change is important for new generations to come, it's what we will leave for the world," she said. In both tone and substance, Francis' remarks were reminiscent of another speech which introduced a political figure to Americans Barack Obama's 2004 Democratic convention speech, which argued that "there's not a liberal America and a conservative America there's the United States of America.", That speech helped introduce Obama to America as a potential bridge-builder who could cross political divides, a reputation that did not hold up as he got into the actual daily business of politics. But Pope Francis is aiming to avoid that fate. On the plane ride to the United States, he told reporters that he is not a liberal, although he might say things people think "sounded more left-ish" at times. His only allegiance, Francis stressed, was to Catholic doctrine. Read Next Pope Francis I Am Not a Liberal
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Activists Raise Over 1 Million to Pressure Sen Susan Collins to Oppose Brett Kavanaugh
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Activists in Maine have raised more than 1 million dollars in a crowdfunded effort to get Sen. Susan Collins to oppose the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The Maine's People's Alliance has banded together with the Mainers for Accountable Leadership and Ady Barkan, a dying father who has campaigned for healthcare reform, to ask Collins, a Republican senator from Maine, to vote no on Kavanaugh. If not, they will donate the money to Collins's next Democratic challenger. Collins, a crucial vote in in Kavanaugh's upcoming Supreme Court confirmation along with Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, has drawn various efforts from activists in her state because she is seen as more pro-choice than many other Republican senators and Kavanaugh's nomination and confirmation process has brought the state of abortion rights in the U.S. into prominent focus. Reproductive rights groups worry that Kavanaugh, if confirmed to the Supreme Court, will work to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that ruled abortion legal, putting already dwindling abortion rights at even further risk. Republicans currently hold a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate and only 51 votes are required to confirm Kavanaugh. Collins' vote could decide whether he is appointed. The Crowdpac.com campaign to convince Collins to vote against Kavanaugh has raised 1,115,713 with more than 40,000 pledges as of Wednesday morning. If Collins votes yes on Kavanaugh, organizers say the total amount raised will go toward whomever challenges the senator in the future. If Collins opposes Kavanaugh, none of the donors will be charged for the money they pledged. Collins previously said she would oppose a Supreme Court nominee who would not uphold Roe v. Wade. But she also told reporters last week she thinks Kavanaugh will uphold the case because he told her it's considered "settled law." It's unclear whether Kavanaugh actually believes that a 2003 email unearthed during his confirmation hearings showed that he questioned whether the case is, in fact, settled law. Collins called the fundraiser a bribery attempt and said it will not influence her vote either way in a statement to the conservative outlet Newsmax. "I consider this quid pro quo fundraising to be the equivalent of an attempt to bribe me to vote against Judge Kavanaugh," she said. "If I vote against him, the money is refunded to the donors. If I vote for him, the money is given to my opponent for the 2020 race.", The organizations behind the campaign spoke out against Collins' accusation of bribery. "The idea of Susan Collins attacking an effort by 35,000 small donors as bribery is politics at its worst," Marie Follayttar, co-director of Mainers for Accountable Leadership, said in a statement. "Thousands of Mainers are trying desperately to tell her that she needs to protect abortion access and critical healthcare coverage across the country by voting no' on Kavanaugh.", Follayttar continued "Sen. Collins owes it to her constituents to hear them out, and explain why Judge Kavanaugh's demonstrated hostility to Roe v. Wade, opposition to covering pre-existing conditions and repeated lies is not disqualifying. If she doesn't, we absolutely have the right to prepare to unseat her. Unlike Supreme Court judges, Senators do not enjoy a lifetime guarantee of their seat they are accountable to the people.", Collins is facing pressure from activists in other ways as well. About 3,000 coat hangers, symbolizing the back-alley abortions women were forced to have before Roe v. Wade legalized the procedure, have been sent to Collins's office in Maine in the last few months.
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3 Pregnant Women Test Positive for Zika Virus in Florida
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Three pregnant women in Florida have contracted the Zika virus when traveling outside of the state, bringing Florida's total of confirmed cases to 32. The Florida Department of Health confirmed the new cases Wednesday, but declined to identify where the women live or where they were traveling "out of respect of the privacy of these women," the Miami Herald reports. Health officials have already declared a public health emergency in the state for the 11 counties with confirmed cases of Zika, according to the Herald. All 32 reported cases of Zika virus in Florida were acquired outside of the state. Pregnant women are particularly affected by Zika virus, which has spread through South America, as it can cause microcephaly, a condition where a newborn's head is smaller than normal.
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Coal Boss Robert Murray Is Suing John Oliver After Being Mocked on Last Week Tonight
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The CEO of America's biggest privately owned coal company has filed a libel lawsuit against Last Week Tonight host John Oliver, HBO, Time Warner and the show's writers, claiming that a recent episode was defamatory. The plaintiff, Robert E. Murray, has similarly sued several journalistic outlets, including the New York Times. The Daily Beast reports that the suit filed on June 21 pertains to an episode aired just days earlier on June 18, in which Oliver referred to allegations against Murray and his company, the Murray Energy Corporation, including a claim that Murray was inspired to found the company after a chat with a talking squirrel. According to the Daily Beast, which published the text of the complaint, Murray alleges that the defendants "executed a meticulously planned attempt to assassinate the character of and reputation of Mr. Robert E. Murray and his companies." The complaint by Murray, a Republican and a supporter of President Donald Trump, further alleged that Oliver and co-defendants "have vigorously supported and advanced" the agenda of Trump's campaign rival Hillary Clinton. Oliver said during the episode in question that the show had contacted Murray before it aired, and received a letter threatening litigation if the show did not immediately "cease and desist." This, unsurprisingly, did not wholly deter the satirist. "I have to proceed with caution," Oliver said. "I'm not going to say he looks like a geriatric Dr. Evil, even though he clearly does.", Read More John Oliver and a Giant Squirrel Picked a Fight with the Coal Industry on Last Week Tonight, Part of the case focused on Oliver's discussion of a Murray-owned mine's collapse in Utah that killed nine people. Oliver said during the segment that Murray publicly claims an earthquake was to blame, though a government investigation concluded that the collapse was caused by unauthorized mining practices and there was no evidence of a natural seismic event. "Because Defendant Oliver omitted any mention of the other reports he was aware of that evidenced that an earthquake caused the collapse, as Mr. Murray correctly stated following the collapse, Defendant Oliver's presentation intentionally and falsely implied that there is no such evidence," the lawsuit says. Update In a statement provided to TIME via email, HBO says that "we have confidence in the staff of Last Week Tonight and do not believe anything in the show this week violated Mr. Murray's or Murray Energy's rights.", Daily Beast
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Ohio to Vote on Marijuana Legalization in November
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The Buckeye state will put pot legalization to the ballot on Nov. 3, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted confirmed. Putting marijuana legalization on the ballot took a couple tries Ohio's first attempt failed, but pro-pot advocate group ResponsibleOhio, a driving force behind the initiative, pulled through with the minimum 305,591 signatures. The group's investors pledged to spend at least 20 million to convince Ohioans to vote for legalization. If the measure passes, however, legalization might take a while in June, the Ohio Legislature hurriedly placed a measure, Issue 2, that prohibited "a monopoly, oligopoly or cartel" in Ohio of federally-controlled substances like marijuana. The ResponsibleOhio initiative calls for a limit to pot production by ten farms, which state legislators argue might constitute an oligopoly. Ohio follows ballot initiatives from across the country. Thus far, recreational marijuana is legal in Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Washington, D.C. 28 states make exceptions for medical marijuana.
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There Were More Active Shootings in 2017 Than Any Year on Record
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The FBI tallied more active shooter incidents in 2017 than in any other year on record, according to a new report. Thirty incidents met the FBI's criteria for an "active shooter" situation in 2017, more than in any other year since the agency began tracking these episodes in 2000. Twenty-six active shootings occurred in 2010, the year with the second-most incidents on record, and 20 took place in 2016. The FBI classifies an active shooter incident as "one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area," excluding gang- and drug-related violence. These sprees are considered mass killings if three or more people died in a single incident. There were 20 mass killings between 2016 and 2017. Between those two years, active shooting episodes claimed 221 lives and injured 722 more people, according to the report. Thirteen law enforcement officers were killed and 20 more injured. A considerable number of these casualties occurred when a shooter opened fire on a country music festival in Las Vegas in October 2017, killing 58 and wounding 489. All 50 shooters behind the 2016 and 2017 episodes were were men acting alone, the report adds. Texas saw the most active shooting incidents in 2016 and 2017, with six, followed by California and Florida, with five each. There has been some debate over whether active shootings are actually growing more common, or whether the apparent uptick has to do with reporting standards and data selection. While it's possible and hopeful that the 2017 data represents a statistical outlier, the new report seems to add credibility to the argument that they may, indeed, be growing more frequent.
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Millennial Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg Joins the Democratic 2020 Presidential Race
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SOUTH BEND, Ind. AP Democrat Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, says he's forming an exploratory committee for a 2020 presidential bid. "The reality is there's no going back, and there's no such thing as again' in the real world. We can't look for greatness in the past," Buttigieg says in a video that includes before-and-after footage of South Bend, a Rust Belt city once described as "dying.", "Right now our country needs a fresh start," he says. Buttigieg has touted his work to improve his city of 100,000 residents as he's prepared for a jump from local politics to a presidential campaign. He's also said Democrats could benefit from a new generation of leaders as they try to unseat President Donald Trump in 2020. He's expected to travel to Iowa next week to meet with voters in the nation's first caucus state, followed by stops in New Hampshire. Buttigieg is a Rhodes scholar who was first elected mayor of his hometown in 2011 at age 29, making him the youngest mayor of a U.S. city with at least 100,000 residents. A lieutenant in the Navy Reserve, he served a tour in Afghanistan in 2014. Buttigieg raised his national profile with an unsuccessful 2017 run for Democratic National Committee chairman, saying the party needed a new start. He withdrew from the race before a vote when it became clear he didn't have the support to win. Buttigieg has spent time in Iowa and other battleground states in recent years as he tried to build financial support and name recognition. He cracks that those who do know his name still aren't sure how to pronounce it. It's BOO'-tah-juhj. Most of the time he goes by "Mayor Pete.", Amid his campaign for a second term, Buttigieg came out as gay in a column in the local newspaper. He went on to win re-election with 80 percent of the vote. In 2018, three years to the day after the column ran, he married his husband, middle school teacher Chasten Glezman. If he were to win the Democratic nomination, Buttigieg would be the first openly gay presidential nominee from a major political party. Buttigieg announced in December that he wouldn't seek a third term as mayor, stoking speculation he would join a field of roughly two dozen candidates who may seek the Democratic nomination for president most of them better known and with experience in higher office, and all of them older. "I belong to a generation that is stepping forward right now," he says in the video released Wednesday. "We're the generation that lived through school shootings, that served in the wars after 9/11, and we're the generation that stands to be the first to make less than our parents unless we do something different. We can't just polish off a system so broken. It is a season for boldness and a focus on the future.", Buttigieg is releasing in February a book about his life and his tenure leading South Bend.
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These Are the Happiest and Healthiest Cities in America
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Living near the beach doesn't guarantee your happiness but it certainly doesn't hurt. From Naples, Fla. to Honolulu, Hawaii, many of the U.S. cities that scored well on Gallup-Healthways' newly released Community Well-Being Index are located on the ocean. Researchers analyzed 350,000 interviews conducted in 2015 and 2016 to rank 189 communities by physical, emotional, financial, community and social health. Naples came in first for the second year in a row, followed closely by other metro areas near the ocean, like Barnstable, Mass. and Santa Cruz, Calif. So is beachside living the key to health and happiness? Lead researcher Dan Witters says it's not so simple "Clinical depression is less likely, and healthy eating is slightly improved, but after that the advantages run out." Holistic well-being is about more than good climate, Witters says. "You don't need a beach to have someone who encourages you to be healthy you don't need a beach to learn new and interesting things you don't need a beach to get to the dentist.", Highly ranked inland communities like Boulder, Colo. and El Paso, Texas had residents who reported feeling a strong sense of purpose often rooted in a shared culture and a feeling of belonging. When people are invested in improving their community, they feel motivated to get out of bed each day, says Healthways president Karissa Price. "It isn't just about physical health or income there is a larger need to feel connected," she says. Communities in the Southeastern U.S. and industrial Midwest were generally ranked lower in well-being, partly due to health problems including higher smoking and obesity rates.
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30YearOld Who Was Evicted by Parents Says Hes Not a Millennial Because Hes Conservative
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Michael Rotondo, the 30-year-old whose parents resorted to legal action to evict him from their home, is confused about whether he is a millennial. To be fair, Rotondo is having a hard week. A New York State Supreme Court judge ruled in his parents' favor on Tuesday, ordering him to vacate the house where he has lived rent-free for eight years. His parents gave him five written notices in the last few months and offered to help pay for him to find a new place, but Rotondo said he was owed six months notice. The judge disagreed. The story spread like wildfire across social media and news outlets. Now, Rotondo is working to figure out his next moveand part of that involved a truly bizarre interview with CNN on Wednesday. In one of the more confusing moments, Rotondo told the network's Brooke Baldwin on Wednesday that everyone blaming millennial entitlement for his situation was wrong. , "I would say that I'm really not a member of that demographic that they're speaking to," Rotondo said about millennials. "I'm a very conservative person. The millennials that they're speaking to are very liberal in their ideology. ", While there may be some variation in how different people define the Millennial generation, the most commonly used definitionand the one recently decided on by Pew Research Center includes anyone born between 1981 and 1996. This would also include Rotondo. When Baldwin pointed this out to him, he said "You're right," but added "But when people speak to the millennials and their general nature as a millennial, they speak to more liberal leanings.", The rest of the CNN interview was no less confusing. It started off with Rotondo saying he did not want to live with his parents anymore because "it's very tense, it's very awkward" but then saying he still would like more time to move out. The 30-year-old does not seem to have a job, but told CNN that he is working on that. At this point, he said that if his parents' lawyer allows him to stay for three more months, he will drop his legal fight. But whenever he does move out, he made it clear he does not want to make up with his parents anytime soon. "You only have one mom and dad, and I understand that you are probably more upset than you're letting on, but don't you want to reconcile with them?" Baldwin asked. Rotondo's reply was simple "No, no I don't."
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Kentucky Students Arrested After Climbing Through Ceiling Duct to Steal Exam Papers
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Two college students in Kentucky thought they could cheat the system by breaking into a statistics professor's office via the ceiling ducts and make off unscathed with an exam paper. To their surprise and undoing instructor John Cain at the University of Kentucky returned to his office after midnight on Wednesday, and caught them red handed, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. When he found his office door blocked, Cain "yelled out that he was calling the police and then the door swung open and two young men ran down the hallway," university spokesperson Jay Blanton told the paper. One of the students returned to the scene and confessed to campus police shortly afterwards. Henry Lynch, 21, had reportedly climbed through the building's air ducts into Cain's office, before letting in a friend. Lynch told police that he had entered the office once before that day without finding what he wanted, and had successfully snatched a paper earlier in the semester. Both students will be referred to a local Circuit Court on third degree burglary charges. Lexington Herald-Leader
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Oregons First Week of Recreational Pot Sales Brings In More Than 11 Million
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Oregon dispensaries made more than 11 million in their first week of recreational marijuana sales. This puts Oregon far ahead of the pace of Colorado, which made 5 million its first week of recreational sales, and Washington, which didn't make 2 million until four weeks in, the Oregon Retail Cannabis Association told KGW. Oregon made 3.2 million on the first day of sales alone. Oregon recreational marijuana sales won't be taxed until January, but this first week of sales shows that the state could make far more than it initially predicted once that 25 percent tax is instated.
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Childs Death in Hot Car Leads to Unusual Murder Charge
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A Georgia father was charged with murder and child cruelty Thursday after leaving his 22-month-old son in a sweltering car for nearly seven hours, an outcome that surprised legal experts. Police say Justin Ross Harris, 33, drove to work Wednesday with his son in the backseat after forgetting to drop him off at day care, according to media reports. As Harris drove home, he noticed his son unresponsive in the backseat. The death marked the second time this week a child has perished in the back of a car. On Monday, a 9-month-old girl died in her father's pickup truck after being left there as her father went to work. He, too, had forgotten to drop his child off with a caregiver. In the Florida case, as in many others similar to it, officials declined to file any charges. Initial reports suggested that police were considering negligence, not murder charges. But the murder charge in Georgia was rare in its severity in these cases, and it drew surprise from some who said that negligence, even when fatal, does not equal murder. Jerry H. Summers, an attorney who has defended parents of children who died in similar incidents, said that pressure and public attention have encouraged prosecutors to pursue harsher charges. "It's a terrible tragedy. This man is being punished more in his own heart and mind than might be the situation when the case comes to court," Summers said. "The thought of being the cause of death to your own child is like a life sentence.", In an interview with Atlanta radio station WSB, Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds suggested he might not pursue the murder charges as the situation evolves. "This investigation is far, far from over," he said. "The charges now don't necessarily mean that's where it will end.", Harris was expected to appear in court late Thursday night and hasn't yet commented. His son is the 13th child in the U.S. this year to die of heatstroke in an overheated car, according to San Francisco State University lecturer Jan Null, who has published reports on the issue. Harris' fatal mistake happened three weeks after the state launched a "Look Again" campaign to encourage parents to make sure they don't accidentally leave any children before departing a vehicle. In Georgia, seven children have died after being stuck in overheated cars since 2010, according to the governor's office. "I ask that all Georgians join me in preventing future loss of life by being aware of your surroundings and never taking the chance of leaving a child in a car, even for just a minute," Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said. "Lives can be saved if we take the time to look again."
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San Bernardino Shooting Victim Died While Shielding Survivor
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As bullets rained down on a San Bernardino, California, conference room Wednesday, Denise Peraza huddled underneath an overturned chair, fearing for her life. Squished next to her was a colleague, Shannon Johnson, who Peraza says gave his own life to protect hers. His body served as a shield, and he comforted her during this final heroic act. "Amidst all the chaos, I'll always remember him saying these three words, I got you,'" Peraza, who was shot and is recovering in the hospital, wrote in a statement posted on Facebook. Johnson, 45, was one of 14 people killed in the mass shooting at. . .
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This Is Where Hurricane Nate Is Right Now
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Hurricane Nate, the latest storm to form in the Atlantic amid an already devastating hurricane season, weakened to a tropical storm Sunday morning after it made landfall twice, the National Hurricane Center said. As of Sunday morning, the tropical storm currently had sustained winds of 45 mph as it moves inland in Alabama at 23 mph. On Saturday evening, the then-Category 1 hurricane hit the mouth of the Mississippi River in southeast Louisiana then later hit near Biloxi, Miss. bringing life-threatening flooding, according to the National Hurricane Center. When Hurricane Nate first made landfall, it had maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. , Tens of thousands of residents in Alabama and Mississippi did not have power Sunday morning, according to state power companies. , , The National Hurricane Center is expecting five to eight feet of flooding along the Mississippi coast on Sunday and heavy rainfall in the central Gulf Coast, Deep South, eastern Tennessee Valley and southern Appalachians. The fast-moving storm is expected to move northeast over the next several days. This hurricane is the first to make landfall in Mississippi since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, leaving more than 1,800 people dead and causing 100 billion in damages.
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Heres How High the Record Powerball Jackpot Could Climb
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The largest U.S. lottery jackpot in history could easily grow to 800 million by Saturday night's Powerball drawing and even 1 billion next week if no winner is drawn. A record-breaking 700 million is at stake Saturday after eighteen draws went by without a jackpot-winning ticket. That figure grew Thursday by 25 million and is expected to increase further before the lucky numbers are selected as states continue to see surges in ticket sales, Michigan Lottery spokesman Jeff Holyfield told TIME. "It's an upward spiral. The bigger the jackpot, the more players buy tickets and the bigger the jackpot gets," Holyfield said Thursday. "This is when people really start flocking to the game. For 2, you have a chance to not even be rich, but I would say filthy rich.", Read more What To Do If You Win the Powerball Lottery, The jackpot had jumped to 524 million by Wednesday night's drawing, which yielded no winner. It spiked by more than 70 million on the same day of the drawing due to strong ticket sales, officials said. If that pattern continues, "I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a jackpot of 800 million," Holyfield said. "We've got Thursday, Friday and all day Saturday," he added. Lottery officials last October changed Powerball game metrics to make it harder to win the massive jackpot while increasing players' chances of winning smaller cash prizes, Holyfield said. "There were statistical analyses leading up to that, and the speculation was that it's possible we could have a 1 billion jackpot within a year of the change," he said. If no winner is picked from Saturday's ticket pool, players can "absolutely" expect the jackpot to reach that 1 billion milestone, according to Holyfield. "That's well within the possibility," he said. "No one can tell what those bouncing balls will do. That's the fun part of this business.", The previous record Powerball jackpot 590.5 million was won in May 2013, officials said. The last record U.S. lottery jackpot was set at 656 million in 2012 with the Mega Millions game. The Mega Millions jackpot was won on the 19th draw, Holyfield said.
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The Historic Legacy of Black Charleston Church Where Shooting Occurred
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The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, where a hate crime shooting on Wednesday night claimed nine lives, has a long history of resilience within the Southern black community. One of the two oldest all-black churches south of Baltimore, Emanuel was created in 1816 and soon after was investigated for its facilitation of a planned slave revolt after one of the church's founders organized a "major slave uprising" in Charleston, according to the church's website. News of the uprising created a moral panic throughout the South, and the original church building housing Emanuel was burned to the ground. Emanuel is a member of the African Methodist Episcopal A.M.E. Church, a larger network of all-black churches throughout the country born from discrimination against blacks in mainstream American Christianity. TIME wrote about the black church in a 1990 cover story, The church began in 1787, when black members withdrew from St. George's Methodist Church in Philadelphia "because of unkind treatment and restrictions placed upon the worshipers of African descent," the website reads. They bought a blacksmith shop, converted it into a church, and by 1816, brought together black church leaders from up and down the east coast. Soon after, the African Methodist Episcopal Church was founded. In 1834, all-black churches were outlawed in Charleston and the congregation continued to worship underground until 1865, when the church gained official recognition and was named Emanuel, meaning "God with us."
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Jason Aldean Returns to Las Vegas and Visits Survivors After Mass Shooting
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Jason Aldean returned to Las Vegas exactly one week after he performed at the Route 91 Harvest Festival across from the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, where a gunman opened fire from the hotel and injured more than 500 in attendance, killing at least 58. Aldean and his pregnant wife Brittany Kerr Aldean flew in Sunday to visit with hospitalized survivors of the shooting. Kerr Aldean, 29, described the emotional trip on Instagram Sunday evening. "Feels surreal being back in Vegas today. Visiting some of the strongest people we have ever met fighting the toughest battle of them all for their lives," she wrote along with a photo of the couple facing the Mandalay Bay. "You have helped us try to begin to start the healing process by seeing the strength each one of you have. Thank you for today. We will never forget," said the mother-to-be, who is expecting a baby boy in December. , , , On Oct. 1, Aldean, 40, was performing the closing set at the outdoor country music festival that was at the end of its third day when gunman Stephen Paddock fired bullets from his 32nd-floor hotel room at the Mandalay Bay on the crowd of more than 22,000 concertgoers. The day before the Aldeans returned to Vegas, the country singer opened the Gal Gadot-hosted episode of Saturday Night Live by paying tribute to the victims of the mass shooting, as well as the late music legend Tom Petty. "Like everyone, I'm struggling to understand what happened that night, and how to pick up the pieces and start to heal," Aldean said before performing Petty's 1989 hit "I Won't Back Down.", "So many people are hurting. There are children, parents, brothers, sisters, friends they're all part of our family. So I want to say to them We hurt for you, and we hurt with you," he continued. "When America is at its best, our bond and our spirit, it's unbreakable.", Days following the massacre, Aldean announced he canceled a series of concerts out of respect for the victims. "It has been an emotional time for everyone involved this week, so we plan to take some time to mourn the ones we have lost and be close with our family and friends," he said in a statement. Aldean's They Don't Know Tour is scheduled to resume on Oct. 12 at BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Friends and family are asked to report missing people believed to be connected to the shooting using the hotline 1-800-536-9488. Anyone with photo or video evidence of the shooting is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI. A victims' fund has been started on GoFundMe by Steve Sisolak, the Clark County, Nevada, commission chair. Other groups providing relief include the local chapter of the American Red Cross and the National Compassion Fund.
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Federal Court Blocks Effort by Mike Pence to Keep Syrian Refugees Out of Indiana
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A federal court blocked efforts by Indiana Governor Mike Pence to prevent Syrian refugees from resettling in the state Monday, calling his rationale "nightmare speculation.", In Exodus Refugee International v. Pence a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction, dismissing the state's argument that not allowing refugees into the state was in the best interest of residents, according to CNN. The court is critical of the state in its opinion, written by Judge Richard Posner, saying that the state "provides no evidence that Syrian terrorists are posing as refugees or that Syrian refugees have ever committed acts of terrorism in the United States.", Pence, now the Republican vice-presidential nominee, directed state agencies to deny federal grant money to organizations assisting Syrian refugees shortly after the Paris terrorist attacks. Exodus, an Indiana nonprofit that helps resettle refugees in the state, sued Pence and won when a federal district court issued the injunction in February. Indiana is among several states involved in legal battles over Syrian refugee resettlement. Pence spokeswoman Kara Brooks defended his actions in a statement to CNN. "The safety and security of the people of Indiana is Gov. Pence's highest priority. The state of Indiana took decisive action last year to suspend resettlement of Syrian refugees after the terrorist attack in Paris and because the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged security gaps with regard to screening refugees from Syria," Brooks said.
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What to Know About the Victims of the Orlando Nightclub Shooting
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At least 50 people were killed and another 53 were wounded when a gunman opened fire inside a gay Orlando nightclub early Sunday, authorities said. By Monday afternoon Orlando police had released the names of 45 victims who lost their lives, using an official website the city designed to post updates on the deceased. Among those killed in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history were Edward Sotomayor Jr. Stanley Almodovar III, Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo and Juan Ramon Guerrero, according to the site. Authorities said they are working to identify other victims and notify their loved ones before making any other names public. , Many of the injured victims are in critical condition at the hospital, Dr. Michael Cheatham of the Orlando Regional Medical Center told reporters at a news conference. "On this very difficult day, we offer heartfelt condolences to today's victims and their families," the City of Orlando wrote on its victims' page. "Our City is working tirelessly to get as much information out to the families so they can begin the grieving process. Please keep the following individuals in your thoughts and prayers.", The names of the victims were being updated on the official website on Sunday evening, with the latest names released Monday afternoon.
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Why the New Case Against Bill Cosby Is Different
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After facing years of sexual abuse accusations from dozens of women, comedian Bill Cosby may be forced to give a deposition under oath next month in a case that will put him under unprecedented scrutiny, in which he is alleged to have molested a 15-year-old girl. Cosby's lawyer tried to get the case dismissed on procedural grounds, but on Wednesday the California Supreme Court declined to hear the petition, paving the way for the case to go forward, if Cosby's lawyers aren't able to stop it. Gloria Allred, the attorney representing the alleged molestation victim, who is now in her 50s, told TIME her team plans to ask Cosby not just about the specifics of the case but also about the similar claims made by dozens of other women, who have detailed encounters in which Cosby plied them with drugs or alcohol and then assaulted them. She hopes to depose Cosby in August and will seek permission to videotape the proceeding. "We have wide latitude in the deposition to ask any question of Mr. Cosby that is relevant or will lead to discovery," Allred told TIME. "I believe it is relevant to inquire about accusations of other accusers, in order to establish pattern and practice, as well as a motive.", Cosby's representatives did not respond to requests for comment. The details of the case, Judy Huth was 15 when she and a 16-year-old friend met Cosby in 1974 at a Los Angeles park where he was filming a movie, according to a December 2014 court filing. The girls both told Cosby how old they were, the filing says. Cosby invited Huth and her friend to his tennis club the following Saturday. They met him there and the trio played billiards. Cosby also gave them alcohol, playing a game with Huth that involved her drinking a beer every time he won a game of billiards. Afterwards, he took the girls to the Playboy Mansion, where Huth said he invited her to sit beside him in a bedroom suite and molested her, according to the filing. Why this case is different, Huth's case is unique among the many other claims against Cosby because she was so young when the alleged abuse occurredit is currently the only civil case pending against Cosby that involves child abuse. The statute of limitations has expired on other sexual assault claims against Cosby, leaving three women who say they were assaulted by Cosby in the 1970s to sue him for defamation instead, because he called them liars when they recently came forward. But Allred is arguing that the statute of limitations on sexual abuse should be extended for Huth, because she is an "adult survivor" of child abuse. The law gives people who were assaulted as minors more time to file a suit, said Anne Bremner, an attorney in Seattle who is representing another Cosby victim in a case she has not yet filed. "It takes minors longer to put together, what happened to them," Bremner told TIME. In a countersuit, Cosby has argued that Huth tried to sell her story to the tabloids a decade ago, meaning that she would have realized the psychological damage back then, so the statute of limitations is up. Why the deposition matters, If Cosby is deposed under oath next month, as Allred plans, the results could be damaging for the comedian, adding to the firestorm that has built as many women have come forward and stated their cases publicly. In a deposition Cosby gave in 2005 in a different civil case, which only recently came to light, he admitted to purchasing quaaludes with the intent to give the drug to women he wanted to have sex with. In subsequent court filings, Cosby's attorneys have argued that quaaludes were a popular drug in the 1970s clubbing scene and that Cosby's admission was not proof of wrongdoing. But the deposition excerpts were damaging nonetheless, and Cosby's attorney's are likely to do everything in their power to stop Cosby from answering Allred's questions. Robert Shapiro, a Los Angeles-based litigator who has represented O.J. Simpson but is not involved in the Cosby case, said Cosby can avoid responding to tough questions by settling the case or pleading his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself. "His lawyers are going to do every single thing to block him answering any questions regarding the drugging or sexual assault of any victims," Shapiro told TIME. If Cosby decides the plead the Fifth, Shapiro added, "then the matter will go before a judge to see if he can be compelled to answer those questions.", If Cosby is compelled or chooses to answer questions, it is unlikely that he would be able to keep the deposition under seal to stop it from becoming public, which would have to be done by court order in California. "The courts in recent years moved away from the sealing of anything. You have to have really substantial compelling reasons to seal anything these days" Bremner said. "The fact of the matter is, he's a public figure. It's a civil case, and generally civil depositions can be given to anybody.", Cosby's lawyers, Monique Pressley and Patrick O'Connor, and his public relations representative, David Brokaw, did not respond to requests for comment. Allred wouldn't speculate on whether Cosby would cooperate with the deposition, saying only "We'll see what his next move is.", Listen to the most important stories of the day
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Suspect in Virginia Students Disappearance May Be Linked to 2009 Murder Cops Say
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The main suspect in the disappearance of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham may be connected to the abduction and murder of another young woman in the area five years ago, police revealed on Monday. Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, 20, was last seen alive on October 17, 2009 after leaving a Metallica concert in Charlottesville, where the university is located. Three months later, her dead body was found in a field. Her murder has not been solved. On Monday, Virginia State Police said "the arrest of Jesse L. Matthew Jr. 32, of Charlottesville, Va. provided a significant break in this case with a new forensic link for state police investigators to pursue.", Read more from our partners at NBC News
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Fur Seal Pups Mysteriously Washing Up on California Shores
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A Guadalupe fur seal pup, wasted away to nearly fur and bones, washed up on the shore's of California's Humboldt County in April. He was spotted and whisked to the Bay Area's Marine Mammal Center, soon to be named Ian and become the first juvenile of his species to ever wear a satellite tag. But his odds of seeing the ocean again after doctors tried to rehabilitate him, like dozens of other fur seal pups mysteriously turning up on California shores, were grim. The appearance of these pups, many of whom are already dead by the time they wash to shore, has led the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to declare what is known as a UMEan unusual mortality event. So far in 2015, roughly 80 of them have been found stranded, a rate eight times higher than normal. Especially alarming for marine biologists is that, unlike sea lion pups that are experiencing their own bizarre strandings, the Guadalupe fur seals are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, with some 15,000 estimated to exist in the world. "This is an alarm bell ringing," says the Marine Mammal Center's Jeff Boehm, whose team of doctors and intrepid volunteers have successfully rehabilitated 11 Guadalupe fur seal pups out of the 33 who have arrived at their door. The other five of 38 who have been found alive went to Sea World for care. When the pups arrived, they're often starved nearly to death, some with organs and critical systems on the verge of shutting down. "Once we see them on the beach, they're critically ill," Boehm says, often proving their efforts to be "too little, too late.", Like an animal emergency, the UME declaration allows NOAA to dedicate more resources to trying to figure out why this is happening. Officials and experts like Boehm have theorized that, due to weather conditions that have made the Pacific waters unusually warm, mother seals and sea lions have been forced to forage much farther than normal to find food for themselves and their young. Some pups are left for such long stretches that they appear to be risking their safety, venturing into the open ocean before they have the strength or nourishment they need to survive. "They may be prematurely weaned or abandoned," Boehm says, "finding themselves in water without physical reserves or behavioral maturity." He and other experts are watching the development of an El Nino without knowing what it will mean for the marine life off California's coast. Though he weighed less than 40 lbs. when he arrived at the Marine Mammal Center, Ian proved to be a survivor. The team fed him "fish mash" through a tube before teaching him to eat whole fish and caretakers said he proved "feisty" throughout his stay, exhibiting the temperament of a normal Guadalupe fur seal. In a few months, Ian weighed 90 lbs. and the Center took him to Point Reyes National Seashore, where they happily ushered the seal back into the wild. Even though the 40-year-old marine animal hospital has had a record-breaking number of "patients" this year, Boehm says the successes help keep them ready for whatever the weather brings. "Every species warrants our attention," he says, noting that threatened species like the Guadalupe fur seals and Hawaiian monk seals they're working to rescue at a new mammal hospital all demand significant resources. Could they go extinct? "Not on our watch," he says.
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What to Know About Hurricane Matthew
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The "monster" Hurricane Matthew, after slamming through the Caribbean, has been closing in on the U.S. as expected all night late Thursday and early Friday, triggering the largest mandatory evacuations since Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The National Hurricane Center says this "extremely dangerous" hurricane is moving "parallel to and just offshore" of Florida's eastern seaboard as of 5 a.m. EDT Friday, in its latest public advisory. Multiple warnings have been given to the public to charge their electronic devices in anticipation of potential power outages. Storm surge of anywhere between one and 11 feet along the southeast Atlantic seaboard is expected Friday morning, affecting coastal areas of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The high tide later Friday morning is expected to only make things worse. , The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's hurricane hunters posted early Friday this video of their most recent flight into the storm's eye. , Florida's governor Rick Scott tweeted just after 430 a.m. EDT Friday that Matthew's eyewall is within 5 miles of Florida's central coast, and cautioned people in the state to stay aware. , Just 40 miles 65 km off Cape Canaveral, Fla. and 90 miles 150 km southeast of Daytona Beach, Fla. Matthew's sustained wind speed is hitting up to 120 m.p.h. 195 km/h, down from the previous Category-4 levels of 130 m.p.h. 209 km/h. The Hurricane Center says that the storm, now a strong Category-3 hurricane, is moving north-northwest at 13 m.p.h. 22 km/h, scraping along the Sunshine State's east coast. Here is what we know about Matthew so far, 1. Where in the U.S. is Matthew expected to hit?, The storm is expected to bring strong winds, rainfall and storm surge to the Southeast Atlantic coast area. In total, over 2 million people in Florida, South Carolina and Georgia have been told to evacuate, the largest since Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast in 2012. Officials warned Wednesday that the hurricane is an imminent threat to anyone in its path. "This storm will kill you," Florida's Governor Rick Scott said at a press conference earlier. "Time is running out.", "If there is an evacuation order in your community, you need to take it seriously," President Obama said after a briefing on the storm. "You can always rebuild, you can always repair property you cannot restore a life if it is lost.", Here is the Hurricane Center's latest 5-day track forecast for Matthew, , There were reports of difficulty accessing the Hurricane Center's website throughout Thursday evening, which the agency said around midnight Friday was caused a "technical issue" that was subsequently fixed shortly before 3 a.m. ET on Friday. It has continued to provide updates via Twitter through the night. 2. How bad is it?, President Obama has declared a state of emergency in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina. Even as a strong Category-3 storm, Matthew has whipped the southeastern seaboard with forceful winds and downpour. "This storm's a monster," Scott said at a press conference Thursday evening. "I'm going to pray for everybody's safety." , It is also increasingly likely that the storm could make a U-turn and hit Florida a second time, which would hamper initial recovery efforts. , The Weather Channel reports that Matthew is set to become the strongest tropical storm to slam into the east coast in Florida since Hurricane Andrew pummeled the area in 1992. A local National Weather Service NWS advisory for Melbourne, Fla. late Thursday night contains what CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen calls "the strongest language he's seen since Hurricane Katrina." The advisory urges that "efforts should fully focus on protecting life," warning that "failure to adequately shelter may result in serious injury, loss of life, or immense human suffering." It adds that after the storm, "locations may be uninhabitable for weeks or months.", As the night proceeds, an updated NWS advisory for the Melbourne area asks the public to "prepare for life-threatening winds" with potentially "devastating impacts across coastal counties of east central Florida," and warns that "locations may be uninhabitable for weeks or months.", By early Friday morning, the NWS branch office in Melbourne, Fla. warned of gust winds of up to 115 m.p.h 185 km/h. , In the face of possible widespread disruption in the power grid, multiple government officials and media outlets have been advising people in areas affected by Matthew to charge their electronic devices. Overnight Friday, the NWS is forecasting that the area around Charleston, S.C. would face peak wind speeds of 45 m.p.h. 70 km/h to 60 m.p.h. 95 km/h, with occasional gusts up to 75 m.p.h. 120 km/h. On the other hand, Florida's southern tip looks to be relieved from the storm's worst effects, as the 5 a.m. EDT Hurricane Center advisory sees the warning from Jupiter Inlet south to Boca Raton dowgraded from a Hurricane Warning to a Tropical Storm Warning, while the Tropical Storm Warning for areas south of Boca Raton was cancelled altogether. 3. Follow the latest official instructions for your safety if you haven't already left. If you are in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, you should have already checked if you need to evacuate. If you haven't left, check your options for hunkering down or the nearest shelters immediately. Officials are taking Matthew very seriously, because it has already caused hundreds of deaths and wreaked severe damage in three Caribbean countries. "There are no excuses" to not evacuate, declared Scott. "You need to leave. Evacuate, evacuate, evacuate Are you willing to take a gamble? That's what you're doing.", As the storm closes in, emergency services in Brevard County in Florida announced on Twitter shortly after midnight Friday that the situation had deteriorated so badly that 911 responses could no longer be provided. , 4. What about storm surges?, Meteorologists are expecting storm surge to come with the storm, which could raise sea levels as much as 9 ft. 2.7 m in some coastal communities in Florida. Forecasters say it is particularly serious during high tide which is expected just after midnight Friday morning and again early Friday afternoon along the Florida coast, just as the storm is along it. Unlike heavy rainfall, storm surge will start before locals expect it. "You're going to get storm surge before the storm gets there," says Sean Sublette, a meteorologist at Climate Central. Storm surge has worsened the damage in some particularly devastating storms in the past, including Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy where storm surge reached heights of 25 ft. 7 m and 9 ft. 2.7 m, respectively, according to a National Hurricane Center report. 5. How is transportation and other infrastructure being affected? , The Associated Press AP reports that over 1,500 flights have been canceled Thursday, and more that 1,300 flights Friday, in anticipation of bad weather. American Airlines, with a large operation in Miami, is the worst hit by these cancellations, followed by JetBlue and Southwest Airlines. Fort Lauderdale and Orlando airports have already closed, with the latter not expected to reopen until Sunday. Delta Air Lines, which has a hub in Atlanta, told AP that cancellations were likely to spread to coastal Georgia and South Carolina on Saturday. The Sun Sentinel is reporting that while Miami International Airport will remain open, all airlines flying there have suspended their flights. It also reports that all south Floridian seaports have either been closed or seen cruises rerouted in the face of Matthew, and the local Tri-Rail trains are expected to be out of service through the weekend. Highways in south Florida are expected to remain open, according to the Sun Sentinel, but authorities are warning the public to be extremely cautious. A voluntary driving ban is also in effect in Broward County in Florida. Meanwhile, a section of I-16 highway in Georgia has been given over to exclusive use by evacuees of the area, reports the Macon Telegraph. As of 5 a.m. ET on Friday, Matthew had caused at least over 307,000 homes and businesses across Florida to lose power, according to the Florida Power Light Co. A CNN correspondent reporting from Palm Bay, Fla. said overnight Friday on CNN that he and his crew had seen "transformers popping off" in the late hours of Thursday. The Kennedy Space Center, located in Cape Canaveral, announced that it would be closed Thursday and Friday, saying that it expects hurricane-force wind to hit surrounding areas Friday morning. Mashable reports that the NASA facility has never experienced a direct hit of this magnitude before. , 6. It has left a trail of devastation in the Caribbean, The destruction wrought by Matthew has wrought devastation in Haiti, where at least 283 people died. Many houses and bridges have collapsed. This is the first time in more than half a century Haiti has been hit directly by a Category-4 storm. The storm also blew through the Bahamas and eastern Cuba, but the damage was far lighter. The U.N.'s mission in Haiti has tweeted Thursday night several images of destruction in the country left behind by Matthew. , , , 7. Matthew isn't the only hurricane in the Atlantic at the moment. A second hurricane, Nicole, is also developing in the Atlantic. Though the latest Hurricane Center forecast has Nicole 340 miles 545 km south of Bermuda, it is already a category-2 storm, with sustained wind speeds at nearly 105 m.p.h. 165 km/h. 8. How can I help?, Hurricane Matthew has caused much destruction and misery both in the U.S. and elsewhere. If you would like to donate to a charity helping with recovery efforts, which would likely take a very long time, here is a handy guide to giving efficiently. Donating blood at your local Red Cross is another helpful gesture, as blood donation drives across the region feeling Matthew's full force have been disrupted, according to a Red Cross representative on CNN.
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Advocates Hopeful Obamas Support Will Help End Gay Conversion Therapy
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Advocates who want to end "conversion therapy" for LGBT children were thrilled when the Obama Administration called this week to ban the practiceand they hope President Obama's support will boost their efforts to enact bans in state legislatures across the country. "It is an incredible moment," said Samantha Ames, a lawyer for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. "We have a champion in our corner who is the most powerful person in world.", The President, though, is not powerful enough to end conversion therapy on a national scale, a move that would need the support of Congress. The White House, mindful of Obama's limited sway over a Republican-controlled Congress, didn't even call for national legislation in its statement of support from top adviser Valerie Jarrett, focusing instead on "steps by states." It was the latest of several moves in support of LGBT rights Obama has made in his second term. "While a national ban would require congressional action, we are hopeful that the clarity of the evidence combined with the actions taken already by states will lead to broader action that this Administration would support," Jarrett said. That's a hope advocates like Ames share. The movement to pass such laws is in its infancywith the first one passing in California in 2012, and subsequent laws in the District of Columbia and New Jerseybut it's gaining momentum. This legislative session, 18 states have introduced bans for under-18 children to receive the "therapy," which purports to "cure" people of homosexuality and gender-identity issues. "But even if it is seems inevitable, we are not done," said Ames, who is also the coordinator for BornPerfect The Campaign to End Conversion Therapy. "Every day this practice continues is a day we are risking a kid's life.", Conversion therapy is based on the idea that a child's sexuality can be changed to fit desired norms, a theory that has been widely dismissed by medical experts, including the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association. The suicide of Leelah Alcorn, a transgender teenager who killed herself last December after leaving a note saying her parents had made her see therapists who tried to convince her that she should act like a boy, drew new attention to the issue. Many of the bills currently being considered are unlikely to pass, not necessarily because they lack support, but because they're lower on the list of legislative priorities. Still, advocates say that regardless of whether they succeed, the movement to get bans on the books and the support from the President will make a difference in the lives of LGBT youth. "The fact that these bills exist at all, it's a huge opportunity for public education," Ames said. "It used to be that if I was scared for the well being of my LGBT child's soul, and I Googled it, I'd get a list of conversion therapists. Because of these bells, I get articles with an enormous amount of information about the risks.", LGBT advocates said that bills in Oregon and Illinois are the most promising. Oregon's bill is headed to the state Senate soon after it easily passed the state House in March. Lawmakers across the states are sometimes wary of supporting LGBT protections, legislative experts say, often because they are afraid of alienating conservative constituents. But advocates who have looked at the campaign to end gay conversion therapy for children say it enjoys more bipartisan support than other LGBT-friendly measures. New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie signed a gay conversion therapy ban in 2013the same year that he vetoed a pro-gay marriage bill in the state. "I really think in this area, you see increased bipartisan support," said Alison Gill, senior legislative counsel at the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C. "When the bill passed in New Jersey in 2013, 50 of Republicans voted for it or abstained, which was higher than the margin for marriage equality. When he signed it into law, Christie, a prominent Republican, had good things to say. Reasonable people can see it's really about child abuse and protecting children, and outdated and medically inappropriate conduct that harms people for their entire lives.", Though anti-LGBT groups and conversion therapists have mounted free speech challenges against the laws in New Jersey and California, court rulings in those cases have sided with the position that the laws are constitutionally sound and don't infringe inappropriately on freedom of speech or religion. In 2013, Judge Freda Wolfson of the United States District Court of New Jersey said that the challenges to the New Jersey law were "counter to the longstanding principle that a state generally may enact laws rationally regulating professionals, including those providing medicine and mental health services.", Advocates for the bans said they're not taking anything for granted. As Ames put it "We are in the long game for this.",
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Conservative Black Teen Goes Viral Criticizing Obama for Ahmed Invitation
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A young African American conservative with a big Internet following has posted a video vigorously criticizing President Obama's decision to invite 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed to the White House. CJ Pearson, 13, questioned the president's priorities in extending the invitation, noting that he had not invited the families of slain police officers to the White House. "But when a Muslim kid builds a clock? Come on by," he says in the video posted to YouTube, Mohamed brought a home-made clock to school to show his teacher it was mistaken for a bomb and he was arrested. Obama responded to the news by tweeting a message of encouragement to the student, , Pearson, whose YouTube channel has some 11,800 subscribers, tells the Washington Post that he strongly believes "that Senator Cruz is truly what America needs to make America the shining city on a hill it once was.", The young man called Mohamed a "political prop" for the Democratic party, but asked if he sees himself as a prop for Republicans, he said, "Not at all. At the end of the day, I'm not beholden to the Republican Party. They don't own me and they never will. My political involvement is based on fighting for the conservative principles I believe in and fighting for the future of my generation.", Washington Post
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Its Not Worth Taking a Chance Man Who Experienced Eye Damage During 1962 Solar Eclipse Warns Others
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A man who damaged his eyes 55 years ago while looking at a partial solar eclipse is warning others about the risks of looking at the sun without protection. In 1962, Lou Tomososki walked home from Marshall High School in Bend, Oregon, with his friend Roger Duval, when the two stopped to watch the partial eclipse occurring in the sky. While they only looked with their naked eyes for a few seconds, the damage the sun caused to Tomososki's vision would stay with him for the rest of his life. According to Today, Tomososki began to see flashes in his vision, similar to the spots that occur when a picture is taken with a flashbulb. Tomososki, now 70, has experienced vision problems since then, and he is warning those who want to enjoy the Great American Eclipse on August 21 to wear eye protection while looking at the celestial event. "It's going to be over real quick and it's not worth taking a chance," Lou Tomososki told KGW. , Tomososki learned that he had burned the retina in his right eye during the eclipse, giving him a partial blind spot in its center. His vision never improved. "It doesn't get any worse and it doesn't get any better," he said. "You know how the news people blur a license plate out? That's what I have on the right eye, about the size of a pea, I can't see around that.", Tomososki said that he wished he knew more about the risks of looking at the sun during an eclipse that day, and he hopes that others will heed his warning to wear eye protection during the upcoming eclipse. "Millions of people out there are going to be looking out at it How many of them are going to say, Something happened to my eyes?'" he told Today. "That makes me sick.", Doctors say that even if the sun is obstructedsuch in the case of an eclipseits rays can still cause damage to the eye. "When you partially obscure the sun with the moon, it's not so bright, and it's not so painful to actually look at it," Dr. G. Baker Hubbard of the Emory Eye Center in Atlanta told FOX5. "But, even though it's not painful, those harmful rays are still getting in your eyes and focused right onto the center of your retina, and that's where it does the damage.", According to KGW, Tomososki says he will be outside on August 21, but he won't be looking skyward. "I'm going to go out and enjoy it," he said. "But I'll stand and watch it get dark."
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Watch The Boatman Chronicling Life in New Orleans 10 Years After Katrina
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Joseph and Selina Gonzales, have been married for 70 years and live in Yscloskey, 30 miles from New Orleans. Joseph, who's gone blind, plans to finish the 60-foot boat in his yard. Joseph's boat is one of the only things that held up during Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall 10 years ago this week. Though the storm destroyed all the houses in the area, Joseph's boat lost a mast and sails but remained anchored in the flooding. The couple hopes to get the boat into the water before next hurricane comes. "That you can't count on," Joseph says. "You don't know what's going to happen in life.", Created by director Zack Godshall, "The Boatman" is part of a six-part series New Orleans, Here Now from Time Inc. Studios and Rampante, premiering this week. To see more from that series, visit here.
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There Was a Kindness About the Man George HW Bush Honored at US Capitol
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A casket carrying the remains of former President George H.W. Bush has arrived at U.S. Capitol Rotunda, where he will lie in state until Wednesday. Bush, who died Friday at the age of 94, arrived in Washington D.C. on Monday afternoon for the final time. His casket was flown in on a plane usually known as Air Force One, but renamed "Special Air Mission 41" in honor of the 41st president. , Several members of Bush's family accompanied the casket to the Capitol, including his sons former President George W. Bush and Jeb Bush. Vice President Mike Pence was among Republican leaders who spoke during a service at the Capitol Monday, calling Bush a "good man" whose time as a public servant was "characterized by kindness.", He shared that his son, a Marine who this year graduated from naval aviator training, received a signed letter from Bush in August that wished him "many CAVU days ahead." The acronym, a term that stands for "ceiling and visibility unlimited" describes the ideal weather conditions for naval pilots. Pence said Bush applied that sentiment to his own life. "That may well describe the essence of this man," he said. "It may have well been his vision. The vision he had for his wife, for his children, his children's children and his country. No barriers, no boundaries, no limits.", As is customary for former presidents, Bush will be honored with a state funeral a series of events that will last at least a week and take place in both Texas and Washington. The Bush family has worked with the Department of Defense to implement a funeral schedule in accordance with Bush's wishes. "We, the men and women of the Department of Defense, are honored and proud to support the Bush family and will do so with the utmost respect," Maj. Gen. Michael L. Howard, the Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Region commanding general, said in a statement. "This state funeral is a culmination of years of planning and rehearsal to ensure the support the military renders President Bush is nothing less than a first-class tribute.", Here's what to know about George H.W. Bush's funeral services. George H.W. Bush's funeral services will begin in Houston, Texas, according to the Joint Task Force National Capitol Region. On the morning of Monday, Dec. 3, a departure ceremony will be held in Ellington Field in Houston. From there, Bush will be flown to Joint Base Andrews, Md. and then taken to the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, where he will lie in state until the morning of Wednesday, Dec. 5. On Dec. 5, 11 a.m. ET, a funeral service is scheduled at the Washington National Cathedral. After that, Bush will be taken back to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Bush will then be taken to St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston where he will lie in repose until the morning of Thursday, Dec. 6. A second funeral service is scheduled for 10 a.m. CT on that day. Bush will then be transported by motorcade and train to the George Bush Presidential Library Museum at Texas AM University in College Station, Texas, where he will be laid to rest. Bush will be buried next to Barbara Bush, the former first lady, who died in April, as well as his daughter Pauline Robinson "Robin" Bush, who died at the age of 3 in 1953. Bush's service dog Sully was seen among the former president's family and friends who watched as his casket was put on Special Air Mission 41 Monday. , Sully, who assisted Bush after he was diagnosed with a form of Parkinson's disease, will also travel on the flight to accompany Bush to Washington, CNN reported. Bush family spokesman Jim McGrath posted a photo of Sully beside the former president's coffin with the caption "Mission complete.", Sully was pictured Sunday lying beside Bush's coffin Sunday. Bush family spokesman Jim McGrath posted the photo of Sully beside the former president's coffin with the caption "Mission complete.", , The dog was able to open doors, press emergency buttons and retrieve objects for Bush. Sully will continue his work as a therapy dog by assisting wounded veterans. Due to space limitations, only invited guests will be able to attend the service at the National Cathedral in Washington DC and the Funeral Mass at St. Martin's in Houston, though members of the public will have a chance to pay their respects in both cities, according to the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation. These details will be released in the coming days. The public will also have a chance to send a heartfelt message to the Bush family by writing in a condolence book at the George Bush Presidential Library. In place of flowers, the Bush family asks that contributions be made to the George Bush Memorial Fund, which will go to support the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas AM University. President Donald Trump has designated Wednesday, Dec. 5 as a national day of mourning. He and his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, are expected to attend the funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. "Through his essential authenticity, disarming wit, and unwavering commitment to faith, family, and country, President Bush inspired generations of his fellow Americans to public service," President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump said in a statement on Saturday. "Through all that he accomplished, he remained humble, following the quiet call to service that gave him a clear sense of direction.", Former President Barack Obama also released a statement on Saturday, mourning his predecessor's passing. "America has lost a patriot and humble servant in George Herbert Walker Bush," Obama's statement said. "While our hearts are heavy today, they are also filled with gratitude. Our thoughts are with the entire Bush family tonight and all who were inspired by George and Barbara's example.", , This is the first state funeral for a former President in over a decade, since Gerald Ford passed away in December 2006.
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FSU Fraternity Suspended After Student Dies at OffCampus Party
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A Florida State University FSU student was found dead on Friday after attending an off-campus party, leading to the suspension of the fraternity he was pledging. Andrew Coffey, 20, of Pompano Beach, Fla. was trying to join the FSU's Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. After attending a party about a mile from the FSU campus Thursday night the beginning of the school's parents' weekend Coffey was found unresponsive in the home where it was held on Friday morning, according to the report. He eventually died at the scene. All Pi Kappa Phi activity at FSU has been suspended in the wake of Coffey's death, and fraternity brothers have been directed to cooperate with a police investigation, the Democrat reports. The FSU chapter has also ceased all social media and online activity. "We are overwhelmed with sadness any time we learn of the death of one of our students, and the FSU family provides extensive outreach to their family and friends as they mourn the loss of a young life," FSU Vice President Amy Hecht said in a statement. Coffey's death comes at a time when fraternity safety is in the public eye. In February, a Penn State University student pledging the school's Beta Theta Pi chapter died from alcohol poisoning, in what was deemed by a grand jury a hazing ritual. A similar incident led to the September death of an 18-year-old Phi Delta Theta pledge at Louisiana State University. No arrests have been made in connection with Coffey's death, according to the Democrat.
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Man in Isolation in Possible Hawaii Ebola Case
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A man is being treated in isolation in Hawaii for what health officials say is a potential Ebola case, local ABC affiliate KITV reported Thursday, though he could be sick with some other ailment. Authorities stress that they are being especially cautious amid concerns over the deadly virus, two days after the first confirmed case in the United States was identified in Texas. They did not release details about the patient or the hospital where he is being treated, according to KITV. "The hospital is being very careful, as they should be, to take precautions making sure the patient is in isolation and making sure the people and the public stay safe," Dr. Melissa Viray, an official with the Hawaii Department of Health, told KITV. "That being said, it's still an if. This is not a for sure' thing.", Health officials in Texas are tracking down anyone who may have come into contact with the Ebola patient in Texas and monitoring a second potential case. The virus has infected more than 7,200 people primarily in Western Africa and killed more 3,300 in the worst Ebola outbreak on record. KITV,
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British Man Who Tried to Shoot Donald Trump Pleads Guilty
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A British man plead guilty Tuesday after attempting to grab a gun from a police officer and shoot Donald Trump at a June campaign rally in Las Vegas. Michael Steven Sandford, 20, is facing federal charges of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm and disrupting an official function, which could get him about two years in U.S. prison and deported, according to CBS News. "I tried to take a gun from a policeman to shoot someone with, and I'm pleading guilty," Sandford said in court. At the event he asked a police officer if he could get an autograph of Trump and then reached both of his hands for the officer's weapon, CBS reports. Sanford told a federal agent that he drove from California to Las Vegas with intentions to kill Trump and that he practiced at a gun range with a 9mm pistol the day before the attempt. With the plea deal, Sandford will not be able to file an appeal. CBS
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This Is Not a Drill Hawaii Just Sent Out an Incoming Missile Alert It Was a Mistake
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Reports of an alert about a missile threat to Hawaii ricocheted across social media Saturday and caused anxiety in the state. But authorities said the alert was false and sent as an error. "U.S. Pacific Command has detected no ballistic missile threat to Hawaii. Earlier message was sent in error. State of Hawaii will send out a correction message as soon possible," U.S. Pacific Command said in a statement on Twitter. Although USPACOM had explained why the alert was sent, Hawaii Emergency Management Agency had already doused cold water on the alerts. "NO missile threat to Hawaii," the agency tweeted Saturday afternoon Eastern Time. Hawaii's Governor David Ige, who said he was meeting with authorities to determine what caused the alert, said on remarks broadcast on CNN that an employee had pressed the wrong button. "This change in shift routine happens three times a day, seven days a week, 365 days out of the year. For the most part it occurs flawlessly. There was an error today and we will be investigating and changing procedure so that we can avoid this from ever happening again," Ige said. Ajit Paj, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said his organization was launching an investigation into the incident. According to screenshots, the alert read, "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.", Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard said on Twitter the alert was a false alarm, and she had confirmed with officials there was no missile. Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz followed suit, and said it was "a false alarm based on a human error.", , The White House initially referred comment to the Department of Defense, but the press office subsequently released a statement saying the President was briefed, and the event was "purely a state exercise." President Donald Trump is spending the weekend at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. But the incident prompted a wave of criticism from Hawaii politicians, who said it was imperative that a false alert like this never happens again, particularly given the increasing tensions surrounding North Korea's nuclear missile capabilities. Senator Schatz called the event "totally inexcusable." "There needs to be tough and quick accountability and a fixed process," he said on Twitter. "At a time of heightened tensions, we need to make sure all information released to the community is accurate. We need to get to the bottom of what happened and make sure it never happens again," said Senator Hirono. Some Hawaiians were sharing their experience of receiving the alert on social media. "This was my phone when I woke up just now. I'm in Honolulu, Hawaii and my family is on the North Shore. They were hiding in the garage. My mom and sister were crying. It was a false alarm, but betting a lot of people are shaken," Sara Donchey, who is identified on her Twitter biography as a reporter for a local television in Houston, Texas, wrote on Twitter, accompanied by screenshots of text with her family. , , , , ,
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Marijuana Activists Will Give 1000 Free Joints to Congress on 420
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Working on Capitol Hill could come with a new job perk this 4/20 two free marijuana joints. Activists with the pro-cannabis rights group DCMJ plan to celebrate the unofficial pot holiday by passing out at least 1,000 joints to members of Congress, interns, congressional staffers and credentialed press members over the age of 21. DCMJ is holding the "First Annual Joint Session" to demonstrate for Congress to prohibit federal interference with states or D.C. legalizing marijuana, according to the group's website. "Americans don't want a crackdown on legal cannabisthey want Congress to end cannabis prohibition once and for all," DCMJ co-founder Adam Eidinger said in a statement. "On 420, we'll celebrate adults making informed choices based on facts, rather than propaganda.", The activists will ask for recipients' Congressional ID's, so other local 4/20 enthusiasts are out of luck. The cannabis itself is legally homegrown, according to the statement. A 2014 ballot initiative in Washington, D.C. legalized recreational marijuana use, and since transferring "without payment" up to an ounce of marijuana is also legal, the handouts shouldn't get activists in trouble with the law, the AP reports.
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Peace Corps Report Says 1 in 5 Volunteers Are Sexually Assaulted
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Nearly one in five of the nearly 7,000 American Peace Corps volunteers serving around the world is sexually assaulted during their service, according to an internal agency report. The report, first reported by CBS News, shows that nearly half of Peace Corps victims don't report their assaults in service countries. Volunteers felt criticized and threatened about discussing their attacks, according to CBS, and survivors often said they are blamed or punished. According to the organization, the data is preliminary and based on a six month reporting period. Another report, looking at the entirety of Peace Corps volunteers that served in 2014, shows that 5.37 sexual assaults were reported for every 100 female volunteers, the organization said. The latest report does contain some chilling stories in one instance, a 23-year-old woman was threatened in a remote Dominican Republic town by two men with machetes, but escaped. When she reported the attack to Peace Corps, she was told she was going home. "They also told me that my attack had occurred because I had been walking in my site and that as a volunteer, it was my job to have been more proactive to prevent it from happening," the woman, Danae Smith said. Peace Corps personnel were accused of sexual assault, but resigned before facing administrative action and later allowed to reapply to the agency, according to the report. A spokesperson at the Peace Corps told TIME that the agency does not have a comprehensive final report that incorporates a full year's worth of data. But according to preliminary findings, the spokesperson said, Peace Corps volunteers report sexual assaults at levels similar to the general population. The spokesperson added that of the 19 of Peace Corps volunteers who participated in the report and said they were sexually assaulted, with 85 of those non-aggravated sexual assaults like touching and groping, and 10 were rapes. Accusations that the Peace Corps blames the victims of sexual assault go back years, with a widespread attempt at reform in 2011 including a law to protect volunteers and a promise of change by the government agency's director. CBS
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Ohio Steps Up Fight Against Heroin Deaths
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Ohio lawmakers are looking to expand access to a drug that helps revive heroin overdose victims, as the state attorney general attempts to reduce its cost. An Ohio House committee approved a bill Wednesday that would allow any individualnot just emergency respondersto provide heroin overdose antidote Naloxone to friends and family members without a prescription and/or fear of prosecution. MORE Heroin Deaths Have Doubled in 2 Years, The bill expands a law passed last year that provided increased access to the drug and allowed police and emergency responders to carry it. The latest bill, approved by the House Health and Aging Committee, would also allow pharmacies to hand out the drug without prescriptions. Naloxone has been shown to temporarily revive overdose victims, allowing them to breathe and giving paramedics time to save their lives. Heroin overdoses have grown into a public health crisis in Ohio within the last few years. According to the Ohio Department of Health, heroin-related deaths have increased from 16 of all drug-involved deaths throughout the state in 2008 to 35 in 2012, when 680 people died from a heroin overdose. MORE Holder Urges Use of Drug to Fight Heroin Overdoses, As heroin-related deaths have increased, the price of Naloxone has gone up as well. According to the Dayton Daily News, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is currently negotiating with Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to decrease the cost by getting a price rebate for the drug.
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Tampon Tax Ends in States After Year of The Period
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Every woman has a period story. Take the 34-year-old who remembers her 14-year-old self sitting on a boy's lap at a pool party and leaving her mark, literally, on her crush's pants. Or the 58-year-old who leaves a pair of pants at her desk to avoid the embarrassment of being caught off guard by a surprise visit from Aunt Flo. Or the homeless women across the nation who face the humiliation of having to substitute old rags and newspaper for menstrual products. For too many women in prison, a former inmate wrote in the Guardian, pads and tampons are a rarity. Every woman, indeed, has a story. Over the past year and a half, the global public has heard a great deal more of them, creating an ideal environment to push tampon tax bills through the state legislatures. On May 25, New York State voted to eliminate a "luxury" tax on menstrual products, which the goods had been subject to as non-"necessities" think medicine, food, joining a handful of states and cities that have done the same. The next day, similar legislation passed in Illinois. These are the most recent wins in what has become a global movement over the past 18 months to change not only the way tampons and pads are taxed and distributed, but also the openness with which we talk about a biological process that for centuries was cast as a curse and a source of shame. Linda B. Rosenthal, the assembly member who introduced New York State's bill last May, estimates it will save women in New York City 416.52 over their lifetimes. But money isn't the only issue, she says "While this is about a tax on tampons, it's also about women seeking and gaining their voice.", Mentions of periods tripled in mainstream media outlets between 2010 and 2015, according to NPR. And all that visibility has helped fuel reform. According to Jennifer Weiss-Wolf of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, who has been at the forefront of the push, 14 states and three major cities have introduced legislation, amendments or budget lines this year to nix the tax. In July 2015, Canada ended its sales tax on these items. And earlier this year, the United Kingdom proposed a resolution to do the same. "When the period went public last year, there was an incredible array of forces that brought it to the fore," says Weiss-Wolf. Take, for instance, the work of Naama Bloom, the CEO and founder of HelloFlo, a feminineproduct delivery service responsible for a viral video that pokes fun at the way young girls learn about their periods and the shame surrounding them. "I think it's much to do with the culture we live in," Bloom told TIME last year. "Part of what has been so radical is that I'm not ashamed.", Neither were the thousands of women who tweeted the hashtag PeriodsAreNotAnInsult, which sprang up thanks to a comment about Fox News debate moderator Megyn Kelly by presidential candidate Donald Trump. YouTuber Ingrid Nilsen, who stumped President Obama with a question about tampon taxes in January, wasn't ashamed either. "I don't know anybody that has a period that would consider it a luxury," Nilsen told TIME. The next battle is to distribute free tampons and pads in public restrooms. On Thursday, the New York City council will host the first hearing on a package of bills aimed at expanding access to free tampons and pads in public schools, shelters, and jails. Nancy Kramer, an advertising executive, has been advocate for "freeing the tampon" since her 2013 TEDx talk in which she argues that they should be as available as toilet paper. Tax repeal is a "step in the right direction," she says, but universal accessibility would be the real win.
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Massachusetts Suffered Its First Fatal Shark Attack in Decades Heres How Common They Really Are in t
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It was around noon when the shark struck. Arthur Medici, a 26-year-old from Brazil, was attacked on Sept. 16 while boogie-boarding just off Cape Cod's Newcomb Hollow Beach. Although a friend dragged him from the water, he soon succumbed to his injuries in the first fatal shark attack in Massachusetts since 1936. Coming just weeks after a 61-year-old was hospitalized following a bite a few miles up the beach, the death unnerved a region unaccustomed to the presence of these storied predators. The first American shark panic began in the hot summer of 1916, when a spate of attacks off the Jersey Shore killed four in two weeks. This was thought to be the work of a single great white sharka species indigenous to the Atlantic coast and the same likely involved in recent attacks. In an era when little was known about beasts from the deep, the deaths were big news. One paper warned that, facing a scarcity of fish, the shark had "probably acquired a taste for human flesh.", But 1916 did not herald a new era of human-hunting sharks. The rate of attacks in the U.S. stayed relatively stable, at two or three per year, for decades. From the 1950s on, that number rose in tandem with human population growth, and its attendant increase of people in the water. Globally, both numbers have been climbing faster since the late 1980s and into the 21st century, but such encounters with sharks are still remarkably uncommon given that the human population is some 7.5 billion. In 2017, 53 of the world's 88 confirmed unprovoked attacks took place on U.S. coastlines, with 31 in Floridabut even there, you're far less likely to be killed by a shark than by lightning. Thanks to beach safety and hospital access, only five of last year's global attacks were fatal. We now know the Jersey Shore shark, which helped inspire the fictional fish in Jaws, was probably just confused after straying from its home in deeper waters. "If sharks were actively hunting people, we'd see far more attacks," Gavin Naylor, director at the Florida Museum's Program for Shark Research, tells TIME. "When sharks attack humans, it's always a case of mistaken identity.", Instead, great whites are usually looking for seals, which helps explain the Cape Cod attacks. The East Coast is feeling the effects of the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, which has boosted the numbers of seals to unusually high levels. As the seals venture closer to shore, so do the sharks, says Naylor. Statistically, sharks have far more to fear from us than we do from themfisheries wipe out an estimated 100 million each year, and climate change and other human activity have threatened shark habitats, sending their global population into decline. But that doesn't make it any less harrowing when the beasts bite back.
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Four US Companies Have Been Contracted to Build Prototype Border Walls
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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has contracted four American companies to build prototypes of a southern border wall with Mexico, in a major step toward realizing one of President Trump's core campaign promises. Caddell Construction, Fisher Industries, Texas Sterling Construction, and W.G. Yates Sons Construction, have each been charged with building a concrete wall that's 30-feet long and up to 30-feet high, NBC News reports. The DHS is also expected to commission four non-concrete wall prototypes. On completion, the government will evaluate the designs to determine which is the most suitable to implement on a massive scale along the U.S.-Mexico border. The four contacts are each worth between 400,000 and 500,000. Read more This Graphic Shows Why President Trump's Border Wall Won't Stop Immigrants From Crossing, "This is the first new initiative that adds to our bigger plans," Ronald Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection told NBC News. "Testing will look at things like the aesthetics of it, how penetrable they are, how resistant they are to tampering and then scaling or anti-climbing," he added. According to Vitiello, construction will begin in the coming weeks with the review process expected to take between one and two months. NBC News,
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Former Virginia Governor Charged With Accepting Illegal Gifts
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Updated Jan. 21, 2014, 709 p.m. E.T. Former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell and his wife were charged on Tuesday with illegally accepting gifts including luxury vacations, private jets and large loans from a wealthy businessman seeking special treatment from the government. Federal prosecutors say McDonnell, a Republican, and his wife Maureen repeatedly received gifts and loans totaling more than 160,000 from dietary-supplement executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. In exchange, the McDonnells allegedly bolstered Williams' struggling company with the prestige of the governor's office. The indictment on Tuesday charges them with 14 counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy. In a statement on Tuesday, McDonnell, who has previously apologized for the gifts scandal but said he did nothing illegal, maintained his innocence. "I deeply regret accepting legal gifts and loans from Mr. Williams, all of which have been repaid with interest, and I have apologized for my poor judgment for which I take full responsibility," McDonnell said. "However, I repeat emphatically that I did nothing illegal for Mr. Williams in exchange for what I believed was his personal generosity and friendship. I never promised and Mr. Williams and his company never received any government benefit of any kind from me or my administration. We did not violate the law, and I will use every available resource and advocate I have for as long as it takes to fight these false allegations, and to prevail against this unjust overreach of the federal government.", "I come before you this evening as someone who's been falsely and wrongly accused," he said later in a press conference on Tuesday night. "All of these gifts have now been returned or repaid with interest I repeat again emphatically that I did nothing illegal for Mr. Williams for what I believed was his personal friendship and generosity.", McDonnell left office earlier this year after the single term in office Virginia governors are allowed. His election in 2009 heralded the first Republican backlash to President Barack Obama, and McDonnell was frequently considered a possible vice-presidential candidate, and perhaps even a future White House hopeful himself. Newly elected governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, said in a statement that he was "troubled" by the charges. "As this case progresses, it is my sincerest hope that justice will be served and that Virginians get the answers to which they are entitled," he said. "As governor, I will remain focused on leading this commonwealth in a way that restores Virginians' trust in government and honors their expectation of transparency and accountability."
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Lobbyist Injured in the Virginia Shooting Is in Critical Condition Family Says
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A lobbyist was one of the five victims hurt in a shooting during a practice for a congressional baseball game on Wednesday morning and is in the intensive care unit after undergoing surgery, according to his family. Matt Mika, a lobbyist for Tyson Foods and the company's government relations director, was shot multiple times in the attack, according to his family, who traveled Washington D.C. to be with him. Although he is out of surgery, he remains in the intensive care unit, where his family, who is asking for privacy, expects he will stay for several days. "While the attack today was a terrible surprise, Matt's presence on the ball field, helping longtime colleagues and friends was not," his family said in a statement. "He is a very thoughtful, fun-loving person who is competitive and loyal all things which contributed to his continued commitment to the Congressional Baseball Game.", Mika, a former congressional aide, is being treated at George Washington University Hospital, the Washington Post reported. The hospital confirmed to TIME that one victim from the shooting remains in critical condition. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who was also injured in the shooting, was also in critical condition on Wednesday afternoon. Scalise is undergoing treatment at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.
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Anthony Bourdain Found Dead at 61 From Apparent Suicide
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Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain was found dead in his hotel room in France Friday morning from an apparent suicide. He was 61. Bourdain's death was confirmed by CNN, which noted he was filming an episode of his show Parts Unknown. "His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller," the statement said. "His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time.", Bourdain was found by his friend Eric Ripert, co-owner of the world-famous restaurant Le Bernardin and a common companion on Bourdain's show, CNN said. The New York City-born chef is survived by his daughter, 11-year-old Ariane. Bourdain separated from her mother, Ottavia Bourdain, in 2016 after nine years of marriage. "We love each other. We respect the decisions the other has made. And we'll always consider ourselves a family," she said in a statement. Bourdain had been in a relationship with Italian actress and director Asia Argento, who was one of the first women to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex. He had actively been supporting Argento and the MeToo movement. After Argento made a scathing speech about Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival in May, Bourdain told IndieWire he was "so proud of her." "I am honored to know someone who has the strength and fearlessness to do something like that," he added. Bourdain visited roughly 120 countries over the years, exploring various cultures and cuisines. His CNN show, Parts Unknown, received five Emmy Awards as well as a 2013 Peabody Award. He also wrote about his travels and culinary adventures in his 2000 memoir, Kitchen Confidential Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, which was a New York Times bestseller. In an interview with TIME in 2015, Bourdain revealed he had been surprised by the book's success. "A lot of people offered me things in the wake of that, and I was careful about what I said yes to. I live by something called a no-ahole rule Whatever it is I'm considering, I ask myself, whoever I have to deal with in this project, if they call me at 11 o'clock at night, will it be O.K.? I don't want to have to pick up thinking, Oh, that ahole's on the phone," he said. The announcement of Bourdain's death comes three days after fashion designer Kate Spade committed suicide in her Manhattan apartment. Federal data shows that suicide rates have increased steadily across nearly every demographic over the past two decades, rising by 28 from 1999 to 2016. If you or someone you know may be contemplating suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
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