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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/26/freddie-gray-protest-funeral/26407267/
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Pastor: 'Someone has to pay' for Freddie Gray's death
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Pastor: 'Someone has to pay' for Freddie Gray's death
The family of Freddie Gray began formally saying goodbye Sunday with a wake held hours after a largely peaceful protest over his death disintegrated into chaos on Baltimore streets.
The funeral for Gray, a black man who died one week ago of injuries sustained in police custody, will take place Monday.
"He left behind a grief-stricken family, a heart-broken fiancée, and a sorrowful step-daughter-to-be," says a website accepting donations it says will help defray medical and burial costs. "The Gray family appreciates your support."
The police department promised extra security following Saturday's upheaval, tweeting, "Extra officers will be deployed downtown and across Baltimore to ensure everyone's safety during the rest of the weekend and into next week."
Activist Jamal Bryant, pastor of Empowerment Temple AME Church, told his congregation Sunday that "somebody is going to have to pay" for Gray's death, the Associated Press reported.
If "you're black in America, your life is always under threat," Bryant said.
Saturday's rally began as a peaceful protest of more than 1,000 people. Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said he moved through the crowd, promising that his office was "making deep systemic changes in the culture of this organization. The people were very receptive."
Batts, who is black, said Sunday that 34 people were arrested and six officers injured in tense confrontations after the organized protest had essentially wrapped up. He has blamed the violence on "agitators."
"They became very violent. They began to throw objects," Batts said Saturday night. "They picked up aluminum barricades and smashed windows at our bars and pubs."
He said some residents moved between police and the angry crowd, urging the protesters not to damage the city. He commended police officers for showing "tremendous restraint" and city residents for helping tamping down the unrest.
"I am proud of our residents and our police officers," Batts said. "The vast majority of residents out here did a good job. ... A small number of people felt like they had to turn this into an ugly day."
Thousands of fans were temporarily trapped inside the Baltimore Orioles baseball stadium Saturday night as "ongoing public safety issues" prevented fans from leaving the ballpark, the team said. An all-clear announcement was made before the game ended.
Batts emphasized that the 1,200 officers providing security Saturday had no interest in curbing the right to freedom of expression. His department tweeted: "We are continuing to facilitate everyone's First Amendment rights to protest and be heard. Please remain peaceful."
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake held a news conference at City Hall late Saturday with Gray's twin sister, Fredricka, and Bryant appealing for calm.
"My family wants to say please, please stop the violence," Fredricka Gray said. "Freddie Gray would not want this."
Protesters had promised that it would be their biggest march yet after near-daily demonstrations since Gray's death. Police have acknowledged that Gray did not receive medical attention early enough after being taken into custody and that he was not buckled into a seat belt when he was transported in a police van after he was arrested April 12.
Gray, 25, died of a mysterious spinal cord injury that he suffered while in police custody. His lawyer, William Murphy, has said Gray never should have been arrested in the first place.
Deputy Commissioner Kevin Davis, who is leading the police investigation into Gray's death, said three bike officers encountered Gray and another man. Both men ran from police, who chased them for several blocks.
Davis said the officers caught up with Gray, held him down, found a knife in his pocket, handcuffed him and loaded him into the van. Davis has acknowledged that Gray should have received medical attention at that time.
A bystander's video shows Gray being dragged to the van, screaming in pain. Gray asked for medical help several times, beginning before he was placed in the van, police said. After a 30-minute ride that included three stops, paramedics were called. Authorities have not explained how or when Gray's spine was injured.
Malik Shabazz, a leader of Black Lawyers for Justice, has been among those demanding the arrest of six officers involved in the arrest. The officers were suspended with pay, and Davis has said he plans to issue a report by May 1. The U.S. Justice Department is reviewing the case for any civil rights violations, and Gray's family is conducting its own investigation.
Saturday's march attracted people from beyond the Baltimore area. Larry Holmes, 63, was there from New York. He expressed anger at the mayor and other officials who warned about outsiders agitating violence, The Washington Post reported.
"If I'm an outside agitator, guilty as charged," Holmes said. "We need more outside agitators to reclaim our communities."
Contributing: Yamiche Alcindor
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234b6f454ce173fe6c535639cee4736c
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/26/supreme-court-gay-marriage/26302835/
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Long courtship leads to high court's altar for gay marriage
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Long courtship leads to high court's altar for gay marriage
WASHINGTON -- When lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union filed the first federal lawsuit in 1970 seeking same-sex marriage rights, they were almost laughed out of court. "That did not work out well," recalls James Esseks, who directs the ACLU's gay rights project.
When Evan Wolfson submitted his 140-page, 710-footnote Harvard Law School thesis, "Samesex Marriage and Morality," in 1983, his was a lonely voice. "Unfortunately," he wrote, "the law, and particularly the Supreme Court, have often lagged far behind the changes in society."
And when a trial judge in Hawaii delivered the first court victory for same-sex marriage in 1996, lawmakers and voters banned the practice, leading the state Supreme Court to dismiss the case. Nearly 5,000 miles away, Congress and President Bill Clinton felt sufficiently threatened to enact the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
As the Supreme Court prepares to hear oral arguments Tuesday in a case that appears likely to give gays and lesbians a constitutional right to marry, the pace of change may seem like a race to the altar. In truth, it's been a very long courtship.
"This so-called quick and so-called overnight success is the product of decades of battles," says Wolfson, founder and president of the national same-sex marriage advocacy group Freedom to Marry. "That's how we've gotten there."
A patient legal strategy, a savvy public relations campaign and superior financing and organization have propelled the gay marriage movement past an outgunned and underfunded opposition. That, and having the Constitution on its side, according to dozens of state and federal court judges who have struck down same-sex marriage bans over the past 16 months.
"It is not the Constitution that has changed, but the knowledge of what it means to be gay or lesbian," federal District Judge Robert Shelby ruled in Utah in December 2013, igniting the spate of like-minded decisions that followed.
'WAITING FOR THE OTHER SHOE'
The question before the high court is simple: "Does the 14th Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex?" A secondary question asks whether states must recognize marriages licensed in other states.
The justices of 1972 had a simple answer. They dismissed a case brought by two gay men from Minnesota in one sentence, "for want of a substantial federal question."
Fast forward to 2013, when Justice Anthony Kennedy delivered the court's 5-4 ruling against the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to legally married gay men and lesbians that are routinely received by opposite-sex couples.
"The principal purpose and the necessary effect of this law are to demean those persons who are in a lawful same-sex marriage," he wrote. While Kennedy confined the ruling to those already married in a dozen states, Justice Antonin Scalia seethed in dissent that the reasoning would apply to others.
"No one should be fooled," Scalia wrote. "It is just a matter of listening and waiting for the other shoe."
While it took a decade after Massachusetts first legalized same-sex marriage in 2003 for the first dozen states' shoes to drop, the high court's twin rulings in 2013 -- against DOMA and clearing the way for gay marriages in California -- ignited a second wave. In the last year alone, the number of gay-marriage states has more than doubled from 17 to 37, housing more than 70% of the U.S. population.
Pockets of resistance remain, most notably in Alabama, where the state Supreme Court ordered counties to stop issuing marriage licenses approved by a federal court.
Now the justices are being asked to decide for the remaining 13 states by focusing on four -- Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky -- whose same-sex marriage bans were upheld in November by a 2-1 majority of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.
If Scalia was right in his prediction, as most on both sides of the issue suspect, it will be a landmark victory for gay marriage. No lesser sage than Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has said so. Without prejudicing her own consideration of the case, she told The New York Times: "I would be very surprised if the Supreme Court retreats from what it has said about same-sex unions."
FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE
It won't take long to find out. The justices will be asked Tuesday to decide if the Constitution gives two gay men or lesbians the right to marry, or whether -- as Judge Jeffrey Sutton ruled in the 6th Circuit -- the matter should be left "in the hands of state voters."
Should the court take the latter route, gay marriage could be a long time coming to some pockets of the country. In Greg Bourke's home state of Kentucky, for instance, a Louisville Courier-Journal poll last month showed 57% of the population opposes it, a figure that has risen since last summer.
Bourke, 57, and his husband Michael DeLeon, 56, are raising adopted teenagers in tiny St. Matthews, Ky. They have lived in the same house and attended nearby Our Lady of Lourdes Church for nearly 30 years. They've changed diapers, gone to Scout camp, given driving lessons. "I think I've earned it," Bourke says of Kentucky's withheld recognition of his marriage.
The 32 plaintiffs in the six consolidated cases illustrate virtually every problem gay and lesbian couples who cannot marry or have their marriages recognized face, from cradle to grave.
For New Yorkers Joseph Vitale and Robert Talmas, it's keeping both their names on the birth certificate of their adopted son Cooper, who was born in Ohio. Cooper, at 2 the youngest of the 32 plaintiffs, is listed as "Adopted Child Doe" in court papers.
For Cincinnati's Jim Obergefell, it's keeping his name on the death certificate of his late husband John Arthur, who died of Lou Gehrig's disease in 2013. That matters for federal death and disability benefits but, Obergefell says, "It isn't about the money."
For other couples in the case, potential problems are mounting. Tennessee's Valeria Tanco and Sophy Jesty just had their first child last month by artificial insemination. Michigan's April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse recently adopted their fourth child, two of whom have disabilities.
"Babies are being born. People are dying," says Susan Sommer, director of constitutional litigation for Lambda Legal, one of the four major organizations providing legal assistance to the plaintiffs. "Life is going on for these same-sex couples and their children. They should not have to wait."
OPPONENTS STILL FIGHTING
Nearly 140 briefs have been filed on both sides of the issue. The Justice Department has come down on the side of gay marriage; Solicitor General Donald Verrilli will help present the case. Major business and military leaders are backing gay marriage, while religious leaders and a majority of Republican officials support the bans.
While gay marriage proponents have the bigger megaphone, opponents fight to get their message across. Gene Schaerr, a Brigham Young University law professor who has argued against same-sex marriage in lower courts, contends in a much-noted brief that it could lead to a decline in marriage rates, more children raised by single parents, and even more abortions.
John Bursch, a former Michigan solicitor general who will present the main case against gay marriage in court, says "it all comes down to the Constitution."
"From our perspective, the Constitution is silent," Bursch says. "And if that's the case, it is up to the will of the people."
Kennedy, who has written all of the court's major gay rights opinions, is a strong defender of leaving states alone. His ruling last April upheld Michigan's constitutional amendment banning the use of racial preferences in college admissions. But he has been an even stronger defender of individual liberty.
For that reason, advocates of same-sex marriage -- some of whom have worked 45 years to reach this moment -- exude confidence. "I hope it's a strong majority," says Mary Bonauto, who will argue the main marriage case for the plaintiffs, "but a majority's fine."
Contributing: Todd Spangler of The Detroit Free Press
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a75ab04021c62608e2e5a2bb71b805e0
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/27/nepal-earthquake-everest-arizona-woman-trapped/26439559/
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Ariz. woman among those trapped on Everest after quake
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Ariz. woman among those trapped on Everest after quake
PHOENIX — After this weekend's massive Nepal earthquake and aftershocks caused severe avalanches, an Arizona woman is among those stranded on Mount Everest.
Haley Ercanbrack, 32, of Scottsdale, Ariz., was trapped at Camp 2 at an elevation of 21,000 feet, according to her friend, Pamela Hobbs of Scottsdale.
Hobbs said Ercanbrack and the rest of the team started descending to Camp 1 late Sunday night in search of better hopes of a helicopter rescue.
Her father, Utah resident Randall Ercanbrack, is safe at the Gorak Shep, a small mountaineering village about two hours from base camp.
Earthquake-triggered avalanches roared down the world's tallest peak, killing at least 18 people and trapping several others. Ercanbrack is on the mountain with Madison Mountaineering, a Seattle-based expedition group. Madison Mountaineering said the team descended safely to Camp 1. They made it to base camp Monday.
Climbers from around the globe travel to scale Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, and among those killed in the avalanche there were Google executive Daniel Fredinburg, who was part of a team from the firm attempting to create a Google street map of the trek to Everest Base Camp, and Marisa Eve Girawong, an emergency room physician's assistant serving as a base camp doctor for Madison Mountaineering.
Officials announced Monday that more than 3,700 people are confirmed dead after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Saturday.
Police in Nepal on Monday told the Associated Press that at least 3,617 people were confirmed dead. However, that figure does not include the deaths of those at Mount Everest, or the 61 people killed in India and 20 reported dead in Tibet.
According to Madison's website, which has provided updates, team members at Camp 2 and Gorak Shep are all safe, but they were rapidly running out of food and fuel. The website also included audio from a satellite phone call and a list of team members and their locations.
Almost all routes down to the lower camps were destroyed by the avalanche, and the only hope of evacuation is a helicopter rescue, the website said. The website said
Arizona residents have joined a large-scale international rescue and relief effort in the quake's aftermath.
A retired couple prepared to leave Sunday for Katmandu, Nepal's capital, to help establish communications systems. They packed their bags and prepared for a month-long stay in Nepal.
Glen and Julie Bradley, of Pinetop, Ariz., are telecommunications experts who have volunteered with the Red Cross since the days after Hurricane Katrina, when their own experience as aid recipients inspired them to volunteer for the organization.
Once they arrive, the Bradleys will be part of a small international team in charge of establishing satellite connections for radio towers and Internet access. The Bradleys will travel with equipment that will help the Nepal Red Cross and other international societies communicate with each other and coordinate recovery efforts.
"We'll provide them with the equipment they need to operate," Glen Bradley said.
The couple is familiar with the area — they were in Nepal 16 months ago establishing communications systems in case of an emergency just like this one. Several geologists and safety experts have been warning of a potential earthquake in the region, Red Cross officials said.
Julie Bradley said she and her husband won't know the true extent of the devastation until they land.
"We are steeling ourselves to find it to be pretty tough," she said.
Contributing: William Cummings, USA TODAY
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5232367e443a1345f0470eb2643eaa3a
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/29/jared-foundation-exec-faces-child-porn-charges/26609805/
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Jared Foundation exec faces child porn charges
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Jared Foundation exec faces child porn charges
INDIANAPOLIS — The executive director of the Jared Foundation was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of child exploitation and child pornography.
Russell Taylor, 43, was arrested and charged with three counts of child exploitation, three counts of possession of child pornography and three counts voyeurism, according to a release from Indiana State Police.
Police began investigating Taylor after a tip was received from a concerned citizen. The citizen had received a text message from Taylor and alerted police, the release said.
Investigators from the Indiana Crimes Against Children Task Force obtained a search warrant for Taylor's home and found evidence of child pornography, the release said.
Taylor was taken into custody and is being held in the Marion County Jail.
Jared Fogle, the famed Subway spokesman who is best known for losing 235 pounds by eating Subway sandwiches and exercising, started the nonprofit Jared Foundation to raise awareness and cash to support childhood obesity programs.
Calls placed to a number on the foundation's website went directly to voice mail, messages left were not immediately returned and the phone number listed on the foundation's 990 tax form has been disconnected.
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caf4d7a29cc153c3ec7b8c2db9637ef9
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/01/baltimore-police-commissioner/26685431/
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Baltimore police chief: 'There is a sense of rage'
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Baltimore police chief: 'There is a sense of rage'
BALTIMORE — Thursday night, Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts walked alongside dozens of officers asking people to go home and to obey the city's 10 p.m. curfew.
Standing across from a burned-out CVS that has become the epicenter of protests, Batts told USA TODAY police wanted to allow people to express their freedom of speech and that officers were striving to take a measured approach to the demonstrations.
"There is a sense of rage and rightly so," Batts told USA TODAY. "The Constitution says you should have the right to protest in the street and walk to get your point across. So that's what we facilitate."
National attention is fixated on Baltimore after 10 days of protests following the death of Freddie Gray, 25, a black man who died of a severe spinal injury April 19 while in police custody. Tensions exploded into violence Monday. Clashes between police and demonstrators led arrests of more than 200 protesters and injuries to 20 police officers.
He explained that officers want to keep everyone safe but not stifle demonstrations.
"We stand on the side and try to allow people to voice their opinions, voice their rage, voice their concerns," Batts said. "We had a young man lose his life. I think that's a critical issue."
Batts said he grew up in South Central Los Angeles and pointed out that after the 1965 Watts Riots, parts of the city never quite recovered. He said he hopes Baltimore's infrastructure won't suffer the same sad fate. Instead, his department will be working hard to regain the public's trust.
"The organization has a long history of causing pain in the community but we are trying to evolve it and change it into something different," Batts said. "We are trying step by step to build relationships."
He added that officers are attempting to connect with people and pointed out that he requires officers to spend at least 30 minutes a day walking around the communities they patrol.
"There is so much distrust here," Batts said. "I think it's going to take a long time of inch-by-inch-building relationships and growing in the right direction."
The commissioner said he's hopeful this tumultuous part of the city's history will lead to positive changes.
"I think out of challenges come opportunities," Batts said. "I hope a year from now this just doesn't become a memory. I hope we take Mr. Gray's passing and use that to bring the city together to move forward."
Meanwhile, Batts says he anticipates his department's report on Gray's death that was handed over to the state's attorney's office Thursday will become public information at some point.
"There's nothing for us to hide," Batts said. "We have just been asked by the state's attorney to allow her to speak to that because it's her case now."
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0d1ecc034332d905b8cb05dabf3dc5f4
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/01/bourbon-longer-mans-drink/26735681/
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Bourbon: No longer a man's drink
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Bourbon: No longer a man's drink
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In March, members of the Bourbon Women Association were presented with a survey asking how they preferred to drink bourbon.
Was their favorite drink a mint julep? A whiskey sour? A bourbon slushie?
The male master's degree student conducting the survey was probably surprised by the results — which has long plagued the male-dominated industry, association President Susan Reigler said.
Overwhelmingly, the women said they preferred their bourbon one way: straight.
"You don't have to have any special anatomy to enjoy a good whiskey," Reigler said.
That line of thinking seems to have always been prevalent in Kentucky, where about 75% of the association's members are located, bartenders don't bat an eyelash at women ordering bourbon, and females routinely hold top positions at distilleries.
But with the current bourbon boom, the notion that bourbon is a man's drink also seems to be dispersing nationwide. According to statistics provided by Heaven Hill, a Bardstown, Ky., distillery, about 30% of bourbon drinkers are women, and the total number of women who drink bourbon increased about 50% between 2011 and 2014.
There's no one reason for the change. A Heaven Hill representative attributes it to a younger generation looking for options. Whiskey freelance writer Fred Minnick says it could be women have more societal freedom than in the past. Reigler says it might just be the industry finally catching up to modern gender views.
"We've seen a lot of changes in aspects of our culture," she said. "'Oh, gee, women can be CEOs? Wow, women can run for president?' Why are we still asking this? ... Of course women like bourbon."
The Bourbon Women Association, which formed in 2011,
was created as a way to give professional women an opportunity to meet other women who enjoy bourbon and a place to feel comfortable asking questions. So far, it's succeeded — with more than 600 members in 23 states and four countries, and two recently formed branches in Indianapolis and Chicago.
"Women enjoy interesting flavors and complex products," Reigler said. "We're reaching out to women to say, 'It's OK, you don't have to feel like it's off limits.' "
Minnick, author of Whiskey Women: The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch & Irish Whiskey, said the notion that women couldn't drink bourbon likely stems from a connection between the spirit and prostitutes that was common about a century ago.
"In the 1800s era, prostitutes were big time whiskey salesmen," Minnick said. "They were selling whiskey to johns in the brothel. Distilleries would use illustrations of prostitutes in their advertisements. Whiskey was very intertwined with prostitution. This, of course, was a big part of the movement that led to Prohibition."
Prior to the unfortunate affiliation, women were actually a large part of the bourbon industry, Minnick said. The first known sour mash recipe is credited to Catherine Spears, a woman distilling in Kentucky in the early 1800s. Mary Myers gave money to help start Jim Beam. And many women held prominent roles on bottling lines. Their fingers were delicate; a man's hands were too clumsy.
"Women have remained in the industry," Minnick said. "They just haven't been a part of the stories that the distilling community wants to present."
Josh Hafer, communications manager for Heaven Hill brands, said the company has noticed an increase in female bourbon drinks over the years, but it doesn't try to separate them from the general bourbon-drinking population. Instead, the company — home to Evan Williams and Elijah Craig — tries to see whiskey drinkers as simply whiskey drinkers.
"The message is no different based on gender," Hafer said. "Because really there's no distinction there to be made in terms of interest."
Hafer said the number of female bourbon drinkers might be increasing because Millennials in general are looking for more options. Where people used to stick with their same drink of choice for life, drinkers now are searching for spirits with different flavors.
"There's an exploration element particularly for distilled spirits right now that is very relatable to everybody," Hafer said.
Joy Perrine, a bartender at Equus & Jack's Lounge, knows about experimenting with bourbon. Since she moved to Louisville in 1978, she's pushed the boundaries in creating bourbon cocktails, branching out from the typical Old-Fashioned or Manhattan.
Perrine used to work with rum while living in St. Croix and said that, since it's similar to bourbon, she thought she'd try combining Kentucky's famous spirit with more tropical drinks. People thought she was crazy, at first. But now, Perrine is nationally known with a list of award-winning cocktails under her belt — one of which, the Bourbonball, is Reigler's favorite.
"Bars around here seem to be making more cocktails now," Perrine said. "I like to think I was part of that."
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BOURBON BASICS
Susan Reigler, president of the Bourbon Women Association, made some suggestions for men or women looking to get into drinking bourbon.
• Don't go straight for barrel proof. Start with something more approachable, such as a bourbon between 85 and 90 proof.
• Pour a splash in a glass and nose it to detect the various scents, such as vanilla and caramel, before taking a sip.
• Add water to the bourbon. The water will change it's flavor, possibly bringing out the drink's fruitier side.
• Try it as a cocktail. If you can't handle straight bourbon, an Old-Fashioned or Manhattan may be the way to go.
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e0dc353db123b106b943daf50dd810c5
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/03/voices-tonya-graham-freddie-gray/26775819/
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Voices: Baltimore mom's plea shines spotlight on mentoring
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Voices: Baltimore mom's plea shines spotlight on mentoring
Baltimore mom Toya Graham has become a national sensation after confronting her 16-year-old son, Michael Singleton, when he didn't go straight home the day protests erupted in violence over the death of Freddie Gray.
Graham's tale is a doleful reminder of the frustrations many single mothers tell me they often feel when dealing with challenges associated with the care, survival and success of their young black sons. Her story also galvanized a national debate over how we define our heroes, as readers here point out:
"Do you think this is the first time she hit this kid? Do you think slapping him in the face and humiliating him is going to stop this behavior? Beating your kids teaches nothing." – Angela Campuzano Hawkins
"She loves her kid so much, she wants him to stop being involved in something that could kill him." – Ro Filzmaier
"I think that she did what was in the best interest of her child. If she would've turned a blind eye then who knows where her son would be today. I'm a mother of three and I would've done the same thing! Kudos to her." – Schervone Washington-Carruthers
Each view holds some merit, and Graham has said that she doesn't feel she's the "mother of the year" that some have crowned her.
Yet an important aspect of the conversation overshadowed by the debate is Graham's motive for rebuking her son: To protect him from becoming another Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old black man who died April 19 after sustaining injuries while in police custody. His death sparked violent protests on the day he was buried, amid calls for justice that have reverberated across the country. Six Baltimore police officers have since been charged in his death.
At the heart of the Graham video is a commitment etched in the hearts of every mother regardless of race, family makeup or social economics: To keep her children out of harm's way.
As I watched Graham's explanation for why she went after her son, I couldn't help but think about my own family situation. Nearly three years ago, my sister, a single mom who also lives in Baltimore, asked if I would be willing to take her oldest son, Marco, under my wing. She was concerned for him, and rightly so.
During his senior year in high school, he had been charged with possessing and using a destructive device on school property, a charge to this day he emphatically denies.
When I asked my sister what she thought about the video, she said that while she understood Graham's anger, she disagreed with the violent approach Graham used to get her point across. Even so, the desperation was something they both shared. Like Graham, my sister knew that if intervention didn't take place she likely would lose Marco to an all-too-familiar lifestyle that has claimed many young black men, including his own father, who was killed.
After I accepted what likely would be my biggest mentoring challenge to date, I convinced him to move in. The road has involved adjustments for both of us, the greatest being the time commitment to establish and cultivate trust.
There were learning curves along the way, too, including Marco learning how to cook, an added bonus, which he picked up on his own with a little help from tips on YouTube.
Nearly three years later, he's doing remarkably well — attending college and pursuing a degree in the tech field, with a 4.0 grade-point average, to boot. He finds ways to give back, too, through community service at our local church.
Our story is just one of many across the country that shows the positive side effects of establishing a strong mentoring relationship: Healthy social engagement, effective communication skills, improved academic performance and community service.
Toya Graham's controversial stand to eject her son from a volatile situation may have spared his life. But there are other young men in the line of fire looking for more than a lifeline. They're counting on the love and sacrifice of mentors — undisputed heroes — to inspire and help lift them over life's hurdles.
Brent Jones, USA TODAY's standards editor, mentors the newsroom's interns.
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dd45ce01f8664c154f85ecf5cb1fcae6
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/05/pizza-delivery-driver-stabbed/26930607/
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Pizza guy stabbed, robbed - but still makes delivery
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Pizza guy stabbed, robbed - but still makes delivery
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A Spinelli's pizza delivery driver is in stable condition Monday after he was carjacked, robbed and seriously stabbed — but still managed to make his delivery.
Fortunately for Josh Lewis, he was delivering the pizza to the Norton Hospital emergency room Sunday afternoon when he was attacked.
"I can't believe he just walked in there, said 'Hi, I'm from Spinelli's. I have a pizza delivery,' and then just collapsed. That's dedication," said Spinelli's regional manager Willow Rouben.
Lewis, a 19-year-old college student from Detroit, Mich., is recovering from a collapsed lung at the University of Louisville Hospital after a man allegedly stabbed him in the back, robbed him and stole his vehicle, Rouben said.
Louisville Metro Police are still looking for the suspect and Lewis' black Jeep Cherokee with gold racing stripes and light blue trim.
Lewis has always been a reliable and responsible employee and his determination to deliver the pizza underscores that, Rouben said.
Lewis had been working on and off at the Spinelli's Pizzeria on Fifth and Jefferson streets for almost a year. Though the company generally doesn't hire part-time delivery drivers, Rouben said managers made an exception for Lewis because of his work ethic.
"He's just always been a really great guy," she said. "He shows up on time and is a great worker."
Spinelli's has security measures in place for drivers to try and avoid these types of incidents including lock boxes inside the stores so drivers don't carry around a lot of cash and a policy of only accepting debit and credit transactions after midnight.
Rouben said no new safety measures are likely to be instituted following Sunday's incident.
"I don't think (the robbery) was really directed at a pizza delivery guy, I think he was just a victim of opportunity, of circumstance," Rouben said.
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1de25af245808196a2845fec07b2e8e8
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/07/phoenix-mosque-terror-probes/70965798/
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Phoenix mosque is long-standing FBI target
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Phoenix mosque is long-standing FBI target
PHOENIX — When Elton Simpson was convicted in federal court on charges he lied to the FBI, his case and its connection to one Phoenix mosque had a familiar ring.
Within the past 10 years, another Muslim here was convicted in federal court on similar charges while another was sentenced to prison in a terrorism case. All three cases started as terrorism probes but ended with successful convictions on far less sinister charges, lying to agents or illegally supplying sensitive information.
Simpson was fatally shot Sunday in a planned attack in Texas, along with his roommate and one-time employer, Nadir Soofi. People who knew them were shocked because the act didn't fit their picture of the men.
Less shocking to Muslim leaders here was that the men once attended the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix or that FBI agents are contacting other members of the mosque. The house of worship has been in the news before, in high-profile incidents and linked to terror probes.
"They know my number," the mosque's president, Usama Shami, said of the FBI.
Agents began questioning Simpson in the mid-2000s after they talked a Somali man into being their confidential informant. The bureau paid the informant $132,000.
Shami said he has no problem with the FBI sending agents and informants into the mosque and tells the bureau "the mosque is the first line of defense, not the breeding ground or recruitment center."
"The problem is if you send somebody to spy as an informant, they can instigate," he said. "That's my problem. They're putting ideas in the heads of people."
The FBI declined comment on the case Wednesday, citing its ongoing investigation.
Deedra Abboud, a Muslim convert and a former community activist-turned-lawyer, said Wednesday that members of the mosque beside Interstate 17 were scared and that "everybody's being pressured by the FBI."
Federal agents were reportedly back at the mosque Thursday questioning people.
While the FBI's case bothered Simpson, she said so did a sense that the mosque turned its back on him.
"It was a combination of the two things: harassment by the FBI and the Muslim community avoiding him like the plague," said Abboud, who helped raise money for Simpson's bail and knows many of his closest acquaintances.
"It was the isolation," she said. "My theory is that he was upset with the Muslim community and he became more susceptible to radical ideas."
Shami disagreed that the mosque shunned Simpson. The mosque did decline to raise money for his legal defense, he said, because members were concerned with not knowing where the FBI case would lead.
"Our first priority is to protect the mosque. It cannot be part of any federal case," he said, adding that Simpson was always welcome to attend even after his conviction.
In 2008, the FBI arrested Akram Musa Abdullah, a 54-year-old Palestinian man living in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa, Ariz.
Agents raided his house and hauled out a truckload of evidence. In interviews, agents asked him if he had raised money for the Holy Land Foundation, a group that supported Palestinian charities but also funneled money to Hamas and Hezbollah, according to claims the Bush administration made when it outlawed support for the organization.
Abdullah told agents never had raised money for the group and prosecutors accused him of lying to a federal agent in a terrorism-related case. A year later, Abdullah entered a plea agreement and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Also in 2008, a federal jury in Connecticut convicted another Muslim with roots in the Phoenix area, Hassan Abu-Jihaad, 32, after FBI agents reportedly recorded the Navy veteran and another man plotting an attack on a military recruiting station.
Investigators said they found an e-mail from Abu-Jihaad in which he shared with a London-based radical Islamic website the movements and vulnerabilities of a U.S. Navy battle group as it passed through the Straits of Hormuz. Abu-Jihaad was convicted of unlawfully communicating national defense information and sentenced to 10 years.
Abboud, the lawyer, helped Abu-Jihaad at the time and described him as an average guy overwhelmed with the charges. Neighbors described him as mild-mannered and polite.
Abu-Jihaad had other similarities to the Texas shooters: Like them, he had life struggles. Like them, he and his would-be conspirator attended the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, court records showed.
Shami said he never saw him there.
And as in current case, mosque leaders said he wasn't treated to fire-and-brimstone sermons inside the sand-colored mosque.
Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a Phoenix physician specializing in internal medicine and a self-described moderate Muslim, said he doesn't think any preacher poured hateful ideas into the defendants' heads but said they've not done enough to quell hatred of the United States.
"There are four steps to radicalization," he said. "Step 1 is the demonization of America."
Abboud disagrees about the degree of the problem but does acknowledge that extremist views exist in this area. Some people have told her that mocking the prophet Mohammed is a greater sin than taking a human life.
"There is a portion of society that is very confused about Islam," she said. "It's picking and choosing which version to follow."
Into that climate, the north Phoenix mosque was caught up in two other incidents.
In 2006, a delegation of Phoenix-area imams, including from the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, traveled to Minneapolis. After boarding the return flight, some passengers grew nervous about their on-board prayers. They were removed from the flight, handcuffed and interrogated.
They sued the airline and others. The case was dismissed in federal court in 2010.
Sons of those of imams and of the accused Mesa fundraiser Abdullah also were arrested in 2008 in a gun case.
They were part of group of about 20 young Muslim men who went to the desert near north Phoenix and fired hundreds of rounds from automatic rifles at a rock. The fusillade lasted an hour.
The Arizona Counter Terrorism Center, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives all were notified. Cases were brought in Maricopa Superior Court.
Most involved minor weapons charges and were settled without trial. Some young men reported the incident ruined their futures
Islamic leaders here were furious even as they said it was a typical Arizona way for young men to have innocent fun.
"I'm one of those who got mad. They went over there just to have fun shooting. ... It's showing off," said Soliman Saadeldin, brother of one of the so-called "Flying Imams," and a board member at the Islamic center at the time.
The case was another episode in a string in which the FBI looked into the activities of the Phoenix-area mosque.
Sunday in Texas, they had another reason, and it brought back all the old suspicions and fears.
"Everybody wants to say it's somebody else's fault and that it's not fair. Everybody has some responsibility," Abboud said.
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07b5dfb6845be1fb8932a15b9fb26109
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/08/wwii-planes-flyover-dc-restricted-airspace/26971483/
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Here's why a flyover in D.C. is such a big deal
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Here's why a flyover in D.C. is such a big deal
When 56 planes flew over the National Mall Friday, they were in some of the most secure and restricted airspace in the world.
It's unique enough that those planes are fighters and bombers from WWII, but they are also flying a path that's been severely restricted since the terrorist hijackings on Sept. 11, 2001.
The "Arsenal of Democracy" flyover event commemorated Victory in Europe Day, when Germany surrendered to the Allies 70 years ago.
Pete Bunce, CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, which helped organize the event, spent a year coordinating plans with the Federal Aviation Administration, Secret Service, Transportation Security Administration and National Park Service to fly the vintage planes into the heavily controlled airspace over Washington.
"Even after the gyrocopter incident, everybody was focused and said we're doing this for the right reasons," Bunce said. "There was no wavering or anything else."
Secret Service searched the planes Friday morning before the historic flight, Bunce said. "You couldn't ask for more support."
Airspace around D.C.'s government buildings has always had some restrictions, says Marty Lauth, a professor of air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. But since 9/11, the restrictions became much more extensive. The thirty-mile radius around D.C. has restrictions, as does a 30-miles radius around that first bubble. Elsewhere in the country, like New York City, there are restricted air spaces, Lauth said, but they cover much smaller areas.
"There's absolutely no doubt the airpsace around D.C. is the strictest in the country," Lauth said.
Flying planes with standard, limited or experimental certificates over national landmarks inside restricted airspace poses significant legal and logistical challenges.
"We had to assess and mitigate the risks, which included focusing on the specific route over the Potomac River to minimize exposure to people and property on the ground," the FAA's Jim Viola, said in this month's Safety Briefing magazine. Viola is the manager of the FAA's General Aviation and Commercial Division.
The FAA had to coordinate with National Airport to put a hold on flights during the event. And while flying the historic route over The Mall, planes can maneuver to a non-congested area within 30 seconds if required.
That safety precaution was tested Friday when one of the TBM Avengers flying in the event made an emergency landing there. No injuries were reported.
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a649aee57ed9eb4103bee42322aeded1
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/14/living-longer-active-aging/27252073/
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Longer lifespans bring hope, new problems
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Longer lifespans bring hope, new problems
WASHINGTON — Octogenarians running marathons, or seniors skydiving to celebrate a birthday? Don't be surprised. Americans are going to continue to live longer and feel better. If you need proof of that, just look at Dixon Hemphill.
Now 90, Hemphill competed in the Washington, D.C., Cherry Blossom 5K in April, where he beat his 2014 time by two minutes. By his own reckoning, he has competed in more than 60 triathlons.
"I started at the age of 50, so I was well rested," Dixon joked.
While Hemphill may be something of an outlier, his continued training points to the changes that will redefine old age in the years to come. The first Baby Boomers are turning 70 next year, and with that milestone comes a flood of questions about how the federal government and society in general will support and interact with a generation that will live well beyond modern life expectancies.
For the last 160 years, the average human life span has increased by roughly one year every four years. The upward trend is amazingly consistent, defying epidemics, famines and two world wars. While some scientists believe that the trend cannot continue indefinitely, few are prepared to bet against it, including
Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging.
"Life span is plastic," he said at a recent presentation to the National Press Club.
Hodes, who studied at Yale and received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School, has acted as director of the NIA since 1993 and has been a prominent researcher in the field of immunology.
Hodes points to different factors driving the life expectancy trend. In the 19th century, for example, better sanitation led to a reduction in deaths from epidemics like plague and cholera. In the 1960s and 1970s, widespread vaccination campaigns eradicated smallpox and pushed other diseases such as polio and tuberculosis out of the developed world. In the 21st century, preventive measures such as diet, exercise and early disease detection are supporting the trend.
Assuming life expectancy continues to lengthen, lawmakers the world over will have to figure out how to deal with and support a graying population.
According to the World Health Organization, the global population over 60 has doubled since 1980. The WHO estimates that, within a few years, the number of adults over the age of 65 will overtake the number of children under the age of 5.
With these changes come concerns that Boomers will stay at their jobs longer — making it harder for younger workers to find well-paid jobs — and effectively cripple costly government benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Increased life expectancy, however, is not the only factor contributing to political and economic anxiety.
Of equal concern is the so-called "baby bust," the decline in birth rates that followed the prosperous postwar years.
"The aging of the Baby Boom is making the number of elderly rise rapidly, while the low fertility after the Baby Boom years is making the number of workers grow slowly," said Ronald Lee, professor and director of UC Berkeley's Center for the Demography and Economics of Aging.
The baby bust is problematic because it means that fewer workers will be paying into the system at a time when more retirees than ever are collecting benefits.
Lee foresees a number of possible policy changes down the road, including a gradual adjustment of the retirement age. The American workforce is in the middle of a transition from 65 to 67, which will be completed in the early 2020s, but some conservative politicians are already calling for another raise. A plan recently put forward by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie would reset the Social Security eligibility age to 69.
According to Hodes, such changes will be needed to accommodate workers who are healthier and more active than their parents and grandparents were in their working years. While many policymakers see an obvious benefit in raising the retirement age to reduce the number of people collecting government benefits, Hodes points to the science.
"The earlier the retirement in a country, the poorer people do in terms of cognitive decline," Hodes said.
A 2010 joint study by Robert Willis of the University of Michigan and Susann Rohwedder of the RAND Center for the Study of Aging compared retirees from the United States and various European countries and found a link between early retirement and problems with memory and reasoning.
These findings may mean that, despite shorter retirements, retirees in countries such as the United Kingdom (where the state pension age ranges from 65 to 68) might fare better health-wise than their counterparts in more generous countries such as Greece (61) and Turkey (60 for men, 58 for women).
Hodes sees the Baby Boom and coming generations not only living longer but also enjoying a healthier and more active retirement.
Hemphill is living proof that this trend has already begun. He joins a growing number of active retirees, including former President George H.W. Bush, who marked his 90th birthday last year by parachuting out of a helicopter.
The nonagenarian Hemphill's secret?
"Good diet, healthy attitude and a positive outlook on life," he said.
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b5aad1873873fe675e6bf47c452c5375
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/18/waco-melee-192-arrests/27520997/
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More than 170 face charges in deadly Texas melee
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More than 170 face charges in deadly Texas melee
More than 190 people were being arrested and charged Monday after a bloody melee at a Texas restaurant left nine people dead and 18 wounded, police said.
The riot at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco involved rival motorcycle gangs armed with guns, knives, clubs, chains and other weapons, police said.
Police issued a statement saying 192 people "will all face Engaging in Organized Crime charges. They are being booked and processed at this time. McLennan County District Attorney is involved in our investigation and has been assisting us throughout the night."
Waco Police Department Sgt. Patrick Swanton later said the number of people charged was at least 170. The charge, due to the deaths, is a capital offense, he added. Texas is a death penalty state.
Waco Police Department Sgt. Patrick Swanton said the fight began in the Twin Peaks restroom before escalating and spilling out into the parking lot. Swanton said police had learned that a gang "recruitment" event was taking place at Twin Peaks. He said police tried to keep the gathering from happening, but that restaurant management refused to cooperate.
"Still a very active crime scene this morning at Twin Peaks," Swanton said. "Our investigation will continue throughout the day. Crime scene is littered with bullets, blood and other evidence. Civilian as well as police units with bullet holes remain to be processed."
The Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission issued a "summary suspension" closing the Twin Peaks for at least 7 days, the police statement said.
"This is not a punitive action on TABC's part but done due to the ongoing danger it presents to our community," the police statement said. "They are conducting a parallel investigation and further action may be forthcoming."
Jay Patel, identified as a operating partner of the restaurant, issued a statement promising to cooperate with police.
"We are horrified by the criminal, violent acts that occurred outside of our Waco restaurant," Patel said. We share in the community's trauma. ... Our management team has had ongoing and positive communications with the police and we will continue to work with them as we all want to keep violent crime out of our businesses and community."
Swanton dismissed the statement as "an absolute fabrication."
Swanton said all of the dead and injured were "members of criminal biker gangs." Police officers as well as bystanders at the shopping center and a nearby restaurant when the shootout spilled into the parking lot were "unscathed," he said.
One officer at the scene was hospitalized due to a heat-related issue, he said.
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67cbf6ca06a78f7219d0237d736bf2c1
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/21/attica-prison-riot-report/27724443/
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Attica records: Inmates brutalized, denied medical treatment
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Attica records: Inmates brutalized, denied medical treatment
ATTICA, N.Y. -- Shortly after noon on Sept. 13, 1971, Dr. Robert Jenks, a staff physician at Batavia's Genesee Memorial Hospital, entered hell — the Attica prison grounds where a violent state police assault hours before had left dozens of men dead and wounded.
Inside the grounds of the Wyoming County maximum-security prison, amid the carnage and bloodshed, Jenks found an inmate suffering severe brain damage. Jenks wanted to evacuate the prisoner to the hospital for treatment but was "refused permission" to take the inmate off prison grounds, according to newly released documents about the Attica riot — records that have been sealed for 40 years.
A day later Jenks "saw people with fractures that had not yet been treated and people in need of transfusion who had not yet received it," according to the 1975 report from Bernard Meyer, who investigated whether an earlier state investigation into the Attica riot was a cover-up.
A National Guard soldier at Attica saw "guards beat inmates on medical carts with clubs, saw a prison doctor pull an inmate off a cart and kick him in the stomach" and heard a civilian "who appeared to be in charge" refuse to allow a National Guard physician to "set up a field hospital on prison ground."
These claims appear in documents released Thursday from the state Attorney General's Office, portions of the so-called Meyer report that have been sealed since 1975. The report consisted of three volumes; the first volume was released in 1975 and the other two were sealed.
Last year, a Buffalo-based state Supreme Court justice ordered the release of the remaining volumes, but directed the Attorney General's Office to redact grand jury information. What the Attorney General's Office released Thursday were only 46 pages — some partly redacted — while nearly 400 pages still remain closed to the public.
"Today, we are shining new light on one of the darkest chapters of our history," Marty Mack, the executive deputy attorney general for regional affairs, said in a released statement Thursday. "We hope that, with the release of the Meyer report, we can bring the families of Attica uprising victims closer to closure and help future generations of Americans learn from this tragic event."
Others active with the fight to open all Attica-related records say the limited release of the Meyer report demonstrates the continuing difficulty in revealing what truly happened at the prison.
"Attica is not going to go away until the whole truth of it is told," said Jonathan Gradess, an Albany-based attorney who has assisted a group called the Forgotten Victims of Attica. "The whole truth is going to be every line on every piece of paper."
The Forgotten Victims of Attica, which includes riot survivors and the families of corrections officers killed in the prison retaking, has asked the state to open all records about the uprising. A union representing state police last year opposed the unsealing of the entire Meyer report.
Still, the 46 pages do provide new insight into the prison riot, helping confirm tales of the post-retaking brutalization of inmates and also shedding light on FBI and U.S. Department of Justice actions in the aftermath of the retaking. The FBI investigation, which focused on the allegations of brutality against prisoners, appears to have ended quietly with no resolution.
According to one witness interviewed by Meyer's investigative team, "the (FBI) investigation just died, but not one wished to close it formally because of the publicity that would result."
Allegations of a cover-up
On Sept. 9, 1971, inmates at the Attica prison seized control of the facility, taking guards and civilian employees as hostages. One corrections officer, William Quinn, was beaten by inmates and died two days later from his injuries.
For four days, a tense standoff ensued, as civilian negotiators shuttled demands between inmates and state officials and tried to craft a peaceful resolution. On the morning of Sept. 13, helicopters dumped tear gas into the prison yard and State Police stormed the Attica grounds, firing wildly through the fog.
The retaking killed 39 men — 29 inmates and 10 hostages. In all, 43 people died at Attica, including Quinn and three prisoners killed by other inmates during the standoff.
Dozens of inmates were charged with crimes, and a state commission investigated the seeds of the riots, questions surrounding the retaking of the prison, and the allegations of brutality against inmates.
In 1973, Malcolm Bell, a former corporate lawyer, was tasked by state officials to investigate possible crimes by police who seized control of the prison. Bell began to build cases alleging murder, manslaughter and reckless endangerment against State Police and others whom he felt were responsible for some of the deaths at Attica.
However, Bell became convinced that state officials were stymieing his investigation. He was suspended for an unauthorized meeting with a confidential source and later resigned. Afterward, Bell went public with his allegations of a cover-up.
Gov. Hugh Carey appointed Meyer to investigate Bell's claims. Meyer, who died in 2005, and a team reviewed tens of thousands of pages of documents and interviewed key players from earlier Attica investigations.
Meyer found multiple shortcomings with the earlier investigations into the riot, including a failure to seriously look into the allegations of brutality against inmates. Despite those flaws in the investigations, Meyer concluded there was no cover-up.
"The charge that prosecution of law enforcement personnel for murder or other shooter crimes and for perjury was obstructed ... is not sustained by the record," Meyer wrote. "The deficiencies in evidence gathering immediately following the retaking left so little available to the investigation that determination of possible criminal liability in shooter cases became inordinately difficult in all but a few extraordinary cases."
The second and third volumes of the Meyer Report were sealed because of the extensive grand jury information they contained, including allegations of crimes by specific state police troopers and others who joined in the prison retaking. In September 2013, the state attorney general filed a motion in Erie County, asking permission to unseal the two volumes.
Last year, state Supreme Court Justice Patrick NeMoyer approved the release, but ordered that grand jury material be redacted.
More proof of brutality
In the mid-1970s, inmates who'd been at Attica filed a federal lawsuit, alleging multiple beatings and other cruelties after the riot. The lawsuit bounced about for years, and in 2000 the state settled it for $12 million — $4 million of that for the attorneys.
In 2000, U.S. District Judge Michael Telesca, who is based in Rochester, held hearings to decide how much should be awarded to individual inmates. Over months, dozens of inmates testified about the brutality.
The pages of the Meyer Report released Thursday add new voices to the claims of brutality, and these are the voices of civilians who were at the prison. In particular:
--Dr. Jenks told of the need for medical help that was ignored at the prison. He was expected to testify before the lead state investigation into Attica, the McKay Commission, but was unable to attend on the designated day and "no one else ever contacted him."
--Kevin Burke, the National Guard soldier who said he saw inmates on medical carts beaten by corrections officers, did appear before the McKay Commission but the "files of the investigation contain no record of Burke."
--Ray Morrow, a former Ontario County sheriff, "described acts of brutality but was no longer able to make identification of the perpetrator, though he believed he would have been able to earlier."
The records released Thursday also focus in part on an investigation by the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Concerned about the appearance of a conflict with investigators scrutinizing the acts of inmates, State Police and guards, state officials in 1971 asked federal authorities to intervene.
Nelson Rockefeller, who was governor in 1971, told the Meyer investigators that he thought a Justice Department inquiry would be a "good idea" and would help ensure public confidence. An agreement was struck that the FBI would investigate allegations of brutality and "any resultant prosecution would probably be done by the state."
In October 1971 the FBI began its investigation and interviewed defense lawyers, inmates and medical personnel who had been at the prison. That month, it "submitted a lengthy report to the Civil Rights Division" then followed up with more interviews.
Some inmates refused to talk to the FBI. Three inmates who had been confined in their cells during the riot identified three corrections officers as individuals who beat inmates after the retaking.
The federal investigation apparently quietly ended, with no recommendations from the Justice Department.
What's also clear from the records released Thursday is that Meyer thought his entire report would one day become public. He divided the report into multiple volumes so that the second and third volumes would not be released until criminal investigations and prosecutions were complete.
Gov. Carey, however, later halted prosecutions with a blanket pardon for inmates and police facing criminal allegations stemming form the riot and the retaking. That meant that the Meyer report included names of State Police troopers, prison corrections officers and others who were being investigated after the riot for possible crimes. Carey's act ensured that no law enforcement officials would be prosecuted.
The decision as to when to release the full report, Meyer wrote in 1975, "must be predicated ... upon a balancing of the public interest in the working of the criminal justice system and the public interest in protecting individual rights to due process."
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684c91b994c617f670a8f41d8048b59d
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/21/boy-scouts-end-ban-gays/27714681/
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Boy Scout president calls for end to ban on gay leaders
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Boy Scout president calls for end to ban on gay leaders
The president of the Boy Scouts of America on Thursday called for an end to the group's ban on gay troop leaders.
Robert Gates, a former secretary of Defense, told a meeting of the organization's leadership in Atlanta that "we cannot ignore the social, political and judicial changes taking place in our country."
Gates said he would not ask the board to vote today to drop the ban but said the board must consider the proposal. Even if the board votes to end the ban, Gates said sponsors for each of the 100,000 troops nationwide could set their own rules for their troop's leadership.
"Such a rule would allow all churches, which sponsor some 70% of our scout units, to establish leadership standards consistent with their faith," he said.
"I must speak as plainly and bluntly to you as I spoke to presidents when I was director of the CIA and secretary of Defense," he said. "We must deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be. The status quo in our movement's membership standards cannot be sustained."
Part of Gates' problem is that gay Scouts are growing up. The organization voted two years ago to allow openly gay Scouts. Last month, the Greater New York Councils said it was hiring the first openly gay Eagle Scout, Pascal Tessier, 18, to work as a camp leader this summer.
"We have a long-standing anti-discrimination policy," Richard Mason, a member of the New York's board, said in April. "We have not kept that policy a secret."
Gates noted in his speech that "we can expect more councils to openly challenge the current policy." Although the national board has the power to revoke charters, he said such a decision "would deny the lifelong benefits of scouting to hundreds of thousands of boys."
Gates also said dozens of states are passing employment equality laws. Thus, Boy Scouts could face challenges from inside and outside the organization. The courts ultimately could force the group to drop the ban, Gates said.
Roger Oldham, spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention executive committee, said some of the convention's 46,000 churches that sponsored troops dropped them two years ago. Expect more to do so now, he said. Oldham said it is clear the Boy Scouts ultimately will require troops not to reject a leader based on sexual orientation.
"They are telegraphing their end-game goal. We find it disappointing but not surprising," Oldham said.
John Stemberger, a former Scout and vocal opponent of allowing gays to participate, founded Trail Life USA, a Christian youth group claiming 23,000 members in 48 states. He said he was "saddened" by Gates' comments.
"It is tragic that the BSA is willing to risk the safety and security of its boys because of peer pressure from activist groups," he said.
Gates' comments drew praise from Scouts for Equality, a group composed largely of scouting alumni dedicated to ending the ban.
"This is another step forward for the Boy Scouts of America," Scouts for Equality executive director Zach Wahls said in a statement. "I'm proud to see Dr. Gates charting a course towards full equality in the BSA. While our work won't be done until we see a full end to their ban on gay adults once and for all, today's announcement is a significant step in that direction."
Gates' comments also drew partial applause from Human Rights Campaign, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization.
"We welcome as a step in the right direction President Gates' announcement that the organization will not revoke the charters of chapters that welcome gay Scout leaders and employees," HRC President Chad Griffin said. "But, as we have said many times previously, half measures are unacceptable, especially at one of America's most storied institutions."
Gates served as secretary of Defense from 2006-11. In 2010 he approved regulations making it more difficult to kick gays out of the military. In May 2014, he began a two-year-term as the Boy Scouts' national president. He said then that he supported dropping the ban but also respected the organization's wishes to keep it in place.
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da8bc1c793727716755d1c295920142c
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/23/verdict-reached--officer-over-deaths--137-shot-barrage/27837075/
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Cleveland cop acquitted of deaths in 137-shot barrage
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Cleveland cop acquitted of deaths in 137-shot barrage
A Cleveland police officer was acquitted Saturday of charges of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting deaths of two unarmed people in a 137-shot barrage following a high-speed car chase.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John O'Donnell ruled that Michael Brelo, 31, a white officer, acted within his constitutional rights in the November 2012 deaths of Timothy Russell, 43, and Malissa Williams, 30, two unarmed black occupants in the vehicle.
The judge, after reading a 34-page summary of the case, said he found that "Brelo's entire use of deadly force was a constitutionally reasonable response to an objectively reasonably perceived threat of great bodily harm from the occupants of the Malibu, Russell and Williams."
Brelo, his lips quivering, appeared near tears, as the judge delivered the verdict. He then embraced his attorneys and left the courtroom.
Before delivering his verdict, O'Donnell noted the recent unrest in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore over the deaths of black suspects by police officers, but said he would not "sacrifice" Brelo to an angry public if the evidence did not merit a conviction. "Guilty or not guilty, the verdict should be no cause for a civilized society to celebrate or riot," he said.
The 2012 incident began with a chase after Russell's beat-up Chevy Malibu backfired as it sped past police headquarters, which caused officers to think someone in the car had fired a gun.
Although 13 officers fired at the car after the chase, only Brelo faced criminal charges. Prosecutors said he waited until the car had stopped and the pair were no longer a threat before he leaped onto the hood and fired 15 rounds down into the windshield.
Prosecutors argued Russell and Williams were alive until Brelo's final volley. Brelo's attorneys argued that other officers fired during the final round and that prosecutors could not prove in which order the fatal shots were fired. Russell and Williams were each shot more than 20 times.
Within hours of the verdict, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a statement saying that it will "review the testimony and evidence" present in the trial and consider possible legal options.
An angry cluster of around 30 protesters gathered outside the courthouse, shouting "no justice — no peace" and holding signs in front of sheriff's deputies bearing clear shields. The plaza in front of the building was cordoned off. One man stood with his head bowed and hands folded, praying in silence.
Some protesters, carrying homemade signs and pictures of the victims, then walked down Lakeside Avenue, chanting, "Hands up don't shoot." At one point, more than 50 protesters linked arms to stop traffic on both sides of the roadway.
Other residents gathered at a west side recreation center to invited people to express their reaction to the verdict.
Later, suburban Shaker Heights High School decided to move its Saturday night prom from downtown Cleveland amid concern over protests, WKYC-TV reported.
Mayor Frank Jackson said the city's response to the verdict is a defining moment for Cleveland. "While we encourage peaceful protest, I want to make sure that those who are here who have a different agenda understand that actions that cross the line — either by police officers or citizens — cannot and will not be tolerated," he said.
More than a dozen arrests were made at one location during protests Saturday night, Cleveland police told the Associated Press. Protesters were arrested for failing to disperse from an alley in the city's Warehouse District on downtown's west side.
The disciplining process involving the other officers involved in the car chase or shooting will continue, Jackson said. The department has taken actions ranging from termination to demotion to suspension without pay, he added. Brelo continues to be on suspension without leave.
Timothy McGinty, Cuyahoga County prosecutor, told reporters in a brief news conference that the case had been "challenging," but that he would "not hesitate to do it again, if the facts and law demanded." He added the case had already caused a "culture change" in the Cleveland police department in terms of less secrecy and more accountability.
Patrick D'Angelo, Brelo's attorney, told reporters after the verdict that his team was humbled but not emboldened by the verdict. "Officer Brelo risked his life on that night," D'Angelo said, only to be attacked by "ruthless" prosecutors in a "blood fight," he said. "I've never in my 37 years witnessed such a vicious and unprofessional prosecution of a police officer."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio called for "meaningful, systemic reforms" in the police department in the aftermath of the verdict, WKYC-TV reported.
The shooting spurred a months-long investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice that found that the police department had engaged in a pattern and practice of using excessive force and violating people's civil rights. The city and Justice Department are currently negotiating terms of a consent decree that a federal judge will approve and independent monitors will oversee.
"Unfortunately, troubled police-community relations has plagued Cleveland for decades as a result of the excessive use of force by law enforcement, particularly against people of color," said Christine Link, executive director of the ACLU. "We urge the city of Cleveland to diligently work to create a police department that its citizens can trust. This will only happen if its officers are properly trained and supervised to keep everyone safe."
Alfredo Williams, Malissa's brother, told CNN that his family is "hurting" after the verdict was handed down. "I am tired of black folks dying," he said. "Enough is enough."
He blamed the city of Cleveland for the acquittal, telling CNN that if the case had been tried in any other city in the country "that police officer would be in jail — we know it, they know it."
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18124f9dc1a78965bbba20f21e82b031
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/24/john-nash-dies/27879515/
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'A Beautiful Mind' mathematician John Nash, wife killed in crash
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'A Beautiful Mind' mathematician John Nash, wife killed in crash
John Nash, the Nobel Prize-winning mathematician whose life story inspired the movie A Beautiful Mind, and his wife, Alicia Nash, were killed Saturday afternoon in a car crash on the New Jersey Turnpike, New Jersey State Police said.
The Nashes were in a taxi traveling southbound in the left lane of the New Jersey Turnpike, State Police Sgt. Gregory Williams told USA TODAY, when the driver lost control while trying to pass another vehicle. The taxi crashed into the guardrail and then into another car in the right lane.
The Nashes were ejected from the taxi, and were pronounced dead at the scene, Williams said.The taxi driver was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Nash, who shared the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994, was 86, while Alicia Nash was 82. The couple lived in Princeton, N.J., police said, where John Nash was a senior research mathematician at Princeton University.
Princeton's president, Christopher Eisgruber, called the Nashes "very special members" of the university's community.
"John's remarkable achievements inspired generations of mathematicians, economists and scientists who were influenced by his brilliant, groundbreaking work in game theory," Eisgruber said in a statement released Sunday. "The story of his life with Alicia moved millions of readers and moviegoers who marveled at their courage in the face of daunting challenges."
The 2001 film A Beautiful Mind, starring Russell Crowe, was based loosely on his life and long battle with schizophrenia. As depicted in the film, Alicia Nash was his caregiver while he struggled with his mental illness.
In a tweet Sunday, Crowe said, "Stunned ... my heart goes out to John & Alicia & family. An amazing partnership. Beautiful minds, beautiful hearts."
Ron Howard, who directed the Oscar-winning film, called John Nash "brilliant" and Alicia Nash "remarkable" in a tweet Sunday. "It was an honor telling part of their story," he said.
Nash was considered a pioneer in the field of game theory, devising a tool that economists and others could apply to competitive situations from trade negotiations to legislative battles. In 1994, he shared the Nobel Prize with two others for a theory he advanced more than four decades earlier as a young doctoral student at Princeton.
But it was his life story, chronicled first in a biography by Sylvia Nasar and in Howard's film, that brought him fame. He spent decades battling incapacitating schizophrenia, surviving with help from friends, colleagues and his wife.
The two divorced in the early 1960s, but Alicia Nash remained close to him and let him live in her home. She worked as a computer programmer to support him and their son, according to a 1994 New York Times article by Nasar. The Nashes remarried in 2001.
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d0245b3cd2aba42fe0a2dc19d48996ff
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/25/athenahealth-epic-safety-reliability-electronic-health-records/27499877/
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Government backs down on some requirements for digital medical records
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Government backs down on some requirements for digital medical records
Government regulators are backing down from many of their toughest requirements for doctors' and hospitals' use of digital medical records, just as Congress is stepping up its oversight of issues with the costly technology.
Doctors and hospitals need electronic health records (EHRs) to meet quality provisions of Obamacare.
EHRs are supposed to make things easier for doctors and consumers, who would have access to their own medical information. Digitizing records would allow doctors to exchange information about patients they share, which would improve quality and avoid duplication of tests and procedures.
Doctors and hospitals got $28 billion in federal stimulus money starting in 2011 to install EHR systems, also known as EMRs (electronic medical records). They were supposed to attest that they were using them to meaningfully improve patient care last year or lose some of their Medicare payments this year.
Now the Department of Health and Human Services is proposing a series of revisions to its rules that would give doctors, hospitals and tech companies more time to meet electronic record requirements and would address a variety of other complaints from health care professionals.
"The problem is we're in the EHR 1.0 stage. They're not good yet," says Terry Fairbanks, a physician who directs MedStar's National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare. The federal government "missed a critical step. They spent billions of dollars to finance the implementation of flawed software."
These digitized records remain the bane of many doctor and patient relationships, as physicians stare at computer screens during consultations.And there's the issue of time. University of Chicago Medicine anesthesiologist William McDade, who has switched from paper to electronic records, says that while EHRs put information at doctors' fingertips, those doctors must take extra time to enter data, and some systems are not intuitive.
Praveen Arla of Bullitt County Family Practitioners in Kentucky says even though he's "one of the most tech-savvy people you're ever going to meet," his practice has struggled mightily with its system. It cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to put into place, he says, and it doesn't even connect with other systems in hospitals and elsewhere.
The federal government "should've really looked at this more closely when EMRs were implemented. Now, you have a patchwork of EMR systems. There's zero communication between EMR systems," he says. "I am really glad they're trying to look back and slow this down."
Other issues:
• Reliability. Crashes are becoming more common. MedStar in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore had to take down their electronic health record system for 160 primary care doctors' offices and urgent care centers for about three days last month to avoid a crash, says spokeswoman Ann Nickels. Patient records were available in read-only mode, and doctors and nurses were told to switch over to paper records.
• Safety. Physician Robert Wachter, author of The Digital Doctor, is a proponent of,EHRs, but sounded several cautionary notes in his book about the problems. At the University of California San Francisco, where he chairs the department of medicine, a teenage patient nearly died of a grand mal seizure after getting 39 times the dose of an antibiotic because of an EHR-related issue. But Wachter says he believes patients are safer with EHRs than they were with paper.
• Liability. If electronic records are not used correctly, they can increase the risk of errors, malpractice and lawsuits, says Susan Kressly, medical director of Office Practicum, a Pennsylvania-based electronic health records company geared toward pediatricians. Although systems give electronic warnings about medication allergies, if doctors don't put the prescribed medication in the right place in the record, the warning may not pop up, she says.
Some proponents of EHRs say the government has been thwarting efforts to improve them. In addition to extending the deadline for implementing EHR requirements, a series of HHS proposed rules extends the time doctors, hospitals and tech companies have to meet EHR requirements, cuts how much data doctors and hospitals have to collect and reduces how many patients have to access to their own electronic records from 5% of all their patients to just one person.
"That is a slap in the face to patient rights and all the advocates because we worked so hard and for so long to ensure patients could access their data," says patient advocate Regina Holliday.
Holliday became an electronic records advocate after her husband died of kidney cancer in 2009 at age 39. His care was adversely affected because hospitals weren't reading his earlier EHRs and she had trouble getting access to the records.
EHRs "have made our lives harder" without improving safety, says Jean Ross, co-president of National Nurses United. Last year, the nurses' union called on the Food and Drug Administration "to enact much tougher oversight and public protections" on EHR use.
Meanwhile, the medical industry is urging HHS to give them even more time and flexibility to improve their systems,
"The level of federal involvement and prescriptiveness now is unhealthy," says Wachter, who chairs the UCSF department of medicine. "It has skewed the marketplace so vendors are spending too much time meeting federal regulations rather than innovating."
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate health committee, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., announced a bipartisan electronic health records working group late last month to help doctors and hospitals improve quality, safety and privacy and facilitate electronic record exchange among health care providers and different EHR vendors.
"It's a great idea, it holds promise, but it's not working the way it is supposed to," Alexander said of EHRs at a recent committee hearing.
At a Senate appropriations subcommittee meeting last month, Alexander told HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell that he wanted EHR issues at the top of his committee and HHS' priority list to be addressed through regulation or legislation.
Burwell agreed and called the issue "extremely important."
Jonathan Bush, CEO of Athenahealth, which has about 4% of the EHR market, has been an outspoken opponent of the federal stimulus money and regulations for EHRs.
"I do believe 'federal innovation' is somewhat of a contradiction in terms," Bush says. Over-regulation "actually has unintended consequences, killing the soul of the industry."
Minnesota lawmakers became the latest state this week to allow health care providers to opt out of using EHRs. But MedStar's Fairbanks says doctors would welcome well-designed, intuitive EHRs that made their jobs easier instead of more difficult — and that would improve safety for patients, too.
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749bc8ca8db53e509a35a9abef55c563
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/25/patient-advocate-paints-position-electronic-health-records/27825507/
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Patient advocate fights for access to digital records through her art
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Patient advocate fights for access to digital records through her art
Regina Holliday was a toy store clerk and preschool art teacher when her husband died of kidney cancer in 2009.
Despite her grief and background, Holliday has emerged as a colorful patient advocate with a command of electronic health record rules to rival any button-downed lobbyist.
The color comes in the form of more than 330 pictures she's painted on jackets to tell the stories of patients, doctors and others involved in health care. Those who get the free paintings agree to wear them to at least two medical conferences a year, which creates a "Walking Gallery of Healthcare" that 43 other artists have joined.
Holliday's art-based advocacy started as a Washington, D.C., mural about medical data access in 2009, in which she tried to make the case that patients and their families need early and full access to electronic health records. That's something Holliday couldn't get as husband Fred was moved rapidly between hospitals, rehab centers and hospice.
As doctors and hospitals fight to get rules relaxed to give them more time and fewer requirements, Holliday is on the other side pushing for the process to be sped up.
Some of those who wear Holliday's jackets are patients with chronic or fatal diseases. Others range from doctors to policy makers to powerful industry players. They include Karen DeSalvo, who heads the federal Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Todd Park, the former U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Jonathan Bush, CEO of health IT company Athenahealth.
"It's a major labor of love," Holliday says of her painting.
And it's a way to give voices to people who can be overlooked in policy debates, especially on an arcane subject like digital medical records.
When Holliday first started going to medical conferences after her husband's death, she noticed there were no people who identified themselves as patients. So she convinced many of those willing to tell their private health stories to let her do so in art. The paintings show these patients' struggles with conditions including Lupus, cancer and mental health, an area where patients and their families have particular challenges getting records due to privacy concerns.
She could relate to all of them as "I'm a really regular person," says Holliday. Now, however, she's also a paid keynote speaker at health conferences and a policy wonk.
Fred was also a regular guy — and a father of two young sons — who spent years working in a video store while going to school. The year before his death, however, Fred got his doctorate in film studies and became a professor of film at American University. He was so proud, Holliday says.
He had been going to the doctor off and on for about six months for problems that turned out to be symptoms of his cancer. Still, he kept being prescribed pain medication. After doing her own research into what appeared to be something wrong with his spine, Holliday concluded something must be wrong with his kidneys and demanded an MRI.
At the first hospital, Holliday was told it would take 21 days for her to get a copy of Fred's medical records and 73 cents per page for the 162 pages. By that time, Fred was already in the next hospital and close to being sent to hospice.
Access to the records early would have helped the couple make better-informed decisions and allowed "us to see how extreme the spread of his disease was," says Holliday.
Now, she wants everyone else to have that access. Up against a powerful and well-financed industry, Holliday isn't about to give up. One of Fred's doctors called her "Little Miss A-Type Personality," for her pushiness in getting his records. So she put that on one of her jackets.
She's also a survivor. Her late father, an alcoholic, physically and sexually abused her when she was young and she made that part of her new memoir, The Writing on the Wall. "I wanted regular folks to know what it's like to be hospitalized without information," says Holliday. "If I explained what happened to me as a child back when we didn't talk about those things, I was hoping that people might see what feels like abuse in hospitals and would change things more rapidly."
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c91d91cc523da6d9d5a145443f74d841
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/27/sc-multi-vehicle-crash/28011217/
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Multi-vehicle crash closed S.C. interstate for hours
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Multi-vehicle crash closed S.C. interstate for hours
LEXINGTON, S.C. — A multiple vehicle crash and fire here shut down both directions of Interstate 26 for more than three hours Wednesday morning. As of late morning, all westbound lanes had reopened. Just before 4 p.m., the eastbound lanes reopened.
The accident, which happened about 5:45 a.m., occurred in the eastbound lanes of the interstate northwest of Columbia, S.C.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol said more than 10 vehicles were involved in the accident, including a tanker truck carrying about 8,500 gallons of fuel that caught fire after the crash. The fire engulfed several other cars.
The cause of the accident is not yet known.
"When you look at upwards of 10 vehicles involved in a collision, several of them were completely engulfed, so it's something that's going to take some time to investigate, and it's something that we're not going to rush," said Lance Cpl. David Jones with the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
Investigators say multiple people were transported to the hospital, but there were no fatalities reported.
The heat was so intense it made for a bit of a hazard for the emergency personnel who initially arrived at the scene.
"Right beside us is a fireworks store, and if that had ignited, it would have been a catastrophe," said Lance Cpl. David Jones with the South Carolina Highway Patrol. "We owe a lot of credit to the firefighters who came out here and risked their lives to battle this blaze they make our job safer."
Some of the fuel spilled into a nearby ditch, and was being examined by the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Contributing: The Associated Press.
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4655fdebd224f4755ca13d1496ff3bdc
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/28/newser/28064115/
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'Father' marries 'son' after they dissolve adoption
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'Father' marries 'son' after they dissolve adoption
(NEWSER) – Norman MacArthur and Bill Novak spent the past 15 years as father and son in the eyes of the law; they'll spend the rest of their years as a married couple. The couple, together for more than 50 years, married in Pennsylvania on Sunday, Yahoo News reports. Prior to the ceremony, the men told Patch.com they were "ecstatic beyond belief." Novak adopted MacArthur in 2000 after the pair moved from New York to Pennsylvania and realized their legal partnership wouldn't be recognized. "The only legal avenue we had in order to be afforded any rights was adoption," MacArthur says. The "creative" strategy is "entirely understandable," a lawyer says. "It reflects people's deep need to protect each other as family."
When a court agreed to dissolve their adoption this month so the men could marry, "The courtroom burst into applause. I burst into tears," MacArthur tells the AP. "They were certainly happy tears. After months of investigating ways that we could do this and finally having the decision coming down in our favor, I'm still walking 3 feet above the ground." This first case of an adoption-turned-marriage in the state "removes the hurdle for other people who may be in the same position as Bill and Norm," the couple's attorney says. He's already representing another couple hoping to vacate an adoption in order to tie the knot. (Read more about MacArthur and Novak here.)
This story originally appeared on Newser:
More from Newser:
Newser is a USA TODAY content partner providing general news, commentary and coverage from around the Web. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.
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ca2a300226acc6ee7cfaa2a185c3ab35
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/28/obama-national-hurricane-center-miami-climate-change/28072791/
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Obama links hurricane force to climate change
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Obama links hurricane force to climate change
Climate change may well be a factor in the increased intensity of hurricanes and other storms, President Obama said Thursday after a tour of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
"Climate change didn't cause Hurricane Sandy, but it might have made it stronger," Obama said, referring to the 2012 mega-storm that hit parts of New Jersey and New York.
Obama, who headlined a pair of Democratic Party fundraisers Wednesday night in Miami, also received his annual hurricane preparedness briefing at the facility where officials track storms as they approach the U.S.
Hurricane season officially begins Monday.
"The truth is, we are better prepared than ever for the storms of today," Obama said. "Technology has improved, forecasting has improved."
The president also praised the employees at the hurricane center, saying "they may be in the background until disaster strikes, and suddenly we realize how much we depend on them."
They are especially vigilant now because climate scientists "are telling us that extreme weather events like hurricanes are likely to become more powerful," Obama said.
While again urging federal legislation to address climate change, Obama also praised states and cities for working to mitigate the effects of climate change. "Miami, for example, already has to spend hundreds of millions of dollars just to adapt its water system to more frequent flooding," the president said.
While visiting the hurricane center, Obama conducted a question-and-answer session on climate change and other issues via Twitter.
Obama took three posts to answer a question about why his administration is allowing oil drilling in the Arctic, if it is so concerned about climate change.
"We've shut off drilling in the most sensitive arctic areas, including Bristol Bay," Obama replied at one point, later adding that "since we can't prevent oil exploration completely in region we're setting the highest possible standards."
The president also disputed the notion that a proposed free trade deal with Asian nations — the Trans-Pacific Partnership — is being developed in secret.
The details of the agreement are still being negotiated, Obama said, and "after I sign (the) agreement, Congress will have months of debate before a vote. Nothing secret about it."
The White House selected which Twitter questions to answer.
One query that went unanswered: "Should rich donors pay a carbon tax when you fly to their houses to get money?"
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229baac7c7f6f599c26dfc75f58ed18e
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/28/treasure-hunters-find-shipwreck-in-lake-michigan/28044245/
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Shipwreck discovery may lead to Great Lakes treasure
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Shipwreck discovery may lead to Great Lakes treasure
FRANKFORT, Mich. — Could lost Confederate gold that was stolen after the Civil War be buried somewhere in northern Lake Michigan? Two Muskegon treasure hunters strongly believe it is.
This year's quest to find the gold has begun for Kevin Dykstra and Frederick J. Monroe. They believe they may have already found a significant piece to the puzzle, which would put them a step closer to proving their theory.
Dykstra and Monroe made worldwide news in December 2014 when they went public with their claim of finding the holy grail of all Great Lakes shipwrecks — Le Griffon. They say they actually found that shipwreck in 2011, but chose not to go public until December 2014 because they wanted to research and consult with maritime experts first.
The duo admitted they weren't searching for lost vessels at the time of making their Griffon claim. Instead, they say they were looking for gold.
Thanks to a deathbed confession that's nearly a century old, and four years of intense research done by Dykstra, both explorers believe they're on the brink.
The breakthrough they were looking for may have happened by accident in April when they dove on their discovery for the first time.
"Sometimes it's not about what you're looking for, it's what you find while you're looking," said Dykstra, who has been treasure hunting alongside Monroe for the past several years.
The pair began scanning Lake Michigan off the coast of Frankfort as soon as the ice melted, looking for a boxcar they claim holds more than $2 million in gold bullion.
"Forty years of waiting," said Monroe, referring to how long it's been since he first heard about the possibility of gold treasure in the lake. "I'm sure this season we'll find it."
Dykstra and Monroe believe the lost Confederate gold is somewhere at the bottom of Lake Michigan, thanks to a two-part story that has transcended generations and was last relayed to Monroe in 1972.
"I was sitting down and talking to a friend of mine, and all of the sudden he says, 'Fred, you're just the person I want to see with your diving experience,'" said Monroe. "'My grandfather told me a story that he heard from a lighthouse keeper, who originally heard it during a deathbed confession, that there's two million dollars of gold bullion inside a boxcar that fell off a ferry into Lake Michigan.'"
After four years of research, Dykstra and Monroe discovered in January that George Alexander Abbott delivered the deathbed confession in Muskegon, Mich., in 1921.
Abbott was vice president of Hackley National Bank, under former Muskegon lumber baron Charles H. Hackley.
"We believe wholeheartedly that the Confederate gold story is true, and we believe that the boxcar is out there," said Dykstra.
It is fact that in the late 1800s boxcars were shoved off ferries into Lake Michigan to lighten the load during bad weather.
The deathbed confession was only half of the story, according to Monroe. His friend offered up a second tale in 1972.
"He told me about a boat that has a cabin in it, which has a safe in it, and inside the safe, there was jewelry, gold and silver," Monroe said.
Even though this mystery ship was part of the story Monroe heard, the two explorers say they weren't looking for it. But it may be what they found in April.
"We were searching for the boxcar when we decided to make one final pass and head out towards deeper water," said Dykstra.
Suddenly, a large image appeared on their sonar. It looked like a ship sitting upright on the lake bottom.
"Kevin got suited up," said Monroe.
The water temperature was a frigid 37 degrees, but Kevin Dykstra and his brother, Albert, threw on their dive gear and began their 120-foot dive to the bottom.
As Kevin Dykstra worked his way down the dive rope, he says a perfectly preserved vessel came into view.
He says it didn't take long to determine that it was a tugboat, roughly 70 feet long.
"I was actually hovering over the bow of the ship, and when I looked down, I could see the windlass very clear," said Dykstra, recalling his initial investigation of the shipwreck. "Just back from the winch, I came across the mast, which was sticking straight up."
Just beyond the mast was a hatch cover on the deck of the vessel that somehow didn't pop off due to pressurization while it sank.
"To the left of the hatch cover was a very pronounced anchor," Dykstra said, smiling. that meant he was likely exploring a previously undiscovered wreck.
"I moved back towards the back of the ship when I came across the pilot house, which was still perfectly intact," said Dykstra. "The steering wheel was still in place."
As Dykstra peeked into the pilot house, he says he could see the mechanical parts of the ship, including the engine, but then something even more interesting caught his eye.
"Just to the left of the rear door was a safe," he said.
"To find a boat with a cabin intact, with a safe, while we're looking for the boxcar, the odds just seem too far that it must be related," said Dykstra.
Monroe says he, too, was excited, because all of the sudden, he believed the story he was told in 1972 was starting to be confirmed.
"It just makes everything come together," said Monroe.
But the four-decades-long wait will continue unless the state of Michigan decides it wants to get involved.
"We've got to find out what's in the safe," added Monroe.
"Once I realized there was a safe, I called the state archaeologist and let him know," said Dykstra.
The state can decided if it wants to send somebody out to the wreck site to excavate the safe, it can issue Dykstra and Monroe a permit to retrieve the safe themselves, or it can decide that nothing is to be done, meaning the safe, and its contents would remain a mystery.
"If that safe is opened, and there's gold, silver and jewels inside, to us, it really puts the boxcars a lot closer," Dykstra said.
Dykstra and Monroe say that given the size, type and location of the sunken vessel, they feel they know the identity of the wreck, though they say they want to do more research to be 100% sure.
Dykstra says if the ship is the one they believe it to be, it was owned by a prominent jeweler.
Michigan's state archaeologist, Dean Anderson offered no comment about whether the state plans to investigate the wreck or excavate the safe.
So, for now, the contents of that safe will remain a mystery.
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86bd8812ff0070ab347f07b7c72a339b
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/29/dead-mans-family-prison-opted-cheaper-drugs/28190755/
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Dead man's family: Prison opted for cheaper drugs
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Dead man's family: Prison opted for cheaper drugs
DES MOINES, Iowa — Cindy Jones buried her son this week, still uncertain about how he died after wandering into a wooded area a few streets away from home — and questioning whether the state of Iowa gave him the help he needed.
Jessie Russell Arlo Parish's body was found at about 9:30 a.m. May 19 when a vegetable gardener discovered it among some brush in southern Des Moines.
For much of his life, Parish had battled with paranoid schizophrenia, anxiety and drug dependence that landed him in treatment and, more recently, prison.
Jones and family members contend that Parish, 32, had been getting better under a medication that was part of his court-ordered treatment. But then Parish was sent to prison, where officials apparently swapped out his medication for a cheaper — and, his family believes, less effective — equivalent.
On May 5, Parish was released from prison in a much worse state than he went in, his family said. And two weeks later, he was dead.
"The voices in his head. … It's like the devil preying on him," Jones said of Parish. "What it really boils down to is, people with mental illness, they need help, not prison."
A day after his death, his friends and family sat among boxes filled with his belongings, including poetry neatly written on notebook paper and stashed away among folders of medical and incarceration records that detailed his ongoing struggles.
Parish had an affinity for words, scribbling pages of rap lyrics and short stories in neat cursive.
"Until the date on my grave is scratched and engraved in, I'm droppin' flows and they're just unstoppable. It's astronomical. It'll make your ears pop," Parish wrote in his journal.
His trouble with drugs dated to 1997, when at 14, he received probation in juvenile court for possession of a controlled substance and was released to his mother's custody.
Charges mounted over the years. He had an arrest for possession of methamphetamine and marijuana with intent to deliver in March 2004, exacerbated by a parole violation, and arrests for consumption or intoxication and fifth-degree theft in 2008 and 2010.
Josh Vogel, Parish's childhood friend, said his best friend changed "seemingly overnight" about 10 years ago. Parish had called his house crying, asking to be picked up after he'd wandered.
"He'd walk off once the voices started. But when he does, he usually is drawn toward water," Vogel said.
Yeader Creek runs near the patch of land where Parish's body was found May 19, but it's still unclear what caused his death. His death certificate has not been issued, and toxicology reports are pending.
Jones said she's certain he took over-the-counter and prescription medication before he disappeared May 15.
She reported him missing to Des Moines police at 8:52 p.m. May 17, police records show.
HEARING VOICES
Jones said Parish would use drugs to self-medicate when his prescriptions failed to stave off the voices in his head.
On Oct. 13, 2010, his mental illness escalated.
He was watching a KCCI-TV broadcast that evening and believed the newscaster was talking directly to him, taunting him and telling his life story, his family said.
"He called it seeing ghosts," Vogel said. "He said people on the news were talking (bad) to him, directly."
Minutes after the 10 p.m. news segment, Parish showed up at the station in Des Moines and began throwing rocks at the windows and vehicles parked outside, according to the police report. He shattered two front windows and two vehicle windows, court records show.
Then he entered one car, took papers out of the glove box and threw them around the parking lot.
KCCI employees called police, thinking someone was shooting a gun at their building.
Parish was taken into custody and later pleaded guilty of second-degree criminal mischief and two counts of third-degree criminal mischief.
"I've been on drugs all of my adult life, and I'm tired of it and I am ready for a change," Parish wrote to District Judge Glen Pille in a May 17, 2011, letter, asking for a reduced sentence and in-jail substance abuse treatment, instead of prison time.
He got five years' probation and paid more than $3,000 in restitution to KCCI for the broken windows, plus $1,750 in fines.
MEDICATION PROMPTS CONTROVERSY
As part of the sentence, the judge ordered Parish to comply with all requirements from Eyerly Ball Community Mental Health Center in Des Moines, court records show. That included taking all required medications and meeting with health care providers.
Jones said Eyerly Ball's Golden Circle Behavioral Health Clinic prescribed a drug that seemed to work where others failed, an injection called Invega, in March 2011. According to the medication's website, it's a once-monthly injection that treats schizophrenia.
But it's expensive — almost $2,000 per shot, according to estimates on GoodRX.com. Jones said Golden Circle helped find funding to pay for the shot.
Still, Parish slipped back into methamphetamine use, and court records show he violated parole three times. He was in and out of several institutions before finally being sent to the Newton Correctional Facility.
Once there, Parish's family believes prison doctors substituted a cheaper schizophrenia medication than Eyerly Ball prescribed.
"He was court-ordered to stay on the Invega shot. The state never once gave him that Invega shot," Jones said. "They just want to throw him in prison and put him on the cheapest drug that's out there."
According to an offender exit-status document from the Iowa Department of Corrections Health Services dated May 2, Parish was issued a prescription for fluphenazine, an anti-psychotic, and hydroxyzine, which treats anxiety disorders, when he left Newton's correctional facility.
Fluphenazine is about $10 for a bottle of 30 5-milligram pills, according to GoodRX.com. Hydroxyzine costs around $14 per bottle for the liquid form of the drug.
Invega "was the only thing that worked for him," Vogel said.
PROFESSOR WEIGHS IN
Joseph McEvoy, a professor at Georgia Regents University Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, co-authored a 2014 study that found that newer drugs such as Invega work no better than cheaper, older drugs such as fluephenazine or haloperidol.
"The therapeutic benefits were absolutely equal," save a few differences in side effects, McEvoy said.
Typically, schizophrenia symptoms get worse when patients are off their meds or skip dosages, McEvoy said. Those who struggle with that problem often are prescribed long-acting injections in the first place.
A clinical summary from Eyerly Ball obtained by The Des Moines Register shows Parish had a prescription for haloperidol pills just four days before he went missing.
Eyerly Ball officials told the Register they couldn't release medical information on a patient, alive or dead, including information on prescriptions.
Fred Scaletta, a spokesman for the Corrections Department, echoed Eyerly Ball, saying that HIPPA, a federal law dictating health privacy, prevents the prison from giving out personal medical information to the public, even if that person is deceased.
"We can confirm medications are given, a 30-day supply, once they leave," Scaletta said.
Scaletta said Iowa prisons allow inmates to continue taking their prescription until it runs out. Prison doctors then select the same or a similar drug from a list of medications called the Department of Corrections Mental Health Formulary.
"As a government agency we have to go through the process of making sure we get the best product at a decent cost to the taxpayer as possible," Scaletta said. "I can assure you we're not going to ignore somebody's medical needs. We'll address them the way they need to be addressed."
But Jones remains skeptical, in part because she said she was informed only after her son's death that he tried to commit suicide while in prison.
"I'm just glad he's finally done fighting this battle in his head," Jones said. "He can finally be at peace."
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0b248333a846b59a501ff9192f7be042
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/29/psychiatrist-holmes-knew-wrong/28184771/
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Psychiatrist: Holmes 'knew what he was doing was wrong'
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Psychiatrist: Holmes 'knew what he was doing was wrong'
CENTENNIAL, Colo. – Aurora theater shooting defendant James Holmes' actions suggest that "he knew what he was doing was wrong," a state-appointed doctor testified Friday.
The independent psychiatrist – the prosecution and defense hired their own – said Holmes also appears to have a "primitive or infantile" way of dealing with a powerful anger he carries.
Holmes is "extremely uncomfortable … to see this powerful anger inside himself," testified Dr. William Reid, concluded that Holmes suffers from mental illness but knew right from wrong at the time of the shooting.
Reid spent more than 300 hours preparing to question Holmes, and then spent 22 hours interviewing him at the state's secure mental hospital in Pueblo.
In his interviews, Holmes also said a breakup with his girlfriend made him want to kill other people.
Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with the July 20, 2012, shooting at a suburban Denver movie theater that left 12 people dead and 70 injured.
Prosecutors have shown evidence that Holmes spent months preparing for the attack, including buying and practicing with guns, amassing body armor and researching the theater's exists and how long it might take police to arrive. Defense attorneys say Holmes suffers from schizophrenia and was unable to understand that what he was doing was wrong.
Reid said Holmes doesn't seem to respond to confrontations the same way most people do: by either fighting or fleeing. Instead, Holmes told Reid, he tends to freeze up. Prosecutors have hinted they think Holmes, a former neuroscience student, has exaggerated his symptoms to evade responsibility for his actions.
Jurors on Monday will resume watching more of the 22 hours of interviews conducted by Reid. The trial is expected to last until late summer.
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1cd8cee4580829f738e9dd8b5838392b
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/30/kostigen-waterspouts-havoc/28075499/
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What to do when waterspouts wreak havoc
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What to do when waterspouts wreak havoc
It took only 17 seconds for a waterspout to spin onto a Florida beach earlier this week and loft a bounce house and the three children inside it into the air.
The children were playing in the inflatable on Memorial Day in Fort Lauderdale when the rotating column of air and sea mist whipped onto the beach. The bounce house flew above palm trees and across four lanes of traffic before landing in a parking lot.
The three children — ages 5, 6 and 11 — were tossed before the bounce house went sky high but all suffered injuries including broken bones.
There are two types of waterspouts, which can cause damage similar to that of tornadoes. Tornadic waterspouts begin as land-based tornadoes and spin onto rivers, lakes or coastlines. The water droplets they lap up turn the twisters into waterspouts. These types cause the most damage because they are often accompanied by thunder, lightning and strong winds.
Fair weather waterspouts begin on water's surface and rise into the clouds. Water gets lifted by cyclonic winds and wafts high into the air, sometimes several hundred feet or more. Spray and waves typically accompany these waterspouts, which do most of their damage on shorelines. They usually last around 20 minutes.
No matter the type, waterspouts can be dangerous. They have sunken ships, toppled trees and killed people.
Ancient mariners believed waterspouts were streams of water pouring from the sky. This is on account of the cascade formed by the swirling ring of sea spray. But fair weather waterspouts actually begin with warm water (observed as a dark spot) that spirals into bands like a ripple on a pond. Winds lift the water from the surface into the air and then high into the sky.
Besides dark rings on the surface of water, the National Weather Service says certain cloud types also signal a waterspout might be in the making. Cumulus clouds, or narrow-looking fluffy clouds that lie low in the sky and have dark, flat bottoms, are clues that a waterspout might occur, especially if there are light winds blowing. Thunderstorms also can produce waterspouts.
Weather reports can alert you if waterspouts are in the area. Maritime radio channels servicing the Great Lakes, where waterspouts are common in summer, will issue warnings if waterspouts are possible or occurring.
It's not wise to take chances. That means checking weather reports for storms and alerts before you head to the beach or go boating. If you are heading offshore, be sure to have a plan for getting quickly back on land during waterspout season. If it's too late for getting to shore safely, head at a 90-degree angle from the direction the waterspout is moving.
Never chase waterspouts. Just as tornadoes on land can lift cows into the air, waterspouts can be powerful enough to lift up entire schools of fish and rain them down over land. And if they are powerful enough to do that, they are strong enough to also give you flight.
Onshore, identify a shelter or safe place to take cover, as you might a tornado.
While they look wondrous and are a weather phenomenon to behold, don't get caught staring in awe. Take cover. Otherwise you might find yourself like those children, flying through the air.
Thomas M. Kostigen is the founder of TheClimateSurvivalist.com and a New York Times best-selling author and journalist. He is the National Geographic author of "The Extreme Weather Survival Guide: Understand, Prepare, Survive, Recover" and the NG Kids book" Extreme Weather: Surviving Tornadoes, Tsunamis, Hailstorms, Thundersnow, Hurricanes and More!" Follow him @weathersurvival, or email [email protected].
MORE FROM THOMAS M. KOSTIGEN:
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bbfb5e920815b2f27dda6ef6041a67c2
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/30/man-killed-by-fish-hawaii/28205861/
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Hawaii man impaled, killed by fish
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Hawaii man impaled, killed by fish
HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaii man was killed Friday after he was apparently impaled by the bill of a fish, a Hawaii County fire official said.
Witnesses at Honokohau Harbor in Kailua-Kona reported that a man in his 40s jumped from the pier in an apparent attempt to catch a billfish, likely a short nose spear fish, West Hawaii Acting Battalion Chief John Whitman said.
"All we know is next thing they know, the man is seen floating," he said. Firefighters tried to resuscitate the man, who had a puncture wound to his right, upper torso. The man was taken to Kona Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Whitman said.
A witness told the fire department the man shot the fish with a spear gun. It's not clear what happened to the fish, which Whitman said was estimated to be about 30 pounds. That type of a fish has a bill that can be up to a foot long, he said.
He said police will investigate.
The man's identity has not been released. He's a Big Island resident who is in the charter boat business, Whitman said.
This isn't the first time he's heard of bill fish fatally impaling someone, Whitman said. "They are very aggressive animals," he said. "If you mess with them they defend themselves pretty good."
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12cb7391477aa60823e62979efea0091
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/30/protest-heated-peaceful-phoenix-mosque/28199545/
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Protest heated but peaceful at Phoenix mosque
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Protest heated but peaceful at Phoenix mosque
PHOENIX — Police officers lined barricades separating protesters and counter-protesters who gathered outside a Phoenix mosque Friday evening in response to a planned "freedom of speech" demonstration where attendees were encouraged to bring weapons and "draw Mohammed," an act offensive to many Muslims.
Police presence increased by 6:30 p.m. to physically separate the two sides outside the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix.
About 20 cars and 15 motorcycles traveled from a protester meeting point at a nearby park to the mosque around 6 p.m., where people from the two sides used megaphones to yell at each other and were at times nose-to-nose.
A large group of counter protesters held signs reading "Love not Hate," as others waved American flags and one man ripped the Quran in half.
Counter protesters wearing blue lined the side closest to the mosque. They said they came from Redemption Church in Tempe and wore the color to be a peaceful presence.
Few people showed up for the mosque's scheduled prayer service.
A Facebook event organized by Jon Ritzheimer for the demonstration had about 1,300 people who said they would attend Friday evening — many more than were in attendance — but Phoenix police were out in force to provide security near the mosque. Ritzheimer said Friday that he was hoping to inspire more freedom of speech rallies.
"This is not about me," he said. "This is about freedom of speech across America"
Nearly as many people responded to an event asking social media users to post using the hashtags #NotMyAmerica and #PhxMosque to show solidarity with the Muslim community.
Usama Shami, president of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, said before the planned protest Friday afternoon that the event was about intimidation.
"Ignore people who try to provoke you," he said. "Say 'peace' and walk away."
Organizers of the demonstration have encouraged attendees to come armed "just in case our First Amendment comes under much anticipated attack."
Phoenix Muslim leaders said the demonstration and its potential to incite violence is just a way to infringe on their freedom to practice religion without hate and bigotry.
Organizers of the demonstration have cast the protest as a response to the decision of two Phoenix residents to drive to Texas last month in an attempt to engage in violence with attendees at an event designed to be offensive to Muslims.
National response was swift in advance of the protest.
White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said the Department of Homeland Security has been in touch with state and local law enforcement authorities, and is monitoring the situation in Phoenix.
Muslim Advocates, a California-based civil rights organization, sent a request to the U.S. Department of Justice Friday asking for the department to open a civil rights investigation into the protest.
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f65ab161786eb8f1815315382b5bbbeb
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/30/san-francisco-zoo-polar-bear/28206851/
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Pike the polar bear dies at San Francisco Zoo
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Pike the polar bear dies at San Francisco Zoo
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The San Francisco Zoo has lost one of two polar bears.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports Friday that Piké died Thursday from problems associated with old age. She was 32 years old.
The average lifespan of a polar bear is 24. The zoo's other polar bear, Uulu, is 34 years old and considered the oldest polar bear in the country.
Piké, pronounced Peeka, was born at the zoo on Nov. 25, 1982 and cared by staff when her mother could not.
Zoo staff tells the newspaper she was playful and personable. She loved to eat and take naps, fish and swim. She didn't want to go inside for the night.
Arthritis and digestive problems, however, made life harder for the bear and the decision was made to euthanize her.
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9cc3b9450ccf5170ed18ad9191376195
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/30/texas-open-carry-handguns/28206743/
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Open carry handguns will soon be legal in Texas
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Open carry handguns will soon be legal in Texas
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas lawmakers on Friday approved carrying handguns openly on the streets of the nation's second most-populous state, sending the bill to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who immediately promised to sign it and reverse a ban dating to the post-Civil War era.
Gun owners would still have to get a license to carry a handgun in a visible holster.
The state known for its wild west, cowboy history and some the nation's most relaxed gun laws, has allowed concealed handguns for 20 years. Concealed handgun license holders are even allowed to skip the metal detectors at the state Capitol, as state troopers providing security assume they're armed.
But Texas was one of only six states with an outright ban on so-called open carry, and advocates have fought to be allowed to keep their guns in plain sight. Cast as an important expansion of the Second Amendment right to bear arms in the U.S. Constitution, it became a major issue for the state's strong Republican majority.
"We think of Texas being gun happy, but we didn't afford our citizens the same rights most other states do," said Rep. Larry Phillips, a Republican from Sherman, one of the bill's authors.
The House gave final approval on a mostly party-line 102-43 vote, drawing gleeful whistles from some lawmakers. A short time later, the Senate passed it 20-11, also along party lines, with all Republicans supporting it and all Democrats opposing.
Within minutes of the bill passing, Abbott sent a Twitter message that he'll sign it. "Next Destination: My Pen," Abbot tweeted.
The bill passed after lawmakers made concessions to law enforcement groups, who had been upset by an original provision that barred police from questioning people carrying guns if they have no other reason to stop them.
The final bill scrapped that language, meaning police will be able to ask Texans with handguns in plain sight if they have proper licenses.
Before Friday's vote, police groups had demanded that Abbott veto the bill if it wasn't taken out.
Gun control advocates have argued that open carry is less about personal protection than intimidation. Gun rights groups have staged several large public rallies in recent years, sometimes at notable historical landmarks such as the Alamo, where members carried rifles in plain sight, which is legal.
The open carry debate also stirred drama at the Capitol early in the legislative session, when gun rights advocates confronted one state lawmaker in his office. The lawmaker, Democrat Poncho Nevarez, was assigned a state security detail and House members voted to make it easier to install panic buttons in their offices.
"This session has been an alarming show of politicking that caters to a gun lobby agenda," Sandy Chasse with the Texas Chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. "As a gun-owning Texas mom, this is not the Texas I want for my family or community."
Just like the current concealed handgun law, the bill requires anyone wanting to openly carry a handgun to get a license. Applicants must be 21, pass a background check and receive classroom and shooting range instruction — although lawmakers have weakened those requirements since 2011.
Texas has about 850,000 concealed handgun license holders, a number that has increased sharply d in recent years.
It also recognizes the concealed handgun licenses issued in more than 40 states, and license holders from those states will be allowed to openly carry their weapons in Texas once it becomes law.
"I have great faith in our concealed license holders that they will do the right thing and carry their gun appropriately," said Sen. Craig Estes, the Wichita Falls Republican who sponsored the measure in that chamber.
Democrats such as Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston said they fear violence on the streets.
"I hope we don't have a host of Texans running around with a Rambo mentality," Ellis said.
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9fa826a914a1c695abc97a506d52ea8f
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/31/arizona-attorney-dale-baich/28277027/
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Ariz. attorney Dale Baich fights for right to humane death
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Ariz. attorney Dale Baich fights for right to humane death
PHOENIX -- At times, the federal public defender Dale Baich is brought into a death-penalty eligible murder case at its earliest stages. His job is to describe death row to the accused.
Baich describes the small cells and the solitary existence that begins to weigh on the convicted. How the only human contact comes when corrections officers reach into the cell from the outside to attach restraints. How, over time, death-row inmates don't know what they look like because they don't see a mirror.
Baich offers the unsparing glimpse so that the defendant can properly weigh whether to accept a plea deal and a lengthy but time-certain prison sentence, or go to court and risk capital punishment.
Many take the plea deal.
Those who don't and are convicted, become his clients.
As they wait out the years after sentencing, it will be Baich who will try to keep them out of the death chamber. Or, at least, make sure their execution is as humane as possible.
Baich has handled death-penalty cases since 1988 and worked out of the Phoenix federal public defender's office since 1996. Sometimes he's been successful. Sometimes his clients die.
Baich's latest efforts have focused not just on Arizona cases but on Oklahoma, where a group of death-row inmates has challenged the way that state plans to execute them.
The essential legal question in the case: Do the drugs that Oklahoma and other states use for lethal injection produce a tranquil and peaceful death? Or do the inmates actually lie fully awake and aware as lethal drugs burn through their bodies and stop their hearts and lungs, making the last few minutes of their lives a silent torture?
At the end of April, public defenders, using arguments Baich helped craft, stood before the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court and argued that the drug Oklahoma and Arizona have used does not sufficiently knock out the condemned — and that the resulting execution is unconstitutionally cruel.
The high court's ruling, expected in June, could change the way lethal injection is carried out in the 31 states that use capital punishment, forcing states to seek out some other combination of drugs even as pharmaceutical options for lethal injection are dwindling.
Arizona has put further executions on hold until judges rule on the legality of its execution method.
Cases like the one in Oklahoma have made Baich one of the country's leading legal opponents of the death penalty; in almost every setting, his arguments aim to change it, stall it or prevent it from happening.
But Baich doesn't describe himself as a death-penalty opponent. Indeed, when asked his opinion about the very existence of capital punishment, he demurs.
To him, the work is not about ideological victory.
"I don't know if victory is the right word," he said, about a possible high-court ruling in his clients' favor. "I think it's an opportunity for the courts to take a close look at what is really going on with this process."
But he does know that raising these questions can cause the public and politicians to re-examine capital punishment as a judicial policy. Last week, Nebraska's legislature voted to end the practice.
Other states have redoubled their efforts to preserve it. Utah voted on an alternative in case it cannot carry out lethal injections: It will bring back the firing squad.
"In the end," Baich said, "what we've done is ensure that clients who are executed by lethal injection are not going to experience pain and suffering."
Charting a course
Baich, 58, grew up in a suburb of Cleveland. His mother still lives in the house he grew up in.
He grew up a baseball fan, preferring the slow, measured pace of the game. As he matured, he became the type of fan who studies the way outfielders are positioned, or watches the signals the managers send in from the dugout. It's a long game with a lot of particulars to note.
At law school, Baich became a fan of the blues. The college radio station had a blues show on during the overnight hours, and the music imprinted on his brain as he studied.
He opened his own office in Cleveland. One of his early cases showed him that courts could be used to create change.
An environmental group wanted to stop the Perry Nuclear Power Plant on the shore of Lake Erie. By the time the case came to Baich, the plant had been given clearance by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Baich was concerned about the plant's ability to withstand an earthquake, especially after a temblor hit 10 miles away. Baich's challenge was in getting past the high bar set by the regulations, which were written by industry insiders specifically to stop challenges, he said.
"When people in the '60s were out demonstrating and chaining themselves to the fences to stop the (nuclear) plants, although that was important, what people should have also been doing was getting involved in the regulatory process," he said.
Baich did the unglamorous work of wading through the minutiae of regulations and nuclear-power licensing until he found an argument that convinced a federal court to halt the plant in 1987. It opened months later, but Baich had slowed the process enough to feel the plant had done more than just paper over the earthquake problem.
Baich was offered a job in the public defender's office in Ohio. He represented juveniles in the criminal system. Then, in 1988, he took a job with the state public defender's office, specializing in death-penalty cases.
He said the job also appealed to an innate sense of fairness for people caught up in a bureaucratic system.
"It's so wrong when someone gets screwed and there's no one standing with him or her and advocating for them," Baich said. In 1996, he was offered the job in Phoenix.
That was the same year the city demolished Cleveland Stadium. Baich was among the fans who took the offer to buy seats. A truck showed up outside his Central Avenue office with four seats covered in rust and bird droppings. Baich had them steam cleaned. Take away the bird poop, he said, but leave the rust. The row of four seats has moved with him to his office near Seventh Avenue and Van Buren Street.
On death row, he would meet clients who were real-life versions of the blues songs he heard in college. He would hear tales of poverty, abuse, alcohol and suffering.
Those stories would become one path to keeping an accused out of the execution chamber. Baich could argue they had an untreated mental illness, or an abusive childhood. He could also argue about how individual clients had been done wrong: procedural mistakes by the police or the courts, shoddy work by other attorneys.
Those arguments were unique to individual cases. But there was another set of arguments with bigger ramifications. Baich began to look at the procedures states used to execute prisoners. A ruling changing those procedures could have an effect beyond any single inmate.
To execution witnesses, there seemed little wrong with lethal injection. Inmates appeared to peacefully go to sleep.
It certainly appeared that way to Baich. The first time he witnessed a lethal injection, in 2010, it struck him as much more serene than the death by electric chair he saw in 1996 in Nebraska.
That state was the only one at the time that had not adopted lethal injection. Baich said watching that execution, his first, was "surreal."
He said the inmate, John Joubert, convicted of killing three children, bolted up from his chair, straining against the straps. His prison suit puffed with air, Baich said, and steam appeared to come out of one of his pant legs. He was given three jolts, the standard number at the time. Baich said he watched Joubert's skin color change from white to pink to red to blue and then gray.
By contrast, the October 2010 execution of Jeffrey Landrigan in Arizona appeared peaceful. When the curtain was pulled back and witnesses could see into the execution chamber, Landrigan's body was covered with a sheet. Only his head was exposed.
Landrigan said his final words, "Boomer, Sooner," and then, Baich said, the Oklahoma native closed his eyes and appeared to go to sleep.
Only later would Baich find out that the state imported drugs from another country to execute Landrigan, a move that a federal judge said showed a callous indifference to human life.
Which is also essentially what a judge thought of Landrigan when she sentenced him to death for the 1989 stabbing and strangulation of a man.
'A valuable job'
In Arizona, Baich has been assigned a rogue's gallery. The crimes of the convicted are a cascade of cruelty.
Randy Greenawalt was accused of killing a couple in their 20s and their infant son; Kevin Roscoe was accused of abducting, raping and killing a 7-year-old girl who had gone out searching for her runaway cat; Michael Poland was accused of killing two armored-car guards during a robbery, dumping their bodies in Lake Mead.
The Poland case shows some of the novel arguments Baich makes on behalf of his clients.
According to news stories, Baich argued that Arizona could not execute Poland until he first completed a 100-year federal prison sentence for the robbery and kidnapping. In the weeks before the scheduled execution, Baich argued that Poland's mental condition had deteriorated and he was too delusional to be killed.
Poland believed, Baich said, that he had superpowers that would allow him to survive the execution. Prosecutors said that was an act.
Mel McDonald, who prosecuted the Poland case, said death was deserved.
"Michael was scum," he said. "He was faking the mental thing right up to the end."
Still, McDonald, who has also been a judge and a defense attorney, said Baich played a necessary role in advocating for Poland, as frustrating as he found the argument.
"He does a valuable job," he said. "I want people like Dale to be there all the way through the process to be protecting the rights of the people involved."
Baich said he was certain Poland was not faking his delusion. As he left his cell on his final visit, Poland was casually using the restroom and told Baich he'd see him later.
"I was the last friendly face he was going to see," Baich said.
Poland's final words: "I'd like to know if you're going to bring me lunch afterward. I'm really hungry."
Legal challenges
McDonald had different feelings about Poland's brother, Patrick, who was convicted of the same crime.
Though he prosecuted him, McDonald said Patrick Poland helped authorities patch up holes in the case and expressed remorse. McDonald watched his execution by lethal injection and thought the man suffered. The vision stuck with him.
"I don't care who you are," McDonald said. "To see somebody suffer is bad."
The lethal injection protocol was developed in Oklahoma, according to a brief filed in the Supreme Court case by the Louis Stein Center. Doctors with the state medical association would not help with the effort, so the state medical examiner devised the procedure, the brief says.
The formulation was essentially the same that other states, including Arizona, would adopt, according to the legal brief. First, the inmate would be given a fast-acting sedative that would render him or her unconscious. Then, the inmate would receive the two lethal drugs: one that would paralyze their muscles, including the diaphragm, and another one that would stop the heart.
In 2007, Baich began filing legal challenges questioning the qualifications of those administering the drugs and the manner in which the drugs were injected. He also argued that a doctor needed to be certain that a prisoner was unconscious before the lethal drugs were administered.
Baich said his goal is to make sure the government follows its own rules, including the one that says it cannot inflict a cruel punishment.
"If we're going to do it," he said, "it has to be done in a way where the prisoner doesn't suffer or experience pain."
Legal challenges to lethal injection — including a case that made it to the U.S. Supreme Court — were succeeding in making the process more transparent. But the challenges didn't appear to be on track to stop any executions.
At one point, Baich withdrew a federal court challenge against Arizona's lethal injection method because he said the state had addressed his concerns. The state agreed with Baich that witnesses should be able to watch IV lines being administered and that the state needed to reveal sources of the chemicals.
Then, something happened that Baich neither planned nor expected. Arizona began running out of drugs.
Arizona had been using a drug called thiopental to knock inmates out. But it ran short.
A British anti-death-penalty group, Reprieve, started pressuring drug manufacturers, especially those in Europe, to stop their drugs from being used in executions. Hospira, the one company that made thiopental in the United States, planned to move the manufacturing of the drug to Italy, but that government said it would hold Hospira liable should the drug end up being used in an execution. Hospira announced in January 2011 that it would stop making the drug.
By then, the drug had already become scarce. Ohio had already announced it didn't have any to carry out executions. And Arizona obtained a batch of thiopental from a storefront pharmacy in Britain for the October 2010 execution of the condemned murderer, Landrigan.
A federal judge would later rule that the state, in league with the federal Food and Drug Administration, improperly sidestepped regulations in importing the drug. The judge's ruling said state and federal officials showed "seemingly callous indifference" to the condemned.
Arizona switched to a new knockout drug: pentobarbital. But the only manufacturer of that drug also blocked sales to corrections departments that would use it for executions. On its website, Reprieve lists statements from a dozen pharmaceutical companies pledging to block sale of their drugs for executions.
Arizona announced it would move to midazolam, a drug said to be like Valium. Oklahoma also adopted that drug as its first of the three administered during lethal injection. That drug is also made by Hospira. In a statement on its website, the company said it objects to its products being used in executions, but said it could do little to stop a prison from obtaining its drugs through the "gray market."
In April 2014, Oklahoma executed a prisoner, Clayton Lockett, using midazolam. Witnesses said Lockett was gasping, convulsing and calling out. Oklahoma officials tried stopping the execution. But Lockett died of a heart attack shortly thereafter.
The July execution of Joseph Rudolph Wood would be the first in Arizona using midazolam.
Baich was in the last of the three tiered rows of witnesses just outside the execution chamber. He said that after about a dozen minutes, it appeared Wood was dead. Then, Wood started to gasp. Baich couldn't hear him, but could see him. There appeared to be a pattern, he said. A few shallow gasps, then a deeper one.
Baich began writing what he was seeing using the pencil and pad of paper that corrections officials provided. Electronic devices and pens weren't allowed in the witness area.
He gave the note to an attorney in the room. It said to call the legal defender's office and report what he had seen. The note said the attorneys there would know what to do.
Within an hour, an emergency motion was filed with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Wood would die before the judge could rule.
Wood's execution would take another hour. Every few minutes, Baich said, a medical person would walk toward Wood and examine him. Then, a voice over the loudspeaker would announce to the witnesses that the prisoner was still sedated. Baich said that, as a lawyer, he has no factual basis to dispute that claim. He said he didn't want to share his layman's opinion.
In a news conference following the execution, the television news anchor Troy Hayden, of KSAZ-TV, said Wood looked like a fish on land gasping for air.
An autopsy would later show that Wood was given 15 times the drug dose recommended by state prison procedures. It was information that Baich did not know while witnessing the execution. In a motion filed with the federal court in Arizona, Baich is urging prison officials to let witnesses see the plunger administering the lethal drugs.
In June 2014, a group of 21 death-row inmates challenged Oklahoma's lethal-injection procedure. Four of those filed for a special injunction as they faced imminent execution. One of those men was executed before the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take the case.
The case is Glossip vs. Gross. Gross refers to Kevin Gross, the chairman of the Oklahoma Board of Corrections. Glossip refers to Richard Glossip, who was convicted of ordering the beating death of the owner of a motel he managed.
Another defendant in the case was convicted of stabbing a cafeteria employee in prison with a shank. Another was convicted of killing his 9-month-old daughter by pushing her legs toward her head until her spine snapped.
Baich knows that the brutal nature of their crimes can make death-row inmates seem like monsters.
But, he said, the gap in time between the crime and the execution ends up creating a different human being.
The mentally ill get treatment in prison. So do the addicted.
"What we see is the humanity coming out in that person," Baich said. "I don't believe in the idea that people are evil."
Baich said that the death-row inmates he represents fit a typical profile. He knows that, by and large, he is not dealing with someone raised in a stable household with good educational and career opportunities. It is probably someone with undiagnosed mental illness and a history of childhood trauma or abuse.
"Brain damage, mental illness, combined with a bad environment and drugs," he said, "it just makes sense that someone is going to end up in a bad situation."
High court to decide
Baich has been a spectator at the U.S. Supreme Court for five of his cases. But he hasn't argued any himself, thinking it best for others to have the honors.
In Glossip, he said he figured he managed the complexities and details of the case, leaving the job of arguing to Robin Konrad, an attorney in his Phoenix office who had done nothing but prepare to present the case since January.
Baich took his place in the narrow seats in the spectators' gallery. He wasn't nervous. He watched the arguments like a learned baseball fan — studying the complexities of the attorneys' arguments and how the justices seemed to position themselves.
Justice Antonin Scalia brought up the crime of one of the defendants. He was already serving a life sentence for murder, Scalia said, when he stabbed a prison worker to death. He did not make an immediate legal point about the crime. But the image his words created were a stark contrast to the other justices' just-completed questions about a humane or painless way to execute the inmates.
Justice Samuel Alito blamed the dilemma on death-penalty abolitionists who have pressed companies to stop importing drugs that could kill painlessly. He asked if it was appropriate for judges "to countenance what amounts to a guerrilla war against the death penalty."
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said states should not feel compelled to use a series of drugs that have unanswered questions.
"There are other ways to kill people, regrettably," she said.
She also suggested that Oklahoma might have been disingenuous in its briefs to the court.
Justice Elena Kagan said that a conscious but paralyzed person might feel the pain of the drugs, which she said would make them feel is if they were being burned from the inside. She gave a hypothetical scenario involving burning someone at the stake as a comparison.
"So suppose that we said we're going to burn you at the stake, but before we do, we're going to use an anesthetic of completely unknown properties and unknown effects," she said. "Maybe you won't feel it. Maybe you will. We just can't tell. And, you think that would be OK?"
Should the court decide that midazolam is an inadequate drug, or make a broader pronouncement, it could create a moratorium on lethal injections.
One state, Utah, has already passed a law saying it would go back to the firing squad should lethal-injection drugs not be available. Utah was one of two states that had previously used the firing squad.
"The real question is: Does the public have the stomach for going back to the firing squad, to the electric chair, to the gas chamber?" Baich asked.
If Utah does institute the firing squad, Baich, whose office has been assigned to handle some cases out of that state, would begin preparing arguments against that method.
"We've not yet had those discussions," he said. But he can list off problems that have occurred with firing squads in the past. Suppose marksmen missed the target, for example, causing the inmate to suffer a lingering death?
While the public may view Supreme Court cases as solving broad ideological questions, Baich said he focuses on making the best case for his individual client. Still, he said, if the result of his work is a halt to capital punishment, he said he won't be disappointed.
"The last 40 years have shown us," he said, "there are problems with the death penalty."
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94733926cadcc43e73fabe2b4f0b21e4
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/31/waco-biker-files-lawsuit/28266941/
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Biker in Waco shootout files civil rights lawsuit
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Biker in Waco shootout files civil rights lawsuit
WACO -- A 30-year old father and former firefighter who is also a member of a motorcycle club has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging he was illegally swept up in the police dragnet following this month's Twin Peaks biker shootout in Waco.
Matthew Clendennen of Hewitt is a member of the Scimitars Motorcycle Club and was at Twin Peaks on May 17. He was one of approximately 170 people arrested after the melee, which left nine dead, and was charged with engaging in organized crime.
Bail for each of those arrested was set at $1 million.
In his lawsuit, filed in federal court in Waco on Friday, Clendennen said he "did not encourage or solicit any criminal activity at Twin Peaks that day."
It states he was arrested "without probable cause and his motorcycle was illegally seized."
His lawsuit names the City of Waco and the McLennan County Sheriff's Office, as well as individual officers working the Twin Peaks case.
"It was the policy of the City of Waco, as decided and approved by their policymakers, to cause the arrest and detention of numerous individuals belonging to motorcycle clubs who were in or around the Twin Peaks restaurant at the time of the incident, regardless of whether or not there was individualized probable cause to arrest and detain a particular individual and to do so based on 'fill in the name' complaints without individualized facts," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit makes no specified claim of damages, but says Clendennen's constitutional rights were violated.
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358cfc31f83d70f9c9aee73c5a4b71b4
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/01/home-schooling-loopholes/28301411/
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Lack of home-schooling oversight comes under scrutiny
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Lack of home-schooling oversight comes under scrutiny
DETROIT — The deaths of two Detroit children removed from public school and later found in a freezer in March has sparked debate over whether more state oversight of home-schooled students is needed to prevent tragedies.
Michigan is one of only 11 states that does not require home-schooling parents to register with the state or have any contact with officials. But legislation introduced recently could affect the way home schooling operates in this state.
Detroit residents Abbey and Kevin Waterman have home schooled all eight of their children in the past 24 years and said they believe more oversight would create an unnecessary burden on families.
"The way it is right now has made home educating in Michigan a lot less complicated," Abbey Waterman said. "We already do all of our own administration, we have our own books, our own home library and we're responsible for it all. Having yet another administrative responsibility to the state is burdensome and awkward for us."
But Lansing resident Cheryl Overly, who has home-schooled her seven children for 12 years, said that while most who choose to home-school are wonderful parents, more oversight is needed.
Overly submits a report to the state annually because two of her sons receive speech-therapy services. She said the process is simple and nonintrusive.
"A lot of people are intimidated by registering with the state, but it's not an undue burden by any means," she said.
Rachel Coleman, executive director of the Coalition for Responsible Home Education, a group that advocates for home-schooled children, said parents truly doing a good job should not object to what she believes is an added protection for children. Coleman, who was home-schooled, said too many children slip off the radar.
"We need the conversation to change," Coleman said. "We're not denying that there are plenty of abusers in public schools, but we have a system in place to help them. That's something home-schoolers don't have."
The legislation would require parents or a guardian who choose to home-school to provide three things:
• Information. Provide their address and names of the children who will be home-schooled to their school district.
• Check-ins. Require that home-schooled children meet twice a year with someone from an approved list of individuals, such as a physician, licensed social worker, school counselor or teacher.
• Records. Mandate that parents keep records of those meetings and make them available upon request.
The legislation was prompted by the deaths of Stoni Blair, 13, and Stephen Berry, 9, who were found dead in a freezer March 24. Prosecutors said they believe that the children's mother, Mitchelle Blair, brutally abused them before killing them.
Before the discovery of their bodies, Blair had removed them from a local school to home-school them.
The case of a home-schooled 13-year-old boy allegedly abused and found in the basement of his family's Detroit home in June 2014 after being missing for 11 days is also reason for more oversight, according to home-school-reform advocates.
Some Michigan legislators and Detroit officials said Stoni and Stephen's deaths could have been prevented with more home-schooling oversight.
"When we found out about both Stoni and Stephen, we were just astonished that the mother took them out of school and no one knew where they were," said state Rep. Stephanie Chang, a Detroit Democrat who introduced the legislation. "This really should be about the children and making sure that we are accounting for every single child in the state of Michigan. ... If 39 other states are doing this, I really believe Michigan can and should take this step forward."
But other home-school supporters say the deaths don't reflect the majority of parents who choose to home-school.
"A person who would do something like that to children is not a home-schooling parent," said Mike Donnelly, staff lawyer for the Home School Legal Defense Association. "They are a criminal and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
"We live in a free society, and there's no way to prevent failures 100%," he said. "Even if there were the most stringent requirements, those types of parents, they're not going to submit a notice of intent, so by imposing more restrictions because of a few bad people, that's not an American fundamental approach to law."
The number of parents who choose to home-school their children has grown exponentially in the past several years, Donnelly said.
"In the U.S., you're talking about almost 2 million children," he said. "The population has grown between 7% and 10% within the last 10 to 15 years."
Based off of data compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics, the Coalition for Responsible Home Education estimates that 51,000 to 68,000 students are home-schooled in Michigan. The state doesn't have an official count because it does not track home-schooled students.
In Michigan, parents or guardians who choose to home-school are expected — but not required — to assign homework, give tests and issue report cards, transcripts and diplomas "based on internal standards," according to the state's home-school law.
Unlike other states, state law does not require registration with the Michigan Department of Education is not required unless the child has special needs and is requesting special-education services from the local public school or intermediate school district.
And unlike students enrolled in traditional schools, home-schooled children are not required to take standardized tests although they can participate in the Michigan Educational Assessment Program and the Michigan Merit Examination at the request of their parents.
The Watermans' children have taken a variety of standardized tests, especially before applying to college.
Some home-schooling parents choose not to have their children tested or are selective in which tests their children take. Overly prefers to have her children take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.
Bill DiSessa, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Education, said the state does encourage home-schooling parents to talk to their school district so a student won't marked absent and a truancy officer won't contact them. Some districts may have their own way of following up on homeschooled students, but they cannot require students to be registered because of state law.
Stoni and Stephen were not enrolled in Detroit Public Schools at the time of their deaths, but officials declined to say whether they ever were enrolled, citing privacy laws and the need for a parental consent.
Michigan House Bill 4498, introduced in April, will prevent parents from abusing Michigan's home-schooling law to hide child abuse, according to Chang, who said she has received support from both Democrats and Republicans.
"This bill and our efforts do not at all make judgments on a parent's decision to homeschool," she said. "Many who home-school do an excellent job."
Similar legislation was introduced in 2013, but the measure failed to come to a vote. Chang said she's optimistic she and other supporters can garner enough support for the legislation this time around.
Donnelly of the Home School Legal Defense Association said he and the Information Network for Christian Homes are working to oppose the legislation. In a letter to the Michigan Board of Education, Executive Director Mike Winter of the Information Network for Christian Homes said the legislation will "impede the freedom of good people doing good things."
Abbey Waterman, who is still home-schooling two children, said all of her other children have gone to college and lead productive lives. She believes more legislation only would complicate the lives of home-schooling parents.
"(Home schooling) has allowed me to be able to pass on values even more than academics, and that's what I appreciate about home schooling the most," she said. "It's not my intent to buck the system, and it wasn't because we thought Detroit public schools were awful — we received a lot of help from DPS teachers."
Overly, whose children range from 7 to 18 years old, said she would like to see a database created that's monitored at the state level.
"I think it's a really important start of a much-needed conversation," Overly said. "We need to close the home-schooling loophole for child abusers. It's not a quick fix, but it's what has to be put in to work on a long-term plan to fix this."
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48d3caae672ac1cb3609f2abdb9b5a2c
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/03/supreme-court-execution-texas/28412669/
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Texas' oldest death-row inmate is executed
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Texas' oldest death-row inmate is executed
WASHINGTON — A 67-year-old man convicted of killing four men more than three decades ago at a North Texas ranch has been executed.
Lester Bower is the oldest prisoner put to death in Texas since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982.
He received a lethal injection Wednesday evening for fatally shooting the four in October 1983 at an airplane hangar on the ranch about 60 miles north of Dallas.
Bower had insisted he was innocent and said the men were alive and well when he left after buying the ultralight airplane. But he couldn't prove he made the purchase and then lied to authorities when he was questioned.
He's the eighth Texas inmate put to death this year.
The Supreme Court refused to block his the execution. The justices' refusal to postpone Lester Bower's death came four months after they had blocked an earlier execution date to review issues of prosecutorial misconduct, judicial mistakes and the sheer duration of time Bower had spent on the nation's most active death row.
Bower cited a series of disputes over the way in which his clean criminal record and evidence of good character was handled by jurors and judges.
In March, the high court had turned down Bower's case over the dissents of Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor.
"I recognize that we do not often intervene only to correct a case-specific legal error. But the error here is glaring, and its consequence may well be death," Breyer wrote then.
Texas executes prisoners with the drug pentobarbital, which has not been implicated in several recent executions in which condemned inmates writhed and moaned in apparent pain. The state has executed seven of the 14 inmates to die nationwide this year.
Another drug, midazolam — used as part of a three-drug protocol — is under review by the Supreme Court because of problems with executions last year in Oklahoma, Arizona and Ohio. The case was heard in April and will be decided in the next few weeks.
CONTRIBUTING: Associated Press
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5bc2731a4ad79348090e64071dda8689
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/03/tamir-rice-investigation-cleveland/28420403/
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Police complete investigation into Tamir Rice's death
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Police complete investigation into Tamir Rice's death
CLEVELAND — The investigation into the shooting death of a 12-year-old black boy by a white Cleveland police officer is complete and will be handed over to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, a spokeperson for Tamir Rice's family confirmed.
The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office released the following statement in regards to the investigation:
Pinkney also said, "As I stated in my briefing on May 12, 2015, my department has been diligently working on the investigation. We have concluded our work and I have turned it over to the Prosecutor who will take it through the next steps."
The prosecutor's office is expected to review the case before making a final determination on any criminal charges.
Joseph Frolik, a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office, said a grand jury will decide whether the officers involved in Tamir's shooting will be charged. As of Wednesday, a grand jury had not yet made a decision.
Also, an attorney for Tamir's family said he couldn't confirm reports that the officers would not be charged.
The investigation began in November when Tamir was shot and killed by Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehman outside a recreation center. Tamir had an air-soft gun in his possession that police say was indistinguishable from a deadly firearm.
Authorities first responded to the scene after a 911 caller reported seeing somebody walking around with a gun.
"The guy keeps pulling it out," the 911 caller says in reference to the gun. "It's probably fake, but you know what, he's scaring the (expletive) out of (inaudible). ... He's sitting on the swing right now, but he keeps pulling it in and out of his pants and pointing it at people. Probably a juvenile, you know? … I don't know if it's real or not, you know?"
During last month's news conference last month, Pinkney said no stone would be left unturned as his department worked on the final elements of their investigation into the shooting.
"My investigators have poured over thousands of pages of documents, and conducted numerous search warrants and interviews with witnesses," Pinkney said at the time. "We've also reviewed any, and all, surveillance from the surrounding area, and conducted a 3D measurement scan at the Cudell Rec Center."
Tamir's family has demanded justice, calling for Loehman to be held accountable. The family has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Cleveland and the two police officers involved in the shooting. The lawsuit alleges excessive force, assault and battery and wrongful death in its causes of action.
In response to the lawsuit, the city blamed Tamir for his death at the hands of police.
The autopsy report, which was released in December, said Tamir died from a gunshot wound to the torso with "injuries of major vessel, intestines and pelvis."
Contributing: Yamiche Alcindor, USA TODAY.
Related:
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96b128dfe22e8169c4c92cc43f63a98e
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/04/court-strikes-guams-sex-marriage-ban/28512629/
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Court strikes down Guam's same-sex marriage ban
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Court strikes down Guam's same-sex marriage ban
HAGATNA, Guam — A federal judge on Friday struck down a Guam law that defined marriage as between couples of the opposite sex.
The decision will take effect Monday.
The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in April by Kathleen M. Aguero and Loretta M. Pangelinan after they were denied a marriage license at the Department of Public Health and Social Services.
Their case argued that the local law that defines marriage as made up of one man and one woman is discriminatory and unconstitutional.
Their argument is based on a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling from last October, which declared same-sex marriage bans in Nevada and Idaho unconstitutional.
Since that ruling, all states in that circuit, which also has jurisdiction over Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, are issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Attorneys for Aguero and Pangelinan have said Guam has no choice but to fall in line with the 9th Circuit's decision and accept marriage license applications from same-sex couples until the U.S. Supreme Court says otherwise.
Attorneys for the governor and Office of Vital Statistics registrar, however, argued that it's impractical to make any decision when a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court is imminent.
Supreme Court justices have already heard oral arguments in a same-sex marriage case that they picked up from the 6th Circuit, which ruled bans were constitutional.
A ruling in that case, which would establish the law of the land throughout the United States, is expected later this month.
On Thursday, Gov. Eddie Calvo posted to Facebook saying that he will accept either decision from the Supreme Court.
"If the Supreme Court leaves the decision to each state and territory's legislature, then will I look to the Legislature on whether they will redefine marriage," wrote Calvo. "If the court orders a change to our law, I will order Public Health to revise the process for marriage applications immediately."
On the eve of arguments, Calvo asked for understanding from both sides of the issue.
"The Court's decision is an opportunity to continue a healthy conversation about our humanity, civil rights, and our future," wrote the governor. "Changing or sustaining the law is simply the beginning of what's important for society. It is how we react to this decision and how we treat each other afterward that will set the course for our community."
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d059ffb74b2b507414ac5f8e62ed3d14
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/06/vets-visitors-return-to-normandy-to-mark-d-day-anniversary/28594145/
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Vets, visitors return to Normandy to mark D-Day anniversary
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Vets, visitors return to Normandy to mark D-Day anniversary
PARIS (AP) — Allied veterans and families of their fallen comrades gathered Saturday at the U.S. cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach to mark the 71st anniversary of the D-Day invasion that helped defeat the Nazis in World War II.
Visitors and cadets from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland watched as a bagpipe band paraded at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, amid the thousands of white marble crosses and Stars of David of servicemen and women who lost their lives during the invasion.
The invasion began shortly after midnight on June 6, 1944, with a perilous airborne operation led by paratroopers of the "Screaming Eagles" 101st Airborne and the 82nd Airborne divisions.
At dawn, thousands of Allied troops leaped out of landing craft to storm the beaches under ferocious German attacks.
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24eaafd867cc2218605ed124045ac243
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/08/service-dog-jumps-between-blind-owner-bus/28709683/?AID=10709313&PID=6151680&?utm_source=wnd&utm_medium=wnd&utm_campaign=syndicated
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Service dog jumps between blind owner, bus
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Service dog jumps between blind owner, bus
Corrections & Clarifications:An earlier version of this report misstated the dog's name.
BREWSTER, N.Y. — When Figo the service dog saw an oncoming mini school bus heading for Audrey Stone, the blind woman he was trained to guide, the golden retriever's protective instincts kicked in: He threw himself at the closest part of the vehicle he could.
Police photos show the result: fur stuck to the front driver's side wheel and in the middle of Michael Neuner Avenue in New York, where the bus came to a stop after striking the pair.
The driver of the Brewster school bus, carrying two kindergartners to St. Lawrence O'Toole Childhood Learning Center, told police he didn't see the pair crossing the road as they made their way home at about 8:15 Monday morning.
But Figo saw the bus coming and leapt into action.
Stone, 62, suffered a fractured right elbow, three broken ribs, a fractured ankle and a cut to her head in the accident, said Brewster Police Chief John Del Gardo. Figo's leg was cut down to the bone, said Paul Schwartz, who manages the Xtra Mart gas station at the intersection and ran to the scene to help.
"I don't know if (the driver) thought (Stone) was going to move faster, but it looks like the dog tried to take most of the hit for her," said Schwartz, who lives in Mahopac.
When Schwartz reached the crash site Stone was bleeding from her head and complaining of hip pain.
"There were 15 EMTs and people all around her and the dog didn't want to leave her side," Schwartz said. "He was flopping over to her and she didn't want him to get away from her, either. She kept screaming, 'Where's Figo? Where's Figo? Where's Figo?' We kept telling her he was fine."
Schwartz and one of the EMTs bandaged Figo's right leg.
"The dog was being a good sport, really calm," Schwartz said. "He sat with me the whole time. He was limping as we put him on a big blanket on the sidewalk and it started to rain. He let us wrap up his leg without any problem. He wasn't barking or crying or yelping. But he kept pulling toward her. After she was put on a gurney and taken away, he stopped doing that. He seemed a little lost after she left."
There are rules against transporting animals in ambulances.
Schwartz said Stone, who lives on North Main Street not far from the accident site, was "very upset as she was getting in the ambulance that (Figo) wasn't with her. After she left, we put him in the (Brewster Fire Department) truck and they took him to the vet."
A staff member at Middlebranch Veterinary in Paterson confirmed that Figo was being treated there on Monday. Brewster Police Chief Del Gardo said later that the dog was undergoing surgery on its leg.
The bus had just come down Carmel Avenue to North Main Street and was turning onto Michael Neuner Drive when it struck Stone and Figo in the unpainted crosswalk.
"She got about to the middle of the street before the bus, which made a right on North Main and then a left onto Michael Neuner," Del Gardo said. "(The driver's) eyes were occupied on the North Main traffic."
The driver of the mini-bus was given a summons for failing to yield to a pedestrian.
Steven Moskowitz, Brewster's assistant superintendent for human resources and technology, said the driver was taken to Partners in Safety in White Plains for routine post-accident drug and alcohol testing, the results of which should be available later in the week. The driver was taken off duty while an investigation is conducted. Part of that investigation will be a review of dashboard cameras in the mini-bus and on another bus that was in the area at the time, Moskowitz said.
Moskowitz, who would not discuss the bus driver's driving history, said the two students were transported to O'Toole by another bus and their parents were notified of the accident.
Del Gardo said the bus wasn't traveling fast and stopped without leaving skidmarks on the pavement.
"The dog took a lot of the blow," Del Gardo said. "And he did not want to leave her side. He stood right with her. He was there to save her."
The chief said Stone, interviewed in her hospital bed, was happy to hear that Figo was being treated and that friends are working out the details of the dog's care while Stone recovers.
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6abb00919b6a36704c0f0d45d3ae5c8d
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/08/supreme-court-handguns/27716645/
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Supreme Court won't overrule gun ownership restrictions
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Supreme Court won't overrule gun ownership restrictions
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court refused to weigh in again Monday on one of its most controversial topics: the right to bear arms.
The justices declined to reconsider the rights of local governments to constrain that right -- upheld by the high court in two landmark decisions over the past decade -- by requiring that handguns be disabled or locked up when they are not being carried.
The high court left standing a San Francisco law imposing those restrictions, but Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia dissented.
San Francisco imposed the limitation in 2007 under threat of a six-month jail term and $1,000 fine. The law was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which ruled it did not violate the Supreme Court's prior cases allowing guns to be kept at home for self-defense.
Those include District of Columbia v. Heller, a 2008 case that upheld the right to keep handguns at home in federal jurisdictions, and McDonald v. Chicago, a 2010 case that extended that right to states and localities. The two 5-4 decisions were written by Scalia and Justice Samuel Alito.
San Francisco's ordinance is aimed at avoiding accidental tragedies. It requires that when handguns are not being carried -- such as at night, when their owners are asleep -- they be disabled with a trigger lock or kept in a locked container.
The city noted in its brief opposing the high court's review that "long" guns are not restricted and handguns can be kept loaded. It said keeping them locked up "reduces the risk of suicide and unintentional shootings, particularly among children andteens," as well as making guns harder to steal.
A group of city residents who filed the suit, along with the National Rifle Association, argued the law renders gun ownership self-defeating by making the gun inoperable when an intruder bursts on the scene. The high court's 5-4 majority in Heller struck down the District of Columbia's trigger-lock requirement.
"San Francisco has no more right than the District of Columbia to force its residents to fiddle with lock boxes or fumble with trigger locks when the need to use a handgun for immediate self-defense arises," the challengers argued in their brief seeking Supreme Court review.
A coalition of 25 states sided with the city residents in urging the court to overturn the law. Otherwise, they said, "responsible citizens will be unable to possess operable firearms in defense of hearth and home."
That was at the heart of the Thomas-Scalia dissent.
"The law ... burdens their right to self-defense at the times they are most vulnerable -- when they are sleeping, bathing, changing clothes, or otherwise indisposed," Thomas wrote. "There is consequently no question that San Francisco's law burdens the core of the Second Amendment right."
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3daa1b5d86001f20ca7d2d86a7238857
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/10/richmond-hill-blast-firefighters/28780285/
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Ind. home blast: Firefighters' testimony emotional
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Ind. home blast: Firefighters' testimony emotional
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Two veteran firefighters choked on their words, trying to describe the Richmond Hill subdivision as it burned one fall night in November 2012.
A man living nearby, who rushed to the neighborhood to help, paused several times as he talked about "ground zero."
In between gripping testimony Tuesday in the trial of Mark Leonard, who authorities believe is responsible for the explosion that resulted in two deaths and hours of chaos in the neighborhood on Indianapolis' Southeastside, a 10-minute audio of firefighters talking to each other on their radios was played for the jury.
"We've got a man trapped in the back! We need hoses back in now so we can get him now!"
"In the basement and on the second floor … 8355 Fieldfare Way, we have two people trapped in the residence."
Tuesday's testimony from first responders and Richmond Hill residents in a St. Joseph County courtroom painted a vivid picture of the chaotic aftermath of the Nov. 10, 2012, explosion that killed two people, injured a dozen others and damaged or destroyed more than 80 homes.
Listening to witnesses describe that night is a family sitting in the second row of the courtroom gallery. Their loved one, John "Dion" Longworth, and his wife, Jennifer, both of 8355 Fieldfare Way, were killed in the explosion. They all wore yellow — Dion's favorite color. His father, John Longworth, wore a bright blue and yellow tie that Dion had given him.
First to testify is the first firefighter on scene, Lt. Russell Futrell of Indianapolis Fire Department Station 63, less than a mile from the explosion's epicenter. He was on a 24-hour shift at the station and had just fallen asleep when the blast woke him up. Looking out the window of the firehouse, he saw a large plume of smoke and debris. He thought a plane had crashed at nearby Greenwood Municipal Airport.
"At that point, I realized that it was going to be a long night," Futrell said in court.
He went to the PA system, hit the button and said, "Engine crew, let's roll."
Futrell and his team arrived at Richmond Hill and found several people walking the sidewalk in their pajamas. They motioned him and other first responders to the site. With his crews on board, he drove the firetruck toward Fieldfare Way. What he saw, he said, was unlike anything he'd ever seen in 25 years as a firefighter — and one he'll remember for the rest of his life.
Amid a field of burning debris that once was 8349 Fieldfare Way were only a vehicle and a motorcycle. He realized that a house was once there and it had been leveled. Futrell then went to the Longworths' home next door.
"I opened the door, stepped in a few steps ... yelled, no response," Futrell said.
Futrell stepped back out. He said he could not risk the lives of his crew by getting into the house without knowing for sure that someone was inside. He would later find out that two people were, and they did not make it out alive.
"If I had known that, I would've risked everything to get inside there," he said, his voice breaking.
Battalion Chief Mark Culver was there, too. He paused several times — and for long moments — as he tried to describe the effort to save Dion Longworth, who died a torturous death trapped in the rubble of his home. Jennifer died instantly.
"My guys were as close as they could get," Culver said. "We're trying to get equipment in the back to get him out."
But before Futrell, Culver and others arrived, Frank Hiatt, who lives nearby, had already made it to Richmond Hill.
Hiatt said he was outside his garage when he saw a huge flash of light and felt a "percussive energy" that sent him to the ground. As he ran to the origin of the blast — what he called "ground zero" — he said he smelled gas in the air. When he got to Fieldfare Way, he saw only a small fire and heard nothing but silence.
"I go there to help," Hiatt said. "There's nobody physically needing help."
Later, people began coming out of their homes. The small fire grew, spreading to nearby houses.
In the moments immediately after the explosion, an emergency dispatcher reported hundreds of calls to 911 from people making a confusing array of reports. A long audio of several of those calls was played in court.
Calls came from around the city, including more than 15 miles away in Cumberland. But most originated from the Southeastside, near the blast, from people reporting that their homes shook and their windows were broken. One caller said her home had been hit by a car.
Yet many callers were confused, not knowing what to report and asking the dispatcher what was going on. Dispatchers were initially at a loss what to tell the callers, other than that help was on the way.
"I'm scared and I live alone," one caller said. "What do I need to do?"
"I've never heard anything like this," another said. "It's heavy and deep and loud."
Standing outside the courtroom during a brief break, Dion's aunt, Pam Longworth, hugged her brother, who was in tears after hearing the early testimony.
Mark Leonard, dressed in a suit and tie, appeared to be listening intently to testimony, often with fingers pressed into his left cheek. He is facing 53 felony charges, including murder, arson, conspiracy to commit arson and insurance fraud for the fatal explosion. He faces life imprisonment without parole.
Prosecutors allege that Leonard; his half brother, Robert Leonard Jr.; his former girlfriend, Monserrate Shirley; and his former employee Gary Thompson conspired to blow up Shirley's Richmond Hill home at 8349 Fieldfare Way to collect about $300,000 in insurance money. The day of the explosion, prosecutors say, the home was filled with natural gas and ignited with a timing device on a microwave. A fifth suspect, Glenn Hults, was accused of knowing about the scheme months before the blast.
One of the first hints that the blast was a gas explosion came from a young woman who approached Futrell. The firefighter said the woman told him she had smelled gas the day before.
Doug Aldridge, Richmond Hill's crime watch coordinator, testified Tuesday that on the night of the explosion, he saw Mark Leonard and Shirley at nearby Mary Bryan Elementary School, where 200 people had been evacuated.
He said Shirley asked what happened.
"Your house blew up," Aldridge's wife told Shirley, according to Aldridge.
Public defender David Shircliff then questioned Aldridge about what he thinks of Shirley's credibility. Shortly after the blast and before she became a suspect, Shirley spoke with The Indianapolis Star and other media outlets about her loss. Two years later, she accepted a plea deal with prosecutors in exchange for her testimony.
"I think she lied to us at the very beginning," Aldridge said.
The trial, which was moved to St. Joseph County over concern about pretrial publicity, is expected to take up to six weeks. The prosecution opened Monday by alleging the crime was motivated by greed and money. The defense, meanwhile, said the explosion was the result of "a stupid and selfish insurance fraud that went horribly wrong."
Prosecutors say the suspects were desperate for money because of mounting gambling, credit card and mortgage debts.
Additional Richmond Hill residents are expected to testify this week. The trial is expected to last up to six weeks.
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276dfe3a0dcd74f6ff0dd257d2aefe1a
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/12/spokane-naacp-president-ethnicity-questions/71110110/
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Parents out 'black' NAACP leader as white woman
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Parents out 'black' NAACP leader as white woman
SPOKANE, Wash. — A recent investigation into racially charged threats made toward the president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane have raised questions beyond who made the threats.
On Thursday, the chapter president's parents claimed she had been deceiving people.
Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal said Thursday that they want people to know the truth, including that their daughter Rachel Dolezal is Caucasian. The Dolezals said their daughter is specifically German and Czech.
Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal said their daughter has always identified with the African-American culture and had black siblings who were adopted. They said she went to school in Mississippi and was part of a primarily African-American community.
The Dolezals said their daughter married and later divorced a black man. They said after the divorce in 2004, she began identifying differently. She started claiming to be partially African American and the daughter of biracial parents. They have noticed a change in her physical appearance, but do not know how that occurred.
"Rachel has wanted to be somebody she's not. She's chosen not to just be herself but to represent herself as an African-American woman or a biracial person. And that's simply not true," said Ruthanne Dolezal.
The couple said they do not have a problem with Rachel advocating for a civil rights group for African Americans, rather that she is being deceptive about it.
Her parents said she distanced herself from them and has not spoken to them recently.
Rachel Dolezal said she does not speak to her parents because of an on-going legal issue.
"There is a lawsuit that's been going on for almost a year, once I supported my sister and allegations against her older brother," she said.
Dolezal said she does not consider her biological parents her real parents.
In addressing public sentiment that she misrepresented her race, Dolezal said, "I can understand that. And like I said, it's more important to me to clarify that to the black community, and with my executive board, than it really is for me to explain it to a community that I quite frankly don't think understands the definitions of race and ethnicity."
In a statement released Friday, the Baltimore-based civil rights organization said, "NAACP Spokane Washington Branch President Rachel Dolezal is enduring a legal issue with her family, and we respect her privacy in this matter. One's racial identity is not a qualifying criteria or disqualifying standard for NAACP leadership. The NAACP Alaska-Oregon-Washington State Conference stands behind Ms. Dolezal's advocacy record."
THREATENING LETTERS
Earlier this year, the Spokane Police Department began investigating hate mail that Dolezal claimed she found in the P.O. Box for the Spokane chapter of the NAACP.
Dolezal said there were pictures of lynchings and references to local cases concerning race in the envelope.
During the course of the investigation, the Spokane Police Department noticed that there were important marks missing from the package.
Although delivered to a post office box, there was no date stamp or bar code on the envelope, according to a police report.
Postal officials told police officers that a letter or package would never be put in a mailbox purposefully without these things even if it was hand delivered to the post office. Postal workers said it was possible the letter could have gotten stuck to another one and missed the scanner and postal marking. But they said the chances of this happening were extremely low.
Postal employees said the only other way for a unprocessed letter to land in a P.O. Box would be if it were placed there by someone with a key or a postal employee was involved.
Police have ruled out postal employees as suspects.
Dolezal said she does not believe anyone within the NAACP could be responsible.
Police continue to examine the envelope for any clues to help identify who sent it. At the time she reported the letter, Dolezal told officers that most of these types of incidents were caused by people affiliated with right wing groups in the area.
In May, Dolezal claimed she had received another racially charged letter — this one sent to the NAACP's office in downtown Spokane. She said it looked like it was from the same person who sent the earlier letter.
"Hate language sent through mail and social media along with credible threats continue to be a serious issue for our units in the Pacific Northwest and across the nation," the NAACP said in its statement. "We take all threats seriously and encourage the FBI and the Department of Justice to fully investigate each occurrence."
These letters are not the first time Dolezal has reported being a victim of a crime. She said she has been the victim of burglary, death threats and in two cases, nooses left on her property in Spokane and Idaho.
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a5d83d28d2659521760d7c67abfde331
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/13/oregon-drought-emergency-kate-brown/71162340/
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Drought emergency declared for more than half of Oregon counties
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Drought emergency declared for more than half of Oregon counties
SALEM, Ore. — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has declared drought emergencies in four more Oregon counties, bringing the total to 19.
That's more than half of the state's 36 counties and the most since 2002, when 23 counties experienced drought emergencies.
"Oregon is only just beginning to face what will likely be an unprecedented wildfire season and drought," Brown said in a statement.
Brown used the announcement to push for a $56 million package in her proposed budget that would fund a statewide water resources program.
"This program calls for collaborative, place-based planning for water conservation and storage, and includes funding for implementing projects all over the state that result from the planning efforts," Brown said in her State of the State speech in April.
Brown declared drought emergencies Friday in Coos, Douglas, Gilliam and Jefferson counties.
That follows drought declarations in Baker, Coos, Crook, Deschutes, Douglas, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Jackson, Jefferson, Josephine, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Umatilla, Wasco and Wheeler counties.
Last year, nine Oregon counties were under drought declarations.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Drought Monitor has designated all but a small area in the north of the state – including and surrounding Washington and Columbia counties – as being in at least moderate drought.
The federal tracking site has a six-level scale: no drought, abnormally dry, and moderate, severe, extreme and exceptional drought.
It puts the entire southeast corner of Oregon in exceptional drought.
And Oregon's snowpack is the lowest on record, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service said in its latest water supply outlook report.
As of June 1, only one out of 81 snow telemetry (SNOTEL) sites had any measurable snow, compared with about 10 in an average year.
And 60% of the measuring stations recorded their lowest snowpack since recordkeeping began.
[email protected], (503) 399-6779 or follow https://twitter.com/Tracy_Loew
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c724b16b83d5c4b5aeea6eae4ff011bd
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/15/shark-attacks/71251814/
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Shark attack deaths: How common are they?
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Shark attack deaths: How common are they?
Blame it on Jaws.
The national fear of shark attacks got its start 40 years ago this summer with the release of Jaws, the movie blockbuster that unleashed the primal fear of being eaten alive while swimming.
Over the years since then, shark attacks continue to get plenty of media coverage. On Sunday, two teens swimming in the Atlantic off the North Carolina coast lost arms in shark attacks.
How common are shark attack deaths? So far this year, worldwide six people have been killed by sharks; one of which was in the U.S. (in Hawaii), according to the Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File.
This is an unusually deadly start to the year: From 2005 to 2014, an average of six people per year died worldwide after being attacked by a shark. In the U.S., roughly one person per year is killed by a shark.
Some may say it's not really a fair fight, however, as about 100 million sharks are killed each year by humans around the world, according to the Shark Research Institute.
One aspect of the North Carolina shark bites was unusual: George Burgess of the Florida Museum of Natural History told the Wilmington Star-News that he has seen only two other cases of successive shark attacks: One in Florida nearly 20 years ago and one in Egypt three or four years ago.
What's not unusual is that the sharks were so close to the shore: The shallow water there is a good place for the sharks to find food, Burgess said, mainly fish, but also, rarely, people. Water temperatures have been warm there, he said, meaning more people are likely going in the water.
"We've had an early summer in the Southeast U.S. and Florida," he said.
Of the 52 attacks in the U.S. last year, Burgess says only one or two resulted in serious injuries, WECT News in Wilmington reported.
Burgess said the sharks involved are "larger, more powerful sharks" and likely of the bull or tiger species, which are much more aggressive and have teeth with serrated edges that can easily cut through flesh and bones, the Star-News reported.
You're actually in more danger just walking on shore than in the water, according to the Shark Attack File: From 1990 to 2006 there were 16 U.S. deaths due to falling in a hole at the beach, vs. 11 shark attack deaths.
Bees, wasps and snakes are responsible for far more deaths each year in the U.S. than sharks, the Shark Attack File also says.
Another comparison: From 1959 to 2010, about 2,000 people were struck and killed by lightning in U.S. coastal states vs 26 killed by sharks.
"This is indeed a tragedy for two teenagers and their families," said Daniel Abel, a marine scientist at Coastal Carolina University.
"But I hope we do not overreact and begin killing sharks," he said. "A healthy ocean needs its sharks, and we have more to fear from the sun (skin cancer), jet skis and surfboards, or even bacteria in the water column that we do from sharks at the beach."
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a7ed9151bc425bb699d8e5eb96e19c59
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/17/charleston-south-carolina-shooting/28902017/
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9 dead in shooting at black church in Charleston, S.C.
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9 dead in shooting at black church in Charleston, S.C.
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Nine people have died in a shooting at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., police said early Thursday morning.
"I do believe this was a hate crime," Police Chief Gregory Mullen said.
Eight people died on the scene at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and one person was pronounced dead at a hospital, Mullen said. The suspect, who remains on the loose, is a white male about 21 years old, officials said.
The shooting took place at about 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Charleston Police released photos of the suspect during a news conference that started at 6 a.m. ET Thursday, and said he left the scene in a black four door sedan. He is described as "armed and dangerous."
Church members were shot as they took part in shot at bible study, the NAACP said. Dot Scott, president of the Charleston NAACP, said a female survivor told family members that the gunman initially sat down in the church for a while before opening fire, the Post and Courier reported. Scott added that the gunman reportedly told the woman he was letting her live so she could tell others what happened.
Among the dead was the state senator who was pastor of the church, Democrat Clementa Pinckney, said South Carolina House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, the Associated Press reported. Pinckney, 41, was married with two children and had served in the state Senate since 2000, according to online biographies.
People were taking part in a prayer meeting at the time of the incident, Mayor Joe Riley said during the press conference.
"This is inexplicable," Riley said. "It is the most intolerable and unbelievable act possible ... The only reason someone could walk into church and shoot people praying is out of hate."
Said Police Chief Mullen: "This is a tragedy that no community should have to experience. It is senseless. It is unfathomable that someone would walk into a church when people are having a prayer meeting and take their lives."
Mullen said the FBI would aid the investigation.
Emanuel is the oldest AME church in the South and has one of the oldest and largest black congregations south of Baltimore, according to its website. Denmark Vesey, executed for attempting to organize a major slave rebellion in 1822, was one of the founders.
The suspect is a clean-shaven young white male, about 5 feet 9 inches tall, of slender build and with sandy blond hair. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt or hoodie, blue jeans and Timberland boots, officials said.
Pinckney was a native of Beaufort, S.C., and graduated magna cum laude from Allen University in 1995. He received a master's of divinity degree from the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary and a master's degree in public administration from the University of South Carolina. He was elected to the South Carolina House in 1996, when he was 23, and was elected to the state Senate in 2000.
Community organizer Christopher Cason said he believed the shootings were racially motivated, the AP reported. "I am very tired of people telling me that I don't have the right to be angry," he said. "I am very angry right now."
Cornell William Brooks, president and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement: "The NAACP was founded to fight against racial hatred and we are outraged that 106 years later, we are faced today with another mass hate crime.
"There is no greater coward than a criminal who enters a house of God and slaughters innocent people engaged in the study of scripture."
In a statement, Gov. Nikki Haley asked people to pray for the victims and their families. "While we do not yet know all of the details, we do know that we'll never understand what motivates anyone to enter one of our places of worship and take the life of another," she said.
Senator Tim Scott, who last year became the first African American elected to the U.S. Senate from the south since Reconstruction, said in a statement that he will be leaving Washington to return home to South Carolina as soon as possible.
"My heart is breaking for Charleston and South Carolina tonight," he said. "This senseless tragedy at a place of worship — where we come together to laugh, love and rejoice in God's name — is absolutely despicable and can never be understood."
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who was in Charleston hours before the shooting, tweeted: "Heartbreaking news from Charleston - my thoughts and prayers are with you all. -H."
Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush canceled his events in the city, where he was scheduled to campaign Thursday.
"Governor Bush's thoughts and prayers are with the individuals and families affected by this tragedy," his spokesperson Allie Brandenburger said in a statement.
Contributing: Jane Onyanga-Omara
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45652853ca482f1295818db057952ee9
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/18/dining-dog-just-got-easier-ny/28958787/
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Dining out with your dog just got easier in N.Y.
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Dining out with your dog just got easier in N.Y.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Farm-to-bowl biscuits, anyone?
The New York state Senate has passed legislation that would amend the state health law to allow restaurant patrons' dogs into outdoor dining areas. On Tuesday the bill passed the Assembly, and it now heads to Gov. Andrew Cuomo for review.
The "Dining with Dogs" bill would permit customers to bring their pet dogs into outdoor dining areas of restaurants that wish to provide this service, as long as the restaurant can ensure that there will be no contamination of food and tainted utensils or equipment. Dogs would be required to be leashed, and any establishment can choose not to allow pets.
Several restaurants in Westchester and Rockland already allow dogs to join their owners for an outdoor meal, including Bridge View Tavern in Sleepy Hollow, which plans to launch a dog-friendly beer garden in the next few months. Owner Chris Maceyak says pet dogs are among the regulars — especially on sunny weekends — and it's never been a problem for the restaurant's pet-free guests.
"We have no issues, we're dog-friendly here," Maceyak says, adding that the guests who choose to sit outside are typically very relaxed. "Generally, the rules for dogs are the same for people or kids: If any of those living creatures are being uncooperative or difficult, we speak to them."
At Tramonto in Hawthorne, owner Delia DiPietro used to allow dogs but changed the policy after other customers complained.
"We have a lot of wonderful customers, and some feel that dogs don't belong in restaurants," she says. "If customers come with a dog that has to stay in the car, we'll give them a seat near the window so they can watch him and make sure all is OK."
Under the new law, restaurant employees would be prohibited from having direct contact with dogs while on duty, and a separate outdoor entrance is required so pets do not pass through the establishment to reach the outdoor area. The outdoor dining area must also be a space not used for food or drink preparation, or utensil storage.
Similar legislation was recently passed in California with overwhelming support.
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9e71dd9a0a42c97faf12936490b1977e
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/18/marijuana-decriminalization-bill-okd-delaware/28955055/
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Marijuana decriminalization bill OK'd in Delaware
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Marijuana decriminalization bill OK'd in Delaware
WILMINGTON, Del. — Voting along party lines, the Delaware state Senate gave final approval Thursday to a measure that decriminalizes the possession and private use of small amounts of marijuana, and Gov. Jack Markell almost immediately signed the legislation into law.
The bill, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Helene Keeley,, allows Delawareans to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and use the drug privately without facing criminal sanctions.
Criminal penalties for simple possession will be replaced with a civil $100 fine. The law takes effect in six months.
The decriminalization measure, which cleared the House earlier this month, passed despite significant opposition from police groups, and from Republicans.
Selling marijuana remains criminal under the law. No Republican voted in favor of the legislation in either the House or the Senate.
"This is a vote we're going to really, really regret," Republican Sen. Colin Bonini said. "Would you want your kid smoking weed. I think the answer is overwhelmingly no."
In a statement after Thursday's vote, Robert Capecchi, a lobbyist with the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, said "marijuana is an objectively less harmful substance than alcohol, and most Americans now agree it should be treated that way. Delaware has taken an important step toward adopting a more sensible marijuana policy," Capecchi said.
Nineteen other states and the District of Columbia have stopped charging citizens criminally for possessing small amounts of marijuana. In Delaware, like in other states, there is evidence that the law is disproportionately enforced along racial lines, which was a driving force behind the bill's passage.
Blacks in Delaware were three times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession in 2010, despite accounting for a much smaller portion of the population, according to a 2013 report from the American Civil Liberties Union.
Marijuana arrests previously threatened to saddle Delawareans with a criminal record, something the legislation's supporters believed was unnecessary for a drug that they say poses few risks.
"It's safer for me to choose cannabis over alcohol," Zoe Patchell, a Delaware marijuana activist with Cannabis Bureau of Delaware, said during committee testimony Wednesday.
The bill's supporters did give some ground to opponents, especially those in the law enforcement community. Language added by amendments strictly defines a public place where it will remain criminal to consume marijuana. Public places include any outdoor space within 10 feet of any window or sidewalk.
Delawareans under 21 also still face criminal penalties if caught with marijuana under an amendment added in the House. And it will remain criminal to consume marijuana in a moving vehicle under the current legislation.
Police groups remained concerned throughout legislative debate that decriminalizing marijuana possession could limit their ability to initiate searches that could lead to even more substantial charges for drug dealers and traffickers.
State Attorney General Matt Denn, the state's top law enforcement official, said Thursday that he supported the decriminalization measure. "I've said for some time that we're generally supportive of possession of small amounts being treated as a civil rather than a criminal offense," Denn said.
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63c36d573e941ae71b38c22f66c12b67
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/19/jury-awards-family-aqua-dots-trial/29016451/
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Jury awards $435K to family in Aqua Dots trial
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Jury awards $435K to family in Aqua Dots trial
PHOENIX — A federal jury has sided with two Arizona parents who sued the makers of Aqua Dots after their toddler suffered critical injuries from swallowing the toy beads.
The toy, which has since been recalled, was coated with a chemical that converts into the "date-rape drug" GHB when ingested.
After more than a day of closing arguments and three hours of jury deliberation, jurors decided in favor of the Monje family from Gilbert on Thursday and awarded them $435,000 in damages.
Mark and Beth Monje said they will appeal the awarded damages because their attorneys were precluded from presenting evidence to the jury that demonstrates the extent of harm suffered by their son.
The case began eight years ago, when 16-month-old Ryan Monje had seizures, suffered from respiratory failure and was rendered temporarily unconscious after swallowing Aqua Dots. When he emerged from hospital, he had permanent injuries and brain damage, according to court records.
The Monjes sued Toys "R" Us Inc., the U.S. company that sold them Aqua Dots; Canadian firm Spin Master and its U.S. subsidiary, which distributed it; and Australian firm Moose Enterprise Pty Ltd., which designed it.
The family had been seeking unspecified damages, including punitive damages. U.S. District Court Judge John Tuchi ruled Wednesday afternoon that the jury would not be allowed to award punitive damages, so the $435,000 the jury awarded Thursday was for pain and suffering, and included $58,000 for Ryan's medical bills.
Both sides agreed that a harmful chemical was present on the toy. The beads were manufactured in China by JSSY Ltd. and all parties involved in the lawsuit admit they contained a chemical that turns into GHB.
Toys "R" Us, Spin Master and Moose said that the Chinese firm bore most of the blame for switching one chemical for a cheaper one without telling them.
What was in dispute was the extent to which the firms knew about the switch, if they took reasonable precautions to protect consumers like the Monjes, and the extent of damages to which the Gilbert family is entitled.
The jury was instructed to assign percentages of fault for Ryan's injuries to all defendant corporations, as well as JSSY Ltd. and Ryan's father, Mark, who had been watching him when he ingested the toy. The percentages of fault would determine what percentage of the total damages would be paid by each party.
The jury found Moose to be 33% responsible and liable for JSSY's 25% because it determined JSSY was acting on behalf of Moose's instructions to produce the Aqua Dots. The Chinese factory was found to be 25% liable, while Spin Master had 15% and Mark received 2% liability. The jury did not find fault with Toys "R" Us, where the Monjes purchased the Aqua Dots.
Dana Fox, who represented Moose, had no comment on the verdict. He said during trial his client accepts partial blame for the incident but that there was no evidence Moose knew about the chemical substitution before Ryan Manje ingested it.
JSSY Ltd. is a completely separate company from Moose, Fox said, and it did not notify his client of the chemical change.
Richard Mear, representing Toys "R" Us and Spin Master, argued his clients not only were unaware of the chemical change, but they also were led to believe the toy was safe based on successful testing. The fault must then lie in the testing agencies, he said.
"Neither Spin Master nor Toys 'R' Us designed or manufactured this toy and there is no evidence Spin Master or Toys 'R' Us knew anything that would lead them to believe their warning label was inappropriate," he said.
The Monjes described the win Thursday as "only round one" and said they will continue to fight for justice for their son.
"This ongoing fight is not only for Ryan's injuries but it's to change the way products are sold in the U.S.," Beth Monje said. "We believe companies should be held to a much higher standard, especially for children's toys, in the 21st century."
Contributing: Sean Holstege of The Arizona Republic
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561bdd04259f887e8a1cbb9d430a90bf
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/19/sheriff-church-protection/28996519/
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Arizona sheriff sending armed posse into black churches
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Arizona sheriff sending armed posse into black churches
PHOENIX — A sheriff on trial, accused of harassing some members of a minority community, will send armed volunteer posse members into 60 black churches Sunday in response to the racially motivated attack in South Carolina earlier this week.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who already is under federal supervision because of a ruling two years ago that his office racially profiled Hispanics in its traffic and immigration patrols, is scheduled to go to trial in August in a separate lawsuit alleging additional discrimination against Latinos.
He said the Rev. Jarrett Maupin, who describes himself as a Progressive Baptist preacher and civil-rights campaigner on his Facebook page, asked him to provide the protection because he was worried about problems with white supremacists in the area.
"I am the elected sheriff of this county. He asked me to help, and I'm going to help," Arpaio said Friday.
Maupin said he wasn't aware of any specific threats against churches within the county, the largest in Arizona, but he added that places of worship with black congregations often get hate mail.
"We do have a fear, a very real worry, that the incidents that occurred in Charleston can happen here in Phoenix," Maupin said.
More than two years ago, Arpaio sent hundreds of posse volunteers to provide security outside of school grounds in wake of a shooting that left 26 people dead at a Connecticut elementary school.
In Memphis, police are investigating a bullet fired through the back door Wednesday of St. Matthew Missionary Baptist Church, the same evening that Dylann Roof, 21, is accused of killing nine members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., as they sat in a Bible study group in the church's basement.
Gang violence is prevalent in the neighborhood where St. Matthew is located, so it is unknown whether the church was targeted because its members are predominantly black.
In the Phoenix area, indications are that not all of the churches involved want posse members patrolling near their pulpits. When told of one pastor's concerns, Arpaio said at a press conference, "But I'll tell you, he's going to get them whether he likes them or not."
Contributing: The Associated Press
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5f5c3a0c26bfe7b903b642557dc125c5
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/20/melanoma-trial-begins-new-drugs-show-promise/29046873/
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Melanoma trial begins as new drugs show promise
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Melanoma trial begins as new drugs show promise
PHOENIX — Joel Spatt thought his skin-cancer scare was over after a doctor removed a small growth on his cheek eight years ago.
But in 2012, the Cave Creek man began to feel pain through his arm from a disk injury in his neck. He returned to a doctor and underwent tests and scans of his back.
Then he heard news he did not expect. An MRI showed that melanoma had spread through his body. The grim prognosis: He had six months or less to live.
Radiation and chemotherapy failed to keep his cancer at bay. He had signs of cancer in his brain and throughout his body. He lost weight and his muscles withered. He had blood clots in his legs.
"I didn't know how long I had to live," said Spatt, 64, a former surgeon who relocated from a Chicago suburb to Cave Creek three years ago. "I had to get things ready for my wife and daughter."
His doctor suggested one more option: enrolling in a medical study of a then-experimental drug called nivolumab.
The drug is designed to unlock the body's immune system to attack the cancer. It's part of a new class of immunotherapy drugs about which cancer researchers are cautiously optimistic for treatment of advanced melanoma.
Every other week, Spatt would go to Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, one of the study sites, to get a dose of the drug.
Today, doctors tell Spatt he has no active signs of cancer. He has a personal trainer and began working out at a local gym in sweat-filled sessions on the elliptical machine, along with curls and bench presses to regain his upper-body strength. He resumed playing golf — his passion — while gradually increasing the number of holes and building his endurance.
Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer. Its rates have doubled over the past 30 years. While most cases are treatable when caught early, the advanced form of melanoma is deadly. The American Cancer Society expects nearly 10,000 U.S. residents to die of this form of skin cancer this year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people take steps to minimize sun exposure to reduce skin damage from exposure to ultraviolet light.
While the number of melanoma cases has increased dramatically, doctors who treat the deadliest form of the disease say more treatment options have emerged in recent years.
"The revolution in melanoma (treatment) over the past five years has been dramatic," said Dr. Alan Bryce, a Mayo Clinic oncologist who has treated Spatt. "There have been more advances in melanoma than any other cancer."
More than a half-dozen commonly used immunotherapy drugs have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration or are being tested in current medical studies, according to the Melanoma Research Foundation. Doctors also are testing whether combinations of these drugs can extend lives, though trials can sometimes have substantial side effects for patients.
One example: A study of 945 patients at 137 sites around the globe tested whether the combination of two drugs, ipilimumab and nivolumab, could extend lives when used together, rather than alone. The drug tandem did extend lives, but the study also found that the drugs when used together had more side effects than either one when used alone.
The drugs are also expensive. Nivolumab, first approved by Japan in 2014, carried a price tag there of $143,000 for each year of treatment. When the two drugs are combined, one researcher estimated at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting this month that the total cost could reach nearly $300,000. Such costs could strain private health insurers, employers who pay for health insurance and government programs like Medicaid, Medicare and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Dr. Lee Cranmer, a University of Arizona oncologist, said a big challenge in the coming years will be to decide how to correctly use these drugs in a way that limits side effects and tumor resistance.
"In melanoma, we went for decades where nothing really worked," Cranmer said. "Immunotherapy has the capacity to generate long-term control of cancer."
Cranmer emphasized that there are examples of patients who have been treated with the latest form of melanoma drugs and have kept the cancer in check for years.
He added that new treatment options are emerging. One example: A recent study showed that a version of the herpes simplex virus more effectively shrank tumor sizes compared with a control group.
Another local melanoma study from the Phoenix-based Translational Genomics Research Institute, or TGen, and Yale University will seek to tailor treatments to an individual's DNA.
Armed with $10 million from the celebrity-infused Stand Up to Cancer, the Melanoma Research Alliance, the pharmaceutical industry and other funding sources, the TGen-Yale study aims to recruit about 100 people with melanoma that has spread to other parts of the body and resisted conventional-drug treatment. There will be a half-dozen locations across the nation that will recruit patients for this study, including Mayo Clinic in Arizona.
Organizers of the study are recruiting people whose melanoma does not have a common mutation to a gene called BRAF. Because so many existing drug treatments target this mutation, which is responsible for nearly half of advanced melanoma cases, the local research team wanted to study treatment options for others.
"It's really providing an opportunity to these patients that they otherwise would not have had," said Jeffrey Trent, president and research director of TGen, who will help lead the trial.
Using a technology known as sequencing, scientists plan to compare DNA and RNA from each patient's normal and tumor cells to find the wayward gene or group of genes that may be responsible for the cancerous growth. From there, doctors can choose among more than two dozen drugs — either FDA-approved or experimental — that may be used as treatment options.
Dr. Aleksander Sekulic, a Mayo Clinic dermatologist who will be part of the trial, said one important part of the study is testing the idea that doctors can determine the best treatment for an individual based on the individual's unique genetic makeup.
The TGen-led team initially announced the Stand Up to Cancer and Melanoma Research Alliance grant in 2011 and hoped to start the trial more quickly. But the FDA asked researchers to complete a five-patient pilot trial first to show that the concept could work.
"Nobody has really taken the time and effort to really study this approach carefully," Sekulic said.
There will be two groups in the study: A targeted-therapy group will get a drug based on the patients' unique genetic makeup, and a control group will get standard chemotherapy treatment. The study is designed to allow those who are assigned to the chemotherapy group to join the targeted-therapy group after a period of time.
The study will evaluate whether the targeted-therapy group gets a better response by reducing tumor size and extending lives compared with the control group.
Bryce said one of the drawbacks of a smaller study is that it is difficult to draw strong conclusions about how effective a particular targeted therapy may be. But the trial results might compel researchers to conduct a larger follow-up study if a drug signals that it may be effective against melanoma that is characterized by a unique genetic signature.
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8eb6ed23834f67c70541e97d7935177b
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/22/obama-n-word-podcast-marc-maron/29115569/
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Obama uses 'n word' to make point about race relations
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Obama uses 'n word' to make point about race relations
WASHINGTON — President Obama used a racial slur to underscore his point that, while the United States has made great progress on race relations, more work needs to be done, his spokesman said Monday.
During a podcast taped last week, just days after the mass killings at an African-American church in Charleston, S.C., Obama said the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow too often remain in the nation's DNA.
"Racism — we are not cured of it," he said at one point. "And it's not just a matter of it not being polite to say 'n-----r' in public."
He added: "That's not the measure of whether racism still exists or not," he said. "It's not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don't, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior."
The use of the so-called "n word" generated intense debate on social media.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama does not regret use of the word, and said "the reason that he used the word could not be more apparent from the context of his discussion on the podcast."
Earnest said Obama did not plan in advance to use the word, saying it resulted from the "free-flowing" nature of interview podcast conducted by Marc Maron. The spokesman also cited the "informal setting" of the interview (Maron's garage).
While Obama has not used the term publicly during his presidency, the young lawyer and community did use it in his 1995 memoir Dreams From My Father — noting he was often the target of the term.
Previous presidents have used the term privately, according to the historical record.
President Bill Clinton also used the 'n word' in public in 1995, making a similar point to Obama about the prevalence of racism.
In a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus, Clinton said that "forces of extremism" were at work across the globe and in the United States, sometime in subtle ways — "Like when five children in an upper class suburb in this country write the hated word 'n----r' in code word in their school album."
Earnest said Obama's point is one has made before, including his March 7 speech on the 50th anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" civil rights march in Selma, Ala.
The nation has been remarkable progress in race relations in recent decades, and "that progress is undeniable," Earnest said. "But what's also undeniable is that there is more work that needs to be done, and there's more that we can do."
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5f1f93d8417670c8fb00c56354b473b8
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/22/south-carolina-confederate-flag/29109939/
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S.C. governor calls for removing Confederate flag from Capitol grounds
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S.C. governor calls for removing Confederate flag from Capitol grounds
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called Monday for the removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds.
"It's time to move the flag from the Capitol grounds," Haley said to applause at a news conference, while flanked by the state's congressional delegation and other leaders.
Haley's impassioned speech follows Wednesday's killing of nine black church members by a white gunman who allegedly expressed racist sentiments. The massacre prompted many in the state to question whether the flag's presence on public property delivered a not-so-subtle message of bigotry.
President Obama, who will travel to Charleston on Friday to deliver the eulogy for one of the victims, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, has said the flag should be removed and placed in a museum.
"For many people in our state, the flag stands for traditions that are noble. Traditions of history, of heritage, and of ancestry," Haley, a Republican, said. "At the same time, for many others in South Carolina, the flag is a deeply offensive symbol of a brutally oppressive past."
The state, Haley said, can survive and thrive "while still being home to both of those viewpoints. We do not need to declare a winner and a loser."
"For those who wish to show their respect for the flag on their private property, no one will stand in your way," Haley said. "But the Statehouse is different. And the events of the past week call upon all of us to look at this in a different way."
Haley said her state is grieving, but also coming together with legislation such as requiring body cameras on police officers, after the shooting of Walter Scott, a black man, by a white police officer now charged with his murder. Haley said she stood as a minority elected as governor, with parents from India, and with U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, the first black senator elected from the South since Reconstruction.
"On matters of race, South Carolina has a tough history," Haley said. "We don't need reminders."
Haley said to applause that if lawmakers don't debate removing the flag this summer, she would call them back for a special session. "That will take place in the coming weeks after the regular session and the veto session have been completed," she said. "There will be a time for discussion and debate. The time for action is coming soon."
Supporters of the flag contend it is historically significant as a memorial to Confederate soldiers who died while fighting for the South, while critics say it promotes racism.
Dylann Storm Roof, 21, who is charged with nine counts of murder in connection with the massacre, allegedly complained that "blacks were taking over the world" and that "someone needed to do something about it for the white race," according to a friend who alerted the FBI. Roof posted online pictures of himself holding the Confederate flag.
Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley Jr., a Democrat, said hate groups had appropriated the flag.
"We can't put it in a public place where it can give any oxygen to hate-filled people," Riley said.
Leland Summers, South Carolina division commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, issued a statement Friday dismissing any connection between the shooting and the flag.
"Do not associate the cowardly actions of a racist to our Confederate banner," Summers said. "There is absolutely no link between the Charleston massacre and the Confederate memorial banner. Don't try to create one."
Fellow Republicans also supported Haley's call to remove the flag.
"This flag has become too divisive and too hurtful for too many of our fellow Americans," said Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the flag "continues to be a painful reminder of racial oppression to many" and that "the time for a state to fly it has long since passed."
Until 2000, the battle flag flew over the Statehouse dome. Legislators in a compromise agreed to move the flag from the dome to a pole near the Confederate Soldiers Monument on the north side of the statehouse, just steps from Main Street in Columbia. Under terms of the compromise, it can only be removed by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.
House Speaker Jay Lucas on Monday issued a statement Monday asking for lawmakers to quickly resolve the issue.
"Wednesday's unspeakable tragedy has reignited a discussion on this sensitive issue that holds a long and complicated history in the Palmetto State," Lucas said. "Moving South Carolina forward from this terrible tragedy requires a swift resolution of this issue."
Key lawmakers said the flag issue should be debated next week when the Legislature convenes for an extra session to complete the budget, after adjourning June 4. It can only take up budget matters unless lawmakers, by a two-thirds vote, agree to consider another piece of legislation.
Sen. Larry Martin, a Republican who heads Judiciary Committee, said he favors waiting until at least next week to debate the issue.
Another Republican, Sen. Mike Fair, suggested waiting until January to debate the issue.
"There is just no reason to stoke the fire," Fair said. "It's almost being opportunistic."
Rep. Justin Bamberg, a Democrat and an attorney for Walter Scott's family, said the Confederate flag should never have been flown on state grounds in the first place. Bamberg said he can respect people who personally want to keep the flag in their homes to remember ancestors. But for many the flag symbolizes hate, intimidation and murder, he said.
"It's hard to fathom that it would take nine families being destroyed for somebody to finally realize that because this flag does have so many meanings that it shouldn't be flown and endorsed by the state of South Carolina," Bamberg said.
After Haley made her announcement, several people drove by the South Carolina state Capitol honking car horns and screaming, "Take it down." But the ultimate decision is likely to be a matter of much debate among the citizens.
Chris Culpepper, 21, of Eastover, who lives near where the shooting suspect lived, says lawmakers may have politically motivated reasons to remove the flag rather than moral ones.
"The Confederate flag was a battle symbol and doesn't have anything to do with racism," Culpepper, who is white, said. "It's something they used for war."
Stan Seabrook, 53, an instructor at the Air National Guard in Columbia, S.C., welcomed the idea that the Confederate flag might be removed.
"The flag, in my opinion, is a divisive symbol," Seabrook, who is black, said. "It means that we can finally heal from all of the racial atrocities that happened in the past."
Jansen reported from Washington.Contributing: Donna Leinwand Leger, USA TODAY; and Tim Smith, The Greenville (S.C.) News
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27b82c619ffcd9012554b4afb62d06fe
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/22/supreme-court-raisin-farmer/28475623/
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Supreme Court strikes down federal raisin program as unconstitutional
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Supreme Court strikes down federal raisin program as unconstitutional
WASHINGTON — Score one for the little guy.
The Supreme Court sided with a renegade raisin farmer Monday in his battle against a federal program designed to keep excess raisins off the market.
A majority of justices ruled that the Agriculture Department program, which seizes excess raisins from producers in order to prop up market prices during bumper crop years, amounted to an unconstitutional government "taking."
But they limited their verdict to raisins, lest they simultaneously overturn other government programs that limit production of goods without actually seizing private property.
The 8-1 decision was written by Chief Justice John Roberts, with the court's more conservative justices in solid agreement. Roberts said the government violates citizens' rights when it seizes personal property -- say, a car -- as well as real property such as a house.
While the government can regulate production in order to keep goods off the market, the chief justice said it cannot seize that property without compensation.
"Selling produce in interstate commerce ... (is) n ot a special governmental benefit that the government may hold hostage, to be ransomed by the waiver of constitutional protection," Roberts said. "Raisins are not dangerous pesticides; they are a healthy snack."
Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, while Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan would have allowed the lower court to reconsider the issue.
The raisin program, which dates back to the Truman administration, was vigorously defended by the Obama administration as a win-win proposition. Prices remain high for farmers, and their excess raisins can be donated to school lunch programs or sold overseas. If profits exceed administrative costs, the farmers share in the excess.
Nearly all the nation's raisins are grown in California, and the battle against the program was waged by raisin farmer Marvin Horne of Fresno. He was fined $695,000 for refusing to comply with the program since 2002.
Roberts would have none of that. "The Hornes should simply be relieved of the obligation to pay the fine and associated civil penalty they were assessed when they resisted the government's effort to take their raisins," he wrote for the court's majority. "This case, in litigation for more than a decade, has gone on long enough."
Horne's lawyer, Stanford University law professor Michael McConnell, argued that the government must pay him for the raisins under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits that "private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."
During oral argument, he had the court's conservative justices eating out of his hand, while U.S. deputy solicitor general Edwin Kneedler's argument was treated like sour grapes.
"You come up with the truck, and you get the shovels, and you take their raisins, probably in the dark of night," Roberts lectured Kneedler.
His ruling was heralded by business groups. "We believe it protects businesses far beyond the agricultural industry," said Karen Harned, executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business' small business legal center.
The court's liberal justices defended the program's intent, but some acknowledged it may be outdated. It was used most recently during the bumper crop years of 2003-04; in one of those years, growers were blocked from selling 47% of the crop.
Three of them, led by Breyer, agreed with the bulk of Roberts' ruling but wanted the case sent back to a federal appeals court to decide whether the benefits of higher market prices constitute compensation for the forfeited raisins.
Justice Clarence Thomas, in a separate opinion, said that would be "a fruitless exercise."
In the end, only Sotomayor refused to call the government's action a form of taking. She said that definition "only applies where all property rights have been destroyed by governmental action." Here, she said, the Hornes retained some property rights.
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3ead5ca7bc82fa4900d98920aa313b09
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/23/jodi-arias-restitution-travis-alexander-family/29148029/
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Judge orders Jodi Arias to pay $32,000 to victim's family
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Judge orders Jodi Arias to pay $32,000 to victim's family
PHOENIX — A Maricopa County Superior Court judge on Monday ordered convicted murderer Jodi Arias to pay more than $32,000 in restitution to the siblings of Travis Alexander, the man she killed.
Arias, 34, who was sentenced to life in prison in April, did not attend the hearing.
According to Arias' defense attorney, Jennifer Willmott, the restitution amount was about one-third of what the family requested as compensation for travel and lodging and other expenses related to Arias' two trials.
Willmott said that she went through the receipts submitted by the family to arrive at the amounts awarded. She also requested the amount of money that the family had received in donations from trial followers to offset their expenses. They declined to reveal the amount.
Prosecutor Juan Martinez said that the Alexander family was traumatized and had no interest in returning to Arizona for the restitution proceedings, so Judge Sherry Stephens awarded the amounts offered by the defense team: $15,530.73 to sister Samantha Alexander; $10,754.99 to sister Tanisha Sorenson; $4,232.11 to sister Hilary Wilcox; and $1,372 and $225.60 to brothers Stephen and Dennis Alexander, respectively.
If and how Arias can actually pay those amounts remains to be seen.
Arias and Alexander were on-again-off-again lovers caught in an obsessive relationship that culminated in murder. Alexander was found dead in the shower of his Mesa, Ariz., home in June 2008. He had been stabbed nearly 30 times, shot once in the head, and his throat was slit. Arias was quickly identified when police extracted photos from a camera found at the crime scene showing the two lovers and a photo of Alexander lying bleeding on the floor.
Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in 2013 after a salacious, circus-like trial that made celebrities of Arias and the attorneys on both sides of the aisle. But the original jury was not able to agree on whether to sentence her to life or death.
A second jury was seated in October 2014 to decide the sentence. It also reached an impasse, with a single juror refusing to sentence Arias to death. Under state statute, Stephens then had no choice but to sentence Arias to life in prison. She opted for natural life rather than life with possibility of release after 25 years.
Related:
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14edc62492c9efab34fec1d4b0fafaab
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/24/anethesiologist-mock-sedated-patient-colonoscopy/29213807/
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Anesthesiologist mocked sedated patient, pays big
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Anesthesiologist mocked sedated patient, pays big
(NEWSER) – It's not an uncommon practice in the smartphone era: recording instructions you need to recall later. A patient in Virginia says he used his phone to do just that prior to his April 18, 2013, colonoscopy—and accidentally left it recording during the whole procedure. Upon pressing play on the ride home, "DB" learned his doctors had mocked him relentlessly throughout it, and now the Vienna man has learned what he'll get for being referred to by anesthesiologist Tiffany Ingham as "probably" having "tuberculosis in the penis": $50,000 for that tuberculosis comment alone, as part of a $500,000 payout. The defamation portion included another $50,000 tied to Ingham warning an assistant not to touch a genital rash DB had, noting she might get "some syphilis on your arm or something" (Ingham then dubbed the rash's source the aforementioned penile tuberculosis).
Ingham also reportedly called the Vienna man a "big wimp" and a "retard," joked about firing a gun up his rectum, made fun of his alma mater (the University of Mary Washington), and threatened to falsely note on his chart that he had hemorrhoids, reports Courthouse News Service. (The Washington Post reports she did indeed note that he had hemorrhoids; it has audio excerpts here.) The jury also awarded another $200,000 in punitive damages and $200,000 for medical malpractice after the three-day trial, in which her lawyers tried to argue the recording wasn't legal—but it turns out that, as a one-consent state, DB didn't need Ingham's OK to record. The Post reports it couldn't reach Ingham for comment, but it did verify that the 42-year-old, who has since moved to Florida, no longer works for a practice it phoned there. (Another man sued his insurer over his penis.)
This story originally appeared on Newser:
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8c35c41d2b75124103620b8857f5ea3d
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/25/national-cathedral-confederate-windows/29299901/
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National Cathedral to remove Confederate stained glass
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National Cathedral to remove Confederate stained glass
WASHINGTON — The dean of Washington National Cathedral has called for two stained-glass windows featuring Confederate flags to be taken down from the Gothic edifice, in yet another instance of institutions reconsidering countless tributes to the Southern cause.
"It is time to take those windows out," said the Very Rev. Gary Hall in a Thursday announcement.
The prominent building on the skyline of the nation's capital includes windows honoring Confederate generals Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and Robert E. Lee, and each contains an image of the controversial flag.
"The Cathedral installed these windows, in part, because its leadership at the time hoped they would foster reconciliation between parts of the nation that had been divided by the Civil War," said Hall, who has called for the governing bodies of the cathedral to remove the windows that have been there since 1953.
But at a time when the nation is mourning the killings of nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., allegedly by a shooter who embraced the flag, Hall said the cathedral should take a different approach. He also cited the recent killings of unarmed black men at the hands of police officers.
"Here, in 2015, we know that celebrating the lives of these two men, and the flag under which they fought, promotes neither healing nor reconciliation, especially for our African-American sisters and brothers," Hall said.
The cathedral's announcement comes as religious and political leaders have called for the flag to be taken down from the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse and elsewhere. On Wednesday, the board of visitors of The Citadel voted 9-3 to remove the Confederate Naval Jack from its chapel "to an appropriate location" on its campus.
"I think this is a major, major statement now, continuing with sort of the domino effect that has occurred across the country, to remove any vestiges of the Confederacy because it has become painfully apparent to all of those who defended it for so long that it is offensive," said history professor Jason Silverman, an expert on the American Old South at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C. "It's now being interpreted as being dangerous."
Given the nature of the cathedral space, Hall said, a change in the windows will take "time, energy and money." In the interim, he said, a display will be placed near the windows "to explain them in their historical context."
"We will gather a representative group to work with us to imagine how new windows can best represent our shared history of war and peace, racial division and reconciliation," he said. "We will also discuss the future of the Jackson and Lee windows."
Silverman, who visited the cathedral a few years ago during a trip to Washington, said he noticed the red and blue panels that featured the Confederate flags and thought it was "really odd" that the cathedral included them.
He noted that the decision to install them came just before the 1954 landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision against school segregation.
"I'm almost thrilled, in one sense, chronologically, that it comes sort of right on the cusp in the 1950s before everything changes," said Silverman. "I can't believe that would have even been proposed in, say, '57, '58, '59 or '60."
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97730849e5768da5299914879c81b092
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/26/churches-same-sex-marriage/29376803/
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High-court ruling won't affect church weddings
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High-court ruling won't affect church weddings
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Rev. Cynthia Campbell of Highland Presbyterian Church said Friday that she looks forward to performing her church's first same-sex marriage now that Kentucky's ban on gay marriage has been lifted.
But the Rev. Steve Jester, pastor of Second Presbyterian Church, said he won't be marrying gays and lesbians there even though the decision will be hurtful to friends who are gay.
After three decades of debate, the Presbyterian Church (USA), which has its headquarters here, voted this year to allow pastors and churches to celebrate gay marriages in states where that is legal but left it up to the discretion of individual pastors and their churches' governing bodies.
"I'm still struggling with this," Jester said.
But for clergy in most faiths, the Supreme Court's decision throwing out civil bans on gay marriages doesn't change anything: They either already were allowed to officiate at weddings of gays and lesbians — or still are prohibited from doing so.
While welcoming gays at the liberal-minded St. William Catholic Church, the Rev. John Burke said his church law forbids marrying them.
"It is beyond my jurisdiction," he said.
The catechism of the Catholic Church says that marriage is "established by mutual consent between a man and a woman, and ordered towards the good of the spouses and the procreation of offspring." Priests cannot preside at a ceremony that does not reflect this understanding of marriage, said Cecelia Price, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Louisville.
Don't look for any gay weddings to be performed in Southern Baptist churches either. The president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, vowed this month never to officiate at a same-sex union.
"We do not need to redefine what God himself has defined already," Pastor Ronnie Floyd of Cross Church in Springdale, Ark., said at the Nashville-based group's annual meeting.
The Rev. Charles Elliott of King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church, a large black congregation here, said he has some "members of the church practicing that activity" but he believes it is an "abomination and a sin" and that marriage should be between a man and woman.
The Supreme Court's ruling has no direct effect on churches or synagogues, which are free to follow the rules of their own faith on marriage. Its ruling affects only civil marriages.
Although the Rev. Kevin Cosby, senior pastor of St. Stephen Baptist Church, has spoken out for gay rights, Associate Pastor Clay Calloway said last week that nobody has ever requested a gay wedding at Louisville's largest black church.
"So we haven't discussed it," Calloway said. "It is not a top priority."
Two Louisville-area Baptist churches that have left the Southern Baptist Convention, Highland Baptist and Crescent Hill Baptist, will continue to conduct same-sex marriages, which they began in 2013 and last year, respectively. Highland Baptist in 2012 ordained one of Kentucky's petitioners in the Supreme Court case, the Rev. Maurice "Bojangles" Blanchard.
Methodist church law does not allow same-sex marriages to be be performed in its churches or presided over by its ministers, said the Rev. George Strunk, senior pastor of Christ Church United Methodist in St. Matthews, Ky.
"It is not a matter of my preference but church law," Strunk said. Although some Methodist pastors have officiated at such weddings, "I think it would be a violation of my vows to do so."
In other denominations, such as the Chicago-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the decision is left to the pastor, and at Third Lutheran in Louisville, the Rev. Steve Renner, already is performing them.
"For the first time, I would be able to say by the power of the commonwealth of Kentucky, I pronounce you husband and wife," he said.
Same-sex weddings are permitted in Reform and Conservative Jewish congregations, and The Temple here has been performing them since 1996.
"We support the right of same-sex couples to marry the one they love," Senior Rabbi David Ariel-Joel said. "The nice thing now is that instead of just signing the Jewish marriage covenant, we will be able to sign the marriage certificate of the commonwealth of Kentucky. It will mean justice will prevail in Kentucky."
Other ministers whose denominations allow same-sex weddings in their churches are taking a wait-and-see attitude.
The Rev. Jonathan Erdman, rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in downtown Louisville, which doesn't have same-sex weddings, said his congregation has diverse views on the issue and he hasn't decided yet whether he will officiate such ceremonies.
The Right Rev. Terry Allen White, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky, has given priests permission to bless same-sex marriages, and some are doing so, according to the Very Rev. Amy R. Coultas, canon to the bishop.
For two churches here, Douglass Boulevard Christian and First Unitarian, the court's ruling means their pastors can end a protest in which they refused to sign state marriage certificates for heterosexual couples as long as gay couples were refused the right to marry.
"Civil marriage … should be between any two consenting adults — period," the Rev. Dawn Cooley of First Unitarian had written on her blog previously, explaining the protest. "Because most states currently do discriminate against gay and lesbian couples, this makes civil marriage an unjust institution."
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b3f2fc6b2df724fba1a4c695b460206a
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/26/police-involved-shooting-unarmed-black-man-baltimore-county/29322373/
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Unarmed black man killed by Baltimore County police
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Unarmed black man killed by Baltimore County police
BALTIMORE — An unarmed black man was shot and killed by Baltimore County police who answered a domestic incident call early Thursday morning.
Spencer Lee McCain, 41, was shot about 1 a.m. at a condominium in Owings Mills, Md., while a woman who said he threatened to beat her was there with her two young children, Baltimore County Police Chief Jim Johnson said at a news conference.
Three officers, believing McCain had a weapon, opened fire, but no weapon was found. Two of the officers are white, and one is black, police said. All have been placed on administrative leave.
This officer-involved shooting in Baltimore County comes on the heels of the shootings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Tamir Rice in Cleveland, as well as the deaths of other black men in police custody, including Eric Garner in New York and Freddie Gray in Baltimore. Owings Mills is about 20 miles northwest of downtown Baltimore.
In the city of Baltimore, six police officers have been charged in Gray's death.
Johnson said 19 casings were found at the home in Owings Mills, but it wasn't clear how many times McCain was hit.
Police said the incident began when one of the children in the home called her grandmother, Rochelle Byrd, who called 911 and asked police to go there.
The Baltimore Sun reported that the first officer on the scene was aware of previous domestic violence calls at the home. Since 2012, police said, officers responding to 911 calls, went to the address 17 times, including several reports of fighting, the newspaper reported.
Johnson said officers heard screams so they forced their way into the home, The Sun reported.
Officers found a man in a "defensive position" making movements which led them to believe he had a weapon, the newspaper said.
The woman and the two children in the home were not injured in the shooting. But the woman, Shannon Sulton, had head injuries, cuts and bruises and swelling, police said.
Keith Lewis, who has lived next door for five years, told the Associated Press he'd heard yelling and screaming from the home several times, and was awakened by noise early Thursday.
"Something hit the wall. I woke up. I heard yelling. The babies were crying. It sounded like begging and pleading ... Five to 10 minutes later, I saw cruisers. I saw the officers pull up out front. It quieted down, and I drifted back to sleep. Then I heard her yelling again. I heard the door get booted, and then all hell broke loose. I heard probably 10 shots."
Lewis said he believed McCain had moved out of the home in the past, but he saw McCain there again starting around the first of the year.
Police said there was a protective order against McCain, The Sun reported. A search of online court records, showed a protective order was filed in October to prevent him from going to the home and the children's schools, the newspaper said.
According to The Sun, the president of the NAACP's Baltimore County branch said he was briefed by police on the shooting.
"Whenever there is a police-involved shooting, there's always a concern of what happened," Tony Fugett told The Sun. "Typically, what we do is we will look into the matter and we will see what the report says. We don't like to jump to any conclusions."
Byrd, the woman who called 911, is Sulton's mother. Byrd said McCain was the father of Sulton's three children.
"They've been together a long time. He was having some issues and he was on medication, but he stopped taking it. (Sulton) told me last week it was starting to get bad," Byrd said. "The Secret Service came because he was ranting and raving about the president. They took him to Northwest Hospital and they put him on medication. And then he was like a different person."
After receiving a call from her grandchild, "I called (the child) back to tell her to open the door for the police and he took the phone. He said, 'I'm going to have to commit suicide,' " Byrd said, fearful that the incident could end in a murder-suicide, with the family dead.
"I never wanted him to die, I just wanted him to get himself together," Byrd said. She said that he had been a good father.
Contributing: The Associated Press.
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7d2cd704494b48d85f8b67fc061c78ed
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/29/ghost-hunters-discover-body/29491251/
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Ghost hunters find woman's body at haunted hospital
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Ghost hunters find woman's body at haunted hospital
VICKSBURG, Miss. - A team of ghost hunters found the body of a missing woman on Sunday as they explored the old Kuhn Memorial State Hospital in Vicksburg, a site known to be one of Mississippi's most haunted.
Vicksburg Police Chief Walter Armstrong said Sharon Wilson, 69, appeared to have trauma to her head. Witnesses said her body was found outside Kuhn Hospital, but blood trails indicated she had been inside.
Two men, Akeem McCloud, 20, and Rafael McCloud, 33, have been taken into custody, but Armstrong said they have not been charged yet.
Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said his office was alerted to the body when a group of people came to the sheriff's office. Sgt. Jason Bailess was working on shift reports and talked with the group who told him that they had been at Kuhn Hospital. They told Bailess they knew they probably weren't supposed to be out there, but they had found a body and wanted to report it.
Bailess went to the scene and blocked off the driveway and called Vicksburg Police Department.
Armstrong said he was in the Delta searching for Wilson when the call came in. Leland Police Department was able to stop the McClouds, who are related, on a traffic stop. When they realized the car was stolen, as was a weapon in their possession, police asked VPD to check on the welfare of the owner of the vehicle.
"We checked, and she was not there," Armstrong said.
Wilson was last seen around 9 p.m. Saturday night by a couple who visited her home. She was reported missing around noon on Sunday.
Inside of Kuhn Hospital is a dark maze of rooms full of debris. Many of the walls are are spray-painted, and many of them have fallen down. It is nationally and internationally known as a hotspot of paranormal activity, with many paranormal groups coming to investigate apparitions and electronic voice phenomena recorded there.
David Childers, co-founder of the Mississippi Paranormal Research Institute, is very familiar with Kuhn Hospital, as he has conducted many ghost hunts there through the years. He said from what he saw inside Kuhn on Monday, it appears at one point Wilson was inside the hospital and was taken outside.
"You could tell where they had dragged someone down from the second floor in the middle of the building, to a grassy area on the left side of the hospital," he said. "On the steps, that's where most of the blood was, and it looked like they dragged her all the way to the grassy area."
Police said the McClouds told authorities they had put Wilson out on the side of the road after robbing her home and kidnapping her on Saturday.
Rafael McCloud was already known from previous run-ins with the Vicksburg Police Department, Armstrong said.
Armstrong says the body was sent to the state crime lab in Jackson for processing. Coroner Doug Huskey referred all questions back to VPD.
Because of the propensity for paranormal groups to visit Kuhn, Armstrong said police don't get a lot of calls there, but there is a lot of activity there. Some groups, like Childers', have permission to be inside the building. Others just go unannounced.
Childers said he didn't know the group who found Wilson's body.
In spite of his experience there, Childers said the old structure is dangerous and should be demolished. He said a ceiling caved in on him and some of his team in a ghost hunt last year.
"Kuhn Hospital has a lot of places inside and out that would be an ideal spot to place a body. In my opinion they should tear it down. It's condemned and is open for things like this to happen," he said. "It's an unsafe environment, there are open elevator shafts, black mold, asbestos, and debris, and people ought to stay away from that place."
"Some spirits just need to be left alone," he said.
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284a8004a4eb1a54d1d97d203bd6a629
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/29/glenn-ford-exonerated-death-row-inmate-dies/29489433/
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Glenn Ford, exonerated death row inmate, dies
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Glenn Ford, exonerated death row inmate, dies
SHREVEPORT, La. — Glenn Ford, who was exonerated last year after spending nearly 30 years of his life on death row for a crime he did not commit, died of lung cancer Monday, the Innocence Project New Orleans announced. He was 65.
According to a news release, Ford died surrounded by friends and family at 2:11 a.m. CT in New Orleans.
Ford's wrongful conviction would reignite national discussion about the death penalty after Shreveport Attorney A.M. "Marty" Stroud III, the lead prosecutor in Ford's trial, penned a letter apologizing for his role in Ford's conviction.
Stroud also would call for the abolition of the death penalty.
"In 1984, I was 33 years old. I was arrogant, judgmental, narcissistic and very full of myself. I was not as interested in justice as I was in winning," Stroud wrote in a letter that would go viral.
The two would later meet face-to-face.
In 1984, Ford was convicted of and sentenced to die for the Nov. 5, 1983, death of Shreveport jeweler Isadore Rozeman. Rozeman had been robbed and killed in his Stoner Hill shop.
Ford was 33 at the time of his conviction.
According to the Innocence Project New Orleans, Ford spent 29 years, three months and five days of his life in solitary confinement on death row at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
On March 10, 2014, Ford was exonerated. He had been the longest-serving death row inmate in the United States at the time of his release.
The state of Louisiana gave him $20 for a bus ride home from prison but has denied him further compensation under the state's wrongful conviction compensation statute, the Innocence Project New Orleans said.
And not long after his release, Ford was diagnosed with lung cancer.
Ford was born Oct. 22, 1949, in Shreveport. He was raised by a grandmother in California and would later return to Shreveport.
According to a news release, several of Ford's grandchildren, who live in California, were able to visit him.
A memorial will be held later at Charbonnet Funeral Home in New Orleans, the Innocence Project New Orleans said.
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98b642280ccbd3449b4fb9b99d0a69b0
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/29/human-terrain-system-afghanistan/29476409/
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Army kills controversial social science program
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Army kills controversial social science program
WASHINGTON — The Army has quietly killed a program that put social scientists on battlefields to help troops avoid unnecessary bloodshed and improve civilians' lives, an Army spokesman said Monday.
The initiative, known as the Human Terrain System, had been plagued by fraud and racial and sexual harassment, a USA TODAY investigation found.
HTS, which spent at least $726 million from 2007 to 2014 in Iraq and Afghanistan, was killed last fall, Gregory Mueller, an Army spokesman, said in an email. Commanders in Afghanistan, where the U.S. combat mission ended last year, no longer had a need for the advice of civilian anthropologists.
"The HTS program ended on September 30, 2014, as there was no longer a requirement for HTS teams in theater," Mueller said in a statement.
Several months earlier, Army Secretary John McHugh had praised the program, saying the information the teams provided was "actionable and useful for decision-making."
Social scientists criticized the program from the outset. A key concern for them was the militarization of their field and the potential that their work would be used to target insurgents, a violation of their ethical code not to hurt those they study.
"HTS' termination was long overdue," said Roberto Gonzalez, professor of anthropology at San Jose State University. "Given the many reports of waste, fraud and mismanagement, why did it survive for more than eight years?"
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said, "HTS is a program that had no legitimate application in a war zone or out of one, and the termination of the program was overdue. But it's odd that the program was canceled only after the Army made repeated efforts to defend its use and effectiveness. If anything, the Army's decision shows that HTS is a program our troops can live without, which many of us have known and pointed out.
"Why it was defended and continued in the face of shrinking budgets and alternate priorities is beyond me, but it's good to see the Army step up and do the right thing," Hunter said. "Better late than never."
Ethical concerns gave way to charges of time-sheet padding and sexual harassment. A USA TODAY investigation of the program uncovered an internal Army investigation in 2010 that had found the Human Terrain System had been "fraught with waste, fraud and abuse."
Some team members, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY, filled out fake time sheets at the urging of supervisors to pad their paychecks. Some members were paid $280,000 per year for work that investigators doubt was done. Team members, who worked as federal government employees, were entitled to six months of paid leave when they returned home.
In a survey about their work environment, one team member wrote, "Sexual harassment is prevalent, and sexist behavior is an everyday occurrence; I was sexually harassed in the field repeatedly; sexual comments and jokes are rampant; nearly every female in the program faces some form of sexual harassment."
The Army responded to the allegations of fraud by ordering training for Human Terrain System employees on how to fill out time sheets properly, the documents show. It said sexual harassment is not tolerated, and a contractor found responsible for it was fired.
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90cd629045516c4a0759de02ddde2ea6
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/29/michigan-firework-death/29470091/
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Man killed by firework in front of family
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Man killed by firework in front of family
DETROIT — A 47-year-old man died Sunday evening in Walled Lake, Mich., when a large mortar fireworks shell he was holding to his head exploded, police said.
Walled Lake Police Chief Paul Shakinas said the man's family was devastated as it happened in front of them at about 9:14 p.m. Sunday. Alcohol was a factor, Shakinas added.
The Oakland County Medical Examiner's Office found the death to be accidental, caused by blunt-force trauma to the head.
The fireworks were part of a gathering a week ahead of Fourth of July weekend. It's illegal in Michigan to set them off outside of the day before, during or after the holiday, but Shakinas said no citations were issued in connection with the tragedy.
"We ask everyone to use caution and remember that alcohol and fireworks do not mix," Shakinas said, adding that police will be enforcing fireworks violations approaching the holiday.
The incident was in a residential neighborhood northwest of Detroit.
Also Sunday, authorities said nine people suffered minor injuries during a fireworks mishap at Crocker Park in Westlake, Ohio.
Westlake fire officials say one of the fireworks boxes overturned, firing into the crowd minutes after the show began around 10 p.m.
Last year, a Detroit man was killed when an errant firework blew into his chest and exploded. Mike Aburouman, 44, had picked up a firework and lit it July 4, 2014. But instead of shooting into the air, it flew right at him.
Also last July 4, WXYZ-TV chief meteorologist Dave Rexroth lost an eyeball to a fireworks explosion while celebrating the holiday with his family in Iowa.
Contributing: WKYC-TV, Cleveland.
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40826f066b4c2e4744fe214b1988a591
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/29/supreme-court-arizona-congress-maps/27400015/
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Supreme Court strikes blow against gerrymandering
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Supreme Court strikes blow against gerrymandering
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can try to remove partisan politics from the process of drawing political maps.
The decision was a victory for the proponents of independent commissions and a blow for state lawmakers who did not want to be drawn out of the process.
Voters in seven states — Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Jersey and Washington — have turned to such commissions in an effort to reduce political "gerrymandering," the map-drawing method that leads to districts easily won by Democrats or Republicans.
Arizona's Republican legislators challenged the law by citing the specific wording of the Constitution. It instructs that "the times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof."
The court majority said those words did not tie its hands. "Arizona voters sought to restore the core principle that voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, delivering the opinion for a five-member majority, "The elections clause, we affirm, does not hinder that endeavor."
Ginsburg was joined by the other liberals and Justice Anthony Kennedy, who hails from California, which had much at stake in the case. The other four conservatives dissented.
Although the writers of the Constitution would have been unfamiliar with voter referendums, they would have been included in the dictionary definition of "legislature" at the time, Ginsburg wrote. One such definition was, "the power that makes laws."
Holding that only legislatures can pass election laws would "run up against the Constitution's animating principle that the people themselves are the originating source of all the powers of government," she wrote.
In a dissent backed by the four more conservative justices, Chief Justice John Roberts said he recognized the difficulties in curbing gerrymandering, which can sometimes contort districts into odd shapes in order to benefit one party.
"No matter how concerned we may be about partisanship in redistricting, this court has no power to gerrymander the Constitution," Roberts wrote.
He noted that under the majority's reading, the 17th Amendment to the Constitution — requiring that senators be elected directly by the people instead of legislatures — wouldn't have been necessary.
"What chumps! Didn't they realize that all they had to do was interpret the constitutional term 'the legislature' to mean 'the people?'" Roberts wrote with sarcasm. "The court today performs just such a magic trick with the elections clause."
The Arizona case applies only to congressional lines. Nationally, those lines have grown ever more partisan. In 2012, Republicans won 53% of the vote, but 72% of the House seats in states where they drew the lines; Democrats won 56% of the vote but 71% of the seats where they controlled the process.
Reaction to the decision was predictably split along partisan lines.
"Today, the Supreme Court declared that the will of the voters must come first," said Mark Schauer, who directs redistricting efforts for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.
But Republicans " believe strongly in a system that has worked since our nation's birth," Republican State Leadership Committee Chairman Bill McCollum said. "We support the many states whose legislatures — elected by voters to make the tough decisions — determine legislative districts."
In addition to the seven states affected by the ruling, Connecticut and Indiana employ backup commissions to draw the lines if the legislature fails. New York, Iowa, Maine, Ohio and Rhode Island have advisory commissions.Those states are not directly affected.
In most states, congressional and state legislative district lines are drawn with an eye toward geographic compactness and preserving municipal lines. Only eight states forbid line-drawing that "unduly" favors a particular candidate or party.
Monday's ruling could embolden activists to push for even more changes.
"Now that our highest court has given their initiative its blessing, we're hopeful that citizens and legislators alike in other states will push politics aside and create independent bodies to draw truly representative districts after the 2020 census," said Miles Rapoport, president of Common Cause, a liberal-leaning, good-government group.
Lawyers for the Arizona commission had argued that "legislature" in the Constitution is meant to include the entire state government, including the governor, courts and voters.
The majority agreed. After all, state constitutions give governors the power to veto bills by the legislature, including elections bills. And Ginsburg noted from the bench that striking down Arizona's initiative could also have the effect of nullifying other elections laws passed by initiative, like permanent voter registration.
The Supreme Court first declared that redistricting should establish "fair and effective representation for all citizens" in 1964, but that ruling only mandated districts of relatively equal populations. Given the opportunity to set standards for partisan gerrymandering in a 2004 case out of Pennsylvania, the court demurred in a 5-4 decision.
The impact of redistricting commissions is difficult to prove because they have existed for so few Census cycles and because so many other factors influence the outcome of elections. But some studies have shown that lines drawn by commissions made for closer congressional elections and state legislators who were more in tune with their voters.
Arizona voters took the power to draw district lines away from the Legislature and gave it to an independent commission in 2000. Since then, Democrats have gained three congressional seats.
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474888c490721c3f9992d4e2fd0751c9
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/29/supreme-court-lethal-injection/28648145/
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Supreme Court refuses to ban controversial method of execution
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Supreme Court refuses to ban controversial method of execution
WASHINGTON – A fiercely divided Supreme Court refused Monday to limit states' use of a controversial execution method that dissenters compared to being burned at the stake, leading two justices to contend that the death penalty is most likely unconstitutional.
The court's conservative majority said Oklahoma prisoners challenging the use of a three-drug cocktail failed to prove that it cannot mask excessive pain and to identify a better alternative, given a drug shortage that has forced some states to experiment with less trusted alternatives.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the 5-4 decision for the argumentative court. All four liberal justices dissented vehemently; two said capital punishment is probably unconstitutional and urged the court to consider a broad challenge in the future.
In an unusual display of hostility on the final day of the court's term, four justices spoke from the bench on the case -- two defending the decision, two contesting it.
The conservative majority ruled that to prohibit the use of midazolam, a sedative that has left some death row prisoners seemingly able to feel pain from the next two drugs in a three-drug cocktail, would have unfairly tied the states' hands.
"While most humans wish to die a painless death, many do not have that good fortune," Alito wrote. "Holding that the 8th Amendment demands the elimination of essentially all risk of pain would effectively outlaw the death penalty altogether."
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the principal dissent for the four more liberal justices, charging that the ruling "leaves petitioners exposed to what may well be the chemical equivalent of being burned at the stake."
"The contortions necessary to save this particular lethal injection protocol are not worth the price," she said, shaking her head vehemently for effect.
Justice Stephen Breyer went further in a separate dissent. He said the high court should consider the overall constitutionality of the death penalty, something it has not done since 1976. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg agreed.
"Rather than try to patch up the death penalty's legal wounds one at a time, I would ask for full briefing on a more basic question: whether the death penalty violates the Constitution," Breyer said, citing four reasons -- the potential for error, arbitrary application, decades-long delays, and increasing numbers of states and counties abandoning its use.
That elicited a caustic response from Justice Antonin Scalia, the fourth justice to speak from the bench on the case, which is unusual. He compared the effort by Breyer and Ginsburg to get the court to reconsider the death penalty to the decision last Friday by five justices legalizing same-sex marriage. In both cases, he said, the people – not the court – should decide.
"Maybe we should celebrate that two justices are willing to kill the death penalty outright instead of pecking it to death," Scalia quipped.
The case, heard on the court's last day of oral arguments, was filed by three death row inmates challenging Oklahoma's method of lethal injection. A fourth inmate was put to death while the case was pending when the high court refused to halt his execution.
The ruling means that the state can now go forward with those executions.
"The families in these three cases have waited a combined 48 years for justice," Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said. "Now that the legal issues have been settled, the state can proceed with ensuring that justice is served for the victims of these horrible and tragic crimes."
Midazolam was used in three 2014 executions in Oklahoma, Arizona and Ohio in which prisoners struggled, groaned or writhed in apparent pain during the administration of drugs used to paralyze them and stop their hearts. In 12 other executions, the drug cocktail did not cause obvious mishaps.
The problems with lethal injections are the result of states' inability to find pharmacies willing to provide the drugs that can render prisoners incapable of feeling pain. Pharmacies in Europe routinely refuse to help because of broad opposition to capital punishment; the European Union imposed an export ban in 2011. As a result, many states have turned to state-regulated compounding pharmacies in a process that has been shrouded in secrecy.
Last month, both the American Pharmacists Association and the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists discouraged their members from participating in the process. The U.S. group called it "fundamentally contrary to the role of pharmacists as providers of health care."
The difficulties involved in lethal injections are forcing states with capital punishment laws to rejuvenate backup methods once viewed as beyond the pale. Tennessee would allow electrocution, Utah death by firing squad. Now Oklahoma lawmakers are moving toward legalizing the use of nitrogen gas.
Seven states have abolished the death penalty since 2004, most recently Nebraska, where state legislators overrode Gov. Pete Ricketts' veto. Several other states have imposed moratoriums on lethal injections because of problems, ranging from botched executions in Oklahoma and Ohio to a "cloudy" drug concoction in Georgia.
In Oklahoma, death-row inmates Richard Glossip, John Grant and Benjamin Cole – whose executions had been scheduled for January, February and March – brought the latest lawsuit. Glossip was convicted of paying another man to kill the owner of the Oklahoma City budget motel where he worked as manager. He has long declared his innocence.
The drug protocol in question is different from the one the high court upheld in a 2008 case from Kentucky. The court's four liberal justices claimed midazolam should be outlawed because it does not always prevent prisoners from feeling so much pain as to constitute cruel and unusual punishment, which the Constitution prohibits. Justice Elena Kagan likened it to "the feeling of being burned alive."
During oral arguments, some of the high court's conservatives charged that a "guerrilla war" by death penalty "abolitionists" contributed to the myriad problems states face in obtaining drugs from manufacturers and pharmacies.
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a8926a89015ef00267c051dec86dfb5b
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/30/shark-attacks-east-coast/29519371/
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Yes, the number of shark attacks is above average
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Yes, the number of shark attacks is above average
The number of shark attacks across the country is slightly above average for this time of year, and many of the incidents have occurred farther north than usual.
There have been 23 attacks in 2015, of which one in Hawaii was fatal, according to data from the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida.
Typically, the U.S. sees about 30 to 40 attacks, of which either zero or one is deadly, the Shark Attack File reported. To reach more than half the average number of attacks so early in the season and already have a fatality puts this year a bit above average, said George Burgess, the director of the Shark Attack File.
North Carolina has already seen six attacks this year, Burgess said. Two of the attacks occurred in the Outer Banks over the weekend. The state typically only sees one or two per year, Frank Schwartz, a shark biologist with the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, told National Geographic.
South Carolina has also seen its share of attacks — three so far, Burgess said.
The proximity of fisherman and swimmers is of particular concern in last weekend's attacks, Burgess told LiveScience. "Fishing off a beach where there are swimmers and surfers makes for a really bad mix," he said.
Drought conditions in the Carolinas have led to decreased fresh water runoff and thus to saltier sea water, which sharks prefer, Burgess added. According to the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor, about 65% of North Carolina and 52% of South Carolina were either abnormally dry or in drought conditions.
Baby sea turtles and menhaden fish have been more plentiful than usual, providing more attraction for the sharks, Burgess said.
The "ever-increasing amount of time spent in the sea by humans, which increases the opportunities for interaction between the two affected parties" could be one reason for the slight uptick in attacks, the Shark Attack File website reported.
In addition, 24/7 news and social media coverage tends to exaggerate the danger. Bees, wasps and snakes are each responsible for far more deaths annually in the U.S. than sharks, the Shark Attack File said.
"The chances of dying ... are markedly higher from many other causes (such as drowning and cardiac arrest) than from shark attack," according to the Shark Attack File.
In Florida, where shark attacks are more common, the 11 attacks so far this year have received little attention, Burgess said. However, publicity about the attacks might cause swimmers to think twice as we approach the busy Fourth of July weekend.
"I bet fewer and fewer people are swimming these days, so opportunities for interactions may be diminished for a while," said Daniel Abel, a marine scientist at Coastal Carolina University.
But Burgess remains concerned about the big holiday. "I can almost guarantee there'll be a bite or two this weekend," he said.
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862d6e57079bf92c1aef6f4ad3c023d1
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/30/wildfire-washington-wenatchee-sleepyhollowfire/29498073/
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Washington's Sleepy Hollow fire burns 24 houses, unites a neighborhood
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Washington's Sleepy Hollow fire burns 24 houses, unites a neighborhood
Firefighters at a Washington wildfire that's burned 24 houses and destroyed four businesses have been so busy that they haven't been able to keep an eye on all the hot spots.
So people in one Wenatchee, Wash. neighborhood grabbed garden hoses and took care of the job themselves.
"It's kind of surreal at the moment, it's hard to process," said Eric Curry, who was spraying down the charred remains of his neighbor's house to make sure it didn't reignite and spread to other properties.
Shirley Einarsson's home of 45 years was one of three houses destroyed on one street in this town east of Seattle. The rapidly moving Sleepy Hollow Fire burned 3,000 acres in a less than a day and caused a raging fire at a cardboard recycling factory that then spread to other nearby warehouses. An ammonia leak at one plant caused a "shelter-in-place" advisory.
As of Monday night, the fire was 10% contained, and emergency management for the local county called the fire a "disaster."
"It's probably really going to hit me harder in a few days when I realize I don't have anything," Einarsson said.
She lost a generation of belongings and gained a new level of appreciation for the people next door, who were there for her from the moment the flames approached.
She was asleep when the fire reached her neighborhood.
"Our neighbor Alex was pounding on Shirley's door because he knew she was in here," said Curry.
Einarsson finally woke up, minutes before her house burned.
"He saved her life," said Curry.
"We have a wonderful neighborhood, it's just fabulous," said Einarsson, who planned to spend the day shopping for new clothes.
"No point in crying, they were just things," she said, "they weren't life."
Fire crews are concentrating on preventing any more homes from being burned. Crews were working to put out hot spots in already burned areas, while keeping an eye on winds that could fan flames again.
A light rain fell on the area early Monday morning, giving firefighters some help. But the rain stopped later in the morning.
There were no serious injuries reported but some firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Related: Complete wildfire coverage on KING5.com
Contributing: The Associated Press, KING staff
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9f7a46525bd9ea4cf992045d9b766512
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/01/black-churches-fire-arson-south-carolina/29554075/
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Report: Fire at black church in S.C. was not arson, feds say
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Report: Fire at black church in S.C. was not arson, feds say
Although arson is blamed for at least three fires over the past two weeks at several predominantly black churches in Southern states, a blaze that destroyed Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal church in South Carolina was not deliberately set, according to a federal source, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Churchgoers had feared the worst because the church in Greeleyville, S.C., was burned to the ground by the KKK in 1995. The latest fire broke out Tuesday during a night of frequent storms and lightning strikes.
Preliminary indications are that the fire was not intentionally set and was not arson, the source said, according to the AP. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. The fire is still under investigation, the official said.
Craig Chilcott, assistant special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said Wednesday that it is premature to release specific information about the case while the investigation is still underway.
"We haven't ruled anything in, or anything out at this point," Chilcott said. "We'll let the case dictate and we're going to investigate it as the facts will ultimately determine what occurred."
The fire has rekindled painful memories from the arson that destroyed the church 20 years ago, Williamsburg County Councilman Eddie Woods Jr., told the AP.
"That was a tough thing to see," Woods said. "It is hurting those people again. But we're going to rebuild. If this was someone, they need to know that hate won't stop us again."
The fires in Southern states have all taken place in the weeks since a white gunman opened fire in the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, killing nine people, on June 17.
The church fires have erupted in Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. Federal investigators are looking into some of the cases to determine whether hate crimes were the cause, but so far the fires do not appear to be related.
The timing of the recent fires, coming in the wake of the Charleston shooting, could be a cause for concern, said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center. They may be retaliation for the backlash against Confederate flags that followed the shootings, he said.
After photos surfaced of Charleston shooting suspect Dylann Roof holding Confederate flags, retailers like Walmart and Amazon suspended sales of the flags, which are popular with white supremacists. Four of the rebel flags were recently removed from the state Capitol grounds in Alabama, and South Carolina lawmakers will decide whether to follow suit next month.
Websites popular with white supremacists, such as Stormfront.org, posted angry denouncements of the treatment of the Confederate flags, Potok said.
"The single most suspicious thing about these fires is that they came so close together and so hard on the heels of attacks on the Confederate battle flag," Potok said. "That is a revered symbol for the radical right."
Some of the church fires were severe, such as the one last week at Briar Creek Road Church in Charlotte, which gutted an entire church wing.
Others, such as the fire at College Hill Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Knoxville, Tenn., were less damaging. Firefighters arrived at that church at around 10 p.m. June 21 to find a church van in flames in the parking lot and smoldering piles of hay and bags of soil near a side entrance, said Capt. D.J. Corcoran, a spokesman with the Knoxville Fire Department.
There were no obvious signs pointing to a hate crime, and the property was mostly unhurt, he said. The incident remains under investigation.
Potok said he is waiting on results of the investigations before drawing connections between the fires and the Charleston shooting. There has been a history of church fires after major events.
Hours after Barack Obama was elected as the nation's first black president in November 2008, arsonists torched the predominantly black Macedonia Church of God in Christ in Springfield, Mass.
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7eb972d03619199b2175f27040d1e466
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/01/obama-cuba-raul-castro-embassy/29555255/
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Obama, Cuba announce embassy openings
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Obama, Cuba announce embassy openings
WASHINGTON — While re-opened embassies will restore diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba, full normalization requires more actions -- including an end to the trade embargo that must be approved by the Republican-run Congress.
In announcing that embassies will re-open this month, Obama again called on Congress Wednesday to lift the embargo, and cast his opening to Cuba as a choice between the past and the future.
"Yes, there are those who want to turn back the clock and double down on a policy of isolation," Obama said, "but it's long past time for us to realize that this approach doesn't work. It hasn't worked for 50 years."
Republican congressional leaders, meanwhile, said the embassy decision is another example of how Obama gives the Castro regime things without demanding democratic reforms in return.
"The Obama administration is handing the Castros a lifetime dream of legitimacy without getting a thing for the Cuban people being oppressed by this brutal communist dictatorship," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
Both Obama and Cuban counterpart Raul Castro made simultaneous announcements about the embassy re-openings. Cuban state-run television took the unusual step of televising Obama's remarks from the White House.
"This is a historic step forward in our efforts to normalize relations with the Cuban government and people, and begin a new chapter with our neighbors in the Americas," Obama said from the Rose Garden.
A statement from Cuba's foreign ministry "confirms the decision to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries and open permanent diplomatic missions in their respective capitals, from July 20."
Obama said Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Havana to formally re-open the U.S. embassy. It will be the first Cuban trip for an American secretary of state since 1945.
The embassy will enable more American contact with the Cuban people, including travel, educational, and cultural exchanges, Obama said, adding that "I strongly believe that the best way for America to support our values is through engagement."
Embassy operations will also promote cooperation on items like counter-terrorism, disaster response, and regional development, he said.
The United States and Cuba have operated "interests sections" in each other's country since the late 1970s, but those operations do not enjoy the status of embassies.
On Wednesday, the United States' top diplomat in Cuba, U.S. Interests Section chief Jeffrey DeLaurentis, delivered a letter from the White House to the Cuban government about the renewed embassies.
While the re-establishment of embassies restores diplomatic ties broken 54 years ago, full normalization of American-Cuban relations depends on other issues that have yet to be resolved.
They include compensation for U.S. property confiscated by Fidel Castro's government after his revolution, returning U.S. fugitives who have found safe harbor in Cuba, and the status of political prisoners in Cuba -- plus the trade embargo.
The embargo "shuts America out of Cuba's future, and it only makes life worse for the Cuban people," Obama said in his plea to Congress.
The United States broke diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961, not long after Castro took power. The ensuing Cold War between the U.S. and the island 90 miles south of Florida ranged from the imposition of the trade embargo against Cuba to U.S. attempts to assassinate Castro.
In October 1962, the Soviet Union's attempt to use Cuba as a staging area for missiles that could reach the United States nearly triggered a nuclear war.
The embassy announcements came shortly after the United States removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, a move that resulted from Obama's December announcement of a new relationship with Cuba.
"A year ago, it might've seemed impossible that the United States would once again be raising our flag, the Stars and Stripes, over an embassy in Havana," Obama said. "This is what change looks like."
Republicans of Cuban descent have been critical of Obama's efforts.
They said Obama should be demanding more from Cuba — the release of political prisoners, more steps toward democracy — in exchange for diplomatic concessions from the U.S.
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said the Castro regime now feels "emboldened to continue its attacks against the Cuban people," and that Obama has turned his back on them.
"Opening the American Embassy in Cuba will do nothing to help the Cuban people and is just another trivial attempt for President Obama to go legacy shopping," she said.
Republican presidential candidates have also criticized Obama's new Cuba policy, including Floridians Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.
Rubio, a U.S. senator, said that "I intend to oppose the confirmation of an ambassador to Cuba" until the compensation, fugitive and political prisoner issues are addressed.
Bush, a Miami area resident and former governor of Florida, said the re-opening of the embassies "will legitimize repression in Cuba, not promote the cause of freedom and democracy."
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1ca8450984183fe5f6b3672956fd048f
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/06/cancer-doctor-unneeded-chemo-hearing/29772733/
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Witness: Cancer doctor's treatment 'over the top'
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Witness: Cancer doctor's treatment 'over the top'
DETROIT — A metro Detroit doctor who raked in millions of dollars committing fraud against insurance companies grossly over treated hundreds of patients, sometimes giving nearly four times the recommended dosage amount of aggressive cancer drugs, a government witness testified Monday in federal court.
Dozens of victims and their families packed into a courtroom and overflow rooms to face Dr. Farid Fata, 50, who has admitted to reaping millions through the treatments.
Victims cried as Fata, dressed in a business jacket and white shirt, was brought in the courtroom handcuffed. Some of the victims rode on a bus together to Detroit that had poster on it that read "Life for Fata."
Victims and their family members will be allowed to read impact statements Tuesday after federal Judge Paul Boreman decided to allow one person per family 10 minutes to address the court. A portion of one victim statement read in court Monday elicited an audible gasp in an overflow room.
According to a statement from a patient known only as "C.C," the individual was given chemotherapy by Fata over the course of five years. The standard treatment amount is six months.
The patient was given 195 chemotherapy treatments, 177 of which were unnecessary according to the statement.
"The extensive chemo I received has affected my every day life," the victim wrote, adding that basic functions such as buttoning buttons can no longer be done. "I also have bladder and bowel issues ... and stage three chronic kidney disease."
Fata showed no emotion Monday as government witness Dr. Dan Longo, a Harvard Medical School professor, testified there were "recurring problems identified" in his files and treatment plans.
"The concerns that emerged for me were the use of powerful agents that all have risks associated with them," said Longo. "It seems as though there is an aggressive approach to treating cancer, but this was beyond aggressive. This was over the top."
Longo, who researched some of Fata's work on former patients, said he consistently overused an aggressive drug, Rituxan, and others to treat cancer, placing patients at risk for serious side effects, including death, he said.
"... It's a stunning number of injections for that drug," Longo testified.
Longo said patients should not be given any more than 24 doses of Rituxan over the course of several months.
One of Fata's patients, identified only as Patient H.K., received 94 doses, documents showed. Another patient received 112 doses, while others received between 60 and 68 doses.
Fata also gave patients an overwhelming amount of iron, according to government documents.
"I found him using iron in settings where iron deficiencies had not been documented," Longo said. "... Iron can be very toxic."
According to prosecutors, Fata's "ultimate goal was to maximize his profit on the backs of patients."
Fata, a married father of three and a naturalized U.S. citizen whose native country is Lebanon, pleaded guilty in September to 13 counts of health care fraud, two counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks. He admitted he billed insurers for millions of dollars. Some of his patients didn't even have cancer.
Fata had extensive business holdings, including Michigan Hematology-Oncology, a clinic that received more than $169 million from Medicare and Blue Cross Blue Shield since 2006.
U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade previously called his case the "the most egregious" health care fraud case her office has seen. She said Fata not only bilked the government — which is typical in such cases — but he also harmed patients.
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4b83777bd5d424020c0bb486cebe4320
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/07/more-students-getting-college-degrees-in-high-school/29846455/
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More students getting college degrees in high school
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More students getting college degrees in high school
More than one-third of Americans have earned a postsecondary degree.
Few obtain one as a teenager. But this spring, hundreds — if not thousands — of U.S. students received associate degrees before high school commencements.
Brayan Guevara said he made a goal of earning an associate degree by the time he graduated high school. He was a student in Albany, Minn., and attended classes at St. Cloud Technical & Community College, or SCTCC. The native of Colombia said through the state's Post Secondary Enrollment Options program, he earned 66 college credits — a savings of two years and more than $10,000.
Young adults with two diplomas are outliers in programs allowing high school students to earn college credits, which operate under various names and formats. They are growing in number at about 7% per year, according to the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships, or NACEP.
Executive Director Adam Lowe said he suspects more than 20% of American high school students are taking at least one college course. In Iowa and New Mexico, he said, it's more than half.
Kari Friedmann, a graduate of Sauk Rapids-Rice High School in Minnesota and holder of an SCTCC associate degree, said taking college psychology courses helped her develop a career path and "reaffirmed what I really wanted to do."
For 30 years, the state's PSEO program has made it possible for young learners to earn college credits. The pioneering program is slowly rising in popularity, but more young people choose Concurrent Enrollment, in which high school teachers conduct college-level courses in their own buildings. A similar, nationwide program — Advanced Placement — requires students to pass a class-ending test to earn college credits.
Students in PSEO attend classes either part or full time at area colleges or online. The state pays for tuition and books; students fund transportation and meals. Some haven't attended a class in a high school since sophomore year.
Like Minnesota, Colorado has seen rises in its dual enrollment programs: Concurrent Enrollment and ASCENT, or Accelerating Students through Concurrent Enrollment, which allows students to stay in a degree-earning environment during a 13th year of school. Total participation rose about 15% from 2012-13 to 2013-14.
Lowe said PSEO and similar programs present some challenges to high schools, such as sometimes pulling elite students out of classrooms. Financial tensions can arise, he said. In Minnesota, high schools lose per-pupil funding in proportion to the time a PSEO student spends on a college campus. Lowe said high schools sometimes prefer the in-class models, though in general, he doesn't see a lack of secondary support for all types of dual enrollment programs.
The arrangements tend to align with colleges' missions, Lowe said, and they can also benefit those schools by better preparing students for higher education and marketing the institutions in their areas.
He said more state programs focused on the "whole pathway to a degree" are emerging and cited Colorado as an example.
Of the 31,100 students in that state's dual enrollment programs, about 200 — or 0.6% — received an associate degree in 2013-14.
Texas saw a 130% average yearly rise in students earning associate degrees by high school graduation from 2004-09. In 2010, about 400 students — or 0.5% of dual credit enrollees — received one by the time they entered college.
Degree-earning teenagers are not only a statistical anomaly; their motivations also stand out.
The select group includes a dozen students in Central Minnesota. Students, counselors and administrators said spending less time and money at a university is a primary motivator and benefit for students in PSEO. But they all cautioned the program is not a perfect fit for every pupil.
Roxanne Schaaf, PSEO coordinator at SCTCC, said high school students considering her program need to be aware they're creating a permanent record and won't receive any coddling.
Vice President of Academic Affairs Peg Shroyer said some teenagers simply aren't ready — academically or emotionally.
Others appear to be: Schaaf said a few high school-college students earned carpentry and welding degrees this spring.
"They're already hired," she said.
Lowe said an increasing focus on manufacturing and information technology is a dual enrollment trend. His organization arose 16 years ago and now boasts 330 colleges and universities as members, along with 40 high schools or school districts and 20 state agencies.
Some states include NACEP accreditation in dual enrollment laws. Minnesota requires public colleges and universities — and encourages private ones — to award credit for courses students complete in a NACEP-certified program.
The academic routes giving teenagers college degrees do raise eyebrows among some high school staff.
Rick Larson, counselor at Apollo High School in St. Cloud, praised the time- and money-saving features of advanced PSEO paths but said he's not completely sold.
While it "feels like that's the way of the future," he questioned boys and girls forming lifelong targets a year or two earlier than a regular high school graduate.
"There's just that whole self-discovery piece as you continue to grow older," Larson said, citing his own faded dream of writing for Saturday Night Live.
Sartell High School Counselor Noel Meyer said classes such as automotive courses from SCTCC offer some students a chance to explore professions without financial risk.
"If they find this program isn't for me, at least they're not wasting money," he said.
Schaaf said some of her part-time PSEO students might take one class in the morning on campus then return to high school for the rest of the day, "just so they can stay up on what's going on."
Guevara said he knows he missed out on some high school events and drama, which was a mix of disappointment and relief. Sports let him avoid drifting apart from his peers, he said.
"I knew there was a good reason why I was missing these things," he said. Keeping that in mind, reflecting about the voids didn't bother him — "too much."
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b2215aa057abe6d857f5efb05dad1fdf
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/07/palm-springs-decorate-fountains-california-drought/29803265/
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In water-gulping Palm Springs, the fountains are flowing
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In water-gulping Palm Springs, the fountains are flowing
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. —There was a sign in front of the "Rainmaker" fountain in this resort town on Monday afternoon: "This Fountain is Dry for the Drought. Saving Water is Mandatory."
By the time you read this, that statement might not be true.
The Palm Springs City Council voted unanimously last week to turn the city's fountains back on, following the local water agency's reversal of its strict no-fountains rule.
The city of nearly 50,000 people sits in the heart of the California desert, where rain is scarce and temperatures regular top 110 degrees Fahrenheit over the summer. Yet even amid California's epic drought, the Palm Springs area has had some of the highest water use in the state, reflecting its lush, oasis-in-the-desert image.
Residents are under state orders to reduce potable water use by 36%. As many residents struggled to cut back, the fountain at Palm Springs International Airport shot water into the air on Monday. And water was once again burbling from the water feature at the Village Green Heritage Center downtown.
The "Rainmaker" fountain at Frances Stevens Park was still dry on Monday. But three city employees were working to solve a plumbing issue, and they said they expected the fountain to be functional again by Tuesday.
"It sends the wrong message. We're in a serious drought," said Desert Water Agency board member Richard Oberhaus, who voted against reversing the agency's no-fountains rule. "You can't ask tourists not to wash or launder their sheets at a hotel, and have gushing fountains at the hotel."
Palm Springs City Council members said they were motivated in part by the potential costs of repairing fountains that had fallen out of use. They also argued that keeping the fountains off wasn't saving much water, although city officials aren't sure exactly how much water the recirculating fountains lose to evaporation.
There's little question that councilmembers were also swayed by aesthetics. Residents missed seeing running water, Mayor Steve Pougnet said at Wednesday's council meeting.
"The fountain at the airport is kind of our entryway," Councilmember Ginny Foat, who's running for mayor, said in an interview. "I'd rather see us take out more grass, and take out more of the water-gobbling trees, than to turn the fountains off; that really don't lose a lot of water."
Foat said when it comes to the drought, she follows the Desert Water Agency's guidance.
"I'm not a water expert, and if they felt it was OK to turn the water back on — that's who I'll take my cues from," she said.
The Desert Water Agency, which serves Palm Springs and parts of Cathedral City, initially passed the region's toughest fountain restrictions, banning all fountains that don't support aquatic pets. Other water agencies hewed to state guidelines, which allow fountains that use recirculating water.
For months, Palm Springs' three city-operated fountains sat dry. But in a 3-2 vote last month, the Desert Water Agency's board of directors changed course, deciding to allow fountains that recirculate water.
Craig Ewing, chair of the agency's board of directors, also voted against the change.
"It's not a tremendous savings of water, but it's a very important symbol that we're in a drought, that we need to think about water, how we use it new ways," Ewing said. "And fountains in the desert are, in my opinion, not part of that new way of how we should be using water."
Oberhaus called it "unfortunate" that Palm Springs is turning its fountains back on. The three board members who voted to reverse the no-fountains rule, he said, had small private fountains in mind.
Those three board members — Jim Cioffi, Pat Oygar and Joe Stuart — were the same board members who voted last year against studying tiered rates, a common tool to encourage conservation. Of the region's six water providers, the Desert Water Agency is one of just two that charges a flat rate for water.
Recirculating fountains waste much less water than non-recirculating fountains, Stuart noted.
"The idea was, at this point, let's allow it," he said. "But it's certainly something that all five of us would look at in the future if things get even more dire than they are now."
The "Fountain of Life" at Cathedral City's Civic Center has stayed on over the last few months, as it wasn't impacted by the Desert Water Agency's no-fountains rule. That's because it's an "interactive water feature" that children use to cool off during the summer, Cathedral City spokesperson Chris Parman said.
Kia Farhang contributed to this report.
Sammy Roth writes about energy and water for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at [email protected], (760) 778-4622 and @Sammy_Roth.
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bf7d280e3abcaccc0affe71b152f2116
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/08/cessna-f16-victims/29861975/
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Plane crash in S.C. the second tragedy for family
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Plane crash in S.C. the second tragedy for family
The family that lost two of its own in Tuesday's S.C. military-civilian plane crash had already been reeling from another tragedy four days earlier.
Joseph Johnson, 30, and Michael Johnson, 68, from Moncks County, S.C., were identified as the victims the deadly crash north of Charleston.
On Saturday, James and Beverly Johnson, the brother and sister-in-law of Michael Johnson, were found dead at their house in Missouri, Connie Stallworth, the sister of James and Michael Johnson, told USA TODAY. The couple's 16-year-old grandson was charged with second-degree murder in connection with their deaths.
"Right now I'm at a loss for words," Stallworth told USA TODAY. "I'm in denial right now. It just can't be true."
Michael and Joseph Johnson were killed when their Cessna 150 and an Air Force F-16 fighter jet collided about 25 miles north of Charleston, S.C., near the Berkeley County airport.
Joseph Johnson, the pilot of the Cessna, owned the plane and was a Federal Aviation Administration certified pilot, according to FAA records.
The younger Johnson, a former minor league baseball player, was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 13th round of the 2006 Major League Baseball draft and played on at least three of the Braves' minor league teams, according to Baseball Reference. He also played baseball at Louisburg College in Louisburg, N.C.
Authorities said Wednesday that they had found Michael Johnson's body, but not that of Joseph Johnson. The Johnsons were headed to Myrtle Beach for a day trip, officials said at a news conference Wednesday.
The F-16 pilot, Maj. Aaron Johnson, safely ejected and was taken to Joint Base Charleston for a health assessment. His F-16 "Fighting Falcon" was from the 55th Fighter Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter.
The collision happened between 2,000 and 3,000 feet altitude, Col. Stephen Jost, the commander of the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw, said at a news conference Tuesday. He said he was unaware of any weather-related problems, but said that he thought it was overcast at the time of the crash.
National Transportation Safety Board investigator Dennis Diaz said Wednesday that the NTSB is working with multiple agencies to analyze debris to determine the cause of the crash and said a preliminary report would be available in five to 10 business days.
He said the F-16 had a black box, but the Cessna did not. However, he said both planes had working transponders to communicate with air traffic control. All F-16s are equipped with radar systems, and there have been no reports of malfunctions with the jet.
"Both aircraft had operable transponders that basically report back to the radar site the aircraft's location and altitude," Diaz said. "I know the data's there, and we're going to be reviewing it."
The Berkeley County Airport, where the Cessna departed from, does not have a control tower so investigators are looking into how much communication Joseph Johnson had with air traffic control, said NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson. It is unclear if Joseph Johnson filed a flight plan.
Knudson said pilots are required to announce their intention to take off and land, but otherwise do not need to be in communication with air traffic control. It is the responsibility of the pilot to avoid all traffic, he said.
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02418681f9c8a8be461ea99bc706eec9
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/08/south-carolina-house-debates-confederate-flag/29855017/
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S.C. Gov. Haley signs bill to remove Confederate flag
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S.C. Gov. Haley signs bill to remove Confederate flag
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Confederate flag is coming down.
Gov. Nikki Haley on Thursday afternoon signed a measure to remove the controversial symbol from the grounds of the Statehouse. The flag will be taken down at 10 a.m. Friday.
After a contentious day of debate, the South Carolina House early Thursday morning passed a bill that would remove the Confederate battle flag and flagpole from a memorial on the Capitol grounds.
The 94-20 vote came just after 1 a.m. ET Thursday after more than 13 hours of arguments that sometimes turned emotional, even tearful.
The state Senate voted earlier this week to remove the flag and flagpole.
In a Facebook post, Haley wrote, "Today, as the Senate did before them, the House of Representatives has served the State of South Carolina and her people with great dignity. I'm grateful for their service and their compassion. It is a new day in South Carolina, a day we can all be proud of, a day that truly brings us all together as we continue to heal, as one people and one state."
There was one last jolt before the House vote for passage. Shortly after midnight, the debate came to a surprising halt.
On an amendment early Thursday, a 60-60 vote kept alive a proposal to raise the South Carolina state flag on the pole where the rebel banner now flies. A number of members were stunned at the vote.
The bill passed by the Senate called for the pole and flag to be removed, and Haley told Republicans in a closed-door meeting Wednesday afternoon that was what she wanted.
As the debate dragged on Wednesday night, lawmakers remained wedded to their positions on the controversial banner. As added insurance that the arguments would stretch in to the wee hours, the South Carolina House voted 111-3 to continue the debate.
House members committed to barreling through. In one case, a lawmaker went back on his own earlier announcement that he'd have to leave the debate to catch a late flight to Las Vegas. In spite of his earlier warning, Rep. Neal Collins, a Republican, walked into the state House chamber shortly after 11 p.m. and took his seat.
Supporters of the flag hold it up as a symbol of Southern pride while critics say it is a symbol of support for slavery and racism. Some state House members wanted a so-called "clean bill" with no amendments that would simply call for removal of the flag. Other lawmakers had called for amendments that address various issues, including how the flag would be displayed in a Confederate Relic Room at the statehouse. The debates ignited after Dylann Roof, a white man, opened fire inside an historic black church in Charleston on June 17, killing nine black people, including pastor and state Sen. Clementa Pinckney.
One state House member made an impassioned and emotional speech warning her fellow lawmakers that if they attached any amendments to the bill, the debate would extend through the summer. Pointing to black lawmakers in the room, Rep. Jenny Horne, a Republican, said the flag was an affront to her friends and the state needed to take quick and decisive action to remove it.
"Let me tell you, I attended the funeral of Sen. Clementa Pinckney and the people of Charleston deserve immediate and swift removal of that flag from this grounds," Horne said. "I cannot believe that we do not have the heart in this body to do something meaningful such as take a symbol of hate off these grounds on Friday. And if any of you vote to amend, you are insuring that this flag will fly beyond Friday, and for the widow of Sen. Pinckney and his two young daughters, that would be adding insult to injury and I will not be a part of it."
Hours earlier, South Carolina state Rep. Mike Pitts assured the state House in the opening salvo of the debate that the flag would not be removed without a fight.
Throughout the day, the arguments moved at a snail's pace. Faced with more than 25 amendments, lawmakers had dispatched just seven by dinner time.
The session began with Democratic Rep. Wendell Gilliard reading of the names of the victims of the shooting rampage at a historic black church in Charleston three weeks ago. Dylann Roof, 21, is accused of killing nine people, and photographs of Roof with Confederate flags fueled the drive to remove the flag here.
"The right thing to do is what we call the healing thing, the laying down of the past," Gilliard said. He emphasized that numerous family members of the victims had urged that the flag be permanently removed.
"Folks from Charleston, I feel your pain," Pitts said to kick off the debate Wednesday. But he said the flag represented brave men who fought against "Northern aggression."
Pitts, a Republican from Laurens, said his constituents want the flag to remain. He said he grew up with it as part of his heritage.
"I didn't see an issue with it then and I don't see an issue with it now," he said.
Pitts has said he wants the battle flag replaced with another Confederate flag, that of the South Carolina Volunteers. He proposed dozens of amendments to the flag bill, and spent much of Wednesday at the podium pressing his case.
A few GOP colleagues spoke in support of some of his proposals. Rep. Bill Sandifer recalled the funeral for state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, one of Roof's victims, and said the state had become a "poster child" for how to handle a crisis.
He said the state has adopted more of a "bless your heart attitude" than an "in your face" attitude.
An amendment to put the flag in a glass case near where it now flies was among several proposals quickly rejected by a lopsided vote. So too was a Pitts proposal to place a bronze casting of the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment Flag on the Statehouse grounds.
Pitts invoked a Civil War analogy Tuesday when he said he would "fight until I have nothing left to fight with" to keep some type of Confederate flag on the Statehouse grounds. Democratic leaders, however, urged House GOP members to approve a "clean" bill.
"Let me be clear, there will be no flag and no flagpole when we are done with this debate," Rep. James Smith said Tuesday.
The earliest the House could finalize the bill would be Thursday. If it votes Wednesday, it must wait a day to vote one final time. Gov. Nikki Haley is a strong supporter of taking the flag down and has said she would sign the bill.
The flag would likely be taken down within days and without fanfare, then shipped to a nearby Confederate heritage museum.
Contributing: Joyce Koh, WLTX-TV; Associated Press
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14a51fd887ec916b8cf124eddacf6962
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/09/obama-hack-office--personnel-management/29921919/
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OPM says second hack affected more than 21M Americans
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OPM says second hack affected more than 21M Americans
Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this story misstated the number of people affected by the hack.
WASHINGTON — The massive hack of background check records at the Office of Personnel Management compromised the data of 21.5 million people — five times more than were affected by an initial breach, the agency announced Thursday.
The revelation brought more calls from Congress for OPM Director Katherine Archuleta to be fired.
"After today's announcement, I have no confidence that the current leadership at OPM is able to take on the enormous task of repairing our national security," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "Too much trust has been lost, and too much damage has been done. President Obama must take a strong stand against incompetence in his administration and instill new leadership at OPM."
When the hack was revealed early last month, OPM officials said personal information from the personnel records of about 4.2 million current and former federal employees had been breached.
That number did not include the victims of a second, related hack into the background check forms of people applying for jobs that required security clearance. OPM officials said Thursday that an interagency investigation of that data breach concluded that sensitive information — including Social Security numbers — was stolen from 21.5 million people.
The victims of that second hack include 19.7 million people who applied for a background investigation, as well as 1.8 million others who were not applicants. The non-applicants were primarily spouses and cohabitants of the applicants, and their personal information was included in the background check forms the applicants were required to complete.
The breach is likely to have affected any federal applicant over the past 15 years, and perhaps longer.
For any individual who underwent a background check since 2000, "it is highly likely that the individual is impacted by this cyber breach," the OPM statement said. "If an individual underwent a background investigation prior to 2000, that individual still may be impacted, but it is less likely."
The statement said there is no information to suggest "any misuse or further dissemination of the information that was stolen from OPM's systems."
Two major federal employee unions sued OPM for failing to protect their personal information.
Thursday's announcement further outraged House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, who had already been calling for the resignation of OPM Director Katherine Archuleta and Chief Information Officer Donna Seymour.
"As I've said since June 16, after the Oversight Committee held the first hearing on this disastrous data breach, Director Archuleta and CIO Donna Seymour need to resign or be removed," Chaffetz, R-Utah, said Thursday. "Since at least 2007, OPM leadership has been on notice about the vulnerabilities to its network and cyber security policies and practices. Director Archuleta and Ms. Seymour consciously ignored the warnings and failed to correct these weaknesses."
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the senior Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said he doesn't believe OPM has been completely honest with Congress about the cyberattacks.
"I do not believe OPM was fully candid in its original briefing to the committee and omitted key information about two distinct hacks and the breadth of the potential compromise," Schiff said. "To the degree OPM has not been fully forthcoming with Congress or has sought to blame others for a lack of adequate security, OPM has not inspired confidence in its ability to safeguard our networks and most sensitive databases."
Fellow Democrat Mark Warner, a Virginia senator, called for Archuleta's removal Thursday.
"It is time for her to step down, and I strongly urge the administration to choose new management with proven abilities to address a crisis of this magnitude with an appropriate sense of urgency and accountability," he said.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, also blasted OPM's management.
"Today's announcement shows not only that cyber security on federal agency networks has been grossly inadequate but that the management of the OPM is not up to the task of fixing the problem," Johnson said.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said "it is time for new leadership at OPM."
"After the Office of Personnel Management initially downplayed the damage of the recent data breach, it is deeply troubling to learn that the extent of the damage is far greater," McCain said.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are investigating the hack, which some administration officials have privately blamed on hackers from China. The Chinese government has denied involvement.
In testimony before key congressional committees, officials of OPM's Office of Inspector General said they had repeatedly warned of cybersecurity weaknesses in the agency's data systems.
Archuleta, who has been at OPM for 18 months, testified that the hacks occurred as she was in the process of trying to modernize the agency's aging systems, some of which are 30 years old.
Lawmakers were largely unmoved by Archuleta's explanations.
"OPM was aware of the persistent issues – including three data breaches in 2014 that should have served as stark warnings that the personal data of millions of federal employees was being targeted by hackers," said Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee for Consumer Protection and Data Security. "Yet, there is little evidence that any action was taken by OPM. This lack of response has put federal workers, the American people, and – most importantly – our national security at risk."
Follow @ErinVKelly and @djusatodayon Twitter
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8ee40cbffb5151e8f2a9e515188032d6
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/10/fbi-chief-roof-gun-shooting/29966337/
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FBI chief says Roof shouldn't have been able to buy gun
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FBI chief says Roof shouldn't have been able to buy gun
WASHINGTON — In an extraordinary acknowledgement of cascading bureaucratic failures, FBI Director James Comey said Friday that Dylann Roof should not have been able to purchase the gun police say he used in the June 17 Charleston, S.C., massacre.
Comey said an arrest record detailing Roof's March 1 drug arrest by the Columbia, S.C., Police Department was not included in materials reviewed by the FBI's National Instant Check System, which performs criminal background investigations on gun purchasers in 30 states. The contents of the record, the FBI director said, would have prohibited the April purchase of the .45-caliber handgun allegedly used in the church attack, which left nine dead.
"I am here today to talk to you about a mistake, in a matter of heartbreaking importance to all of us,'' Comey said in a briefing at FBI headquarters. "Dylann Roof, the alleged killer of so many innocent people ... should not have been allowed to purchase the gun he allegedly used that evening.''
During the mandatory background check prior to the attempted April 11 gun purchase, Roof's March arrest on felony drug charges was mistakenly attributed to the Lexington County, S.C., Sheriff's Department, not Columbia police. The Lexington County Sheriff's Department operates the jail where Roof had been detained.
The Columbia police report included information that Roof admitted to drug possession, which would have triggered an immediate denial by the FBI NICS review process, according to bureau guidelines. But that information was never seen by the reviewer because the FBI's database did not include Columbia police contacts in its list of agency contacts for Lexington County purchase reviews.
Because the FBI reviewer, described as veteran analyst who works on up to 20 purchases per day, was immediately unable to resolve the matter, the purchase was delayed for the maximum three business days before the gun was allowed to be transferred April 16 to Roof by a West Columbia, S.C., gun store.
"We are all sick about what happened," Comey said, adding that he has ordered a review of the gun background check process, which last year conducted nearly 21 million such background checks.
The records breakdown, Comey suggested, was the primary error in a series of failures that allowed Roof to acquire the weapon used in the attack.
During the three-day waiting period, Comey said the FBI reviewer apparently did everything else required of her and more to vet the purchase. While she never viewed the Columbia police documents, the FBI director said the reviewer contacted the Lexington County courts office, which showed only that Roof was a defendant in a drug case that remained pending, not enough to deny a pending sale.
The reviewer attempted to reach the Lexington County prosecutor's office on the matter, but received no response, Comey said.
The Lexington County Sheriff's Department informed her that it was not the investigating agency, though officials recommended checking with the Columbia police.
But Comey said reviewer contact sheets listing police agencies by county did not include Columbia, only the city of West Columbia.
When she called West Columbia, the reviewer also was informed that the department had no record of the case, according to the FBI.
The purchase continued to classified as "delayed'' with a decision pending. But firearms dealers are permitted to transfer weapons to buyers after the three-day period, if there is no denial.
"By Thursday, April 16,'' Comey said, "the case was still listed as delayed-pending, so the gun dealer exercised its lawful discretion and transferred the gun to Dylann Roof.''
Two months later, the weapon was allegedly used in the Charleston shooting.
Donnie Myers, Lexington County's chief prosecutor, said Friday that he "didn't know anything about'' a call from the FBI.
"It may have happened, but I just don't know,'' he said, adding that it is not common for the office to receive such calls on gun checks.
The West Columbia gun store where Roof purchased the weapon declined to comment on the now-disputed transaction.
But Comey's disclosure prompted calls for an outside review of the gun check system, in addition to the internal bureau inquiry that the director announced Friday.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., asked leaders of Congress' investigative arm, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, to conduct a separate probe of the FBI system.
"Our background check system is flawed and riddled with loopholes,'' Maloney said. "People are dying as a result and Congress cannot stand still. Many disagree with efforts to strengthen gun safety laws, but all of us should agree that we need to enforce the laws on the books.''
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the incident underscores the need for changes to the current background check system.
"The only thing more tragic than what happened in Charleston is the fact that it could have been prevented,'' Schumer said. "Our current system is broken, and it is costing American lives.''
John Feinblatt, president of the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, said allowances for the sale of weapons even when background checks are not completed represent a "deadly flaw'' in the system.
"If you don't pass a background check, you should not pass go and you should not be able to collect a gun,'' Feinblatt said.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, called the Roof error "disastrous.'' But he warned against using the incident to generate support for additional gun laws.
"It's disastrous that this bureaucratic mistake prevented existing laws from working and blocking an illegal gun sale,'' Grassley said. "The facts undercut attempts to use the tragedy to enact unnecessary gun laws. The American people, and especially the victims' families, deserve better."
Gun Owners of America spokesman Erich Pratt characterized the check system as an "utter failure'' and suggested that gun owners were more effective at confronting and stopping attacks.
"Arguing that we can make background checks better to stop criminals from getting guns is the very definition of insanity," Pratt said.
The bureau's check system has seen its workload steadily increase in recent years, recording 11 consecutive annual spikes, until last year when checks declined only slightly, from 21 million to 20.9 million.
Comey, who wore a pained expression throughout Friday's afternoon briefing, said FBI officials in Charleston had been meeting with victims' families to explain the matter.
"All of us in the FBI, and across the entire nation, grieve for their unspeakable loss and want to do everything we can to help them find peace, strength and healing,'' he said.
Malcolm Graham, whose sister, Cynthia Hurd, was one of the nine killed in the attack, said Friday that he had learned of the FBI's disclosure but declined immediate comment.
"I'm just going to spend a quiet weekend,'' Graham said.
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471a5aa6cc59228cd13f321be36d32e5
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/10/south-carolina-confederate-flag/29952953/
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South Carolina takes down Confederate flag
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South Carolina takes down Confederate flag
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Confederate battle flag – a powerful symbol of slavery and the Old South that has roiled emotions in South Carolina for decades – was removed from the Statehouse grounds Friday in a brief ceremony observed by thousands kept at a distance behind metal barriers.
With little fanfare, a seven-man South Carolina Highway Patrol Honor Guard, which included two African-Americans, slowly lowered the banner from its perch alongside a Confederate memorial near the Capitol.
The guard, marching in precision, approached the small, fenced-in area around the 30-foot flagpole to the cheers of "take it down!" from the crowd.
One of the officers entered, lowering the flag with a cranked pulley. A second helped him in furling, or rolling, the flag and binding it with a string. They turned and march smartly away.
Not a word was spoken during the entire process, which lasted less than 10 minutes. There were no speeches nor gun salutes. Only the chants of, "USA! USA!" Then "Na na na na, hey hey, goodbye."
It was retired "with dignity," as GOP Gov. Nikki Haley had promised in signing the bill authorizing its removal. It was being taken to what Haley called its "rightful place" in the Confederate Relic room in the State Museum, down the road from the Capitol.
Haley was on hand for the lowering of the flag, watching from the nearby Statehouse steps alongside former governors David Beasley and Jim Hodges, and Charleston Mayor Joe Riley.
Tweeted President Obama: "South Carolina taking down the confederate flag - a signal of good will and healing, and a meaningful step towards a better future."
The flag was then handed to the museum's curator and transported there, Department of Public Safety Director Leroy Smith said. The pole itself came down about four hours later.
As crowds gathered to watch the no-frills ceremony, some carried "Take Down the Flag" posters, even though the issue — at least formally — was resolved with the stroke of the governor's pen on Thursday morning.
Emotions, however, continue to simmer over the long-festering issue.
Charles Jones drove down from Greenville to witness what he called "a sad day." Jones said his great-grandfather Christopher Columbus Jones died in the Civil War.
Jones said he's never owned a flag, but he bought one this week to wrap himself in when the flag is lowered from the Statehouse.
The city of Columbia issued an emergency order Thursday night to ban weapons from 250 feet in any direction of the Statehouse grounds. Some people walking along Gervais Street toward the Statehouse greeted each other with: "Big day today. Flag's coming down."
The ordinance will last for 30 days. The city took the action both for Friday's ceremony and because of social media posts that indicated members of hate groups who plan to demonstrate at the Statehouse in coming days – including a Ku Klux Klan rally scheduled July 18 and a New Black Panther Party rally – had indicated they would be carrying weapons.
The battle flag in one version or another has flown at the Statehouse for more than 50 years, going up in 1961 to recognize the 100th anniversary of the Civil War and staying up the following year as a protest of the civil rights movement.
A 2000 compromise relocated it from the Statehouse dome where it was flying for the final time on Friday.
"No one should ever drive by the Statehouse and feel pain," Haley said Friday morning on NBC's Today show. "No one should ever drive by the Statehouse and feel like they don't belong."
The symbol of the South's lost cause of slavery and secession has been despised by African-Americans for 150 years, while many whites honor it in tribute to their rebel ancestry.
Haley signed the bill less than 24 hours after House legislators, following an emotional and wrenching debate that lasted for more than for more than 15 hours, voted to bring down the flag and close — at least legally — one of the state's most contentious issues.
Responding quickly to the legislative move, the NAACP announced that it would vote this weekend at its national convention in Philadelphia to lift the group's 15-year-old economic boycott of the state, which began in 2000 when the flag flew in front of the Statehouse.
The issue came to a head in the wake of the killing of nine black worshipers at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston last month by a young white supremacist. The 21-year-old suspect, who is charged with nine counts of murder, had posted photos of himself online posing with Confederate flags.
With nine pens that she gave the families of the "Emanuel Nine," Haley signed the historic legislation that overwhelmingly passed the South Carolina House early Thursday.
Some family members of the victims were on hand to watch the flag taken down.
"This is a story of the history of South Carolina and how the action of nine individuals laid out this long chain of events that forever showed the state of South Carolina what love and forgiveness looks like," Haley told the audience before the signing. "Twenty-two days ago, I didn't know if I would ever be able to say this again. But today I am very proud to say it is a great day in South Carolina."
She cast the events as "a story of action," beginning with the worshipers who welcomed and prayed with the suspect and ending with the legislative action to remove the flag the accused killer had embraced.
"Nine people took in someone who did not look like them or act like them. And with true love and true faith and acceptance, they sat and prayed with him for an hour. That love and faith was so strong that it brought grace to them and the families," Haley said.
"We saw the families show the world what true forgiveness and grace looked like," she continued. "That forgiveness and grace set off another action, an action of compassion by people all across South Carolina and all across this country."
Spurred by the example of the families, Haley said, lawmakers began to think differently about the issue.
"We saw members start to see what it was like to be in each other's shoes, start to see what it felt like," she said. "We heard about the true honor of heritage and tradition, and we heard about the true pain that many had felt, and we took the time to understand it.
"The actions that took place will go down in the history books," the GOP governor said.
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4ad1984716a1a65ff0a9b70a0fb6dfde
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/11/sd-tribes-pot-plans-develop-questions-remain/30036255/
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As tribe prepares to legalize marijuana, questions remain
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As tribe prepares to legalize marijuana, questions remain
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Five months from now, according to the plan, Indians and non-Indians alike will be smoking marijuana on tribal lands in Flandreau.
The U.S. Justice Department told Indian tribes last December that they can grow and sell marijuana as long as they follow the same federal conditions laid out for Washington, Colorado and other states that have legalized the drug.
For the tribe and Colorado-based Monarch America, hired to design, construct and develop a grow facility on the Flandreau reservation, that has opened the door to a potentially rich new business enterprise — just as the advent of casino gambling did decades ago.
They intend to open by the first week of December, says Monarch America CEO Eric Hagen, who adds, with a smile, "Everyone will have a merry Christmas."
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley isn't as confident of that. While he insists he's having positive talks with Flandreau officials about his concerns as they move forward on their project, Jackley says the future of marijuana on the reservation isn't so black and white.
He called the Justice Department's Cole Memorandum — authored in August 2013 by Deputy Attorney General James Cole to address the legalization of marijuana in states like Washington and Colorado — a complex directive that has created confusion on the tribal front.
While Hagen believes that memorandum allows tribal marijuana ventures in any state, Jackley questions whether it was meant to apply only to tribes in states that have legalized marijuana.
South Dakota isn't one of those states. That said, he believes anyone with marijuana in their bloodstream or in their physical possession is in violation of state and federal law, including non-Indians on tribal lands and Indians who go off reservation.
"I want to encourage tribal leaders to continue to work with state authorities to better ensure ... that both Indian and non-Indian persons are not put in harm's way by the jurisdiction complexities being created by our federal government," he said.
That's not Hagen's perspective. The feds have said they aren't going to prosecute the growing or selling of marijuana by state or tribal jurisdictions that have legalized it as long as they are doing a strong job of regulating that growth and distribution and addressing infractions, he said.
The Justice Department's bigger concern, outlined in eight priorities in the Cole Memorandum, is to keep marijuana out of the hands of minors. They don't want marijuana revenue going to criminal enterprises. They don't want marijuana that is legal in one state diverted to places where it isn't legal.
Hagen insists Flandreau will have stricter regulations than any state with legal marijuana cultivation and consumption statutes on the books now. And because of that, "I think people just need to know that when they come on to tribal lands to partake ... that it's a safe haven for them whether you're a tribal member or not," he said.
While he believes anybody in South Dakota with marijuana in their system or in their possession could be arrested, Jackley doesn't envision a situation where law enforcement will simply camp out and wait to arrest people coming out of a tribal lounge.
"You have to have a reasonable suspicion," he said. "If something looks like it's not right ... if they are staggering, if their eyes are bloodshot, if they hit the curb on the way out ... you have to have that level of criminal activity afoot, something that rises to a level of suspicion."
Simply knowing that someone was smoking marijuana in a tribal lounge won't cut it for law enforcement as they watch consumers leave a legal setting and cross into a jurisdiction where it isn't legal, Hagen said.
"I'm from Colorado, and I consume marijuana there," he said. "If I come into South Dakota and I'm visiting family, now all of a sudden I'm considered a criminal because of something I did in a jurisdiction where it's legal?"
Any arrests and/or prosecutions will depend on the level of impairment or criminal activity, Jackley said. That's true of more than just marijuana consumption, he said.
"What I'm saying is, I might disagree with (Hagen's) legal conclusions," Jackley said. "But obviously they're willing to sit down with me face to face and talk through this. And for me, that is a positive."
One of the other big concerns for the Flandreau tribe will be keeping track of its marijuana.
Law enforcement in Flandreau say they worry about where the tribal marijuana might end up. Hagen said that shouldn't be an issue, not with the "radio frequency identification (RFID) inventory and tracking system" his company is helping the tribe put in to follow marijuana "from seed to sale, ensuring products do not leave designated areas."
"I personally don't believe it will remain in the building," Flandreau Police Chief Anthony Schrad said. "You can purchase the marijuana in the lounge, but it seems to me it would be very easy to remove the RFID tag from the container you purchase it in, transfer the marijuana to your own personal vial and leave with it."
It won't be that easy, Hagen insisted, who added that the Flandreau tribe has a good track record with security, especially with the gaming operation it runs. The RFID system will only enhance that security, he said.
Patrons will only be allowed to purchase one gram of marijuana at a time. Finish that and they can come back and buy another gram, which must be consumed in the lounge, Hagen said. "It's like beer and going to a bar," he said. "You don't grab a six-pack, then drink one and try to walk out the door with the other five. Again, it's just not going to happen."
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15987a875da34c04e00a93c4f0b5a9e1
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/11/taxpayers-shoulder-sides-ariz-redistricting-fight/30018679/
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Taxpayers shoulder both sides of $1.5M Ariz. redistricting fight
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Taxpayers shoulder both sides of $1.5M Ariz. redistricting fight
PHOENIX — Arizonans paid for a win and a loss in last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision on congressional redistricting.
That's because taxpayers were on the hook for both sides of the historic legal fight — at a cost of more than $1.5 million, according to records obtained by The Arizona Republic.
The redistricting-related tab is still mounting, as the voter-approved Independent Redistricting Commission is in court defending its work in two other cases. Total costs on legal fees to date top $5 million, according to commission records, and will continue to climb until all the cases, including another trip to the Supreme Court, are resolved.
The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision last week in favor of the commission ends the legal battle in Arizona Legislature v. the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. The case revolved around who had the authority to draw the boundaries of Arizona's congressional districts, a duty that voters gave to the commission but which the Legislature argued was solely its job.
The estimated $1.5 million tab is driven mostly by attorneys' fees, although the Legislature spent $32,500 for a consultant who had started drawing a new congressional map in case the Legislature won.
The work the consultant did in June will now be shared with the commission and the Secretary of State's Office. Although the data is of no use to the current commission, since the congressional maps remain unchanged, it could be helpful if another challenge succeeds or it could aid the commission that will be seated in 2021.
Republican state Senate President Andy Biggs said the Legislature's overall costs, which amount to at least $420,000, was money well spent. The constitutional dispute that drove the case needed to be resolved by the high court, he said. And although the Legislature did not prevail in its argument that the U.S. Constitution's Elections Clause gives that duty to state lawmakers, the ruling settles the matter for good, Biggs said.
But taxpayers could have saved that money if the Legislature had heeded the will of the people, who decided 15 years ago that an independent commission should do the map drawing, said Dennis Burke, who helped draft the 2000 ballot initiative.
"Inasmuch as the Legislature was essentially suing the people of Arizona, it was ludicrous (to sue) in the first place," Burke said.
It's especially offensive, he said, at a time when the Legislature says it can't afford to fully fund education.
Burke noted lawmakers took an oath to uphold the Arizona Constitution and the lawsuit effectively violated that oath.
Bart Turner, who worked on the ballot measure with Burke, said the authors hoped the commission would lessen the legal wrangling because it was designed to include Republicans, Democrats and independents.
"To be honest with you, we were hoping it would reduce the amount of litigation," Turner said. "But this is politics, and there's a lot at stake."
Both Turner and Burke said the commission's expenses of more than a half-million dollars, are justified. "If somebody's threatening to burn down your house, there are costs to defend that," Burke said.
The commission's costs amount to $570,600, records show. As with the Legislature, the bulk went to attorneys' fees: $563,000. However, it's an unequal comparison with the Legislature's cost of $376,400 because the lawmakers' costs don't reflect the value of the work done by their in-house attorneys when the case started in 2012.
The GOP leadership in both the House and Senate said it's impossible to calculate the cost of their contributions, since they do not bill hourly as private attorneys do. The House attorney is paid $99,225 and his counterpart in the Senate $91,011 annually. However, their salaries cover far more duties than working on the redistricting case, legislative spokesmen said.
The Legislature hired former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, an appointee of President George W. Bush, to argue the case before the Supreme Court. His fee was $306,625.
The commission had its own former solicitor general to handle its case before the high court. But Seth Waxman, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, did not charge for his services other than about $20,000 in costs.
The rest of the costs involved travel and lodging, as Arizona politicians and their entourages traveled to Washington, D.C., for the March 2 hearing.
The six-member House delegation spent $11,187, records show. House Speaker David Gowan attended, as well as House attorney Peter Gentala, who has been involved in the case since its inception.
Gowan also brought along his strategy and communications director, Brett Mecum; deputy chief of staff Lesli Sorensen (who also does legal work for the House); press secretary Stephanie Grisham; and former House Speaker Andy Tobin. Tobin was the House leader when the Legislature decided to sue.
Biggs attended the hearing at his own expense and did not bring any staff. However, Grisham said the House attorneys did most of the legwork on the case from Arizona, and she handled the state and national press meetings on behalf of the entire Legislature, not just the Senate.
The redistricting commission sent its own delegation at a total cost of $6,523, records show. That covered the costs of four of the five commissioners, two staffers and the commission's two attorneys.
In addition, state Elections Director Eric Spencer attended on behalf of the Arizona Secretary of State Office, which was named in the lawsuit. His expenses were $1,117.
Gov. Doug Ducey sent two representatives, attorney Mike Liburdi and deputy chief of staff Danny Seiden, at a combined cost of $3,027
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839851c9f8b4f923ee515819b0635d84
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/13/man-who-threatened-boehner-found-insane/30118525/
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Man who threatened Boehner found insane
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Man who threatened Boehner found insane
CINCINNATI — A federal judge on Monday found the Deer Park man who threatened to kill House Speaker John Boehner not guilty by reason of insanity.
Michael Hoyt was in the throes of a two-year battle with mental illness last fall when the former country club bartender told police he was "Jesus Christ" and planned to kill Boehner because he was "evil," Federal Judge Timothy Black ruled.
Hoyt was ordered to remain in jail and undergo further psychiatric testing. He is due back in court Aug. 21, when it could be determined whether Hoyt will be free to go home or sent to a mental health facility.
"Mental illness is a prevalent problem in the community that we need to recognize and respond to with treatment," Black said. "I hope the victim realizes we're trying to balance the (work) of those (government officials) who are trying to help us and the weakest among us."
Boehner's Washington-based spokeswoman did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
During the 50-minute trial, Black discussed the results of an evaluation Hoyt was ordered to undergo earlier this year. Hoyt was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, according to the report. The judge also focused on information that showed Hoyt had taken a "turn for the worse" since he suffered a head injury during an incident at a Deer Park bar in September 2012.
Wearing a black and white prison uniform and sporting an unkempt beard, the 44-year-old Hoyt sat quietly in the downtown courtroom with his shoulders slouched. Attorney Martin Pinales placed his hand on Hoyt's shoulder for most of the trial.
"My client is a sweet young man who has a mental illness," Pinales later told reporters.
Hoyt could have faced up to 10 years in prison had he been convicted on the charge of making a threat against a government official. Soon after announcing the verdict, Black gave Hoyt a pep talk.
"Mr. Hoyt," Black said.
"Yes, sir," Hoyt responded, softly, as he stood up from his chair.
"Thank you for standing up," Black said. "I hope you were able to hear some of what I said. You've got a medical condition. You're so much better today, and there's a way forward where with help and medication ... you're going to be able to get well and function productively."
Black added: "But it's going to require your commitment to stick with the medication and stick with the recommendation ... of your therapists. I would ask you do that. Godspeed."
Black said the court could face a big challenge at the August hearing. The court will have to make sure that Hoyt's "release would not create a substantial risk of bodily injury to another person or serious property damage," the judge said.
In October, Hoyt was fired from his bartending job at Wetherington Golf and Country Club in West Chester Township. Boehner, R-West Chester, is a member of the club. About a week before being fired from a job that he had held for at least five years, Hoyt had an apparent mental breakdown, claimed to be Jesus, and told police he wanted to kill Boehner.
Police were called to Hoyt's Deer Park home on Oct. 29, according to court records. He proceeded to tell police of his intentions to kill Boehner, in part, because the House speaker was "responsible for Ebola."
Sometime before being fired, court records say, Hoyt said he had heard "the devil's voice" from radios in his car and at home, and those voices told him that Boehner was "evil." Hoyt sent emails and letters to Boehner's wife and Wetherington members.
In an Oct. 28 email, Hoyt said he was willing to drop the issue if Boehner and another country club member hand-delivered the job termination papers. Hoyt also said in the email that if he "had any intention of hurting Mr. Boehner, I could have poisoned his wine at Wetherington many, many times."
Contributing: Kevin Grasha, The Cincinnati Enquirer
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ebde952854fc7fe8558fdea4704ca2f0
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/15/judge-orders-video-released--police-killing-unarmed-man/30175645/
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Videos show cops killing unarmed man in L.A. suburb
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Videos show cops killing unarmed man in L.A. suburb
First, a judge ruled Tuesday that disturbing videos showing Gardena, Calif., police officers fatally shooting an unarmed man should be released.
Then, the Los Angeles Times published the videos under the headline This is the video Gardena police didn't want you to see.
Then, an appeals court intervened, and stayed the order at the request of the Gardena Police Department. But the videos were already out there — and out there they remain.
The videos' release, which came after a court battle led by the Times, Associated Press, and Bloomberg news service, comes amid nationwide scrutiny of shootings by police in America. The news organizations argued the public had a right to see the footage.
For two years, Gardena officials refused to release the videos, saying they could spark a "rush to judgment" against the officers. City officials also argued that the case was settled with the understanding that the videos would not be made public.
Here's what happened, back on June 2, 2013:
Police had been investigating the theft of a bicycle in the predawn hours of June 2, 2013, when they came upon three men on a street. Dashcam videos show officers confronting the men, shouting for them to raise their hands and keep them up.
Witnesses later said that Ricardo Diaz-Zeferino was trying to explain that they were not the thieves, that they were actually looking for the bike. Zeferino takes a few small steps forward, but still appears distant and not threatening. He removes his cap and lowers his hands.
That set off a torrent of bullets from the officers. Zeferino, 35, tumbles to the ground, fatally shot. Another man, Eutiquio Acevedo Mendez, also collapses. The city later settled lawsuits brought by the men for $4.7 million.
Zeferino, who was shot eight times, was drunk and had methamphetamine in this system, an autopsy showed. Mendez was shot once and survived.
Judge Stephen Wilson dismissed the city's claims, saying the public had a right to know how and why its money was spent.
"The fact that they spent the city's money, presumably derived from taxes, only strengthens the public's interest in seeing the videos," Wilson wrote in a 13-page order.
"We applaud the court's decision to unseal the video," AP spokesman Paul Colford said. "The Associated Press, joining with other news organizations, believes it's important that the public has access to videos like this to better understand the actions of their police officers."
Michael Overing, a lawyer and journalism professor at the University of Southern California, told AP that in addition to being cited in future court filings the ruling could help provide guidance as lawmakers grapple with those issues.
"Right now, video is being suppressed," Overing said. "This is going to help open the floodgates so the public can see it ... and see if actions are justified."
Lawyer and University of Southern California journalism professor Michael Overing says the public has a right to view and evaluate the video, especially after the city dished out a multi-million dollar settlement brought by the other men injured in the shooting.
"You're spending taxpayer money. You're taking $4.7 million from us, and we're entitled to see how you spent that money," Overing says.
Overing adds it "doesn't hurt to see the nitty gritty side of law enforcement", and videos such as this should be released for public consumption and evaluation, instead of sealed with a lock and key by government officials.
"We understand that the video is one part of the equation," he says. "But to suppress the video, to suppress the report, to suppress the coroner's report, it seems like there's an incredible attempt to make this information from becoming public."
But after the Times published the videos online, Judge Alex Kozinski ordered "the police car camera video footage shall remain under seal pending further order of this court."
However, the videos remained in the public domain Wednesday.
The court battle reflects the limited scope of California's laws on public records, Peter Scheer, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, told the Times. Gardena police officials were within their rights to withhold the footage, he said.
"The take-away from this should be that California laws protecting police information and evidence are way too restrictive and make it too difficult to know what is going on," Scheer said.
Gardena Police Chief Ed Medrano released a statement calling the shootings "tragic for all involved. He said the department has developed new training techniques designed to "slow down fast-moving events."
Peter Scheer, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, says Gardena police acted within the confines of the law to withhold the video.
"In California, if you made a request under the Freedom of Information Act for the police video cam footage, you're almost certainly not going to get it, unless the police have a reason or want you to see it," he says. "The police aren't going to be acknowledging anyone's rights."
California law does not require police to release video footage upon public request, he says. But several media outlets were able to take the fight to court, to which the videos became unsealed through the rights protected by the First Amendment.
"When judges take the time to look at the law, they often come to this kind of conclusion that only in extreme circumstances can something be kept under seal," he says.
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029cfff89d95b2ab87eef6626466994b
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/15/obama-news-conference-iran-nuclear-agreement-white-house/30179497/
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Obama: The choice is the Iran nuclear deal or war
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Obama: The choice is the Iran nuclear deal or war
WASHINGTON — President Obama aggressively defended the Iran nuclear agreement against its critics Wednesday, saying it would prevent Tehran from making nuclear weapons and claiming that the alternative is military force.
"Either the issue of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon is resolved diplomatically, through a negotiation, or it's resolved through force, through war," Obama said during a news conference at the White House.
"Those are the options."
The president repeatedly demanded that Republican and global skeptics offer an alternative to the deal, saying at one point that "if the alternative is that we should bring Iran to heel through military force, then those critics should say so. And that will be an honest debate."
The critics — from congressional lawmakers to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — said Iran could cheat the agreement signed Tuesday and still pursue nuclear weapons.
In Israel, Netanyahu called the deal a historic mistake, adding that sanctions relief will provide Iran with a "jackpot" in billions of dollars it can use "to pursue its aggression and terror in the region and in the world."
Under the agreement, the United States and allies will reduce sanctions on Iran as it cuts back on activities that could be used to make nuclear weapons.
The Republican-run Congress will review the agreement and has the option of passing a resolution of disapproval. Obama, however, has pledged to veto any congressional move to derail the deal.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pledged a thorough review of the accord, including hearings, witnesses, and ultimately a vote. All are predicated on what McConnell called a basic test: "Can the agreement meet its essential test of leaving our country and our allies safer?"
Obama, engaged in a media offensive to sell the deal to skeptics in Congress and the Middle East, told reporters that the world faces "a fundamental choice" between closing pathways to Iranian nuclear weapons and the prospect of military action to stop an unrestricted Iranian weapons program.
"This deal makes our country and the world safer and more secure," Obama said. "If we don't choose wisely, I believe future generations will judge us harshly for letting this moment slip away."
The deal does not remove all the threats posed by Iran, Obama said, and the United States and its allies will continue to confront Iran over its support for terrorism and its efforts to exert influence on other countries in the Middle East.
Israel and other critics have legitimate reasons to distrust Iran, Obama said, citing the Islamic regime's threats against the Jewish state. "But what I've also said is that all those threats are compounded if Iran gets a nuclear weapon," he added, citing Netanyahu and other critics.
The president that while some members of Congress — including Democrats -— have legitimate concerns, others are simply playing anti-Obama politics. "I am not betting on the Republican Party rallying behind this agreement," he said.
The agreement doesn't depend on Iran changing its behavior, Obama said, but instead is designed to solve one particular problem: "Making sure they don't have a bomb."
Some critics predicted the agreement would have the opposite effect.
"This deal does not block Iran's path to the bomb — it paves it," said Ron Dermer, Israel's ambassador to the United States, speaking on MSNBC's Morning Joe.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on the same program that he is approaching the agreement as "a skeptic."
Some congressional Democrats have also expressed reservations about the Iran agreement, and they are another target of the Obama administration's lobbying efforts.
Vice President Biden met Wednesday morning with members of the House Democratic Caucus to discuss Iran.
Netanyahu, on a media blitz of his own, told NBC News that the deal also threatens the United States by giving "the number one terrorist regime in the world" a chance to pursue nuclear weapons through subterfuge.
The Saudi Press Agency, citing an official spokesman, said Iran should "put her resources towards its development and amelioration of the condition of the Iranian people instead of provoking troubles which would generate certain reactions from countries in the region."
Defense Secretary Ash Carter is scheduled to travel soon to Israel and other Middle East countries to discuss the Iran deal and to reaffirm U.S. defense support for those countries.
On another issue in the news conference, a visibly annoyed Obama told a reporter that no one is "content" with the fact that the parties reached this agreement without the release of Americans being detained in Iran.
Making the hostages part of the nuclear talks would have been a mistake, Obama said, because Iran could have used them to leverage more concessions on other issues.
In the meantime, apart from the nuclear talks, Obama said U.S. officials are pushing Iran every day to release the hostages, "and won't stop until they're out and rejoined with their families."
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89502a2ddad0c9f34cf0244ede187e1a
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/16/new-mormon-temple-indiana/30237455/
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Get a rare look inside a Mormon temple
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Get a rare look inside a Mormon temple
Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this story misstated the age of Mormon baptism.
CARMEL, Ind. — After three years of construction on a 34,000-square-foot building, a temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is ready for public viewing.
This is a rare opportunity for those not of the Mormon faith. The Indianapolis-area temple will be dedicated Aug. 23, and from then on only Mormons will be allowed to enter.
In the past decade, the church has opened three or four temples each year around the world, according to LDSChurchTemples.com. The Carmel temple will be the fourth dedicated this year, after the May dedication of a temple in Córdoba, Argentina, and June dedications in Payson, Utah, and Trujillo, Peru.
Church Elder Kent Richards said the temple brings about a sense of peace.
"I think it's something that's hard to describe," he said. "It's a beautiful spirit that's there."
The temple is the most sacred space of the Mormon faith. It is used for ordinances, or events, for Mormon families who wish to become closer to God.
Small rooms cater to baptisms; weddings; meditation; and sealings, a ceremony in which a husband, a wife and sometimes children commit to one another even after death.
The Carmel temple will be to host up to 30,000 Mormons in Indiana and is the 148th temple of the church worldwide. Other temples nearby are in Chicago, which opened in 1985; Columbus, Ohio, opened in 1999; and Louisville, Ky., opened in 2000.
The Carmel temple has two entryways: a large entrance at the front of the building and a smaller two-door opening on the left side. The exterior of the building is made of cream limestone cladding from Turkey and stained-glass windows from Indiana and Utah.
Spokesman Rick Hightower said the church does not release the costs of its buildings but noted the structure was built with the "finest materials available."
The money came from the tithes and offerings of church members, who are asked to give 10% of their income, Hightower said.
The rooms have high ceilings, mostly decorated with crystal chandeliers and touches of gold, marble tile and natural-finish cherry wood.
Paintings of Jesus and large, gold-plated mirrors hang on the walls. The tall stained-glassed windows expose a vast amount of natural light in almost every room.
One baptismal room has a large whirlpool tub at its center. The tub is raised on the backs of 12 oxen statues from a lower level. The large bronze animals represent the 12 tribes of Israel.
Children in the Mormon faith are allowed to be baptized as early as age 8 and then must complete a confirmation. They are allowed to perform baptisms in a temple at age 12.
The temple also houses offices, a celestial room for meditation, a bride room and two instruction rooms. Each is small and intimate; church services themselves are not held in the temple but in neighborhood chapels.
Free public tours will run Friday through Aug. 8. They include a 10-minute video presentation and a 40-minute walk through the temple.
Related:
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6b0a3a2798f4ab1233453f58f0da453b
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/18/70-years-later-how-world-war-ii-changed-america/30334203/
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70 years later: How World War II changed America
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70 years later: How World War II changed America
Even as World War II was ending 70 years ago, Americans already knew it had transformed their country. What they didn’t know was just how much or for how long.
In that last wartime summer of 1945, the seeds of a new America had been sown. Not just postwar America — the Baby Boom, the Cold War, the Affluent Society, the sprawling suburbs — but the one in which we live today.
Look closely at the war years, and you can see those seeds.
•Two brothers who had opened a drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, Calif., were struck by working families’ desire for cheap meals served fast — faster than their carhops could serve them. Their name was McDonald.
•While building homes for federal war workers, a family-owned Long Island construction company had learned how to lay dozens of concrete foundations in a single day, and preassemble uniform walls and roofs. The firm’s name was Levitt & Sons.
•A young, black Army lieutenant was court-martialed in 1944 after he refused to sit in the back of a military bus at Camp Hood, Texas. The trial prevented him from serving overseas, but he was acquitted. His name was Jackie Robinson.
•In 1944, an Army Air Forces photographer discovered a beautiful young woman working on an aircraft assembly line in Burbank, Calif. One of his photos helped land her a modeling job. Her name was Norma Jean Baker. Later she would change it to Marilyn Monroe.
•In 1945, engineers were finishing a sort of “electronic brain” for the Army. Equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes instead of the usual electrical switches, it could do about 5,000 computations per second — 4,996 more than the best electric calculator. They called it an Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer. Only the last word stuck.
In the next decade, the Levitts would build Levittown, N.Y., the most famous postwar suburb. McDonald’s, focusing on assembly line hamburgers, would begin its ascent to global fast-food dominance. Robinson would integrate Major League Baseball.
And Monroe would become the first “Playmate of the Month” in a new magazine called Playboy, whose editor got his start in media during the war at a military newspaper. His name was Hugh Hefner.
World War II also marked the beginning of trends that took decades to fully develop, including technological disruption, global economic integration and digital communication.
More broadly, the wartime home front put a premium on something that’s even more crucial today: innovation.
It helped explain America’s production miracle. A nation that in 1938 was making almost no weapons was, by 1943, making more than twice as many as of all its enemies combined.
“Never before had war demanded such technological experimentation and business organization,” historian Allen Nevins later wrote. “The genius of the country of Whitney, Morse, and Edison precisely fitted such a war.”
America not only made more weapons than its enemies, it kept making new and better ones. By the end of the war, it was said that no major battle was won with the same weapons as the battle that preceded it; innovation had become a constant.
The Office of Scientific Research and Development, directed by mathematician Vannevar Bush, organized the scientists and engineers who developed many valuable weapons.
Radar, improved depth charges and long-range bombers turned the tide against German submarines; the long range Mustang fighter protected Allied bombers over Europe after 1943; the B-29 Superfortress allowed the Air Force to pulverize Japan with virtual impunity by 1945.
The nation’s science labs were mobilized. Annual federal spending on research and development increased more than 20-fold during the war.
Medical researchers produced a class of pharmaceuticals whose nickname — “wonder drugs” — pretty much summed them up. Streptomycin, the first drug effective against the cause of tuberculosis, was the best known in a series of new antibiotics.
Penicillin, which had been discovered in 1928, was mass produced during the war to treat blood poisoning and battle wounds. A new process to produce dried blood plasma allowed battlefield transfusions.
Other developments included quinine substitutes to fight malaria, and numerous repellants and insecticides (including, unfortunately, DDT) used against pests causing epidemics of typhus and malaria.
Government scientists refined products (television, air conditioning) and developed new ones. The computer introduced at MIT in 1942 weighed 100 tons and had 2,000 electronic tubes, 150 electric motors and 200 miles of wire.
In Palo Alto, Calif., a company started in a garage by electrical engineers William Hewlett and David Packard was making radio, sonar, and radar devices, as well as artillery shell fuses. Packard ran the company while Hewlett served in the Army Signal Corps, unaware that they were founders of what would become Silicon Valley.
Wartime shortages gave rise to products whose greatest days were ahead, including plastics (used to replace scarce metals), frozen foods (which saved trips to the store) and microfilm (for shipping civilian-military “V-mail” overseas).
The war also raised issues that would become even more pressing in years to come.
The war was witness to the greatest single violation of civil rights in U.S. history — the internment of about 120,000 Japanese-Americans (two-thirds of them U.S. citizens) living in Pacific Coast states. Supposedly designed to fight espionage and sabotage, the move in fact was motivated by war hysteria, racism and political expediency.
For years, this outrage was all but forgotten. In 1988, however, President Ronald Reagan signed a law that provided financial redress of $20,000 for each surviving detainee. But the Supreme Court’s expansive interpretation of government powers in wartime in the Korematsu case, which upheld the internment, has never been overturned.
The internment was the result of an executive order, a presidential prerogative that has become increasingly controversial. But during the war the executive branch also banned pleasure drives and sliced bread, and seized control of the strike-bound retail giant Montgomery Ward under the legal justification that it was “useful” to the war effort. When Ward’s president refused to leave his office, government agents carried him out in his chair.
Decades before Edward Snowden’s revelations about government spying, military censors on the home front had authority to open and read every piece of mail that entered or left the country; to scan every cable; and to screen every phone call. A letter from a soldier overseas often arrived with a few words, a sentence or an entire paragraph snipped out, and the envelope resealed with a bit of tape bearing the label “Opened by Censor.”
Problems developed during the war that would bedevil the nation for years. Los Angeles had its first smog attack in 1943. In New York City, there were more and more reports of an old crime with a new name: mugging.
And anyone who thinks red-baiting was a postwar innovation should listen to Thomas Dewey, the 1944 GOP presidential candidate, who called President Franklin D. Roosevelt “indispensable to Earl Browder” the head of the American Communist Party.
A communist, Dewey told an audience, is “anyone who supports (Roosevelt’s) fourth term so our form of government may more easily be changed.”
Income inequality? Although Rosie the Riveter was the patriotic, symbolic personification of the 5 million U.S. women who went to work during the war, their pay on average was 60% of men’s — despite government rules banning such discrimination in war plants.
By war’s end, Americans were used to looking to Washington for solutions. But the war also reinforced an attitude that remains resonant today: skepticism about government.
For instance, after Pearl Harbor the government tried to discourage the practice of planting home “victory gardens,” which were popular in World War I. The nation already had an agricultural surplus, and more production would hurt farm prices.
Undeterred, within a few months Americans had planted victory gardens on Ellis Island and Alcatraz and everywhere in between — about 10 million in all. Within two years, 20 million victory gardens were producing 8 million tons of food.
By then, the victory gardeners’ instincts had been vindicated; snarled transportation and farm labor shortages produced spot fruit and vegetable shortages. The amateurs, the secretary of Agriculture admitted, “surprised a lot of people.”
All the war’s changes, apparent and embryonic, contributed to a rich irony: Although Americans away in the military lived on memories of the land they’d left behind, by war’s end that America was already disappearing.
The demands of winning a war would transform the home front into something almost as exotic as the places where the soldiers fought — a land more affluent and more just, more open and more mobile, more polluted and more violent than the one of which they’d dreamed.
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546521988d0790b797f72ec1a51bf4fb
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/19/biotech-firm-may-change-cancer-treatment-early-testing/30395039/
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Biotech firm may change cancer treatment with early testing
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Biotech firm may change cancer treatment with early testing
WILMINGTON, Del. — What if a blood sample taken by a family physician could diagnose breast cancer months — or even years — before a woman feels the first lump in her chest?
Now imagine if that diagnoses also came with a treatment plan so well-tailored to a patient’s genetic makeup that it could eliminate the guesswork involved in early chemotherapy and radiation used today.
“Early diagnoses and faster routes to effective treatment would mean more people could survive the disease and have a much better quality of life,” entrepreneur Jeb Connor said. “A test like this has the potential to change patient care as we know it.”
Connor and Adam Marsh, an associate professor at the University of Delaware, say they have found the key that could someday make those tests readily available.
This spring, their company Genome Profiling, or GenPro, became one of the first biotech firms invited to join Christiana Care Health System’s Center for Translational Cancer Research in the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute in Christiana.
There, the company is building a track record to prove the validity of its methods, while also contributing valuable data to help advance the latest research in the field.
“Today, we know certain genes are responsible for creating breast cancer,” said Dr. Nicholas Petrelli, the medical director of the Graham Cancer Center. “By working with our clinicians and researchers on early detection, GenPro could help prevent the cancer from every (manifesting) in those women. And our hopes is that they will be able to extend that to colon, rectal, thyroid and ovarian cancer in the next decade.”
The science behind the secret
GenPro’s major breakthrough is essentially an advanced software analytics platform that can identify the genetic signatures of various cancers and other diseases.
Marsh first developed the company’s platform while researching how climate change might impact invertebrates living under the sea in Antarctica as part of his day job at UD’s School of Marine Science and Policy.
“These polychaete worms are used to a very stable environment, so I was looking at how their genes might regulate how they will deal with the thermal stresses they’ll be experiencing in the coming decades,” he said. “I had a very limited budget and — necessity being the mother of invention — I just took a very novel approach to the computational statistical modeling that was required.”
Realizing those models could be used to analyze markers in the human genome, Marsh teamed up with Connor, a former senior manager at Hewlett-Packard with a track record of building start-ups into successful companies.
Together, they licensed the technology from UD and began developing real world applications.
“To understand how GenPro’s process works, it helps to first understand a little about how genes work,” Connor said.
The genetic material of every human being includes an assembly of about 3 billion base pairs that make up the two strands of DNA in the infamous double helix.
The order of those pairs is basically the full instruction manual for building every human cell.
What makes a liver cell different from a skin cell is determined by which pages in the manual are marked for reading — almost like a Choose Your Own Adventure book.
Marking those pages is the job of chemical compounds and proteins called the epigenome.
Yet the way the epigenome’s marks are interpreted can be affected by lifestyle and environmental factors — such as stress, diet and exposure to substances like nicotine.
As a result, instructions that should tell cells to stop multiplying can be misread as directions to keep growing, eventually resulting in tumors.
By mapping exactly which pages have been marked and whether those markings say “read” or “skip,” GenPro can diagnose diseases before a patient develops their first symptom.
And those same maps also can be used to develop individually tailored treatments based on which pages are being misread in each patient’s DNA.
“For instance, we’re about to start a study with a large group of leukemia patients who will receive four months of treatment on a chemotherapy drug,” Marsh said. “So we’ll look at the epi-markers in these patients prior to treatment.”
By mapping those markers before and after treatment and comparing that data to the patients who respond to the drug, they hope to isolate a signature that can predict which patients will and won’t respond in the future.
“We’ll be able to prevent a patient from having to undergo four months of being sick and nauseous with no positive results,” he said. “You’ll get to start a treatment suited to you sooner, thus reducing total time from diagnoses to remission.”
Future applications
That promise is what attracted the interest of the Center for Translational Cancer Research (CTCR) — a collaboration between Christiana Care, A.I. duPont Children’s Hospital, the University of Delaware and the Delaware Biotechnology Institute.
First conceived a decade ago, the center opened in a 7,000-square-foot laboratory space on the fourth floor of the Helen Graham Cancer Center in 2010.
“The vision for this unit was to develop a multi-disciplinary approach that combines scientists, clinicians, graduate students and biotech companies,” Petrelli said. “You combine those disciplines right smack in the middle of a cancer center that sees the majority of cancer cases in Delaware and it becomes the perfect environment for finding better treatments, better biomarkers and better methods for detecting cancer earlier.”
Dr. Jennifer Sims-Mourtada, who heads translational breast cancer research at the center, said she’s hoping GenPro’s approach may also be able to effectively prevent unnecessary cancer treatments.
“One of the problems we have is the over diagnosis of breast cancer, because we can’t discriminate which types are likely to be aggressive and which ones will be slow growing,” she said. “So right now, everyone is treated with radiation and many with chemotherapy, as well. GenPro’s technology could potentially identify a way we could monitor women for changes in their cancer and only treat cases where we’re seeing an aggressive pattern develop.”
While GenPro is focused on cancer research, Connor and Marsh say their analytical technique also has shown promise in the early diagnoses of Parkinson’s disease, which often goes undetected until the first symptoms appear — often years after actual onset.
“The technology to develop the markers for many different diseases is really the fundamental big picture value that we have,” Connor said. “And we’ve demonstrated it in a neurodegenerative disease, a couple of cancer-related diseases and we’re well-positioned to progress into other diseases that are out there.”
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253f97cad8a756af5310536f0c11a45d
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/19/fighter-pilot-warned-seconds-before-crash/30383275/
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Report details final seconds before deadly F-16, Cessna crash
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Report details final seconds before deadly F-16, Cessna crash
The pilot of an Air Force fighter jet was warned of "traffic" ahead moments before the spectacular midair crash of his F-16 and a single-engine Cessna over South Carolina this month, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report.
The pilot and passenger in the Cessna were killed in the July 7 crash. The damaged F-16 continued to fly for three minutes before the pilot, Air Force Maj. Aaron Johnson, ejected safely, the report said.
The F-16 was destroyed when it crashed to the ground about 25 miles north of Charleston.
The report said the F-16 was flying from Myrtle Beach International Airport to Charleston Air Force Base/International Airport. Several minutes before the crash, the pilot asked air traffic control to practice an instrument approach to the airport. Minutes later, what turned out to be the Cessna flashed on air traffic radar.
Seconds after 11 a.m., the controller advised the pilot of the F-16, "traffic 12 o'clock, 2 miles, opposite direction, 1,200 [feet altitude] indicated, type unknown."
The F-16 pilot said he was looking for the traffic. Eight seconds later, the controller advised the F-16 pilot, "turn left heading 180 if you don't have that traffic in sight."
The pilot responded by asking, "confirm 2 miles?"
Eight seconds later, the controller stated, "if you don't have that traffic in sight turn left heading 180 immediately."
The F-16 did begin to turn, the report said. Seconds later, the controller advised the F-16 pilot, "traffic passing below you 1,400 feet." Less than a minute later, the F-16 pilot transmitted a distress call "and no subsequent transmissions were received."
The NTSB said its investigation was continuing. The final report will focus on what caused the crash.
Johnson's F-16 "Fighting Falcon" was from the 55th Fighter Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, S.C. Col. Stephen Jost, commander of the 20th Fighter Wing, said Johnson had been participating in a standard instrument training. He called Johnson a "highly experienced" pilot.
The pilot of the Cessna, Joseph Johnson, 30, and his passenger father, Michael Johnson, 68, both of Moncks Corner, S.C., died of accidental, blunt force and body trauma, a coroner found.
Contributing: Tyler Pager
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0d84d9f89e4f358763c16ae84eb70a0a
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/22/bullying-whether-your-child-victim-perpetrator/30518803/
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Bullying: Whether your child is the victim or perpetrator
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Bullying: Whether your child is the victim or perpetrator
Good news on the bullying front from the U.S. Department of Education: In a study released this May, fewer children aged 12 to 18 reported being targeted by bullies in 2013, only 22 percent, down from 28 percent in 2011. It’s the lowest number since the department began the survey in 2005.
Even in a slightly friendlier school climate, however, bullying still happens — and your child could wind up on either side. Hearing that your child has been involved in bullying, one way or another, can get you all mama bear about the situation. But before you roar, figure out if what’s going on is the real deal.
“Bullying is such a big buzzword even preschoolers know and use the term. But much of what kids report is actually peer conflict. If it’s a back-and-forth thing like, ‘I’m mad at you today, and you’re mad at me tomorrow,’ then it’s not bullying,” explains Tara Fishler, CEO of Customized Training Solutions and a conflict resolution expert in New Rochelle, N.Y.
Childhood taunting turns into bullying when it’s a repeated behavior with negative intent and there is a power imbalance, such as fearing another child or multiple kids ganging up on one. And, while you might envision a bully as a schoolyard ruffian who beats up kids for their lunch money, most bullying is done with threats, ridicule, rumor-mongering and exclusion from social activities.
Whatever side of the problem your child is on, fixing it can be difficult. To help, follow these expert guidelines to make a bad situation better.
Your child is being bullied, you think
Before you grab your suit of armor and go off to fight your child’s battles, first do a bit of digging.
“One side of the story is not the whole story,” says Fishler. “Parents can escalate these things really easily if they don’t know the full story.”
If your child reports being bullied, listen to what he or she has to say, but also talk to others — like your child’s teacher and classmates, plus the bully and his parents — and hear their different perspectives. Keep an open mind to figure out if this is simply an opportunity to teach your child about communicating with peers or if your child is truly being targeted.
If it is a case of bullying, involving your child in how to handle it can be empowering. Provide options such as approaching the bully’s parents, talking to the teacher or involving the principal. If your child is opposed to you intervening, you should explore why.
Engage the school when the situation goes beyond what you and your child can handle. Calmly discuss with a school administrator why your child is afraid and how that impacts learning. However, if the administrator doesn’t take your concerns seriously, do approach the superintendent and school board, recommends Jared Scherz, a clinical psychologist and author of The Truth About School Violence; Keeping Healthy Schools Safe. If the school refuses to cooperate entirely, consult an attorney.
You’ve got a bully, or so they say
A study published in the journal School Psychology Review in 2007 found that 30 percent of students in fourth through 12th grade reported being bullied. If you find that your child falls into that category, the first step is to do some data gathering, says Scherz.
If you’re certain your child’s behavior has indeed been bully-ish, it’s time for a heart-to-heart. Instead of approaching your child in an accusatory or defensive way, ask your child, in a neutral tone, to tell you what’s going on.
“First, have empathy with the feelings causing your child to act out,” advises Scherz, “All behavior is rooted in a need. If a need isn’t being met, the feeling is going to go awry.”
Most bullies behave badly because they feel powerless in another part of their life (e.g., a stressful family situation) and want to take power back where they can. Once you suss out the core issue, you can figure out your next steps.
Additionally, you also want your child to better relate with other people’s feelings. To encourage your child to empathize, ask her how she would feel if someone did the same thing to her. You can also have your child write a note of apology to the other child. It helps, too, if you connect with the victim’s parents to apologize and reassure them that their child is not going to be hurt.
Scherz says the goal, whether you’re parenting the bully or the bullied, is to create an environment where people aren’t threatened by differences, but embrace them.
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8af4ed1c60f75c52a3700d2c6bf45b75
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/22/ferguson-set-name-new-interim-police-chief/30505031/
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Ferguson names black interim police chief
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Ferguson names black interim police chief
FERGUSON, Mo. — Ferguson, Mo., which was wracked with unrest last summer after the shooting of an unarmed black teenager, named on Wednesday a black interim police chief who said his first goal was "simply to build trust" within the community.
The new chief, Andre Anderson, 50, was police commander in Glendale, Ariz., where Ferguson's current interim city manager, Ed Beasely, worked.
In presenting the new interim police chief, Mayor James Knowles also announced that the city, a suburb of St. Louis, would be getting body cameras for its police officers.
Ferguson became the focus of national attention in August after the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager who was fatally shot after a confrontation with police officer Darren Wilson.
The previous police chief, Tom Jackson, along with the city manager and municipal judge were forced out of their jobs earlier this year as the Justice Department published a report that found Ferguson police and city's municipal court had engaged in systemic patterns of misconduct that disproportionately affected the city's majority African-American community.
Anderson told reporters he grew up in South Philadelphia in an area with demographics similar to Ferguson. He said his first plan of action is "simply to build trust, to develop community policing in this area."
To do this, he said he will get out in the community and be highly visible, while working with the officers to build positive relationships with the residents of Ferguson.
As his guide for reshaping Ferguson police, Anderson said he would use a federal task force on 21-century policing and the Justice Department's recommendations "to cultivate relationships that we know and hope will reshape our direction in the city of Ferguson."
He said this would include procedural and constitutional justice training, de-escalation training and "bias awareness training."
Anderson said another goal would be emphasize attracting and hiring African-American officers.
The shooting last year sparked more than a week of unrest, including vandalism and looting, prompting Gov. Jay Nixon to call in the National Guard and a contingent of Missouri state troopers.
The expected announcement of a new interim police chief comes only weeks after Knowles barely survived a bid to force a recall election when a petition fell 27 votes short. Knowles told USA TODAY last week that he planned to begin an outreach effort to repair relations with community.
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16ffd3853ebaf8f27a2080549b6988bc
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/22/gay-marriage-religion-discrimination/29812729/
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Baked in the cake: Legal battles follow gay marriage ruling
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Baked in the cake: Legal battles follow gay marriage ruling
DENVER — Same-sex marriage is now the law of the land. But that doesn't mean the newlyweds always get their choice of wedding cakes.
Or flowers. Or photographs. Or venues.
Just ask Jack Phillips, a "cake artist" who may represent the next legal hurdle for gay and lesbian couples on their way to wedded bliss.
Phillips, 59, owns Masterpiece Cakeshop, a Lakewood, Colo., bakery that won't design desserts for same-sex weddings. His case was heard this month by the Colorado Court of Appeals. If he loses, he plans to keep appealing — all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
"I feel that the Bible is clear — what God defines marriage as," Phillips says as his daughter Lisa works on the latest confections. "For me to violate that would be for me to rebel against God, to take what he's designed and say it doesn't matter."
The problem for Phillips is that Colorado, like 21 other states, has a law barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. His claim that the First Amendment protects his freedom of expression, based on his religious beliefs, failed to convince the Colorado Civil Rights Commission last year.
Twenty-eight states have no such laws, so gays and lesbians freed to marry by the Supreme Court last month still can face discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations.
Phillips, like Washington State florist Barronelle Stutzman, Kentucky printer Blaine Adamson, Illinois bed & breakfast owners Jim and Beth Walder, and New York family farm owners Robert and Cynthia Gifford, believes his religious objections are paramount. In the meantime, rather than bake for same-sex weddings, Phillips stopped making wedding cakes altogether — and says his revenue has dropped by about 40%.
The issue could be heading toward the Supreme Court in the coming years. Last year, the justices turned down a petition from the owners of a New Mexico photography studio who lost a similar freedom-of-expression case over their refusal to work at a lesbian couple's wedding. Now several other cases such as Phillips' are making their way through state and federal courts.
Gay rights groups predict they will continue to win those lawsuits. "The courts have very consistently held that this is not a free speech or religious freedom issue, that it is about discrimination, and that discrimination is a violation of state laws," says Sarah Warbelow, legal director at the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights organization.
A recent poll conducted by the Newseum Institute found that only 38% of Americans say businesses providing wedding services should be required to serve same-sex couples despite their religious objections, down from 52% in 2013. The court often tends to follow public opinion. But the Supreme Court has sided with religious believers before, most recently by allowing an exception to the Affordable Care Act's requirement that most businesses offer health insurance coverage for contraceptives that some equate with abortion.
"I think it's crucial for the court to weigh in," says Jeremy Tedesco, senior legal counsel at the conservative group Alliance Defending Freedom, who argued Phillips' case in court this month. "I think there's going to be a lot of litigation in this area, and inevitably there are going to be conflicts."
FAITH 'IS EVERYTHING'
Phillips' legal battle began three years ago, when Charlie Craig and David Mullins came in to order a cake for their wedding reception. While the wedding was held in Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage had been legal since 2004, the celebration was planned for back home in Colorado.
Unfortunately for the couple, an earlier incident in Phillips' life made their brief exchange unappetizing. It occurred in 1978, when Phillips — then working the night shift at a local bakery and drinking beer after work at a local bar — says he became a born-again Christian. His religion, he says now, "is everything."
Craig and Mullins filed a civil rights complaint and won, first before an administrative court judge and then before the full commission. It ruled that Phillips must serve same-sex couples, educate his staff and file quarterly reports for two years.
"It's time we moved on from using religion as an excuse to discriminate," Craig said after the latest hearing. "No one should be told they are less than anyone else, especially at a joyous time like a wedding."
James Esseks, who directs gay rights issues for the American Civil Liberties Union, likens Phillips' effort and those of other commercial establishments to posting a sign on the front door: "No wedding cakes for gay people."
"That's the kind of discrimination that we've said is not acceptable in America," Esseks says.
The Supreme Court passed up its first chance to hear a similar case in 2014 — eight years after Elaine Huguenin and her husband, Jonathan, told a lesbian couple that their Albuquerque photo studio only worked "traditional weddings."
The Huguenins' petition to the Supreme Court was based on their freedom of speech and expression, which they interpreted as the right to decide what messages their photography conveys. That's the same principle cited by Phillips and others around the country:
• The former owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa bakery in Gresham, Ore., were ordered this month to pay $135,000 to a lesbian couple for emotional suffering after being refused a wedding cake.
• Arlene's Flowers of Richland, Wash., was sued for refusing to create floral arrangements for a gay customer's wedding. The florist lost and has asked the state Supreme Court to hear its appeal.
• Hands On Originals, a Christian outfitter in Lexington, Ky., was sued for refusing to print T-shirts for a local gay pride festival. The county human rights commission ruled against its owner, Blaine Adamson, but a county court this year reversed that decision. Kentucky has no anti-discrimination law.
• Liberty Ridge Farm, a working farm in Schaghticoke, N.Y., was sued after owners Robert and Cynthia Gifford refused to host a lesbian couple's wedding. The state Division of Human Rights ruled against the couple, and the case is now before an appellate court in Albany.
'HARD QUESTIONS'
The Supreme Court's ruling last month that states cannot deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples has motivated both sides to seek additional protections from state legislatures. The author of that opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy, sees nothing wrong with religious believers seeking protection.
"It must be emphasized that religions, and those who adhere to religious doctrines, may continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine precepts, same-sex marriage should not be condoned," Kennedy wrote.
Chief Justice John Roberts and the dissenting justices said those words will be of little comfort when someone with a religious objection pushes up against the Supreme Court's edict.
"Hard questions arise when people of faith exercise religion in ways that may be seen to conflict with the new right to same-sex marriage," Roberts wrote. "Unfortunately, people of faith can take no comfort in the treatment they receive from the majority."
One comfort, perhaps, is the motivation the court's decision lends to the effort to secure religious exclusions.
Quena Gonzalez, director of state and local affairs for the conservative Family Research Council, said the ruling "clearly provides an increased sense of urgency to protect conscience protections on marriage, just like we do on other contentious social issues like abortion."
Twenty-two states have laws barring discrimination based on sexual orientation; 21 have laws protecting religious freedom. Two states, Indiana and Arkansas, enacted religious freedom laws earlier this year. Michigan protected adoption agencies that deny gay couples for religious reasons. North Carolina protected magistrates and others who cite religious beliefs in refusing to marry same-sex couples.
In Congress, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Raúl Labrador of Idaho, both Republicans, are sponsoring measures aimed at protecting individuals and businesses opposed to same-sex marriage. Thus far, the bills are far short of claiming majority support.
And in the days since the high court's decision, some state officials have taken steps to protect religious objectors. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback was the first, blocking the state government from penalizing religious groups that refuse to perform or recognize same-sex marriages.
On the flip side, gay rights groups vow a major push to win non-discrimination laws in states that do not have them. Their latest conquest came earlier this year in Utah, although the law — aimed at employment and housing policies — stopped short of affecting commercial businesses.
The battle resumes today, when Democrats in Congress introduce legislation to ban discrimination against gays and lesbians in federal law, and is likely to continue for years to come.
"It was never about the cake," Charlie Craig's mother, Deborah Munn, wrote on an ACLU blog site. "It was about my son being treated like a lesser person."
“I feel that the United States Constitution guarantees me my freedom of religion, freedom of speech," Phillips says. "It doesn’t say except for when you open your business. ... It’s not just relegated to Sunday morning.”
Follow @richardjwolf on Twitter.
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43b2a1b67ea914e25fa6af94bce6e357
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/23/army-anthrax-shipments-pentagon-army/30154545/
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Pentagon: Poor testing led to Army shipping live anthrax
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Pentagon: Poor testing led to Army shipping live anthrax
In the wake of the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground shipping live anthrax - by mistake - to dozens of labs, the Pentagon has released the report of its investigation.
A Pentagon investigation blames inadequate killing and testing of anthrax specimens among the main causes of why an Army lab mistakenly shipped live spores for a decade that ended up at 183 labs in the USA and abroad, according to a report released Thursday on the military's investigation of the blunders.
"By any measure, this was a massive institutional failure," Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work said Thursday.
Even though the Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah is the nation's "largest producer" of inactivated anthrax for use in biodefense research, the Pentagon's review found Dugway did less testing than other U.S. military facilities to ensure potentially deadly specimens were killed before shipment to defense contractors and university and government labs. When Dugway used radiation to kill a batch of anthrax, it tested only 5% of the material to ensure it couldn't still grow. This small sample size was "prone to error" and failed to detect that not all the anthrax spores had been killed, the report said.
"The development and implementation of ineffective irradiation and viability testing procedures took place over the last decade," the report said, "this represents an institutional problem at [Dugway] and does not necessarily reflect on any one individual."
Even so, Pentagon officials said their review raised questions about why Dugway's scientific staff and leadership didn't recognize they had a problem inactivating anthrax. Dugway's own records, based on its limited testing, showed a 20% failure rate for inactivating anthrax specimens, the Pentagon investigation team found.
"We believe there were indicators that people should have known there was a problem," Work said. He's directed Secretary of the Army John McHugh to conduct a full accountability assessment of those responsible for Dugway's anthrax program.
The Army said it is working to ensure all of its labs are safe. "Secretary McHugh was deeply troubled by the report's findings," said Col. David Doherty, an Army spokesman. He said a "15-6 investigation" will be conducted to determine whether there were any failures of leadership. A 15-6 is a formal investigation that could be a career killer.
The military's ongoing investigation has determined that Dugway sent live anthrax specimens to at least 86 labs operated by companies, academic institutions and government agencies for use in developing tests and equipment to protect against bioterror attacks. Those labs are in the USA and seven foreign countries: Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Italy and Germany. Though no illnesses have been linked to the specimens, at least 21 people who had direct contact with the specimens have been given antibiotics as a precaution.
But some of those labs shared their samples with other researchers. Further tracing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified an additional 97 labs that received live specimens, bringing the total to 183, the CDC said late Thursday.
The Dugway Proving Ground is a major production and testing facility for the military's chemical and biological defense programs. It is located on 800,000 acres about 75 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The inactivated anthrax produced by Dugway is used in the development of tests to detect the presence of the pathogen as well as equipment to protect against exposure to it. The kill process has to be sufficient to ensure the anthrax is incapable of growing, experts say, yet still allow the material to be recognizable as anthrax for use in testing equipment. It's a difficult balancing act, and the Pentagon report notes that anthrax is "an exceptionally resilient organism."
The Pentagon review found that no other military facilities involved in the production and inactivation of anthrax research specimens appear to have mistakenly shipped any live anthrax. Unlike at Dugway, the report said, staff at other military labs were able to routinely identify when they had live anthrax in their irradiated samples. Still, the report raises concerns about a lack of standardized biosafety procedures among defense department labs. It recommends improving the military's programs for killing pathogens and testing them to verify they're dead, enhancing quality assurance at labs and improving scientific oversight.
"We are shocked by these failures," Work said. "I want to stress to you that DoD takes full responsibility for these failures."
The report notes that the "significant differences" in the irradiation procedures and viability testing done for anthrax raises questions about how military labs handle other dangerous pathogens and called for a review of procedures at Defense Department facilities for all "select agent" pathogens. Select agent is the government's term for several dozen viruses, bacteria and toxins that pose significant health threats and have the potential to be used as bioweapons.
An investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has scheduled a hearing Tuesday to examine the effectiveness of federal oversight of labs working with potential bioterrorism pathogens that will focus on Dugway's anthrax mistakes.
Multiple federal investigations were launched in May after a private biotech company in Maryland discovered that a sample of what was supposed to be inactivated – or dead – anthrax sent recently from Dugway was actually still capable of growing and causing disease. The specimen was part of a project to develop a diagnostic test for potential bioterror pathogens.
A June 5 report by lab regulators at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obtained last month by USA TODAY, concluded that Dugway had been mistakenly shipping live anthrax to labs in the USA and abroad for more than 10 years because the facility failed to have effective and standardized procedures for killing anthrax with radiation.
The CDC report cited the Dugway Proving Ground's Life Science Test Facility in Utah with three violations of federal regulations for working with potential bioterror agents and orders the facility to immediately cease all shipments of "inactivated" anthrax specimens.
Dugway scientists used Cobalt 60 gamma radiation to kill or deactivate anthrax specimens before shipping them to government or private labs for further research, the CDC report said. Dugway's standard procedures for irradiating anthrax "did not account for the variable amounts of spores treated in the gamma cell irradiator," the report said. The method used "was not validated using standardized control spore samples at varying concentrations, volumes, and levels of irradiation."
As a result, the CDC concluded, Dugway mistakenly shipped live anthrax at least 74 times from January 2005 to May 2015. Anthrax spores can be potentially fatal if inhaled.
The labs at Dugway have a history of biosafety failures with anthrax: In 2007, they faced potential sanctions from the select agent program for failing to properly kill anthrax with an experimental chemical method – and ignoring test results that indicated the kill process wasn't effective, USA TODAY reported in June. It is unclear why CDC lab inspectors over the years apparently didn't identify Dugway's other ongoing failures in its use of radiation to kill anthrax specimens.
The Army's own anthrax scientists have apparently been aware for years that the military's methods for killing anthrax specimens — then doing tests to verify the kill step was fully effective — were not trustworthy. More than seven years ago, the nation's most infamous anthrax researcher warned military colleagues about the issue. The emails of Bruce Ivins, the Army microbiologist accused in the anthrax letter attacks in 2001, raised concerns that when a batch of anthrax was irradiated that too few samples were tested to ensure all the spores were dead, USA TODAY reported last month. In a 2008 email, Ivins discussed how some think only 10% of an irradiated batch needed to undergo sterility testing, but he'd found at least 50% should be tested because of past irradiation failures.
The Pentagon report released Thursday said that in addition to Dugway, the military has three other facilities involved in the production and inactivation of anthrax research specimens. All are in Maryland: the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center; the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, often referred to as USAMRIID; and the Naval Medical Research Center. The facilities have been under a shipment moratorium since the Dugway issues were discovered, the report says, noting that the Navy facility was not currently involved in inactivating anthrax.
At Edgewood, staffers test 10% of an irradiated anthrax batch to check for any live bacteria, the report said, noting that this is "insufficient for verification of complete inactivation." At USAMRIID, the review found staff tested 10% of an irradiated anthrax batch but noted that a researcher at the facility doing other spore work "chose to conduct viability testing by taking 50% of the preparation as the sample."
The serious and widespread anthrax failures by Dugway emerged this spring as lab safety was already under scrutiny in the wake of several other high-profile lab incidents in 2014 involving mishaps with anthrax, Ebola and a deadly strain of avian influenza became public at the CDC's own labs in Atlanta.
In May, the USA TODAY Network's "Biolabs in Your Backyard" investigation revealed mishaps at research facilities nationwide and found that much of the oversight of labs working with anthrax and other "select agent" pathogens is cloaked in secrecy. More than 100 labs working with these kinds of potential bioterror pathogens have faced enforcement actions since 2003, the newspaper revealed. Five labs have had "multiple referrals" for sanctions, two labs have been kicked out of the program and five others have been suspended. The CDC and the U.S. Department of Agriculture – which jointly regulate labs under the Federal Select Agent Program – refuse to release the labs' names, citing a 2002 bioterrorism law that they say requires the secrecy.
In response to the USA TODAY investigation, key members of Congress are demanding better oversight and accountability of labs, and one investigative committee has told regulators it wants the names of labs that have faced sanctions.
Read USA TODAY's ongoing investigation of safety and security issues at laboratories nationwide: biolabs.usatoday.com
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6ffa16a443e0654ded7a2a75468cae5e
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/23/justice-inspector-general-challenge/30588021/
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Justice IG: Independence undermined by disclosure limits
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Justice IG: Independence undermined by disclosure limits
WASHINGTON — Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz asserted Thursday that the office's central watchdog function has been undermined by a new department legal memorandum that, he said, effectively blocks independent access to sensitive records to complete internal reviews.
The 58-page memorandum issued earlier this week by Justice's Office of Legal Counsel limits disclosure of secret grand jury information, the contents of wiretaps and consumer information to inspector general investigators. Although there is no specific evidence to suggest that such information sought by the inspector general has been ultimately denied, the memo effectively affirms long-standing restrictions that have delayed access to sensitive information, for months in some cases, Horowitiz has said previously.
"As a result of the OLC's opinion, the (inspector general) will now need to obtain Justice Department permission in order to get access to important information in the department's files,'' Horowitz said in a written statement, adding that the memo goes against the oversight authority granted by Congress to inspectors general across the government.
"Congress meant what it said when it authorized inspectors general to independently access all documents necessary to conduct effective oversight,'' Horowitz said. "Without such access, our office's ability to conduct its work will be significantly impaired.''
Horowitz has expressed concern about delays in obtaining information in past high-profile inquiries, including internal reviews of the government's handling of the Boston Marathon bombings, a botched gun trafficking operation known as 'Fast and Furious and in a review of sexual misconduct by Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Colombia.
Earlier this week, Horowitz said in a highly critical audit of the DEA's management of confidential informants that its work was "seriously delayed'' because the agency blocked access until the matter was taken to the DEA's top administrator.
"These kinds of issues are just unacceptable,'' Horowitz said in the DEA report.
Horowitz said Thursday that Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates have "expressed their commitment'' to assist the inspector general in seeking a legislative remedy.
"The department has long held the position that the inspector general should have access to all the information it needs to perform its essential oversight function,'' Justice spokeswoman Emily Pierce said. "Consistent with this view, department leadership has implemented procedures to ensure that the inspector general receives sensitive law enforcement information in a timely manner.''
Follow @bykevinj on Twitter
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7f27466a56a41372d9400417dc2f6d3e
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/28/quest-inclusiveness-undermining-corps-germano/30463249/
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Voices: Marines balance warrior spirit and diversity
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Voices: Marines balance warrior spirit and diversity
Born inauspiciously in a Philadelphia tavern in 1775, the Marine Corps has grown into the country's preeminent 911 force, proving itself in battles from Tripoli to the streets of Fallujah, Iraq.
Along the way the Marines built a legend based on grit and raw courage. It's what propelled them across the beaches of Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal and through Hue City's deadly streets in Vietnam.
Is it now facing a new challenge as America's culture of inclusiveness seeps into the service and threatens to dilute the warrior ethos that has set it apart from the other services for more than 200 years?
Lt. Col. Kate Germano, who headed female recruit training at the
Marine Corps' legendary Parris Island, hopes not.
She was fired from her post recently, triggering a debate over whether she was canned for holding her Marines to the same high standards expected of men. She remains in the Marine Corps but has been placed in another job.
The debate has surfaced at a critical time. The Marines and the other services have been ordered to begin the process of including women in the infantry and other physically demanding jobs by the end of this year.
The Marine Corps said as a leader she had created a toxic environment, alienating her subordinates with her leadership style. She also persistently questioned the Marines' approach to training women, suggesting the corps was too willing to make allowances for females.
The top officers have pledged that standards will not drop as the changes are made. "I promise you that the one thing we will not compromise on is standards," Gen. Martin Dempsey told a group of U.S. servicemen in Baghdad recently.
Perhaps not surprising, it is women already in the service who are most worried about standards slipping.
I get that. I served in the Marine Corps more than 30 years ago. Then, as now, men and women were attracted to the Marine Corps to test themselves. No one wants to see the bar lowered.
Germano refused to accept that women couldn't shoot as well as men and took steps to boost their scores on the rifle range. Women had historically scored low, and Germano believed that the brass just assumed females couldn't shoot as well as men. She proved them wrong. Under her command, scores increased to a 91% qualification rate from historic levels of under 70%.
At Parris Island, she noticed that a row of chairs were placed behind women standing in formation after a nine-mile hike so they could sit down if they were tired out. There were no chairs behind the men's formation. They were expected to stand.
"It was simply expected that the females would fall out of the formation, and fall out they did because there was no set expectation that standing through the ceremony was part of earning the title of U.S. Marine," Germano wrote in an article for the Marine Corps Gazette. The article was rejected after her firing.
"The reality is we don't really have high standards for everybody," Germano said.
She didn't believe women should be cut any slack.
The Marines, particularly the infantry, are proud of their no-frills culture. The Army can have fancy dining facilities. The Marines pride themselves on chowing on field rations and sleeping in the mud. Being called a knuckle dragger is a compliment in the Marine Corps.
The other services may be defined by their equipment and their mission. What sets the Marines apart is something harder to quantify: esprit de corps, a warrior spirit drilled into every recruit before he or she graduates from boot camp.
As an institution the Marines have clung to their values for centuries even as the society they are here to protect changed around them.
It doesn't mean they haven't changed.
A string of recruit abuses in the 1950s and 1960s rightly led to boot camp reforms. Critics worried they would lead to softer training, but today's boot camp turns out smarter and tougher recruits, proving it's possible to reflect a society's changing values without compromising what's central to the Marine Corps.
It's a delicate balance that the Marines have managed to maintain for more than two centuries. But today a drive for inclusiveness could undermine what wearing the eagle, globe and anchor has meant for generations of Marines.
Michaels is a military writer at USA TODAY and former Marine infantry officer.
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557f6448a256797981318d436af7fb54
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/29/feds-iranian-hacker-targeted-vermont-aerodynamics-firm/30860681/
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Feds: Iranian hacker targeted Vermont aerodynamics firm
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Feds: Iranian hacker targeted Vermont aerodynamics firm
BURLINGTON, Vt. — A university student from Iran hacked into the computer system of a Vermont aerodynamics company to steal millions of dollars worth of software, according to federal authorities.
Nima Golestaneh, who will celebrate his 30th birthday Thursday behind bars, has pleaded not guilty to a six-count indictment. The case is being prosecuted at federal court in Burlington by the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and by the local U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The name of the hacked Vermont company is absent from public records in the case. But some filings in the case are being kept secret.
Turkey deported Golestaneh to the United States in February to face the federal indictment, which alleges four felony counts of wire fraud and single counts of computer fraud and conspiracy to defraud a Vermont company.
The indictment accuses Golestaneh of remotely accessing company computers in Vermont without authorization in order to steal a complete copy of the firm’s propriety software between April 2012 and May 2013.
Defense lawyers failed to respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday.
The company sells its units at a cost of $40,000 to $800,000 each, according to the Daily Sabah, a newspaper in Turkey that reported Golestaneh’s removal in February.
The indictment states Golestaneh worked with others — known and unknown to the federal grand jury — to target the Vermont company and others through false pretenses.
A search of federal court records in Vermont shows no other defendant charged, but dozens of cases have been ordered under seal by judges.
At least one court document in the public file remains under seal, and 14 more numbered items are unlisted in the file.
Vermont’s new U.S. attorney, Eric Miller, told the Burlington Free Press there is little he can say about the case he inherited when taking office four weeks ago.
“Although we are unable to provide more detail regarding this pending case, our office has built significant cyber expertise, and we will continue to use that expertise to protect Vermont businesses from computer crimes and to hold accountable those who commit them,” Miller said.
When Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugenia A.P. Cowles requested in December an arrest warrant for Golestaneh and the sealing of all records, she noted “these documents discuss an ongoing criminal investigation that is neither public nor known to all the targets of the investigation.”
She added: “Information contained in criminal indictments, affidavits and arrest warrants may be easily circulated among online criminals.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Conroy agreed to seal the paperwork Dec. 4 until the arrest.
The FBI asked Interpol, the international police organization based in Lyon, France, to label Golestaneh with a “red notice,” which seeks the location and arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition or similar action. It was unclear when he was taken into custody.
During Golestaneh’s February arraignment in Burlington, Conroy ordered him detained pending trial. Conroy ruled there were no conditions that could reasonably ensure Golestaneh’s appearance at court hearings.
Cowles had noted in court papers that Golestaneh was a foreign national who was extradited to Vermont and has no known local ties here.
“He has no known local contacts who could provide supervision for him in the event of release, and he faces significant federal charges in this court, providing incentive to flee,” she wrote.
Golestaneh’s defense team had been expected to file pretrial motions by July 13, but lawyers asked for an extra 30 days due to the complex nature of the charges.
Golestaneh is being held at the Essex County Jail in Lewis, N.Y., and that takes extra time in visiting with him, his lawyers Steven L. Barth and Elizabeth K. Quinn of the Federal Public Defender’s Office wrote in court papers.
Barth and Quinn said the 30-day continuance was needed in part “to finalize a potential resolution to the case.”
The lawyers did not elaborate. Neither responded to phone messages at their office Wednesday.
Barth and Quinn had obtained a 60-day continuance from Senior U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III on May 18.
The indictment notes the unnamed Vermont company’s “primary product is propriety software that assists users in, among other things, aerodynamics analysis and design.”
In order for customers to obtain the software, they must download a locked version and receive a special hardware key or “dongle” with a code to allow access, the indictment indicates.
Part of the scheme was for Golestaneh to gain access to at least two servers, according to court documents. Golestaneh also allowed others to gain access to the servers in an effort to make the intrusions more difficult to trace, the indictment stated.
Golestaneh and friends used various names and emails to mask their identities, the charges maintain.
The Daily Sabah, the newspaper in Turkey, citing the U.S. cybersecurity firm Cylance, reported that Iranian hackers are believed to be behind many major infiltrations of aerospace firms, airports and airlines around the world during the past two years.
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9e9f5da11813bb5e044acb7489169d3b
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/29/michael-brown-death-anniversary/30839421/
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Ferguson preps for anniversary of Michael Brown's death
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Ferguson preps for anniversary of Michael Brown's death
FERGUSON, Mo. — Several new city leaders will be on the front lines in 10 days when the #BlackLivesMatter spotlight returns here Aug. 9, the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's death.
Interim Police Chief Andre Anderson started work July 22, taking a six-month leave of absence from his job at the Glendale, Ariz., Police Department in suburban Phoenix. Interim City Manager Ed Beasley was hired June 9 after working in Glendale from 2002 to 2012.
Both are black, better reflecting the population of this St. Louis suburb of 21,000 residents, which is more than two-thirds African American. Two black City Council members were elected in April, joining one previously serving on the six-member council.
The Missouri Supreme Court also assigned Judge Roy Richter to Ferguson Municipal Court on March 9 after the U.S. Justice Department released a report describing a profit-driven municipal court system, expected to generate a quarter of the city budget through fines and fees, that heightened tensions between the city's primarily white police department and its mostly black residents.
And all of the city officials know that any missteps as protesters mark the anniversary of Brown's death will receive national attention.
"I've asked the police department to adopt four things as we start: We want to embrace professionalism, we want to embrace respect, we want to embrace community engagement and we want to make the community safer," Anderson said.
Just since the start of this year, at least 664 people have died at the hands of police, including at least 174 blacks, according to a Guardian database. The British newspaper has been gathering data through news reports to count deaths caused by law-enforcement officers across the USA.
Protesters say they plan to commemorate Brown's death all weekend.
"The racial disparities in police shootings have caused our community to take a stand for black lives," Kayla Reed of Organization for Black Struggle said in a statement. "One year later we continue to grow and organize to transform a system that has for too long oppressed people of color."
On Aug. 9, 2014, Officer Darren Wilson, who is white, saw saw two black men — Brown, 18, and his friend Dorian Johnson, 22 at the time — walking in the middle of a Ferguson street after hearing dispatchers describe suspects who stole packages of cigarillos from a convenience store several blocks away. Wilson and Brown, who was unarmed, got into an altercation a little after noon that day, and the officer fired 12 shots at Brown, fatally injuring him.
Next month, a silent march will start at 11 a.m. Aug. 9 from the site of the shooting to Greater St. Mark Family Church, about a mile away, according to the Ferguson Action Council, which is organizing a Ferguson Uprising Commemoration Weekend. The group also plans an art event, rap and rock concerts.
City officials say they're planning a jobs fair and other events that weekend and are happy that a St. Louis radio talk-show host enlisted more than 250 volunteers for a cleanup effort this past Monday.
Asked what Ferguson residents can expect Aug. 9, Beasley was optimistic.
"Were hoping for, obviously, (is) a little bit of a different situation" from the protests that turned violent following Brown's death, Beasley said. "They can expect we're going to be very encouraging, supportive, but also make sure the laws are upheld, but making sure people have the right to exercise their civil rights the proper way."
Contributing: The Associated Press
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d0d915f2dabf23160a00e1b6497b4333
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/30/another-toxic-algae-outbreak-feared-lake-erie/30916703/
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Another toxic algae outbreak feared for Lake Erie
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Another toxic algae outbreak feared for Lake Erie
CURTICE, Ohio — Scientists predict one of the most severe outbreaks yet this summer of toxic algae blooms on western Lake Erie — the type that last August disrupted the water supply of 400,000 people in Toledo and southeastern Michigan.
And while the region’s drinking water is safe so far, acres of spreading green muck float around Toledo’s water intake pipe on Lake Erie yet again.
A coalition of conservation groups and Ohio business, farming and government officials took to boats Wednesday, giving reporters and themselves a first-hand look at another summer of algae blooms already spreading on Lake Erie.
“It’s a signal that our Great Lakes region is sliding backwards,” said Joel Brammeier, president of the nonprofit Alliance for the Great Lakes.
“If we lose clean drinking water, our region loses everything.”
Toledo, however, has not experienced problems so far this summer with microcystis algae, which produces a toxin called microcystin that reached alarming levels and prompted a “do not drink or boil” water advisory over the first weekend of August last year.
The algae is fed by nutrients reaching Lake Erie, with a primary source being the Maumee River and its watershed, which stretches through farm and industrial country from Indiana to Toledo. Agricultural runoff is considered a key source of phosphorus, nitrogen and other nutrients helping the algae to thrive when combined with warm temperatures and ample sunlight on the relatively shallow western portion of the Great Lake.
“We have a very serious problem in that we are at the end of this river, and we are the ones being required as a city to do much of the work to clean it up,” Toledo Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson said.
Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced earlier this month that models show this summer could be one of the most severe for harmful algal blooms on western Lake Erie, the second-most severe behind a record-setting bloom in 2011. It is expected to range between 8.1 to 9.5 on the administration’s “severity index,” compared with a 6.5 index rating for last summer’s disruptive bloom. The major bloom prediction was prompted by heavy June rains, which caused significant nutrient runoff into the lake basin.
Since last year, Toledo has implemented improved communications plans to report changing water conditions, as well as more and longer treatment of the lake water coming into its facilities, Hicks-Hudson said.
An agreement by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne to reduce algae-causing pollutants by 40% by 2025 drew praise from environmentalists and policymakers Wednesday, as did laws passed in Ohio tightening agricultural fertilizer-spreading and other operations. But many called for more specifics on implementation to reach the goals talked about since last August.
“Much more needs to be done,” said Ohio Democratic state Rep. Teresa Fedor.
Paul Pacholski, executive director of the Lake Erie Charter Boat Association, said he’s seen conditions on the lake slowly deteriorate since 2003.
“If it wasn’t for the drinking water crisis, we’d still be ignoring the problem,” he said. “Now, it’s not just drinking water; it’s the quality of life all around us.”
Bill Myers, a farmer in Ohio’s Lucas County and president of the county’s farm bureau, said his profession has acted responsibly, both before and since last summer’s algae-caused water crisis.
“Agriculture, as an industry, has stepped up larger than any other contributor in this watershed,” he said.
Further progress needs to include more accurate information on sources of the algae-causing pollution, Myers said.
“I am tired of hearing hypotheticals on where things are coming from,” he said. “We need to know for sure what areas are contributing, and target the highest levels with the quickest response, to get the hugest decrease as fast as we can.”
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cb61cb73f0509947b7c0bfb3e11890e3
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/31/employment-discrimination-lgbt-community-next-frontier/29635379/
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Employment discrimination: The next frontier for LGBT community
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Employment discrimination: The next frontier for LGBT community
Hundreds of advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights gathered on the steps of the Supreme Court on June 26 to celebrate a historic decision to legalize same-sex marriage. After years of legal battles, the higher court put the issue to rest.
But LGBT leaders say that's not all that needs to be done to achieve equality.
In 28 states, it is legal to fire someone based on his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. While there is some federal recourse through civil rights and equal employment claims, there's no national anti-discrimination law to protect LGBT workers from state whims. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits job discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion and nation of origin, but does not extend those protections to LGBT people.
Rep. David Cicilline, a Rhode Island democrat, and Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon democrat, introduced comprehensive legislation on July 23 to address the issue. The bill, called the Equality Act, has 168 co-sponsors in the House, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, 39 co-sponsors in the Senate and encompasses issues of discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, education and jury service.
"Although you can be married Saturday, post your pictures on Facebook on Sunday, you could then be fired Monday," Cicilline told USA TODAY.
Workplace gay rights are likely to take more of the national spotlight in the wake of the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision on June 26 to legalize same-sex marriage. For many people, the Supreme Court decision was just the beginning. Advocates for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community now seek to conquer another frontier: ending workplace discrimination.
Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have laws prohibiting employers from firing employees due to just their sexual orientation or gender identity. In 2014, President Obama signed an executive order to protect LGBT federal employees.
The Rhode Island representative, who also sits on the congressional LGBT equality caucus, said he hopes the bill to find support in both the House and the Senate and among Democrats and Republicans, as it addresses what he says are basic human rights.
"This is an issue about a core American value: the idea of treatment and fairness under the law," Cicilline said.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), an agency that enforces federal laws for employees, has interpreted Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include LGBT individuals under its protections.
In 2012, the EEOC found discrimination against an employee due to his or her gender identity falls under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in a case revolving around a transgender woman who said she was fired from a new job because she was undergoing her transition at the time.
More recently, the EEOC ruled on July 17 that Title VII policies include protections for gay, lesbian and bisexual employees as well. The decision came from a case involving an air traffic control specialist from the Federal Aviation Administration in Miami who said he was not promoted due to his sexual orientation as a gay man.
On the same day the EEOC released the decision, Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican presidential candidate, said he believes LGBT anti-discrimination laws should be left up to the states to decide.
And some states are torn on the issue. In Feb. 2015, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback issued an executive order to remove an existing law that barred workplace discrimination for LGBT individuals in the state. The decision rescinded a 2007 executive order from former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius that established an anti-discrimination law.
In a statement in February, Brownback said his new executive order ensures Kansas employees to enjoy civil rights "without creating additional 'protected classes' as the previous order did."
And other states grapple with the issue as well. An state LGBT anti-discrimination law is pending in South Carolina. Advocates of the bill include Crystal Moore, the town's police chief, who says she was fired due to her sexual orientation and later returned to her post after the community rallied behind her.
Moore used her experience to testify in May 2015 before the South Carolina House Judicial Constitutional Laws Subcommittee about legislation that would ban discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation in the state. The legislation is still pending.
Leaders in the gay rights movement support a national LGBT anti-discrimination law. The Human Rights Campaign, a national organization that advocates for LGBT rights that fought on the front lines for same-sex marriage, supports the newly introduced Equal Act and have worked with businesses around the country to implement anti-discrimination policies.
According to an HRC report, the majority of Fortune 500 companies have already established workplace protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The percentage of these companies with protection policies for sexual identity jumped from 61% in 2002 to 91% in 2014.
"Just because the law doesn’t mandate it, it doesn't mean as a business you can't go ahead and implement these protections," said Deena Fidas, director of the workplace equality program at HRC.
The National LGBTQ Task Force, an organization which promotes civil rights for this community, supports the newly proposed bill as well. But, overall, the goal extends beyond legislation as the fight for rights will always be socially contentious.
"The vision for society, in addition to legal equality, is lived freedom," said Rea Carey, the executive director of the organization. "You should not be fired from your job just because of who you are or who you love, but you should also be able to feel safe in any community that you live in."
Both Fidas and Carey noted the complexity of the issue for LGBT individuals who work at religious institutions. : LGBT workplace discrimination is more nuanced when it comes to religious freedom, exhibited in the case of Kristen Ostendorf. The former English and religion teacher was fired from her job at Totino-Grace High School, a Catholic school in Fridley, Minnesota, in 2013.
In front of fellow faculty members, Ostendorf announced her identity as a lesbian, which resulted in her termination.
But she knew she would be fired. Ostendorf's contract included a signed copy of the Justice in Employment policy, which stipulates that employees at Archdiocesan institutions may be dismissed from their roles if they openly defy the teachings of the Catholic Church.
If a federal law were enacted to protect LGBT individuals, this would not extend to religious organizations or religiously affiliated schools.
"Freedom of religion is protected by the Constitution," said Catherine Conway, a partner who specializes in employment law at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. "Therefore there is a necessary caveat. You can't tell a religious group – even if you disagree with it – to change its beliefs."
Ostendorf said she can't imagine living in a society where the same exemption would be true for individuals with other minority statuses.
"We're not OK with that, but when we discuss sexuality, sexual identity or sexual orientation, it's suddenly OK to discriminate against that," Ostendorf said. "That makes me nervous for society."
For LGBT civil rights leaders, legislation and Supreme Court rulings are baby steps for the community at large. Though some lawmakers may be on their side legally, public attitude may be more difficult to improve.
"Policies and laws are necessary for LGBT equality, but they're not sufficient," said Fidas, director of the workplace equality program at HRC. "That doesn't necessarily mean the water cooler conversation is inclusive."
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452c8d203c947909dc9bb2679499cd06
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/03/dubose-family-pursue-wrongful-death-claim/31078071/
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DuBose family to pursue wrongful death claim
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DuBose family to pursue wrongful death claim
CINCINNATI — The mother of the man shot and killed by a fired University of Cincinnati police officer has asked a judge to allow her to oversee his interests in a wrongful death claim.
No lawsuit has been filed in connection with the July 19 killing of Samuel DuBose by ex-UC Police Officer Ray Tensing. But the estate is being opened in Hamilton County Probate Court "to pursue a claim for wrongful death," according to documents filed Monday.
DuBose's mother, Audrey, has asked to be appointed as administrator of the estate. The family is being represented by attorneys Mark O'Mara, Michael Wright and Al Gerhardstein.
O'Mara gained notoriety as the defense attorney for George Zimmerman, who was charged with murder in Florida for the shooting death of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman was found not guilty in 2013.
The filings in Hamilton County list Samuel DuBose as having 11 children.
DuBose, 43, was killed during a July 19 afternoon traffic stop in Mount Auburn. Tensing, who was fired a week after the incident, has been charged with murder.
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a74edd6cef51f241785f4e5d49b5e790
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/04/2-airmen-idd-after-florida-training-incident/31141921/
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2 airmen ID’d after Florida training incident
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2 airmen ID’d after Florida training incident
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Two Special Tactics airmen have died from injuries sustained in an accident Monday on Eglin Range during military free fall training.
Both airmen were rushed to local hospitals, where they later died.
Tech Sgt. Timothy A. Officer Jr., 32, was a Tactical Air Control Party Airman assigned to the 720th Operations Support Squadron. Officer was a 14-year combat veteran with multiple deployments in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, where he earned multiple medals including two Bronze Star Medals (one with Valor) for bravery. Officer is survived by his parents.
Tech Sgt. Marty B. Bettelyoun, 35, was a Combat Controller assigned to the 720th OSS. He was a 15-year combat veteran with multiple deployments to several combat zones and sensitive areas around the world. Bettelyoun is survived by his wife and five children.
“Tech Sergeants Timothy Officer and Marty Bettelyoun were the epitome of a Special Tactics airman: professional, dedicated and prepared to give their lives in service to their country,” said Col. Wolfe Davidson, 24th Special Operations Wing commander. “Our community has taken a huge loss with their deaths, and they will be sorely missed. They were respected by their peers for not only their ability on the battlefield, but also for their incredible commitment to friends and family. In the face of this tragedy, we will honor their service and their sacrifice, and we request others respect their family’s privacy as they take it one day at a time.”
The cause of the incident is not yet determined. Accident investigations can take up to a year.
The 720th Operations Support Squadron belongs to the 720th Special Tactics Group, 24th Special Operations Wing, at Hurlburt Field.
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b6f6695f8cf0845f7e554338de8a82a2
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/04/celebrity-photog-peter-freed-prime/31143329/
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Celebrity photog Peter Freed's in his 'Prime'
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Celebrity photog Peter Freed's in his 'Prime'
RYE, N.Y. — Photographer Peter Freed has a "war room" in a modern house in Rye whose expansive windows frame a spectacular view of the Long Island Sound.
What is in his war room — which occupies the dining room of his partner Beth Stevens' home — is equally extraordinary.
It is crammed with 120 striking black and white portraits of women — each a "landscape of the face," shot without makeup and reproduced without retouching or Photoshop alteration.
The 8-by-10 prints cover the massive table in the center of the room, with the spillover ringing the room on the floor and the credenza.
The subjects, ranging in age from 35 (model Emily Sanberg) to 104 (Beryl Barnett), are all "extraordinary women in their prime," Freed says.
The photos are the makings of a coffee-table book called Prime: Redefining Women in Their Prime, that the 62-year-old Dobbs Ferry resident hopes will add to the world's understanding of aging.
To make it happen, though, Freed needs to raise $42,000 on Kickstarter by 8:01 a.m. Monday. If pledges fall short, the project won't be funded.
That money, Freed says, will pay for designing, printing, and distributing 1,500 copies of a 200-page 9-by-11-inch hardcover book featuring 65 of his portraits with their accompanying essays.
Freed envisions Prime as more than a book. He calls it a platform to explore the human aging process that encompasses a website and a blog that will feature some of his subjects.
He promises to donate some of the proceeds from book sales to Women in Need, a charity that assists homeless women and their children.
He also promises to give men the Prime treatment.
Prime is a labor of love for Freed, a veteran photojournalist who has snapped people — many of them celebrities — and events for publications ranging from the Denver Post, The New York Times and USA Today to Architectural Digest and Forbes over more than three decades.
A photo in Harper's Bazaar of a woman without makeup sparked the idea.
"I was fascinated by the boldness of it," says Freed. So in 2010 he started photographing women to see if he could capture "that ethereal part of a person that transcends the wrinkles."
It was easy to line up his first subjects.
"In Westchester, especially the Rivertowns, you can't spit without hitting somebody of substance," says Freed, who has shot many celebrities during his career. "I have friends that are Emmy Award winners … I've been in the business awhile, so I know these people."
He recruited former supermodel Christy Turlington and NBC newscaster Natalie Morales as subjects, but deliberately avoided making celebrities his focus. Instead, he concentrated on "engaged and passionate women" who are less well-known.
"There was one woman that got breast cancer and left her Wall Street job to create a line of bathing suits with prosthetic breasts" and another, a healthy eater who was sick and tired of lousy airport food who "started a business to do healthy foods in the airport."
Not all of his subjects were comfortable with his rules: no makeup, no jewelry, and no clothing visible in the shot — his way of presenting his subjects free of class and economic cues.
Freed's origins are fairly humble.
His father, a U.S. Army colonel who served with Gen. George S. Patton, returned to his native Rhode Island after WWII and bought a wholesale toy store. "He wasn’t a playful guy," Freed says. "It was just a business."
Dad's provided an upbringing that Freed describes as "middle-, lower-middle class, on the east side of Providence, kind of just the other side of the tracks."
Freed, whose first job was assembling bicycles at the store, became a photographer by "process of elimination."
"I was always artistic, I could draw and sculpt," Freed says. "I still sculpt, in wood. I tried everything else. I worked construction, I was a chef, I worked in gravel yards, I worked up in Alaska for a year, I taught skiing in Switzerland and Colorado. I did everything else."
Photography presented itself to him while he was working as a ski instructor in Colorado — after two years in Switzerland, where he went to decompress from his deep involvement with the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) antiwar effort during the Vietnam era.
He admits he wasn't motivated by art.
"A friend of mine was taking pictures of people at the top of the mountain, Copper Mountain, and would go down and develop the E-6, the slide film, and sell prints," he says. It was "a lot easier than standing on my feet teaching skiing."
He soon started working for the Denver Post, before returning East to the Westport News.
He later landed a gig shooting for The New York Times and moved into an apartment above a fish market in Manhattan's Chinatown — taking over a share that rising movie star Matt Dillon was giving up.
After two years and a couple thousand assignments for the Gray Lady, he made the leap to magazines before developing his idea for Prime.
New City-based journalist Steven P. Marsh blogs about music and other performing arts at www.willyoumissme.com.
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3376ae48a1e2be15e7eb345b6324484a
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/04/ex-famu-player-police-shooting-trial/31141601/
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N.C. cop defense blames victim for shooting
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N.C. cop defense blames victim for shooting
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The long-awaited trial of CMPD Officer Randal Wes Kerrick began Monday morning in a Mecklenburg County courtroom.
Kerrick is charged with voluntary manslaughter for shooting and killing former Florida A&M football player Jonathan Ferrell in September of 2013.
"Neither officer on the scene when Jonathan is lying face down in a pool of blood attempts to render any first aid, instead Jonathan is handcuffed," said prosecutor Adrain Harris in his opening statement.
He told jurors that Ferrell was not armed and posed no threat when Kerrick shot him 10 times.
"Prior to Jonathan being shot 10 times, Jonathan never made any verbal threats to any of the officers, he never tried to fight, kick, bite, scratch any of the officers."
The defense painted Ferrell as a man out of control, he wrecked his car early that morning and frantically went looking for help.
He banged on Sarah McCartney's door at 2:30 in the morning and startled her.
"He was pacing up and down the sidewalk and he would go back up and kick on the door and would come back out and was yelling. All I could make out he was yelling was 'turn it off,'" she testified.
She believed he was asking her to turn off her burglar alarm, she says he never said anything about being in an accident so she thought he was trying to break in.
"I was terrified, I was terrified, I was worried about my child," said McCartney.
Officer Kerrick was the first responder on the scene; he was joined by two other officers.
Both sides agree that Ferrell headed towards the officers and either jogged or made an all out sprint in their direction.
In opening arguments, defense attorney Michael Greene said that Ferrell's erratic behavior gave Kerrick little choice but to defend himself.
"He doesn't say, 'I need some help, I've been in an accident, could you please help me,' instead he pounds his thighs, he grunts, he paces and when approached by the officer he says... shoot me," said Greene.
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ba7377395cc03ac43f201b3ad3f71608
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/04/park-service-names-4-new-national-historic-landmarks/31144339/
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Park Service names 4 new National Historic Landmarks
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Park Service names 4 new National Historic Landmarks
DETROIT — There's no question that Lafayette Park is a Detroit landmark. Now, there's no question that it's a national one, too.
Detroit's Mid-Century Modern masterpiece on the outskirts of downtown has been named a National Historic Landmark, one of four awarded the designation by the National Park Service Tuesday.
The three other new National Historic Landmarks are:
• First Peoples Buffalo Jump in Cascade County, Mont.
• George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Va.
• Red Rocks Park and Mt. Morrison Civilian Conservation Corps Camp in Jefferson County, Colo.
Lafayette Park is Michigan's 41st National Historic Landmark and one of only 2,564 nationwide. That doesn't count two auto plants that were struck from the list after being demolished, but it does include the SS Columbia, which was towed out of the state last fall. The NPS records on the Boblo boat have not been updated yet to reflect the 113-year-old steamship's change of address.
There are now 10 federal landmarks in the city of Detroit — 11 if you count the other Boblo boat, the SS Ste. Claire, which is associated with Detroit but located in Ecorse and facing an uncertain future. The last Detroit location to receive the nod was the McGregor Memorial Conference Center in February.
Considering that the National Historic Landmarks Program has been around since 1935, today's announcement is a big deal, said William Worden, retired director of the Detroit Historic Commission.
"It's a big deal in terms of public perception, honor and all of that," he said. "It doesn't carry with it any regulatory implications or protections that it didn't already have being on the National Register of Historic Places, but when you look at the list of National Historic Landmarks in Detroit, Michigan and the country as a whole, you see there are very few. It is an honor in terms of how Lafayette Park will and should be seen."
The Michigan State Historic Preservation Office hired Quinn Evans Architects of Ann Arbor to put together the extensive nomination for Lafayette Park as part of its Michigan Modern Project, which set out to document and promote Michigan's Mid-Century Modern resources. The firm started on the process in fall 2012 and turned in the paperwork this past October.
Lafayette Park is the largest collection of works by renowned architect Mies van der Rohe, one of the fathers of the International style of architecture. Indeed, when you think of Mid-Century Modern architecture, what you think of probably looks like a Mies. And when Lafayette Park was being planned, Mies was already quite the architectural superstar.
The first large building to go up in Lafayette Park was the Pavilion Apartments, completed in 1959 and featuring Mies' trademark: lots and lots and lots of glass. The two-story Mies Townhouses are some of the more desirable pieces of real estate in Detroit, routinely fetching $150,000-$200,000 a pop for the three-bedroom, one-and-a-half bath units. The twin Lafayette Towers were added to the skyline in 1963. There are also a number of other buildings in the development designed by other architects, though they all follow Mies' lead.
Though the neighborhood is celebrated today, its past is not without controversy.
The Housing Act of 1949 ushered in the urban renewal programs of the 1950s by giving cities federal money to acquire and clear neighborhoods that were considered slums. And Lafayette Park was the first large-scale clearance urban renewal project in the country, taking out the city's Black Bottom neighborhood. This was one of the poorest areas in the city and home to a large number of African Americans. Their ramshackle homes were razed to make way for the gleaming modern towers that were inhabited by wealthier people.
"Black Bottom was really a thriving community, and the way this project happened, it didn't have any requirements for resettling people," said Ruth Mills, architectural historian for Quinn Evans Architects, who worked on the nomination. "But it was an integrated community from the beginning, not economically integrated but racially integrated."
Indeed, U.S. Rep. "Charles Diggs, (Judge) Wade McCree, Judge George Crockett and others all lived in Lafayette Park," said Ken Coleman, an author and expert on black history in Detroit. "Even Berry Gordy had a condo there by 1965."
This is the first project to receive landmark status for its role in the urban renewal process, partly because, as Mills said, "Lafayette Park was one of the few urban renewal projects that's done it successfully."
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dcec04731722856ac0012352d7e267da
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/04/peanut-throwing-cop-resigns/31142469/
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Cop resigns after tossing food at handcuffed homeless man
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Cop resigns after tossing food at handcuffed homeless man
SARASOTA, Fla. — A Florida police officer caught on video tossing food to a suspect at the Sarasota County jail resigned Tuesday.
Officer Andrew Halpin announced his resignation just moments before his scheduled interview with internal affairs investigators regarding the jail incident.
"I hereby resign for personal reasons effective immediately," Halpin wrote in a letter.
Halpin joined the Sarasota Police Department on Nov. 1, 2006.
Chief Bernadette DiPino was made aware of a video involving Halpin on July 27 and she said she was deeply disappointed by what she saw. After watching the video, DiPino ordered an internal affairs investigation and put Halpin on administrative leave.
The video, which was provided to the Sarasota Police Department by the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, shows Halpin tossing food at a handcuffed man's mouth. The man, an intoxicated homeless man who had been arrested on a trespassing charge July 18, then tries to pick the food up off the floor while Halpin pushes the it toward him with his foot.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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9a9af6e0aad576ed9a3d8311e8ba10e4
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/04/police-cyclist-fault-crash-killed-him/31131545/
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Police: Cyclist at fault in crash that killed him
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Police: Cyclist at fault in crash that killed him
BURLINGTON, Vt. — The final state police report regarding a fatal car-bicycle crash indicates a well-known radiologist broke the law when he made a U-turn in front of a driver whom prosecutors say was driving under the influence.
Dr. Ken Najarian, 60, of Charlotte was killed when his bike collided with a car June 17 driven by Holly J. Gonyeau, 36, of Ferrisburgh on Greenbush Road in Ferrisburgh.
“My conclusion is that the primary cause of this collision was due to the bicyclist (Najarian) attempting to conduct a U-turn in the roadway,” State Trooper Brett Flansburg wrote in a Vermont State Police report obtained by the Burlington Free Press.
Flansburg goes on to write Najarian was in violation of Title 23 VSA section 1139, the provision that covers riding on roadways and bicycle paths. The trooper notes the law states, among other things, “that the rider shall ride as near to the right side of the roadway as practicable.”
The crash happened about 2 feet left of center on the road, the state police said. Flansburg’s findings also are supported by the Vermont State Police Crash Reconstruction Team, the report stated.
Flansburg reported that Najarian and Gonyeau both were headed south when the 5:50 p.m. accident occurred. State Trooper Eden Neary, who interviewed Gonyeau, said she reported she was following another motor vehicle.
“Gonyeau stated the vehicle in front of her went into the northbound lane and passed the bicyclist on the left hand side. Gonyeau advised she drove into the northbound lane in an attempt to pass the bicyclist,” the police report stated.
“Gonyeau advised when the bicyclist turned his head he began to turn his bicycle to the left and attempted to make a U-turn in the roadway,” Flansburg wrote. The bicycle was broadside and about two feet left of the double yellow line when struck, police said.
“Gonyeau stated she had no time to apply her brakes,” Flansburg wrote. She appeared to be within the posted 35 mph speed limit.
She pleaded not guilty July 20 in Vermont Superior Court in Middlebury to a misdemeanor count of driving while under the influence.
Trooper Neary reported Gonyeau said she had one drink — “a can of Mike’s Tea” — after work. Gonyeau also said she was on three medications: Xanax, Sertraline and Nortriptyline, court records show.
Neary said Gonyeau had a preliminary roadside breath test of 0.123 percent blood alcohol content about a half-hour after the crash.
She had 0.087 percent BAC two hours later when she took a court-approved breath test at the state police barracks in New Haven, records show.
Burlington lawyer Ben Luna, who represents the Najarian family, maintained after Gonyeau’s arraignment that police misinterpreted state law. He said Najarian was entitled to his share of the road.
Luna, a former state prosecutor, could not be reached to discuss the new report released Monday.
Judge Robert Mello rejected two motions Monday filed by Luna the day Gonyeau was arraigned. Luna requested that the state police and other law-enforcement agencies be ordered “to hold and preserve all evidence related to the investigation until further order of the court.”
Luna also asked that an independent crash reconstruction expert witness be allowed access to the evidence and be allowed to photocopy or photograph evidence.
Mello ruled Luna failed to provide the court with any legal authority to grant the motions “by a non-party over the objection of a party.”
Luna said a state law allows “victims of crimes to be treated with courtesy and sensitivity by the court system and the state’s attorney’s office.”
He said the estate of Dr. Najarian and his wife “will seek to enforce their civil rights and remedies in this matter.”
Holly Gonyeau and her husband, Keith Gonyeau, a 15-year veteran with the Williston Police Department, went through bankruptcy earlier this year, federal court records show.
Attempts to reach Holly Gonyeau were unsuccessful. Her husband said questions should be referred to her lawyer, Brooks McArthur.
Luna indicated last month the Najarian family has retained Pearson Consulting and Investigations in Burlington to help with the independent review.
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