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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/28/san-diego-synagogue-shooting-attack-based-religion/3608726002/
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When houses of worship become targets of hate: San Diego synagogue latest in a deadly trend
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When houses of worship become targets of hate: San Diego synagogue latest in a deadly trend
When bullets ripped through a peaceful Passover service near San Diego, Chabad of Poway added its name to a chilling list: houses of worship that have come under siege across the globe.
The brazen assault that left one dead and three injured Saturday is one of at least five prominent attacks during worship services in the past year – and the third seemingly religion-fueled incident in recent weeks. It also came exactly six months after 11 people were killed at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
"In the face of senseless hate we commit to live proudly as Jews in this glorious country," Rabbi Yonah Fradkin, executive director of Chabad of San Diego County, said. "We strongly believe that love is exponentially more powerful than hate."
More:'Face to face with this murderer': Security boosted at mosques, synagogues after shooting; rabbi recalls terror
San Diego authorities increased security Sunday at houses of worship after the Saturday attack by a teen gunman killed one woman and injured a rabbi, a child and another man.
More:Her 'final good deed': Woman hailed as hero after taking bullets to protect rabbi during synagogue shooting
Here is a list of other recent religion-based incidents:
Sunnyvale, California
On Wednesday, April 24, a driver plowed into a crowd of pedestrians, injuring eight, in Sunnyvale, California, in what police say was an intentional act because he thought some of the people were Muslim. The FBI opened a hate crimes probe into the incident.
More:Driver speeds into pedestrians, including teen, and injures eight near California shopping center, police say
Victims were waiting to cross the street near a shopping center, while others were walking across the intersection when the incident happened.
Sri Lanka
On Easter Sunday, April 21, more than 250 people, including about 45 children, were killed in a horrific series of suicide bombings in Sri Lanka that targeted churches and hotels.
All seven of the suicide bombers in the attacks were Sri Lankan citizens tied to the local militant Islamist group called National Thowheeth Jama'ath, which was known for attacks on Buddhists.
More:Sri Lanka says militant group National Thowfeek Jamaath is suspected in Easter Sunday bombings
Sri Lankan officials have also said they believed the attack was in retaliation for an attack against Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand. The Islamic State has also claimed responsibility.
Christchurch, New Zealand
On March 15, at least 50 people were killed and more than 20 seriously injured in shootings at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch. Authorities said the assault was a carefully orchestrated terror attack by an Australian self-proclaimed racist, who left a 74-page manifesto against immigrants and used a helmet-mounted camera to capture footage of the killings.
More:Police identify racist suspect in New Zealand's terror attack that killed 50
A haunting video showed the gunman saying, “Let’s get this party started” before walking in the front door of the Al Noor mosque and opening fire.
Jolo, Philippines
On Jan. 27, two suicide attackers detonated bombs minutes apart at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the largely Muslim island of Jolo in the Philippines. The attack left 20 people dead and more than 100 injured.
Witnesses said the first blast inside the cathedral sent churchgoers, some of them wounded, to stampede out of the main door.
More:At least 20 dead as bombs target Jolo cathedral in southern Philippines
Jolo island has long been troubled by the militant presence of Abu Sayyaf, which is blacklisted by the United States and the Philippines as a terrorist organization.
Pittsburgh
On Oct. 27, 2018, a gunman stormed into the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue shouting hate for Jews while Shabbat morning services were being held in the affluent Squirrel Hill neighborhood. The 20-minute attack left 11 people dead.
More:'Your bubble is broken': Tree of Life shooting shatters Squirrel Hill neighborhood
Among those killed: middle-aged brothers, an elderly husband and wife and a grandmother nearing 100. Many had gathered for a naming ceremony, which marks the beginning of a baby's journey in the Jewish faith.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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650c8958f5acb7a85a0f554c80e59a08
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/29/asteroid-strike-nasa-conducts-drill-end-world/3615392002/
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Are we ready for the end of the world? NASA conducts drill for potential asteroid strike
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Are we ready for the end of the world? NASA conducts drill for potential asteroid strike
Today's forecast: the end of the world.
Well, not really, but if a big enough asteroid was on a collision course with Earth, we'd really have something more than scattered showers to worry about.
NASA (not to mention the rest of us) would like to avoid such a catastrophe. The agency is conducting a drill this week to see how we'd prepare if a giant space rock was hurtling toward our home planet.
"Although large impacts are rare, it’s important to be prepared," NASA said in a statement. "That’s why NASA, other U.S. agencies and international partners gather periodically to simulate impact scenarios and discuss the best course of action for disaster mitigation."
The project will play out as a tabletop exercise Monday-Friday at the 2019 Planetary Defense Conference in College Park, Maryland, Space.com said. NASA asteroid experts prepared a fictional scenario in which an asteroid will apparently crash into Earth in 2027.
Space.com said, "They'll talk through how to determine what regions face what risks and how to respond – all in the hopes that if they ever face a similar situation in real life, they'll be ready for it."
To avoid any unnecessary panic, the conference plainly states on its website that "although this scenario is realistic in many ways, it is completely fictional and does NOT describe an actual potential asteroid impact."
Lindley Johnson, NASA's planetary defense officer, said in a statement that "these exercises have really helped us in the planetary defense community to understand what our colleagues on the disaster management side need to know. This exercise will help us develop more effective communications with each other and with our governments."
The drill is part of the "National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan" developed over two years and published by the White House in June 2018.
More:1,000 mph winds, shock waves deadliest effects of asteroid strike
NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which leads the drill, is the federal entity in charge of coordinating efforts to protect Earth from hazardous asteroids.
It's responsible for finding, tracking and characterizing potentially hazardous objects heading toward Earth and issuing warnings about possible impacts, should there be an actual threat.
For more than 20 years, NASA and its international partners have scanned the skies for "near-Earth objects," or asteroids and comets that orbit the sun and come within 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit.
NASA has participated in six of these impact exercises – three at Planetary Defense Conferences (2013, 2015, 2017) and three jointly with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Deflecting an asteroid on a collision course with Earth would have to be done years before the predicted impact. The two most promising techniques NASA is investigating are the "kinetic impactor" (striking an asteroid with an object to slightly slow it down) and the "gravity tractor" (gravitationally tugging on an asteroid by placing a large mass near it).
Fortunately, no known asteroid poses a significant risk of impact with Earth over the next 100 years, according to NASA.
A study in 2017 found the deadliest effects of an asteroid impact would be ferocious winds of up to 1,000 mph and intense shock waves.
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bbaebce45a369857490841390b927bcf
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/29/avenatti-pleads-not-guilty-in-embezzlement-case/3619425002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories
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Former Stormy Daniels lawyer Michael Avenatti pleads not guilty in embezzlement case
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Former Stormy Daniels lawyer Michael Avenatti pleads not guilty in embezzlement case
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Michael Avenatti, the attorney who rose to instant fame representing Stormy Daniels against President Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty Monday to embezzlement and other charges.
Initially accused of a taking $1 million from a single client, the enhanced indictment unsealed earlier this month broadened the charges to include diverting settlements from five clients to pay for his own expenses. Federal prosecutors allege Avenatti was using the money to finance a high-flying, luxury lifestyle.
He is "a man who allegedly failed to meet his obligations to the government, stole from his clients and used ill-gotten gains to support his racing team, the ownership of Tully's coffee shops and a private jet," said Ryan Korner, the acting head of the Los Angeles Internal Revenue Service said in a statement when the enhanced charges were released.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John Early appointed a federal public defender to represent Avenatti as he seeks new counsel, but she barely spoke a word on his behalf. Instead, Avenatti took the podium and said in a slow, clear voice, "not guilty to all charges." He waived reading of the indictment.
On Monday, Justice Department lawyers were mute as Avenatti, dressed in a blue suit and sitting among defendants in jail smocks, made his appearance. Unlike the past when he faced a battery of media microphones outside the courtroom to proclaim his innocence, he left without speaking.
Early ordered Avenatti to appear June 25 for a trial expected to last 15 days.
More:Fallon reveals Stormy Daniels' response to Trump's summit walkout
Avenatti became a legal celebrity in the past year representing adult film star Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, who alleged that she had an affair with Trump and had received a payment to keep quiet about it. With his combative rhetoric, Avenatti briefly entertained the notion of a run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Daniels has said Avenatti no longer represents her.
While facing the 36-count indictment in Santa Ana in Southern California's Orange County, Avenatti is separately facing charges that he tried to extort up to $25 million from shoemaker Nike. He also denies those charges.
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c0609c297fa0ab68f3659e475d60bb2c
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/29/donald-trump-sues-deutsche-bank-capital-one-block-subpoenas/3624327002/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=amp&utm_campaign=speakable
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Donald Trump sues Deutsche Bank, Capital One in 'long shot' attempt to block congressional subpoenas
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Donald Trump sues Deutsche Bank, Capital One in 'long shot' attempt to block congressional subpoenas
In a second lawsuit responding to a U.S. House investigation, President Donald Trump and three of his children have sued a pair of banks to prevent them from providing Trump family financial records to Congress pursuant to subpoenas.
While Democrats cast the lawsuit as another effort to thwart investigations of Trump's activities, the president's private attorneys said they are seeking to protect the "privacy rights" of the president and his family.
Democratic subpoenas "seek information going back decades from anyone with even a tangential connection to the President, including children, minors and spouses," said the statement from Trump attorneys Will Consovoy, Patrick Strawbridge and Marc L. Mukasey.
Trump and three children – Ivanka, Eric and Donald, Jr. – are suing Deutsche Bank and Capital One. In the lawsuit filed late Monday in New York City, Trump asked the court to declare the subpoenas invalid and prevent the banks from complying with the congressional orders.
The complaint is the latest in a series of disputes between the White House and congressional Democrats over investigations targeting the president. Trump filed a federal lawsuit last week to block the Democratic-controlled House from obtaining financial records from his business’ longtime accountant.
'All the subpoenas':Congress and Trump prepare to battle over wide-ranging probes
Complaint:President Trump and his businesses ask a court to block Congress from obtaining accounting records
“The subpoenas were issued to harass President Donald J. Trump, to rummage through every aspect of his personal finances, his businesses, and the private information of the President and his family, and to ferret about for any material that might be used to cause him political damage,” the lawsuit states.
The chairs of the House Financial Services and Intelligence committees, Reps. Maxine Waters and Adam Schiff, respectively, said in a joint statement that the lawsuit was “meritless.”
“This lawsuit is not designed to succeed; it is only designed to put off meaningful accountability as long as possible,” they said.
At least six congressional committees are investigating Trump's personal finances, his inauguration committee, his business practices before he took office and his conduct since assuming the presidency for evidence of corruption or abuse.
Want news from USA TODAY on WhatsApp? Click this link on your mobile device to get started
Trump has told reporters he will resist every subpoena. He has refused to provide his tax returns, breaking from more than 40 years of tradition by presidents and nominees.
"We're fighting all the subpoenas. These aren't like impartial people. The Democrats are trying to win 2020," Trump said last week. "The only way they can luck out is by constantly going after me on nonsense."
House Democrats are particularly interested in Deutsche Bank, a longtime lender to Trump and his company even after a series of defaults and bankruptcies by the real estate mogul.
Congress is seeking a long list of records related to the bank's support of Trump and his family, loans that some critics believe may have been used to launder money from Russia and Eastern Europe.
Deustche Bank has said it plans to comply with the subpoenas.
Trump's lawyer described the subpoenas as "unlawful and illegitimate," and "every citizen should be concerned about this sweeping, lawless, invasion of privacy. We look forward to vindicating our clients’ rights in this matter."
Democratic lawmakers are also seeking documents from Mazars USA, the president’s longtime accounting firm. Last week, Trump filed a lawsuit to prevent Mazars from providing records subpoenaed by the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
Legal analysts noted that during his business career, Trump often filed lawsuits as a way to drag out disputes, seeking to exhaust his opponents.
Stephen I. Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, said the lawsuit against the banks is "such a long shot on the merits" that it's hard to imagine Trump's lawyers think they can win.
"It may be that the purpose is to try to delay these third parties from complying with the subpoenas, perhaps until after the 2020 elections," he said.
Vladeck added, however, that such a long delay "seems unlikely."
Contributing: David Jackson, USA TODAY
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5d090b8038f0c2496d9aec46d710cc08
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/29/fentanyl-overdose-police-accident-touching-drug/3615448002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories
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Cops say touching fentanyl is making them sick. Impossible, doctors say.
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Cops say touching fentanyl is making them sick. Impossible, doctors say.
DETROIT — The stories are scary: They tell of cops across the nation overdosing by accidentally touching fentanyl while searching cars in traffic stops or rendering first aid.
Except toxicologists say the stories also are wrong — and that they create unnecessary panic. Touching a small amount of fentanyl won't cause an overdose, experts say.
"If you could absorb drugs by touching them, why would people bother to inject them?'' said Dr. Andrew Stolbach, a medical toxicologist and emergency physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He's also an expert on the subject of fentanyl exposure.
“Drugs like fentanyl and analogs of fentanyl aren't absorbed through the skin very well at all," Stolbach said. "So brief, incidental contact isn't going to cause somebody to absorb a therapeutic dose, let alone a toxic dose."
So what is fentanyl, anyway?
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that's 50 times stronger than heroin and up to 100 times more potent than morphine. It comes in many varieties or analogs. Carfentanil, intended for use as an elephant tranquilizer, is one of those analogs. It's 100 times stronger than fentanyl.
Pharmaceutical fentanyl is used in hospitals, often in a patch, for patients with extreme pain. But even then, said Dr. Ryan Marino, an emergency medicine physician and toxicologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, it's not easily absorbed .
"Fentanyl patches require putting fentanyl into special liquid vehicles so it can be absorbed through skin, and then sealing them against the skin for 72 hours at a time," Marino said.
"The patches took decades and millions of dollars to develop and are still incredibly slow and inefficient."
What's sold on the street, and what first responders come into contact with, is illicit fentanyl. It's mixed with heroin or other drugs — often without the user's knowledge.
Snorted, injected or sometimes swallowed in pills, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventinon says fentanyl is the deadliest drug in the nation, responsible for more deaths than any other drug.
In 2017, more than 28,000 of the nation's overdose deaths involved synthetic opioids, according to the CDC. In most cases, the opioid involved was fentanyl or one of its analogs.
Lemont Gore, who works with drug users as street outreach coordinator for Unified HIV Health and Beyond in Ypsilanti, Michigan, said he doesn't know of any overdoses from casually touching fentanyl.
"The person that is selling fentanyl ... that person, for the most part, I would doubt is a chemist and they're handling it," Gore said.
On top of that, experts said overdosing from unintentionally inhaling fentanyl is difficult because the opioid doesn't naturally become airborne.
For that to happen, someone would have to scatter it into the air. Or, as Marino said, "You would have to be in some sort of wind tunnel with massive amounts of fentanyl.
"That wouldn't exist in the real world," he said.
The most likely route of unintended exposure would be this: Someone with fentanyl on their hands rubs it into their eyes or nose; mucous membranes absorb fentanyl.
But being that careless would be at odds with universal precautions first responders are trained to take, Marino said.
Police recall supposed fentanyl encounters
Reports continue of law enforcement officers getting sick after touching fentanyl across the country, most recently in Iowa, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Arizona. In Michigan, there were two reports of accidental exposure last month.
A Michigan State Police trooper became sick after getting a substance on his hands during a mid-March traffic stop in Lincoln Park, the agency said.
"We’re pretty confident it was fentanyl just by the way he reacted,'' said spokesman 1st Lt. Mike Shaw.
Signs of a fentanyl overdose include slowed breathing, grogginess or loss of consciousness and pupils that look like pinpoints The trooper experienced difficulty breathing and pinpoint pupils, Shaw said.
When told toxicologists say it's impossible to overdose by touching fentanyl, Shaw said he wouldn't argue with scientists.
"All I know is the trooper was searching the car, was exposed to something, got sick and got two doses of Narcan and recovered," the police spokesman said. Narcan is an opioid-reversal drug.
Another officer became ill while searching a car during a March traffic stop in Saginaw. The contents of a package blew onto the trooper's uniform, according to Lt. Jim Lang, an assistant commander in the area.
The trooper returned to his own car. After 10 or 15 minutes, he felt light-headed and dizzy, Lang said. He experienced double vision. He felt blood rushing to his head.
After two doses of Narcan — one he administered himself — the trooper recovered. Lab results confirmed that the substance in question contained fentanyl, Lang said.
So what's really happening to police?
The American College of Medical Toxicology and the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology issued a paper in 2017 saying the odds of first responders overdosing from inadvertent on-the-job contact with fenanyl is "extremely low."
So, what's happening to these first responders?
"It is impossible to overdose from accidentally touching fentanyl. The odds are zero," said Marino.
"The police are now getting sick — actually sick — because of bad information, though they are not overdosing. But bad information is ... taking a serious toll."
He and other experts believe the reaction of police is being fueled by panic.
"The vast majority of emergency responders that are around fentanyl and fentanyl analogs are experiencing no symptoms at all," said Stolbach.
But for those who do have symptoms, he said, "anxiety associated with being concerned with being exposed probably accounts for many of these symptoms."
Stories about inadvertent overdoses create hysteria, which creates the potential for delays in treatment of people who are sick from drugs.
"I've heard stories where people will wait and they're putting on hazmat suits," Marino said. "And when people aren't breathing, time is kind of critical."
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52142fb03a3057711cbdb8fcfe58d139
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/29/poway-synagogue-shooting-two-congregations-torn-apart/3613812002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories
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One Jewish, one Christian: How the California synagogue shooting tore apart two congregations
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One Jewish, one Christian: How the California synagogue shooting tore apart two congregations
ESCONDIDO, Calif. – Two religious congregations about 12 miles apart – one Jewish and the other Christian – were bound by tragedy over the weekend.
One was a synagogue ripped apart by gunfire; the other was a church the suspected shooter's family regularly attended. What both shared Sunday: an overwhelming sense of grief as worshippers grappled to make sense of the senseless.
Their leaders, a rabbi and a pastor, did their best to show how they are rising above hate.
At the Chabad of Poway, Orthodox Jews had gathered for Passover when a gunman burst in with a semiautomatic rifle Saturday and started shooting, killing a worshipper and wounding the rabbi and two others.
More:Her 'final good deed': Woman hailed as hero after taking bullets to protect rabbi during synagogue shooting
The next morning at the Escondido Orthodox Presbyterian Church, also nestled in the picturesque rolling hills northeast of San Diego, the minister led the congregation in collective soul searching over how a 19-year-old, a member of one of their most respected families, could have allegedly carried out a crime so horrific, one that so flew in the face of the church's values and teachings.
At both congregations, the sense of horror was palpable. Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein endured the "indescribable" experience of staring down the barrel of a military-style rifle during a service in his own synagogue.
“Here is a young man standing with a rifle, pointing right at me, and I look at him. He had sunglasses on. I couldn’t see his eyes. I couldn’t see his soul,” Goldstein said.
More:Security boosted at mosques, synagogues after shooting; emotional rabbi lauds congregation's bravery
Police said that young man was John Earnest, who lived with his parents while attending nearby California State University San Marcos. He had graduated from Mt. Carmel High School, where his father was a teacher, and he was accomplished at the piano and participated on the swim team. Earnest struck many as being unusually reserved.
“I tried to talk to John several times, but he just never said anything. I think it’s not good if someone is as quiet as that,” longtime parishioner Gerrit Groenewold said at the Escondido church.
The pastor of the church, Zach Keele, was so disturbed by the shooting that he called a special session after the main service to talk about it with the congregation. Most worshippers stayed, and they allowed a USA TODAY reporter to witness the moment.
Keele, in emotional tones, prayed for the victims, the police investigators and the Earnest family. He decried the evil that had landed on the church's doorstep. He prayed that the suspect's soul "will be softened."
He reached for consolation, finding little except that the suspect, in a manifesto police said he published before the crime, didn't blame his family for his radicalization, saying it was based on writing he encountered online.
More:1 dead, 3 wounded in shooting at synagogue near San Diego
“There is no superior race. We are all created equal," Keele said. “We are committed to loving all people."
He said he plans to “reach out and express my condolences to the synagogue."
Keele is likely to find a receptive audience for the message in Goldstein. The rabbi emerged Sunday from a hospital – where he lost a finger damaged in the attack – determined that the community would heal.
“Wow, wow, wow,” he said at a rally later Sunday attended by more than 1,000 people. “Look at the love. Look at the warmth. What happened to us, happened to all of us."
Contributing: Amy DiPierro, Rebecca Plevin, The Desert Sun
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0756f3bfa925226cb30aa800e2218a71
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/29/seattle-crane-collapse-human-error-likely-experts/3623629002/
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Deadly Seattle crane collapse was likely caused by human error, experts say
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Deadly Seattle crane collapse was likely caused by human error, experts say
Human error may be to blame for the Seattle crane collapse on Saturday that killed four people and injured four others, experts said Monday.
Based on videos of the collapse, experts believe the workers who disassembled the construction crane were too quick to remove pins holding sections of the crane together.
“The reason this tower fell over is ironworkers and the people working on it did not follow the manufacturer’s instructions for disassembling the crane,” said South Carolina crane accident investigator Tom Barth. “If the pins had been in, that crane would not have fallen over."
The crane's mast fell Saturday afternoon as workers took it apart. Sections landed on top of the new Google building it was working on and other pieces hit six vehicles on the busy street below.
Fatal accident:2 construction workers die in scaffolding collapse near Disney World
Photo gallery:25 most dangerous jobs in the US
The two ironworkers on the crane died; they were identified by King County as Andrew Yoder, 31, and Travis Corbet, 33. Retired city employee Alan Justad, 71, and Seattle Pacific University freshman Sarah Wong, 19, died after the crane crushed them in cars.
Washington Department of Labor and Industries inspectors were expected to finish work at the scene Monday, said Tim Church, a department spokesman. He said it was too early to speculate on a cause.
But Barth, who has been a tower crane operator, inspector and accident investigator for 38 years, said workers did not safely disassemble the tower crane by sections.
Crews shouldn't have taken out the bolts holding together one section to a section below it, Barth said, until they secured line from another crane to the top of the section getting removed.
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Videos show sections of the crane separating cleanly, suggesting crews likely removed pins early, said Dave Kwass, a trial attorney who handles crane accident lawsuits.
“Where I would be starting as an investigator is getting a better grasp of what these two ironworkers who tragically were killed may have done in removing the pins,” Kwass said. “What I’m seeing is a crane that looks as though the pins were popped all the way down to the pedestal section.”
Investigators previously concluded that removing securing pins too early caused a 2012 crane collapse at the University of Texas at Dallas.
The Washington state investigation covers five companies involved in the construction: general contractor GLY, Northwest Tower Crane Service Inc., Omega Rigging and Machinery Moving Inc. and Morrow Equipment Co. LLC and Seaburg Construction Corp.
“GLY and its sub-contractors involved with this tower crane accident are doing everything we can to investigate the incident,” the company said in a written statement. “We are cooperating fully with investigators and assisting the local authorities. At this early stage of the investigation, we have no further details.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
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adc196eefca9897133617e89fe8f86f5
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/30/100-year-old-man-killed-following-florida-crash-sandhill-cranes/3624669002/
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100-year-old man dies after birds crossing the road trigger bizarre crash
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100-year-old man dies after birds crossing the road trigger bizarre crash
MELBOURNE, Fla. — A 100-year-old man died Sunday following a Florida traffic crash involving sandhill cranes crossing a road.
"In my 25 years, I've heard of people stopping for turtles or cows, but I've never seen this, a fatality involving sandhill cranes," said Lt. Kim Montes, a spokeswoman for the Florida Highway Patrol, the agency investigating the deadly Melbourne crash.
A specially equipped 2016 Chrysler Van — fitted for the driver who is paraplegic — was traveling west approaching a 2010 BMW and a 1996 Toyota Avalon. Both the BMW and the Avalon were stopped in the westbound lane as a family of sandhill cranes began crossing the busy roadway.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers said that Suzanne Clark of Melbourne, the 39-year-old disabled driver of the van, was approaching the BMW when Clark suddenly moved to the right to avoid the car. Troopers said Clark, who then spotted the cranes in the roadway, then veered back into the left lane, striking the rear of the BMW. The BMW was then pushed into the back of the Toyota Avalon.
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The van then also struck the rear of the Avalon. The centenarian, identified as Clark's grandfather, Robert Schantz of Osprey, was a passenger in the van. The Osprey, Florida, man suffered a severe leg injury that required a tourniquet, Montes said. Brevard County paramedics arrived within moments and treated the man. Schantz was later pronounced dead at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne.
A total of five people were transported to area hospitals, Montes said, but none of the drivers was seriously injured. The birds — two adults and one baby sandhill crane — were not injured.
An investigation is ongoing.
Follow J.D. Gallop on Twitter: @JDGallop
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478ce34f38d9d6d78d85de0c44a8ab87
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/30/college-admissions-scandal-davina-bruce-isackson-plead-guilty-varsity-blues-ucla-usc/3625428002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories
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Couple who paid $600K to get kids into UCLA, USC pleads guilty in college admissions scandal
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Couple who paid $600K to get kids into UCLA, USC pleads guilty in college admissions scandal
BOSTON — A wealthy California couple pleaded guilty to charges Wednesday morning in Boston federal court for allegedly paying more than $600,000 in bribes to get their daughters accepted into college.
Bruce and Davina Isackson, of Hillsborough, California, became the first parents in the nation's college admissions cheating scandal to plead guilty in court. A dozen additional parents, including actress Felicity Huffman, have signed plea agreements with the Justice Department but await court dates later this month before their guilty pleas are official.
Federal prosecutors say the Isacksons paid Rick Singer, the admitted mastermind of the cheating scheme, through stock transfers between 2015 and February 2019 to get their older daughter into the University of California at Los Angeles and their younger daughter into the University of Southern California.
The couple last year also inquired about engaging in the scheme for their son, prosecutors say.
The Isacksons, represented by different attorneys, were seated at separate tables in the courtroom. U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris asked each whether they understood that their guilty pleas would mean waiving a trial by jury, the ability to appeal their sentence and other constitutional rights.
"Yes, your honor," both said when asked whether they plead guilty to the charges.
More:Felicity Huffman returns to court May 13 to plead guilty in college admissions scam
The Isacksons, who last month said they are "profoundly sorry" for their actions, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. Bruce Isackson, the head of Bay-area real estate firm WP Investments, also pleaded guilty to money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. for deducting the payments from their taxes as charitable contributions.
In exchange for reduced sentences and no additional criminal charges, the Isacksons have also agreed to cooperate with prosecutors to provide "substantial assistance" in the investigation or prosecution of another person who has committed a potential crime.
The couple faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the mail fraud charges, and Bruce Isackson faces an additional maximum of 20 years for money laundering and five years for tax fraud. But the prosecution has recommended the "low end" of sentencing guidelines, which prosecutors said would mean between 37 and 46 months of prison time for Bruce Isackson and between 27 and 33 months for Davina Isackson.
Their sentencing date is July 31. As the couple exited the courthouse to their car, they and their attorneys declined to comment.
The government also recommended that Bruce Isackson receive a $150,000 fine, 12 months of supervised release, and pay a restitution to the Internal Revenue Service totaling $139,509, as well as an unspecified forfeiture amount. Prosecutors have suggested similar penalties for Davina Isackson.
More:Former Texas tennis coach pleads guilty in court in college admissions scandal
Although Saris accepted the plea agreements, the judge said she's "not sure about every theory" laid out by the government as it relates to each of the counts. She seemed to question the U.S. attorney's rationale in charging the couple with the mail fraud charges, in particular, but ultimately decided there's "sufficient evidence" to accept the agreement.
Still, she said a further review of the charges could be relevant when it comes to sentencing, which she's asked the court's probation department to look at in a report.
“There’s some thorny issues here. This is not a straightforward case," Saris said, adding that the defendants' sentence "may or may not be consistent with the plea agreement.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Wright traced the couple's participation in the scheme.
She said the Isacksons first alleged bribe payment, $250,000, was made to Singer's sham nonprofit, The Key Worldwide Foundation, in July 2016 after their older daughter was accepted into UCLA as a student-athlete. Prosecutors say a sports marketing firm controlled by UCLA's head men's soccer Jorge Salcedo, was paid $100,000 by Singer to designate her as a soccer player. She said Salcedo coordinated with staff on the women's soccer team.
Although the daughter – who has been identified as Lauren Isackson – played soccer, Wright said she lacked the skill of a "recruitable player."
The Isacksons had originally pursued a similar arrangement to get the same daughter into USC as a soccer recruit, prosecutors say. But she was diverted into the regular admissions process at USC because of a "clerical error." Prosecutors say that after this happened, former USC head women's soccer coach Ali Khosroshahin – at Singer's request – forwarded the student's fake soccer profile, transcript and test scores to Salcedo at UCLA.
Singer's nonprofit gave Khosroshahin, who last coached at USC in 2013, a check totaling $25,000 for his role, prosecutors say. Salcedo and Khosroshahin have both pleaded not guilty to racketeering charges.
Davina Isackson thanked Singer in an email the day after the daughter was admitted as a student-athlete into UCLA, according to the Justice Department.
"I know it has been a rough ride but I thank you from the bottom of my heart and soul for your persistence, creativity and commitment towards helping our (daughter)," she allegedly wrote to Singer on June 29, 2016.
More:Two more defendants agree to plead guilty in college admissions bribery case
Two years later, prosecutors say that the Isacksons paid Singer's Key Worldwide Foundation an additional $250,000 in April 2018 for working to get their younger daughter admitted to USC as a rowing student even though she was not competitive in rowing.
The scheme for the younger daughter began in January 2017, according to prosecutors, when the Isacksons got approval by the ACT for her daughter to take the test with extended time and over successive days.
Prosecutors say Mark Riddell – a former private school counselor from Florida who has already pleaded guilty in the scandal – flew to Los Angeles on June 9, 2017, and corrected the daughter's answers on the ACT test. The daughter would score a 31 out of 36.
Prosecutors say Singer later sent the fraudulently obtained test score and transcript to Donna Heinel, a senior associate athletic director at USC with the message, "Another crew girl." They say Singer also directed Laura Janke, a former women's soccer assistant coach, to create a fake athletics profile for the daughter. The profile listed a number of falsified crew honors.
Riddell pleaded guilty last month to mail fraud and money laundering. Janke has agreed to plead guilty to racketeering charges and heads to court later this month. Heinel has pleaded not guilty to racketeering charges.
Prosecutors say that the Isacksons paid Singer through shares of stock that were transferred to the sham nonprofit and falsely classified as charitable gifts: 2,150 shares of Facebook with a value of $251,249 in July 2016; shares of unidentified stock valuing $101,272 in July 2017; and shares of unspecified stock valuing $249,420 in April 2018.
In all, seven out of the 50 defendants – Singer, Riddell, three college coaches and now two parents – have pleaded guilty in court in the sweeping college admission case.
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09927b77f0e6eafeb648168fcb3089da
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/30/iowa-flooding-mississippi-river-davenport/3636818002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories
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Davenport, Iowa's 3rd-largest city, floods after temporary barrier fails to hold back Mississippi River
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Davenport, Iowa's 3rd-largest city, floods after temporary barrier fails to hold back Mississippi River
DES MOINES, Iowa – The third-largest city in Iowa abruptly joined the ranks of the state's regions ravaged by muddy floodwaters this spring when the Mississippi River rushed into downtown Davenport on Tuesday afternoon.
The HESCO barriers holding back floodwaters from the river failed, local media reported, spilling fast-moving waters into the eastern Iowa city with a population of 100,000. The inundation was so sudden that emergency responders had to rescue people from buildings.
Concern about Mississippi flooding, driven by snowmelt and heavy rain, has been high for weeks, but the danger spiked again this week after easing somewhat earlier in April.
"It was just the one barrier, so we're not expecting the flooding to spread beyond what we're seeing now," Davenport Public Works Director Nicole Gleason told the Associated Press on Tuesday. "That could change with heavy rain."
Gleason said crews and volunteers scrambled Tuesday afternoon to fill sandbags for other downtown businesses looking to keep the floodwaters out of their buildings. No injuries have been reported.
This season has been marked by major flooding disasters across Iowa. Until now, they had been mostly along the Missouri River and Interstate Highway 29 corridor and in spots across northern and north-central Iowa.
Gov. Kim Reynolds, in a statement released Tuesday evening, pledged to “make any necessary resources available” for eastern Iowa.
“Flooding will likely worsen tomorrow so please remain vigilant, follow directions from local officials and law enforcement, and be prepared to evacuate if necessary,” Reynolds said.
Forecasters predict the Mississippi at the Rock Island, Illinois, Lock and Dam will crest Wednesday afternoon at 22.3 feet, just missing the record crest of 22.63 feet set in July 1993.
The National Weather Service says more than an inch of additional rain will fall by Thursday afternoon.
The failed barrier had held against the tremendous pressure of the rushing river waters since mid-March, said Kurt Allemeier, Davenport city spokesman.
“Our city engineer said they had never had to withstand waters that tall for that long,” Allemeier said.
Live video recorded by WQAD-TV meteorologist Eric Sorensen showed cars floating at Second Street and Pershing Avenue.
Water came up to the rooftops of some cars while car alarms wailed in the video. Floodwater temperatures were estimated to be at about 40 degrees.
Davenport Public Works officials, police, firefighters and other first responders pushed crowds back as they worked to evacuate businesses and apartment buildings downtown.
Flat-bottomed boats slid off the backs of pickup carriers as rescue efforts began Tuesday afternoon.
A crestfallen Sorensen, the WQAD meteorologist, said, “Downtown Davenport has worked so hard … for 1993 to happen again.”
Sorensen referred to historic floods in 1993 that inundated much of the state.
Those floods were particularly punishing along the Mississippi River from the Quad Cities and into Missouri.
“This is exactly what ’93 looked like,” Sorensen said. “This is really something, you guys. I’m at a loss. All of our fighting to keep that river back. Everybody’s businesses here are going to go. This is a great place. Man, Davenport is a great place. … This is just something.”
Follow Daniel P. Finney on Twitter: @newsmanone
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cde63c3df354222b8b37e6331e9f9074
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/30/swarthmore-suspends-fraternity-following-outrage-rape-attic-document/3634109002/
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Fraternities suspended after document referencing 'rape attic' sparks protests at Swarthmore
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Fraternities suspended after document referencing 'rape attic' sparks protests at Swarthmore
Fraternities at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania have been suspended following days of outrage over leaked documents featuring racist, homophobic and misogynist language, including references to a “rape attic.”
The redacted 116-page documents, first published by student-run news outlets The Phoenix and Voices, appear to document Phi Psi fraternity activities from 2010-2016 including fraternity "meeting minutes."
Minutes from 2013 refer to the school's other fraternity, Delta Upsilon, saying, "Your parties suck, you have both a rape tunnel AND a rape attic (gotta choose one or the other).”
The documents include other jokes about sexual violence; derogatory comments about women, minorities and the LGBT community; pornography and descriptions of hazing activities.
University at Buffalo student dies:18-year-old dies 6 days after injury in potential hazing
Campus sexual assault:Students accused of sexual assault are suing colleges — and winning most of the time
Dozens of students have been protesting the Phi Psi chapter at the private liberal arts school in suburban Philadelphia since Saturday. Demonstrators held a sit-in at a building owned by the college and leased to the fraternity used mainly for Phi Psi parties and other social activities.
Organizers with the Coalition to End Fraternity Violence released a statement in Voices demanding the lease be ended, saying "there is no question about whether the fraternities are disproportionately racist, homophobic, and sexually violent."
Want news from USA TODAY on WhatsApp? Click this link on your mobile device to get started
"The violence, harm, bigotry, and exclusion of 2013 is the violence, harm, bigotry, and exclusion of 2019," the statement continued. "The hazing tasks have stayed the same, and so have the attitudes of entitlement and impunity."
President Valerie Smith announced Monday that all fraternity activity at the school is suspended pending the outcome of an independent investigation.
“I absolutely condemn the language and actions described in the documents from 2013-16. What is contained within those pages is vulgar and deeply offensive to all of us,” Smith wrote in a statement. “The racism, misogyny, and homophobia described within them is antithetical to the values of the College and violates the student code of conduct as well as basic decency.”
She added that a task force created last year to examine social life on campus, including Greek life, will deliver its recommendations by Friday.
This is not the first time the fraternity, which is not affiliated with a national organization, has faced allegations of misconduct. Phi Psi was suspended in 2016 for violating Swarthmore's alcohol and drug policy, according to the Associated Press, and it reopened for parties a year ago.
A Tumblr titled "Swat Fraternities" has posted dozens of anonymous first-or second-hand accounts of sexual assault, racism, homophobia and other inappropriate behavior that occurred at fraternities between 2015 and 2019.
Callen Rain, a former member of Phi Psi, wrote an op-ed in The Phoenix describing the failures of fraternities to hold members accountable for misconduct and calling for their removal from campus.
Hazing death:First jail terms issued in Penn State fraternity hazing death of Timothy Piazza
Fraternity suspended:University of Georgia fraternity suspended after racist video circulates online
"I can confirm these are not isolated instances but come from a culture that pervades this institution," Rain wrote. "During my time at Swarthmore, the leadership of Phi Psi consistently failed to expel members of the group or otherwise sanction them for their behavior, which primarily took the form of sexual violence, and homophobic and misogynistic language."
Phi Psi fraternity members released a statement on April 17 saying they “wholeheartedly condemn the language of the 2013 and 2014 notes, as they are not representative of who we are today.”
“All our current brothers were in high school and middle school at the time of these unofficial minutes,” the statement continued. “And none of us would have joined the organization had this been the standard when we arrived at Swarthmore.”
Hazing death:Father of UC Irvine freshman blames 'fraternity hazing' for son's death
Frat brothers arrested:Police: DKE frat members arrested for hazing, urinating upon LSU pledges
Contributing: The Associated Press
Follow N'dea Yancey-Bragg on Twitter: @NdeaYanceyBragg
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a99b65039745c74dd7a3dd5a0c6e81b9
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/30/trystan-terrell-unc-charlotte-shooting-suspect-uncc/3636575002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories
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UNC Charlotte shooting suspect is a 22-year-old former student who majored in history
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UNC Charlotte shooting suspect is a 22-year-old former student who majored in history
GREENVILLE, S.C. – A 22-year-old man has been identified by police as the suspect in a deadly shooting on a college campus in North Carolina.
Trystan Andrew Terrell is facing pending charges after a shooting Tuesday left two people dead and four people injured at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is in custody.
The suspect was "not somebody ... on our radar" prior to Tuesday's shooting," UNC Charlotte Police Chief Jeff Baker said at a news conference.
Terrell was a history major at UNC Charlotte, most recently enrolled in fall 2018, the same semester he transferred to the school, according to the university's advising system called Connect.
More:What we know about UNC Charlotte shooting
More:Rapper Waka Flocka Flame 'safe' after UNC Charlotte shooting, cancels campus concert
Police were not searching for additional suspects as of Tuesday night, according to a press release from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
Terrell was located by the UNC Charlotte Police on scene and was initially transported to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police headquarters to be interviewed by detectives, the police department said in a statement.
Terrell, who was born in Texas, is a registered voter in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, according to his voter registration records.
Terrell's grandfather, Paul Rold of Arlington, Texas, told the Associated Press on Tuesday night that Terrell and his father moved to Charlotte from the Dallas area about two years ago after his mother died in 2011.
Terrell taught himself French and Portuguese with the help of a language-learning program, Rold said. He had never shown interest in guns or other weapons, his grandfather said, and the news that he may have been involved in a mass shooting was stunning to him.
Rold learned of the deadly UNC Charlotte attack from the AP reporter.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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2d48f0bc2c6ed10271eae7310e773e8e
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/30/unc-charlotte-shooting-latest-campus-shooting/3635110002/
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UNC Charlotte is latest in a string of North Carolina campus shootings
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UNC Charlotte is latest in a string of North Carolina campus shootings
At least two people were killed in a shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte campus on Tuesday.
Since 2014, there have been at least seven other shootings on or near North Carolina colleges and universities.
More:Here's what we know about the University of North Carolina at Charlotte shooting
More:Rapper Waka Flocka Flame 'safe' after UNC Charlotte shooting, cancels campus concert
More:The University of North Carolina at Charlotte: What to know about the campus
The three most recent shootings on university campuses across the nation:
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0660a208110dca1e851c7dc4780908e8
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/01/swarthmore-fraternities-disband-rape-attic-document/3646983002/
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Swarthmore fraternities disband after student protests over document referencing 'rape attic'
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Swarthmore fraternities disband after student protests over document referencing 'rape attic'
Two fraternities at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania have disbanded following days of outrage over leaked documents featuring racist, homophobic and misogynist language, including references to a “rape attic.”
Phi Psi fraternity decided to disband Tuesday "after a week of deliberation," according to a Facebook post from the group.
"The content of the documents released is unacceptable, and we understand the long-term impact of the documents on our fraternity’s culture as a toxic element that cannot continue to exist on Swarthmore’s campus," the statement read.
Phi Psi and the college's only other fraternity, Delta Upsilon, were suspended Monday, days after student-run news outlets The Phoenix and Voices published redacted 116-page documents that appeared to document Phi Psi fraternity activities from 2010-2016 including fraternity "meeting minutes."
Minutes from 2013 refer to Delta Upsilon, saying, "Your parties suck, you have both a rape tunnel AND a rape attic (gotta choose one or the other).”
The documents include other jokes about sexual violence; derogatory comments about women, minorities and the LGBT community; pornography and descriptions of hazing activities.
The members of Delta Upsilon "unanimously" decided to disband after listening to the concerns of the campus community, according to a statement.
Fraternities suspended:Leaked documents referencing 'rape attic' sparks days of protests at Swarthmore
18-year-old student dies:University at Buffalo student dies 6 days after injury in potential hazing
"We hope that our former house will provide a space that is inclusive, safe, and promotes healing," the group said in a Facebook post.
The release of the documents sparked several days of protests at the private liberal arts school in suburban Philadelphia, including a sit-in at a building owned by the college and leased to the fraternity used mainly for Phi Psi parties and other social activities.
"DU and Phi Psi have disbanded in a testament to the power of survivor-led student organizing and direct action," the protesters said in a statement Tuesday night. "They made the right decision, even as the College refused to. Our work is not finished yet."
President Valerie Smith said Wednesday that although there is no evidence any current students participated in the behavior described in the documents, an independent investigator will still conduct a review. She noted that a task force created last year to examine social life on campus, including Greek life, will deliver its recommendations by Friday.
"Still, as a community, we have much healing to do," Smith said in a statement. "Without question, those materials provide a vivid account of deeply disturbing, unacceptable behaviors and practices. They have brought deep pain to our community, and they are antithetical to all that our community values."
Freshman dies of alcohol poisoning:Father of UC Irvine freshman blames 'fraternity hazing' for son's death
Lawsuit:All-male fraternities at Yale should allow women
Contributing: The Associated Press
Follow N'dea Yancey-Bragg on Twitter: @NdeaYanceyBragg
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0e4edb69b216b637707e6c5e375a0a1c
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/01/unc-charlotte-shooting-suspect-victims-campus/3637633002/
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UNC Charlotte gunman intentionally chose building for attack, police say
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UNC Charlotte gunman intentionally chose building for attack, police say
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The gunman who killed two students and wounded four others at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte didn't seem to be targeting anyone in particular but did choose the building to carry out his attack on purpose, authorities said Wednesday.
Former UNCC student Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, has been formally charged with murder, attempted murder and other offenses related to Tuesday's shooting during a class on the last day of classes before final exams.
Students were in class to make end-of-year presentations when the suspect started firing off a pistol, killing Ellis R. Parlier, 19, of Midland, North Carolina, and Riley C. Howell, 21, of Waynesville, North Carolina, officials said.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said the bloodshed would have been worse if not for Howell tackling the gunman, getting fatally shot in the process.
“You’re either going to run, you’re going to hide and shield, or you’re going to take the fight to the assailant,'' Putney said. "Having no place to run and hide, he did the last. But for his work, the assailant may not have been disarmed. Unfortunately, he gave his life in the process. But his sacrifice saved lives.”
Police disarmed and apprehended Terrell in the same room where shots were fired, UNCC Police Chief Jeff Baker said. Officers who were assembling nearby for a concert rushed to the classroom building and arrested the gunman.
He said Terrell was "not somebody ... on our radar" before the shooting.
Putney said he promised the father of one of the victims that his detectives would do everything possible to find a motive for the assault, which has not been revealed.
“I just went into a classroom and shot the guys,” Terrell told reporters Tuesday as officers led him in handcuffs into a law enforcement building.
The injured students were identified as Rami Alramadhan, 20, of Saihat, Saudia Arabia; Sean Dehart, 20, of Apex, North Carolina; Emily Houpt, 23, of Charlotte, and Drew Pescaro, 19, also of Apex.
Pescaro is a sportswriter at the school newspaper, Niner Times, which tweeted late Tuesday that he was out of surgery and in stable condition.
Chancellor Philip Dubois said all four injured students are expected to recover.
The shooting took place during a class on the anthropology and philosophy of science, according to a message on what appeared to be the Twitter account of the instructor who witnessed the attack. Adam Johnson wrote that teams of students were delivering their presentations when the gunman opened fire.
“Yes, there was a shooting in my class today,” Johnson wrote. “My students are so special to me and I am devastated.”
Johnson declined to comment further Wednesday.
Terrell's grandfather, Paul Rold, said his grandson has not been allowed to speak to his father or a lawyer. Rold, of Arlington, Texas, says Terrell is on the autism spectrum but “clever as can be” and showed no interest in guns.
According to Putney, the weapon used in the shooting was purchased legally.
What we know:University of North Carolina at Charlotte updates: Who are the victims? The suspected shooter?
The suspect:UNC Charlotte shooting suspect is a 22-year-old former student who majored in history
Terrell, who was booked in jail around 5 a.m., was a history major at UNCC, where he transferred in fall 2018. School spokeswoman Buffy Stephens said Terrell withdrew from UNCC earlier this year
The Charlotte Observer reported he had no prior arrest record.
Born in Texas, Terrell is a registered voter in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Terrell and his father moved to Charlotte from the Dallas area about two years ago after his mother died, Rold told The Associated Press.
A campus vigil for the victims was planned for Wednesday evening, and the governor vowed a hard look to see what can be done to prevent future attacks.
"A student should not have to fear for his or her life when they are on our campuses,” Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper told reporters. “Parents should not have to worry about their students when they send them off to school. And I know that this violence has to stop. … In the coming days we will take a hard look at all of this to see what we need to do going forward.”
The shooting prompted a lockdown and caused panic across campus. Aerial shots from local television news outlets showed police officers running toward a building, while another view showed students running on a campus sidewalk.
Sophomore Devin Williams said the campus “usually feels relatively safe.”
Williams first found out about the active shooter through social media and received an emailed campus alert a few minutes later.
He was grateful for the speed of the police response.
“They were on the ball, that is the best way I can put it,” Williams said. “They came out incredibly quick, started securing areas, getting everyone safe.”
“Just loud bangs," said Antonio Rodriguez, 24, who was visiting campus for his friend’s art show. "A couple loud bangs and then we just saw everyone run out of the building, like nervous, like a scared run like they were looking behind."
Nikie Mayo reports for the (Anderson, South Carolina) Independent Mail; Mollie Simon for the Greenville (South Carolina) News; Joey Garrison for USA TODAY
Shooting in North Carolina:UNC Charlotte's 'worst day': Former student kills 2, injures 4 in shooting at North Carolina university
Other shootings on campus:UNC Charlotte is latest in a string of North Carolina campus shootings
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35103cf9251ce9de31eca281b8ef11eb
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/02/davenport-flooding-iowa-mississippi-river-record/3657709002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories
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Mississippi River floodwaters at historic level – and rising – in Davenport, Iowa
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Mississippi River floodwaters at historic level – and rising – in Davenport, Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa – Amid historic flooding in July 1993, the Mississippi River near Davenport rose to its highest level ever: 22.63 feet.
That record is no more.
The river hit 22.64 feet shortly before noon Thursday, the National Weather Service reported, and the water continues to rise.
The river is expected to reach 22.7 feet by Friday, the weather service said. Even with a dry weekend, it's not projected to fall below 22 feet until late Sunday.
Also on Thursday, authorities said they had begun pushing sewage back into rivers. The wastewater plant in Davenport has reached capacity, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources signed off on the sewage diversion to prevent backups in surrounding cities, according to Scott County Emergency Management.
"Officials are trying to find other relief mechanisms and will employ them as soon as possible," the agency said in a news release.
More:More storms brewing Thursday after floods, tornadoes hit central USA
Until then, residents are being encouraged to stay out of and away from the possibly contaminated water.
Several blocks of Davenport remain inundated with flood water after a HESCO barrier breached on Tuesday afternoon. Businesses and residents had little warning before the water rushed into downtown streets and buildings.
Access to those buildings remained mostly by boat Thursday. The city's public works director has said vehicles, basements and ground floors will mostly remain submerged until the river recedes.
Thunderstorms brought more rain Thursday morning, causing run-off to worsen the situation. The extra rain is adding pressure to local infrastructure, officials said Thursday.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is scheduled to meet with Quad Cities government officials and tour flood damage Friday. Her disaster proclamation Wednesday for Clinton County means that 61 of Iowa's 99 counties now have been designated as disaster areas by state or federal officials, making money and other resources available for recovery in those counties.
Unusually high snowmelt and untimely heavy rainfall have been culprits for widespread flooding this spring in Iowa, particularly on the western and now eastern edges of the state.
Dry weather is forecast for the Quad Cities area Friday and Saturday, but more showers are possible early next week.
An emergency operation center opened Tuesday and will remain for the foreseeable future. Local officials and volunteers are coordinating with health experts and the U.S. Coast Guard, among other agencies, said David Donovan, the county emergency management coordinator.
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f098c0104865c93a339e836dab883de8
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/02/ellen-pao-of-project-include-startups-can-fix-techs-diversity-problem/3623425002/
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Sorry, Facebook and Google, Ellen Pao says startups will fix Silicon Valley's diversity problem
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Sorry, Facebook and Google, Ellen Pao says startups will fix Silicon Valley's diversity problem
SAN FRANCISCO – In 2013, Harry Glaser and Tom O’Neill started hiring for their new company Periscope Data from their professional networks. They knew they had a problem when “we got up to be four or five white men” in the company, said Glaser, CEO of the data analytics and visualization software firm.
“We want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem in the industry," he said.
So they took a hard look at their company's culture, dialing back alcohol consumption and playing video games at work, moving up a standing meeting to 4 p.m. from 6 p.m. to accommodate people with families and banning the use of terms like “rock star” in job posts. And, in 2016, Glaser joined a new program offered by Project Include to help startup CEOs boost diversity and inclusion.
The nonprofit venture led by diversity advocate Ellen Pao has quickly become one of the most visible efforts in Silicon Valley working to draft more women and underrepresented minorities in an industry dominated by white and Asian men.
Five years after trumpeting plans to remake their workforces, the diversity numbers at major tech companies from Facebook to Google have barely budged. So Project Include is aiming its interventions at younger, more agile startups, a strategy Pao hopescould reverse decades of discrimination and inequality in tech.
"Bigger companies are really stuck. They embedded all of these biases into all of their operations,” Pao told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview. “So we focused on startups because we thought, that's where you are going to see the change. It was clear working with these startups that you can get to a much better place than the big tech companies are today.”
The key to the progress startups make at Project Include, says Pao: Buy-in from the CEOs who treat diversity and inclusion as they would any other business imperative, a "must have," not a "nice to have." Setting objectives and holding people accountable for reaching them sent a clear message to their organizations that this work is a priority, she said.
Over the course of eight months, CEOs huddle privately to have hard conversations about race and gender and get advice on how to make their workplaces more inclusive. They work toward hitting three targets: 10% black, African American and African employees, 10% Hispanic or Latinx employees and 5% non-binary, with the rest of the workforce evenly split between men and women.
Of the 28 companies with more than 25 employees surveyed by Project Include in the last two years, one quarter came close to hitting or exceeded all three targets. On average, half of the startups that went through the program had workforces that were 7% black, 7% Hispanic or Latinx, 46% women and 3% non-binary.
At Periscope Data, 42% of its 162 employees are now women, up from 39% in 2017, and 38% of the executive team is female, up from 25%. It did not make such big strides in every category. Representation of blacks (5%) and Hispanics and Latinx (3%), for example, did not increase significantly.
“We saw that the top startups in our program could get to very high numbers of underrepresented groups in their workforces, so it gives me hope that people can do that across all types of startups and eventually across all of tech," Pao said. “But we are still a long way from getting there.”
Growing the ranks of women and other underrepresented groups is a pressing challenge for the tech industry, whose customers are increasingly diverse. Tech companies say they need more workers from different backgrounds to brainstorm and build better products for a global marketplace. Research shows that companies with diverse workforces fetch better returns.
At the same time, people from underrepresented groups are being excluded from technical and non-technical positions in one of the nation’s wealthiest, fastest-growing and highest-paying sectors. Yet the nation's largest tech companies have struggled to make their corporate cultures more welcoming to women and people of color.
HealthSherpa, which helps low-income and uninsured people find, enroll and use health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, worked with Project Include to make sure its workforce more closely mirrored its customers, according to Cat Perez, co-founder and chief product officer.
With 19% of the nation's uninsured coming from Hispanic or Latinx backgrounds, the company increased its ranks of workers who speak Spanish and could connect with this community. Today, 20% of HealthSherpa’s 24 full-time employees are Hispanic or Latinx, up from 6% in 2017. Seventeen percent of HealthSherpa employees are black, up from 15%.
“We ended up having higher percentages of underrepresented people than our cohort as well as the tech sector on average,” Perez said. “It’s obvious for us why we need to focus on this. Just by the nature of the people that we're serving, it's incredibly important."
Pao says any startup should be able to duplicate these results. Ultimately her goal is for startups to reflect the racial makeup of the American workforce, with 13% blacks and 17% Hispanics.
This is the next act for Pao, whose high-profile discrimination case in 2015 against her former venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers put Silicon Valley sexism on trial. Pao lost the case but gained a national platform to call for reform in the tech industry.
The daughter of Chinese immigrants who holds degrees in engineering from Princeton University and law and business from Harvard University, Pao has worndifferent hats in tech, serving as interim CEO of Reddit and joining forces with tech veterans Freada Kapor Klein and Mitch Kapor who are leading voices in the tech diversity push. She's also drawn the spotlight to the double whammy of race and gender discrimination faced by women of color in tech.
In May 2016, Pao launched Project Include with a group of prominent women tech advocates. Last year, the television rights to her bestselling memoir, “Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change,” were picked up by producer Shonda Rhimes and Netflix.
Black women entrepreneurs changing tech:Good ol' boys network, meet black girl magic: Black, female entrepreneurs are changing Silicon Valley
Black techies headed for Atlanta:Goodbye, Silicon Valley, hello, Atlanta: Black entrepreneurs part of new migration to South
Nationwide, the tech industry is 75% male, 70% white and 20% Asian. In Silicon Valley, tech firms' lack of diversity is magnified. Blacks and Hispanics in the top 75 tech firms make up between 3% and 6% of workers and women of color 1% or less, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Diversity in High Tech report.
Tech startups are in the same rut. A recent survey of more than 500 entrepreneurs by venture firm First Round Capital found that some 78% of the startup founders said their organization had no formal plans or policies in place to promote diversity and inclusion and, of those, 15% said they had no plans to institute one. But sentiment may be shifting. The share of entrepreneurs who had adopted formal plans increased to 21% from 17% from the prior year, according to the survey.
In November, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz encouraged startups to take early steps to fix their diversity problem when he published a Medium post explaining why his workplace productivity company Asana joined Project Include.
“Many members of the team are from underrepresented groups and they want and deserve to work in an environment where they feel they belong,” he wrote. “Additionally, the Asanas who do not have those backgrounds have clearly expressed that they want this kind of environment too (and explicitly do not want to work in a homogenized or 'bro-y' office)."
Research shows that companies with more diverse teams are more innovative, aligning business objectives with social justice, he said. “We’re ultimately part of a much larger community and we need to manifest the change we want to see in the world,” Moskovitz wrote.
So far, three batches of startups have gone through the Project Include program, which is currently recruiting for its fourth.
Project Include charges the startups, which range in size from 25 to 1,000 employees, thousands of dollars on a sliding scale. The program encourages startups to focus on gender and race at the same time. The more progress companies make, the easier time they will have identifying, hiring and retaining employees from different backgrounds, Pao says. Companies with diverse and inclusive workplace are more attractive to other underrepresented groups, including people with disabilities and military veterans, she says.
For CEOs looking for a quick and easy way to increase diversity, there isn’t one. But over the course of the program, Pao says tech leaders gain confidence from each other. They lean on each other and Project Include as they scrutinize their hiring practices and work to make inclusion one of their company values. They talk through the issues they are facing, even the most sensitive, such as the backlash from white employees to diversity efforts in the workplace.
“At the very beginning people were a little more nervous. They were worried about saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing and getting attacked for it,” Pao said. “That has been the most powerful piece, knowing that other people are struggling with these same issues. It's not that ‘I am a bad leader,’ or ‘I'm behind.’ There is no blueprint for solving these issues and everybody's facing these issues,” Pao says.
Dan Teran, co-founder and CEO of Managed by Q, says he worked with Project Include to prioritize diversity and inclusion at his workplace management company, which was acquired by WeWork earlier this month.
"I was excited to see that there was a lot of people who were taking what is obviously a challenging and complicated issue really seriously at the executive level at the very early stages of companies," he said.
Before Teran joined the cohort, Managed by Q had 15% underrepresented people of color. After Project Include, it reached 21% –10% Hispanic and 11% African American.
"There are lots of lead bullets, but no silver bullets. If it were an easy problem to fix, it would be fixed,” he said. “I'll be the first to say we are not perfect but it's like anything in life: Habits you form early in the life of a person or a company stick with you.”
More USA TODAY coverage:Equity, diversity and inclusion in the tech industry
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488b468d1760787f34281ffb725698eb
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/02/hiking-death-teen-dies-during-outing-boy-scout-group/3658119002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories
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Teen dies while hiking with Boy Scout group that runs out of water in Arizona: Sheriff's Office
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Teen dies while hiking with Boy Scout group that runs out of water in Arizona: Sheriff's Office
PHOENIX – A 16-year-old boy died while hiking with a Boy Scout group on Saturday in Arizona, authorities said.
The Pinal County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed the teen's identity as Joshua White. An obituary said White was an active member of Boy Scout Troop 99. He was a student volunteer at the Summit Community Church in Buckeye. White attended Estrella Foothills High School in Goodyear, where he played on the school's junior varsity football team.
The teen was hiking with a group to the top of Picacho Peak between Phoenix and Tucson. The group had water but ran out when they got to the top of the mountain, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
On the hike down, the teen began to exhibit signs of extreme dehydration, officials said.
Members of the group called for help and emergency responders attempted to resuscitate the boy but were unsuccessful.
The boy was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Sheriff's Office.
The boy's identity was not released.
The Grand Canyon Council of the Boy Scouts is "deeply saddened by the death," CEO Andy Price said in a written statement. "This is a very difficult time for our Scouting family."
Grief counselors are available for youth members and adult leaders, he said.
"We offer our sincerest condolences to his family, and we will support them in any way that we can," Price said. "Please join us in keeping his family and friends everywhere in your thoughts and prayers."
More:People die at the Grand Canyon because it's a beautiful, dangerous place
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693aab28b0f0da4350f093b2ce433226
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/02/north-carolina-charlotte-shooting/3649403002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories
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Police escort honors Riley Howell, hero killed in UNC Charlotte rampage
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Police escort honors Riley Howell, hero killed in UNC Charlotte rampage
WAYNESVILLE, N.C. – A phalanx of police cars and motorcycles with lights flashing paid homage Thursday to University of North Carolina Charlotte shooting victim Riley Howell on Thursday, escorting the hero home.
Traffic stopped on Charlotte streets as the solemn procession passed en route to his hometown in Waynesville, 150 miles west of Charlotte. Authorities say Howell, 21, tackled a gunman who opened fire in a classroom Tuesday – and in the process saved lives. Howell and fellow student Ellis R. Parlier, 19, were killed; four other students were wounded.
Tami Hunter held back tears as her 4-year-old-son Maddox sat on her lap watching the long procession of police and emergency vehicles drive down Main Street toward Wells Funeral Home in Waynesville. Her son held a sign: "A man we never met is now a hero we will never forget."
Community members yelled "thank you" and "you're a hero" as the caravan rolled by. Many buried their faces in the arms of their neighbor.
Renee Gidcumb had spent the night before looking at old yearbooks to find pictures of Howell. She taught him in first grade at Riverbend Elementary School in Clyde.
"This hits us right at home," Gidcumb said. "It's so hard to believe that he sat in one of my chairs and walked our halls. I can still see his little face. It's how I've always remembered him."
Shelby Tomassi grew up with Howell in Waynesville and both attended UNCC.
Tomassi, a senior, was in an engineering building on campus when word spread about an active shooter. "We'd trained for the moment, but no one knew what to do," she said.
More:UNCC shooting: Riley Howell returns home to Waynesville
They remained in lockdown for over an hour before being allowed to leave the building. Tomassi later found out another close friend was in the classroom where Howell lost his life.
"She told me she saw what Riley did out of the corner of her eye," Tomassi said. "It was all so hectic. I can't imagine how scared she was. I'm feeling so shaken, shocked, angry, depressed. I can't understand it. I don't know how to process all of this."
Trent Thomas stood alone on the corner of Main and Walnut, wearing a Tuscola High School baseball cap with a small American flag hanging out of his shirt pocket.
Thomas had watched Howell grow up. Howell and Thomas' daughter had been close friends since preschool.
His first call after hearing the news was to his daughter.
"She told me that she knew that Riley was trying to help other people, because that's just the kind of guy he was," said Thomas, his voice breaking as he spoke. "That's so very true – that's just the guy he was."
Howell's mother said Thursday that his family is "beyond proud" of her son's actions.
"While kids were running one way, our son turned and ran toward the shooter," Natalie Henry-Howell, Riley's mother, told NBC's "Today" show. "If he was in the room when something like that was happening, and he had turned away, he wouldn't have been able to live with himself."
Teddy Howell, Riley Howell's 14-year-old brother, agreed, saying there was no question that his brother would have done all he could to stop the killer.
"He put others before himself," Teddy told "Today." "He always has."
Former UNCC student Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, is charged with two counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder and related charges in Tuesday's shooting. Terrell declined to appear in Mecklenburg County Court to have the charges read. He was assigned a lawyer and will remain jailed at least until his next court appearance on May 15.
"It is critical that we handle this case in a manner that ensures justice for the victims, for the defendant and for the entire UNC Charlotte community," prosecutor Jay Ashendorf said outside the courtroom.
No motive had been determined.Terrell, who left the school in the fall, had no criminal record, authorities said.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Chief Kerr Putney dubbed Riley a hero, saying targets in an attack must either run, hide and shield or take the fight to assailant. Putney declined to detail Howell's actions but did say he "took the assailant off his feet."
Response:Police stopped UNC Charlotte shooting quickly. But what about preventing it?
Lauren Westmoreland, Riley's girlfriend, said she and Howell had discussed marriage. She said she was devastated by his death.
"Just tell people you love them," she told "Today." "The last thing that I got to say to him was that I loved him."
Contributing: The Associated Press
Bacon reported from McLean, Virginia; Thompson from Waynesville, North Carolina; Mayo from Charlotte, North Carolina.
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163cf7cb2a0be5a58c53be3e09345e27
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/02/offshore-drilling-donald-trump-administration-safety-rules/3657752002/
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Trump administration set to ease offshore drilling safety rules created after 2010 BP oil spill
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Trump administration set to ease offshore drilling safety rules created after 2010 BP oil spill
The Trump administration on Thursday announced rollbacks to offshore drilling safety rules created after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon explosion, the worst offshore oil disaster in U.S. history.
The revised rules follow the administration's efforts to expand gas and oil drilling off the nation's shoreline, despite court challenges and pushback from state leaders.
Officials estimate the changes will save the oil industry more than $1.5 billion over the next 10 years. But environmentalists said loosening safety standards at offshore wells makes another oil spill more likely.
Bob Deans, director of strategic engagement at the Natural Resources Defense Council, opposed the rollback.
"If the Trump administration’s final rule weakens these protections, as its proposed changes did, it will put our workers, waters and wildlife at needless risk," Deans said in a statement just before the announcement. "That’s irresponsible, reckless and wrong.”
Household fixes:6 energy-efficient home upgrades that can save you $1,000 a year
Greener future:Life after solving climate change
The Interior Department announced the revisions at Louisiana’s Port Fourchon, a hub for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The revised rule preserves 80 percent of the Obama-era regulation, according to the department.
“We’re more open to invention,” Scott Angelle, a safety regulator at the Interior Department, told a crowd of port workers. “We tell them what to do,” he said. “How they do it is up to them.”
The revisions will take effect 60 days after they are published in the Federal Register.
Donald Boesch, a marine scientist on the presidential commission that investigated the Deepwater Horizon disaster, said even with the new changes, “we’re still better off probably than we were before the blowout” in terms of offshore drilling safety.
“But I’m not convinced we’re safer than we were two years ago,” Boesch said.
Legal battles:Trump's massive off-shore drilling plan in limbo after court ruling upholds exploration ban
Energy policy:Trump administration set to roll out massive offshore oil plan, but many in GOP don't want it
Eleven people were killed in April 2010 when the Deepwater Horizon exploded, releasing the equivalent of 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico before crews capped the underwater well 87 days later.
Conservation groups say the spill killed more than 1 million birds and the government declared a fisheries disaster. BP says its costs in the blowout and spill have topped $60 billion.
The Obama administration created policy requiring more real-time monitoring by oil companies and more rigorous inspections of blowout preventers on the offshore facilities.
Erik Milito, a vice president of the American Petroleum Institute, said the Obama-era regulations were too prescriptive and hurt innovation.
“We haven’t identified anything in the rule that’s taking a step backward on safety," he said.
A bipartisan coalition of governors and lawmakers have opposed proposed offshore drilling expansion. In March, a federal judge threw out President Trump's 2017 executive order reversing drilling bans in dozens of canyons in the Atlantic and vast parts of the Arctic.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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defe78d173115df887003fcfdb559d32
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/04/alzheimers-disease-rates-rising-baby-boomers/1106292001/
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Aging baby boomers are about to push Alzheimer's disease rates sky high
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Aging baby boomers are about to push Alzheimer's disease rates sky high
DETROIT – She had researched Alzheimer's disease and its effects on the brain for years, but it wasn't until her own mother's memory began to slip that Dr. Eva Feldman, a University of Michigan neurologist, truly grasped how devastating the disease is.
Margherita Feldman was 88 when she moved in June 2017 to the memory care unit of an assisted living home in Saline. And although her memory loss wasn't as acute as some of the other residents, it's when the cruelty of the disease – now the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States – and the scope of America's Alzheimer's crisis became clear to her daughter.
"I learned more about dementia and Alzheimer’s disease spending lots of hours in that memory care unit than I did as a long-standing, practicing neurologist," said Feldman, who is the director of the University of Michigan's Program for Neurology Research & Discovery. "The people in the memory care unit, some were very violent. Some were very passive. Some were very young with really severe memory loss with early-onset Alzheimer’s. You could see the whole myriad of presentations and you could understand what an enormously difficult disease that it is for the patient, but also for the families."
In her work, but also while visiting with her mom, Feldman considered the enormity of the Alzheimer's problem: About 5.8 million Americans now have the disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association. That number will climb to at least 13.8 million by 2050, a 138% rise, and as many as 1 in 3 people who live to be 85 in the United States will die with Alzheimer's disease.
"We are really in an epidemic," Feldman said, driven largely by baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964), who are growing older and coming to an age when the disease most commonly strikes.
What is Alzheimer's disease?
Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia. Little is known about specifically what combination of factors causes Alzheimer's disease, though scientists say genetics, lifestyle and environmental exposures most likely play into it.
Dr. Rebecca Edelmayer, director of scientific engagement for the Alzheimer’s Association, explained that three specific brain changes define the disease:
The most commonly recognized early symptom is a memory problem, said Jennifer Lepard, the president and CEO of the Alzheimer's Association Greater Michigan Chapter, but the disease doesn't always initially present that way.
"Before memory loss, it can even be what we would call an effect on your executive functioning, so it’s your ability to process information, make good decisions on complicated factors, planning," she said. "One of the best examples of that is sometimes people begin to have trouble with finances. People who have always paid the bills, run the household budget, all of a sudden can't.
"One of the reasons it's not always easy to see the memory issues up front is it’s not always the earliest and most prevalent sign, but also because people that have what are called high cognitive reserves – people who have a lot of education, who maybe had done very demanding jobs in the past and really utilized their brain a lot – are sometimes very good at hiding symptoms and overcompensating. A lot of times, they know they’re having some memory issues and some problems, but they are pretty good at making sure that you don’t see it."
More:Algae toxin may be causing Alzheimer's in dolphins. Illness could signal risks for humans
As the disease progresses, there can be confusion about time and place, difficulty speaking and writing, poor judgment, changes in mood and personality, aggression and agitation and being unable to recognize loved ones, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Eventually, people lose the ability to speak, walk, sit and even to swallow.
"Anyone with a brain, when they get older, is at risk of developing Alzheimer’s," Lepard said. "There are a number of people that think, 'Well, it wasn’t in my family, so I’m sure I don’t have it.' And that is not the case."
Although the majority of people who get Alzheimer's disease are 65 and older, Feldman said it's also important to understand that Alzheimer's is not a normal part of aging, and it does also sometimes occur in younger people. About 200,000 Americans under the age of 65 have early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, she said.
"Other risk factors include your family history (especially if a first-degree relative has had Alzheimer's disease), type 2 diabetes and obesity, high blood pressure, previous brain trauma, and your APOE-e4 status – this is the first risk gene identified and remains the gene with strongest impact on risk," Feldman said.
Women, too, are at greater risk. As are people of African American and Latino descent.
Alzheimer's costly toll
The average person with Alzheimer's disease will live four to eight years after diagnosis, said Lepard, and about 40% of that time, the person will be in the most severe form of the disease, which requires around-the-clock care.
"So, if you take a person who lives eight years after diagnosis, for three of those years, that person will be in the most severe aspects of the disease and will need 24-hour care and have lost most of their ability to keep up with the activities required in daily living," Lepard said.
The intensity of care that people need when the disease has progressed that far is often beyond what their loved ones can handle, she said. Plus, families quickly see how expensive long-term care can be. The average cost to Medicare for a single person with dementia in 2018 was $27,244, according to the Alzheimer's Association.
Caring for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia will cost $290 billion this year alone. But by 2050, that cost is expected to rise to $1.1 trillion annually. It's the most expensive disease in America – with care costing more than cancer and heart disease, the Alzheimer's Association reports.
"We really see this bankrupting Medicare at some point," Lepard said. "When we talk to members of Congress about the situation and why we need to invest in more research, it's because people cannot afford long-term care.
"Many people, until they are in the situation of needing long-term care, really don’t understand how it’s funded. They think well, if I have Medicare, I’m sure it’s going to cover it all. That’s not really how long-term care is paid for."
The cost goes far beyond dollars and cents, Feldman said.
"That’s a drain like you can’t imagine," she said. "There’s an economic drain, a drain on those individuals’ ability to work and be productive in society, a medical drain in terms of the cost to take care of the patient. But then, in my mind having lived it – and it’s not quantifiable necessarily in terms of dollars – is the emotional toll that it takes not only on the patient but on the family.
"I saw whole families fall apart in that memory care unit. I saw other families come closer together. I think most families … take care of their loved one absolutely as long as they can ... because you see the essential spirit and essence of the person, but they’re missing that one piece, the memory.
"It is the loss, really, of the person that you know right in front of your eyes, and to see what that did to wives and husbands was eye-opening to me. It is cruel, and it is very, very difficult as the primary family member to lose the person you know."
More:Alzheimer's, dementia and caregiving: 5 ways to manage stress, avoid family strife
Rising numbers, more research dollars needed
Although the number of Americans with the disease is rising, Alzheimer's true toll still may be underestimated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that often when people with Alzheimer's disease die, the cause of death listed on their death certificates may be pneumonia, heart attack or stroke; it sometimes isn't noted that the patient also had Alzheimer's disease.
"It was very common – it’s getting better now – that someone would be in the late stages of Alzheimer's disease and their body is not functioning," Lepard said. "They would develop pneumonia and die. Did they die because they developed pneumonia or did they die because they had Alzheimer’s? Our argument is that they are dying because they had Alzheimer’s disease.
"More and more, it is being put on death certificates if not as the main cause, it might be listed as pneumonia as a result of Alzheimer’s disease. We are pushing ... for that," she said, because it creates a more accurate picture of just how huge its reach truly is."
Without an accurate idea of the scope of the problem, health officials and public policy makers are less likely to give it the attention and research dollars needed to find new and better treatments, she said.
The National Institutes of Health allocated $2.3 billion for Alzheimer's disease research this year, which is up significantly from the $500 million that was awarded six years ago.
"That sounds like a tremendous amount of money, but it is still much less than NIH spends on AIDS, heart disease or cancer," Lepard said. "Of course, we do not want less to be spent on those diseases, but we do believe that so much progress has been made on those diseases because they have been investing the research money to do it. That’s our biggest ask."
Although some treatments can help people with mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease in the short-term, no treatments have yet been discovered that are effective long-term in stopping brain degeneration or reversing memory loss. There is no cure for the disease.
"Just like every disorder, the more we can understand, the more awareness, and the more governmental input we can have and research dollars," Feldman said. "There are so many unanswered questions and we really do need to continually do active research in this area and try to develop therapeutics."
More:A blood test may detect whether Alzheimer's will develop 16 years before symptoms show, study says
Among them, Feldman said, is whether the disease could be treated earlier – before symptoms develop – with lifestyle changes, immunotherapy or a vaccine.
The scientists in Feldman's lab are working to develop a breakthrough treatment using enhanced lines of human neural stem cells to reduce the buildup of amyloid plaques to improve memory and learning deficits.
"We recently received a grant from the National Institute on Aging to determine exactly how these stem cells impact (Alzheimer's disease) and improve memory," she said.
She is fascinated, too, by the power of music to stir remembrances in people who have Alzheimer's disease.
"My mother was born and raised in Italy, and toward the end, she wasn’t really speaking a great deal," Feldman said. She’d speak to me and have conversations, but she was definitely declining."
One evening, Feldman recalled taking her mother to a sing-along at the assisted living center. A musician sang many old-fashioned, well-known songs like "A Bicycle Built for Two."
"Since my mom didn’t grow up here as much in her early life, she didn’t know some of the songs the other residents knew," she said. But then, "the guy started singing a song in Italian. My mom’s eyes lit up, and she sang the entire song with him. And I looked at her, and she gave me a big smile, and then she kind of went back" into herself, and the memory faded once again.
"I saw that many times with music among the other residents. ... So, you know, it’s very interesting how music activates the mind. There are still parts of the brain that are working, and a lot of them still have their essential personalities. They just lost their memories. There are so many unanswered questions."
Feldman, whose mother died in March 2018, said it's hard to pinpoint what is most important moving forward.
"As a doctor, I will tell you that early diagnosis, lifestyle intervention (diet/exercise), ensuring optimal care, safety and quality of life for the patient is the most important thing," she said. "As my mother’s daughter, I will tell you that remembering that the person affected may have lost their memory, but not their spirit, or some would say, their soul."
Follow Kristen Jordan Shamus on Twitter: @kristenshamus.
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361422462ba2cf15a085e50562162aff
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/04/illinois-plant-explosion-waukegan/1100256001/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories
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1 dead, 2 missing in massive Illinois plant explosion felt 20 miles away
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1 dead, 2 missing in massive Illinois plant explosion felt 20 miles away
One worker was found dead Saturday morning at an Illinois plant destroyed in a massive explosion Friday night that was felt up to 20 miles away and which rained debris down over a mile radius, fire officials said.
The AB Specialty Silicones plant in Waukegan, Illinois, was operating at the time of the conflagration and two workers are still unaccounted for, said Waukegan Fire Marshal Steven Lenzi.
Firefighters had to stop searching for the missing workers because of the structural instability of the fire-damaged site, he said.
"We're waiting to get in heavy equipment which will allow us to search the areas underneath the structure. That could happen as early as today or should happen by tomorrow, he said.
The blast was so powerful Lenzi said there were reports of it being felt as a shaking up to 20 miles away. "The debris could be up to a mile away," he said.
The immediate area around the shattered plant was littered with large pieces of wreckage.
"There were some definitely big pieces and some heavy blocks and concrete that were thrown out into a very heavily-traveled street. We were very fortunate that no one was nearby when it occurred," he said.
Four people were also injured in the explosion.
At 10 p.m. Friday the sheriff’s office issued an alert on Twitter saying it was "aware of a very loud explosion sound and ground shaking in the Gurnee area.”
Television images Saturday morning showed the plant almost totally destroyed.
At least five other nearby buildings were also damaged in the explosion, which is estimated to have caused more than $1 million in destruction, Lenzi said.
This is the second major industrial accident in the area in the last two weeks.
On April 25 the town of Beach Park, five miles north of Waukegan, experienced a chemical leak that hospitalized 37 people, Sergeant Christopher Covelli of the Lake County Sheriff’s office said in a statement posted online. Containers of anhydrous ammonia, a fertilizer, leaked as it was being transported.
Waukegan is about 40 miles north of Chicago, on the shore of Lake Michigan.
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a1f68f1cfa7e62c065cfb5ee59c77e20
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/04/mississippi-river-flooding-rains-drench-midwest-could-last-june/1102855001/
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Historic Mississippi River flooding could extend into June, experts warn
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Historic Mississippi River flooding could extend into June, experts warn
Flooding along the Mississippi River could persist through the end of the month and even into June as relentless rains continue to saturate the Midwest, forecasters say.
“We have points in Iowa and Illinois that have been in flood stage for over 30 days, which hasn’t occurred since we started keeping records — and some of them go back 150 years,” said Patrick Burke, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
At least four people have died in the flooding, which has closed hundreds of roads, stopped vessel traffic along parts of the Mississippi River and inundated multiple towns, including major flooding in Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois.
The problem is that heavy snows over the winter melted, drenching the ground and filling the rivers with runoff. Then there’s usually a lull during which the soils can dry out before the spring rains begin.
Not this year.
“There hasn’t really been a chance for the soils to dry out, they’re still saturated from the snow melt and the rains,” said Corey Loveland, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s River Forecast Center in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
The Mississippi River crested at higher levels than it ever had in the past. That was at 22.7 feet in Davenport, Iowa, on Thursday, a record that hadn’t been matched since records began to be kept in 1862, said Loveland. That is almost eight feet above flood stage.
In Rock Island, Illinois, the Mississippi set a record level of 22.7 feet, breaking the record set on July 9, 1993, during the Great Flood of 1993.
More rain is coming, Burke said.
“It’s going to start picking up. We are monitoring a pretty good-sized storm system that’s going to come along between Tuesday and Thursday. Where the bull’s eye hits is going to impact where there’s flooding,” Burke said.
Currently, the National Weather Service forecasts the heaviest swath of rain, as much as three inches, around Kansas City. However, one to two inches of rain could fall as far north as southern Minnesota, he said.
“We can expect to see additional rises even if the rivers start to fall earlier in the week,” Burke said.
It won’t take much rain to affect the rivers because the soils remain so saturated, Loveland said. “If you get even less than an inch of rain it goes into the river.”
Even if things dry out, river flows will continue to be high through May and into June, Loveland said. But it could also persist for another month beyond.
“The wildcard is really the rain in the forecast. If it remains cool and wet, we could have high flows through the end of June. It just really depends on what the spring rains bring,” he said.
The ongoing flooding takes a toll because many of the temporary structures put up to hold back the waters aren’t designed to last for months on end.
“The longer you have the river at these high levels, the more these structures are tested,” Loveland said.
To the west, the Missouri River is also a concern, said meteorologist Sarah Atkins with the National Weather Service’s Kansas City office.
“We’ll start to see multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms starting Sunday night pretty much through Thursday over a lot of Missouri, a good chunk of Kansas, into Nebraska, Iowa and much of Illinois as well,” she said.
The Missouri River has mostly experienced minor flooding thus far and is expected to stay at around those levels. However with the potential for between two and four more inches of rain hitting the saturated ground, she cautioned residents to be careful.
“If there are barricades, turn around, don’ go through. If you see a flooded roadway, turn around. It’s simply not worth it,” she said.
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843369f339497bd59d8ed8621e7aea7f
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/04/pets-still-not-found-plane-crashed-landed-jacksonville/1100509001/
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3 pets died in Boeing 737 plane that crash landed in Jacksonville, Florida
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3 pets died in Boeing 737 plane that crash landed in Jacksonville, Florida
All 143 people aboard a military-chartered plane survived after the aircraft skidded off a runway into a river in Jacksonville, Florida, on Friday night, but three pets weren't as fortunate.
The bodies of a dog and two cats were recovered, the Jacksonville Naval Air Station, where the crash landing occurred, confirmed Sunday. An owner safely removed one animal that traveled in the cabin.
"Those who were involved in this sad tasking performed the recovery in the most dignified way possible with the base veterinarian on site to ensure all protocols were followed," the station posted on Facebook. "The animals will be cremated through a local company. Every possible avenue to rescue these animals was pursued following the incident."
Previous reports indicated at least four pets were checked in the luggage department located in the bottom of the plane that left Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to northern Florida.
Each was presumed dead, Kaylee LaRocque, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy in Jacksonville, confirmed to USA TODAY on Saturday.
Although the Boeing 737 plane is not completely submerged in the St. Johns River, the bottom portion, where the pets were positioned, is under water.
“There’s water in the cargo hold," LaRocque said. “We are so sad about this situation, that there are animals that unfortunately passed away."
Authorities have left the plane untouched as the National Transportation Safety Board conducts an investigation of the crash landing, meaning passengers' possessions, including pets, are still on the plane.
Capt. Michael Connor, commanding officer for the Naval Air Station Jacksonville, said the status of the pets became the "second priority" for initial responders after it was determined all passengers were safe.
He said they looked in the cargo bay and did not hear any animal noises or see any crates — a suggestion they were under water.
"So at that point, as well as for their own safety and not knowing if the aircraft could potentially sink and risk their lives, they backed out," he said at a Saturday news conference.
He said he later in the night had first responders do a second assessment in search of pets, but again they did not see any pet carriers above the water.
"Obviously, we do not have confirmation, but we are continuing to do what we can to positively determine the status of the pets," he said, adding that he has spoken to some of the pet owners. "It's a very, obviously, rough situation. My sympathy and my heart really goes out to those families."
LaRocque said earlier Saturday that the pets include dogs and cats. The flight's manifest recorded a total of four pets on board, but she said it's possible more could have been boarded.
"Unfortunately, they have not been retrieved yet due to safety issues with the aircraft, the Naval Air Station Jacksonville, tweeted early Saturday morning. "Our hearts and prayers go out to those pet owners during this terrible incident."
The plane skidded off the runway at around 9:40 a.m. Cheryl Bormann, prominent defense attorney who was aboard the plane, described a chaotic landing in which the pilot appeared to lose control of the aircraft before it smashed into the water and screeched to a halt.
LaRocque said that once the plane is removed from the river, authorities will then retrieve the pets and everyone's luggage.
Authorities haven't said what caused the plane to overshoot the runway. Naval Air Station Jacksonville is a military airport about eight miles south of downtown.
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a6e149606a64920ef7d000e70e4ce57f
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/04/texas-man-recovering-after-shark-bite-in-boca-grande-pass-florida/1105512001/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatodaycomnation-topstories
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Man bit by a shark after he fell off a fishing boat in Florida
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Man bit by a shark after he fell off a fishing boat in Florida
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The "worst part" of a Texas man's fishing trip to Florida wasn't when he got bit by a shark.
It's when he lost the tarpon he was trying to reel in.
Speaking from a hospital Saturday, Paul Kelly, 72, said it was still a good trip overall.
"We lost the fish of course," Kelly said. "That was the worst part."
Kelly said he was on a six-hour fishing trip with a good friend and a boat captain in Boca Grande Pass on Wednesday.
Near the end of the trip, he and his friend hooked sizable tarpons, he said.
Kelly said he was trying to work in a 150-pound tarpon when he slipped and was yanked into the water by the fish.
While he was underwater, Kelly said he felt something hit his leg. He didn't realize at the time that it was a shark nibbling on him.
The captain pulled him to the boat with a fishing rod, and his buddy hoisted him into the boat by his belt.
Once he was in the boat, the captain told him a shark had bitten him and that it appeared to be an 8- to 10-foot bull shark, Kelly said.
That's when he noticed a gash around his left knee and calf, he said.
The men acted quickly, wrapping a belt around his left thigh to stop the bleeding as they raced to shore. Paramedics swarmed him, dressing his leg and securing a tourniquet. Kelly was airlifted to a trauma center.
Surgeons stitched him up, and he had surgery on a torn tendon in his knee the next day.
The Vietnam veteran said he barely felt pain through the whole incident or post surgery.
"You do the best with what you get," he said.
Doctors told him he should be able to leave the hospital in the next few days. He and his wife hope to return to Texas on Monday.
The surgeon who treated Kelly, Robert L'Connor, said he's seen alligator bites, but never a shark bite.
"They aren't that frequent to be honest with you," L'Connor said. "It's something everybody is concerned with when they get into the water, but it's the first one I've seen in 10 years."
Though Florida annually tops the leader board for shark attacks in the United States, bites plummeted last year compared with previous years, according to the International Shark Attack File, a University of Florida database that tracks shark attacks worldwide.
There were 16 confirmed attacks in Florida last year, compared with 31 in 2017, according to ISAF data.
Follow Brooke Baitinger on Twitter: @BaitingerBrooke
More:Shark attacks dropped worldwide in 2018
More:Shark attacks: How common are they?
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6b6cbb9b808e207b7c9a814443f37e38
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/05/black-artists-african-american-art-museums-galleries-collections-painting/3483422002/
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Art so white: Black artists want representation (beyond slavery) in the Met, National Gallery
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Art so white: Black artists want representation (beyond slavery) in the Met, National Gallery
ATLANTA – A black female model leans on a stool atop a platform in a second-story studio in the city's historic arts district.
She is nude, stoic and motionless. A half-dozen students have formed a U-shape around her as they draw her, using charcoal pencils.
George Morton, the instructor who opened the Atelier South in January, stops by each student's workstation to offer a critique.
The model, Morton says, symbolizes what he believes is missing in fine art: the fair representation of black people.
Artists say African Americans are absent from historical art collections in some of the world's largest museums, galleries and major auctions. They insist that most of the paintings and portraits hanging on the walls of these institutions were created by white men and feature prominent white figures in American or European history.
Morton is part of a movement of black artists and curators from New York to Atlanta who are hosting exhibits, teaching classes and creating work that shines a light on black culture.
“We have been largely overlooked, historically,” said Morton, who graduated from the Florence Academy of Art US. “We weren’t seen fit as a worthy model, unless we were ... somehow an object that has been subjugated in a painting."
For example, the 1862 portrait "Men of Progress" by Christian Schussele shows 19 white, male American scientists and inventors but neglects the women and black inventors of the time.
And in Dutch painter Jan Verkolje’s 1674 portrait of Johan de la Faille, a black slave is at his side holding the hunting spaniels.
Getting the work on the walls
Directors at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, two of the nation's largest museums, admit there is a disparity.
The Met has hosted eight exhibitions focused on African American artists in the past 10 years. The museum has about 40 exhibitions every year.
At the National Gallery of Art, there are 986 works by black artists out of the 153,621 total works.
The Met has made key acquisitions of black art in recent years, including the Souls Grown Deep Foundation Gift and a group of African American portrait photographs from the 1940s and 1950s. The two collections numbered more than 200 works.
Max Hollein, director of the Met, says he is working to diversify the collections and exhibitions at the museum. This may mean rewriting art history in a way that includes all cultures, Hollein says.
"To look back and look at what may have been overlooked, and what may have not been properly appreciated, what may have been misunderstood" is important, Hollein says.
Kim Sajet, director of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, says the gallery has been working to diversify its portrait collections for the past decade. When Sajet joined the gallery in 2013, staff members decided that 50% of all money spent on art would support diverse artists and portrait subjects.
Sajet says white men dominated famous portraits because they owned land and art was historically reserved for the rich and elite.
Sajet says she wants the gallery to tell the story of ALL Americans.
"We owe it to Americans to reflect them because we owe it to accurate history," Sajet says. "I’m not interested in only having a museum for some people."
The National Portrait Gallery unveiled an exhibition last year called "UnSeen: Our Past in a New Light: Ken Gonzales-Day and Titus Kaphar," using their work to show how people of color are missing from historical portraits and that their contributions to history were ignored.
In Kaphar's "Behind the Myth of Benevolence," an iconic portrait of Thomas Jefferson is being peeled away from the canvas to reveal a portrait of an enslaved black woman.
Kaphar re-creates well-known historical paintings to include black subjects. His work sends a message that while people in power were glorified in art history, the powerless were sidelined, according to the Portrait Gallery.
New York-based visual artist Kehinde Wiley, who painted Barack Obama's presidential portrait, also takes young black men and places them in the historical poses from classical European paintings of noblemen, royalty and aristocrats. The paintings are meant to show black men in a position of power.
The Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) unveiled the exhibition “Mapping Black Identities" in February that showcases work by black artists who celebrate black identity.
Gabriel Ritter, curator and head of contemporary art at MIA, says the exhibition is meant to "dismantle a structure of white supremacy" that has defined the museum and many others for so long.
Ritter says he was adamant about selecting black art that demonstrates joy and pride, and not the narratives of pain and struggle that some museums display.
"It’s really about recognizing who the public is and who the audience is and making sure there is equitable representation,” Ritter says. “It can’t constantly perpetuate a white male stereotype of who is important in the art world."
The Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles is also boosting support for black artists.
Last year, the institute launched its African American Art History Initiative to collect archives and records. Previously, unless an artist was represented by a major museum or gallery, his or her historical record was not preserved, says Andrew Perchuk, deputy director of the Getty Research Institute.
"I think that it's one of the really underrepresented stories in American art," Perchuk says. "And we really don’t have a full picture of American art without doing a better job of documenting the history of African American art."
The initiative will give museums the resources they need to host more exhibitions on African American artists, Perchuk says.
Artists such as Wiley, Kaphar and Kerry James Marshall of Chicago have their art on display at galleries across the country.
Last year, Marshall's painting "Past Times" sold at a New York auction for $21 million.
Demands unmet
Jennifer Tosch, founder of Black Heritage Tours in New York and Amsterdam, says people of color have been excluded from the ranks of fine artists in America and viewed only as "objects of observation."
"You can certainly connect it to structural and institutional racism," Tosch says. “There’s been a systemic history of race and racism as its byproduct that has situated black people in a certain way."
It's not just black artists but patrons who push museums to change.
Black millennial travel groups and black baby boomers alike who have disposable income visit museums and request more of a "black experience" on their tours, Tosch says.
“There is an increase in black patrons of the art,” Tosch says. “They are exploring and looking for this representation and not seeing it.”
Michelle Obama's portrait by Amy Sherald remains popular at the National Portrait Gallery.
Opening doors
Morton is working to overcome disparities by selecting more people of color to be the subjects of live drawings in his art classes at Atelier South and engaging and training more black artists and young people in the majority-black city of Atlanta. Most of his students are white.
Black people, Morton says, have shied away from art because it was dominated by the white elite and wasn't considered a field where black families could make a living.
"When you look in the museums and don’t see yourself represented in the galleries ... it never even occurs to you that that’s even for you," Morton says. "There’s a message implanted in your mind that you don’t belong here.
"A lot of it has to do with those doors being closed for so long. And only now are we able to catch up.”
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843c74f0e9aa5485ca73fff25530c544
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/07/denver-votes-no-magic-mushrooms-historic-vote-psilocybin/1131741001/
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Denver says no to 'magic mushrooms': Historic vote on psilocybin unlikely to pass
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Denver says no to 'magic mushrooms': Historic vote on psilocybin unlikely to pass
DENVER – Voters in the Mile High City appeared to have voted down a first-in-the nation plan to decriminalize the use and possession of "magic mushrooms" known for sending users on psychedelic journeys.Unofficial results released by city election officials Tuesday night suggested Measure 301 was on track to fail, with 46.5% in favor and 54.5% opposed.
Denver District Attorney Beth McCann opposed the measure. According to her office, only 11 of more than 9,000 drug cases referred for possible prosecution between 2016 and 2018 involved psilocybin. Prosecutors filed charges of possession with intent to manufacture or distribute in three of those cases.
Advocates say the mushrooms, which contain the hallucinogen psilocybin, have been used safely for thousands of years, and may provide an alternative treatment for opiate addiction and mental health troubles, as well as spiritual insight. Users report bright lights and colors and a sense of connection with something greater than themselves.
Denver was the first major city to hold a public vote on decriminalizing such substances. Before the results were tallied, Decriminalize Denver campaign director Kevin Matthews, 33, said the measure had already proven to be a victory. The group collected more than 9,000 signatures to place the question before voters, mostly outside grocery stores and music venues.“Tonight. it was win or learn," Matthews said. "At the very least, we’ve demonstrated that we can get psilocybin legislation on the ballot. My mindset is that it’s not a loss, it’s a lesson.”
Measure 301 would have decriminalized the personal possession and consumption of psilocybin and other hallucinogenic mushrooms for adults, and made prosecution of cases a low law enforcement priority in the city. The measure would have also created a task force, including police, elected officials and psilocybin advocates, to study what impact decriminalization had on the city over the next two years.
“A lot of people who signed our petition said they are tired of seeing people going to jail over what they choose to put in their body," Matthews said.
Matthews said making the drug legal could have helped with mental health and addiction problems.
“Potentially the American people are ready for a new conversation around our nation’s drug priorities," Matthews said. "It’s a signal to the rest of the country that at least here in Denver we are ready to start removing some of these substances off the controlled substances list.”
Psilocybin has been classified as a Schedule 1 controlled substance since 1970 by the federal government. That means it is considered a drug with with high abuse potential and no “accepted” medical value. It also means that university research and possession of the drug are prohibited under federal law. Marijuana, which is already legal across Colorado, is also a Schedule 1 drug.
Rock groups such as the Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers Band frequently used images of mushrooms in their logos, T-shirts and other merchandise.
The initiative would not have allowed the mushrooms to be sold under Denver’s cannabis businesses. Colorado, along with Washington, became the first states to allow recreational marijuana for adults over the age of 21 in November 2012.
Contributing: Associated Press
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6c81bebf96169c2160decadfd5a3f3fe
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/07/midwest-flooding-soggy-midwest-braces-more-storms/1127348001/
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Soggy Midwest, battered Missouri towns brace for more storms, flooding
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Soggy Midwest, battered Missouri towns brace for more storms, flooding
The unyielding rain and flooding that have overwhelmed parts of the Midwest are taking their toll on the once-vibrant Missouri town of Clarksville.
Residents of the Mississippi River community already engulfed in water were bracing for stormy weather that could sweep through the region through Thursday. Flood watches were issued Tuesday across parts of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas.
"The severe thunderstorms will be capable of producing large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes," the National Weather Service warned. Heavy rain could produce flash and river flooding, the weather service said.
Meteorologist Gregg Gallina said the spring rains were coming on the heels of a “fairly historic’’ winter that deepened a snowpack that overwhelmed rivers with its melt.
Davenport, Iowa, hit hard by floods as the Mississippi River crested at a record-high 22.7 feet last week, faces the possibility of flash flooding. Cities such as Omaha, Nebraska; Madison, Wisconsin; Kansas City, Missouri; and Chicago and Peoria, Illinois, also could feel the impact of the latest round of storms.
Justin Sheppard, a commissioner in Pike County, Missouri, says floodwaters driven by weeks of rain already have chased some Clarksville-area families from their homes.
"We have to worry about rain where we are, plus rain and snow melt north of us," Sheppard said. "It's very hard on our communities."
Sheppard said flooding has become more prevalent in the past decade or so, slamming through towns along the river once a year or more. Years ago Clarksville was a historic, energetic town that would fill with tourists driving up Route 79 from St. Louis to dabble in antique and woodworking shops.
Now almost all those shops have closed, Sheppard said.
"People are resilient, but the constant flooding has driven people away," Sheppard said. "It doesn't take much to shut 79 down, and people can't get here."
Thirty miles to the south, the town of Winfield was filling sandbags to protect the Pin Oak levee. Mayor Ryan Ruckel was upbeat.
"River levels did not get high enough to overtop the Pin Oak," he said. "Our only concern at this moment is that it holds up and continues to stand strong."
AccuWeather warned that severe weather risk will focus mainly on the south-central states for several days this week, while primarily rain plagues areas farther to the north from South Dakota and Nebraska to Michigan.
"Rainfall of this magnitude can lead to stream and river flooding where none has occurred thus far this spring or cause a new surge of flooding where it has already occurred," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski warned.
Flooding along the Mississippi River could persist into June as rains continue to saturate the Midwest, forecasters say.
In Missouri, almost a dozen levees already have been breached or threatened in recent days. Sheppard noted the Mississippi River was slowly going down Tuesday but was forecast to rise again next week.
"Two towns in the county, plus some small villages and farm land are already flooded," he said. "We are hoping the rain holds off for now, but we know more water is coming."
Contributing: Jorge L. Ortiz
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6231c2399ab27ef68cc97908c7ac87e8
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/08/denver-decriminalizes-magic-mushrooms-historic-vote/1147857001/
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Denver decriminalizes 'magic mushrooms' in historic vote
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Denver decriminalizes 'magic mushrooms' in historic vote
CLARIFICATION: An initial version of this story was based on initial and incomplete ballot tallies, and the final unofficial returns show the measure ultimately passed. However, even those results won’t be final until later this month after the election canvass board reconciles absentee, overseas and military ballots, and formally certifies the results.
DENVER -- Voters in the Mile High City have decriminalized “magic mushrooms” by the slimmest of margins, making Denver the country’s first city to de-prioritize enforcement of the hallucinogen.
“WE WON!!!!” announced Decriminalize Denver after city elections officials released final preliminary results late Wednesday. The measure, 301, passed with 50.56% in favor to 49.44% opposed, a slim margin that is nevertheless outside the mandatory recount margin.
Supporters gathered more than 9,000 signatures to place the question before voters. Once the results are officially certified later this month, Denver police will be formally ordered to make enforcement of drug laws against mushroom users their lowest priority.
But opponents could pay for a recount if they want, potentially delaying implementation.
The plan doesn’t permit the sale or purchase of the mushrooms, and establishes a task force to examine the impact of decriminalization over the next several years.
“It’s a signal to the rest of the country that at least here in Denver we are ready to start remove some of these substances off the controlled substances list,” said Kevin Matthews, 33, who organized the decriminalization campaign. “A lot of people who signed our petition said they are tired to see people going to jail over what they choose to put in their body.”
Denver District Attorney Beth McCann opposed the measure. According to her office, only 11 of more than 9,000 drug cases referred for possible prosecution between 2016 and 2018 involved psilocybin. Prosecutors filed charges of possession with intent to manufacture or distribute in three of those cases.
Advocates say the mushrooms, which contain the hallucinogen psilocybin, have been used for thousands of years and may provide an alternative treatment for opiate addiction and mental health troubles, as well as spiritual insight. Users report bright lights and colors and a sense of connection with something greater than themselves.
Psilocybin has been classified as a Schedule 1 controlled substance since 1970 by the federal government. That means it is considered a drug with high abuse potential and no “accepted” medical value. It also means that university research and possession of the drug are prohibited under federal law. Marijuana, which is already legal across Colorado, is also a Schedule 1 drug.
Rock groups such as the Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers Band frequently used images of mushrooms in their logos, T-shirts and other merchandise.
The initiative would not have allowed the mushrooms to be sold under Denver’s cannabis businesses. Colorado, along with Washington, became the first states to allow recreational marijuana for adults over the age of 21 in November 2012.
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09d023c3b4c805dcbba29469e2f187a8
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/08/denver-school-shooting-least-two-people-injured/1138869001/
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Students and guard lauded for heroism in Colorado school shooting; suspects appear in court
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Students and guard lauded for heroism in Colorado school shooting; suspects appear in court
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. – New details of how heroic students and a former U.S. Marine helped halt a suburban Denver school shooting emerged Wednesday as one of the accused shooters appeared before a judge, his shaggy, purple-streaked hair obscuring his face.
Authorities arrested Devon Erickson, 18, and a second suspect – a juvenile identified both as Maya McKinney and Alec McKinney – at the STEM School in Highlands Ranch on Tuesday afternoon.
Erickson, a student at the school, faces a murder charge and dozens of attempted murder charges in connection with the shooting that killed classmate Kendrick Ray Castillo, who is being hailed as a hero for confronting the shooters.
Authorities said Erickson and McKinney attacked two classrooms with handguns, killing Castillo, 18, and wounding eight. One of the shooters was disarmed and subdued by a former Marine working as a private security guard patrolling the school, his boss said.
Appearing in court 24 hours after the shooting, Erickson spoke only to acknowledge the judge’s questions, shaking his head or nodding at other times.
Prosecutors expect to formally charge him in the next several days, but they persuaded the judge to withhold much of the evidence in the case from public view while the initial investigation continues. Erickson is being held without bond and is due back in court Friday.
Also being held without bond is McKinney, 16. Court records listed the defendant as Maya McKinney, but a defense attorney said his client uses male pronouns and is named Alec. The sheriff's office initially identified him as a boy and later said the suspect was a girl.
McKinney, who is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, appeared in court shackled at the wrists and ankles and sat alongside his mother. He responded to the judge’s questions in a clear but quiet voice, saying, “Yes, your honor” and “No, your honor.”
District attorney George Brauchler says he hasn’t decided whether to file adult charges. McKinney is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder and is due back in court Friday.
As investigators piece together the shooters' movements and motivations, accounts came to light of the heroism displayed by STEM students and the security guard who helped halt the carnage.
Gov. Jared Polis called Castillo a "hero" for charging at one of the shooters and lauded student Brendan Bialy for taking similar action. Their bravery allowed other students to run for cover and hide in closets and under desks.
"Colorado will always remember the heroism of Kendrick Castillo," Polis said in a statement.
Castillo was set to graduate this weekend. Bialy joined the U.S. Marines and is scheduled to ship out for basic training this summer.
"Brendan’s courage and commitment to swiftly ending this tragic incident at the risk of his own safety is admirable and inspiring," Capt. Michael Maggitti said in a statement.
Bialy said he, Castillo and another student fought back out of instinct, and even though the gunman got some shots off, Bialy wrestled the firearm from him and they were able to subdue him.
Wednesday night, hundreds of students and parents gathered in a nearby public high school to call for stronger gun control and better access to mental health. But students from the STEM school, a charter school, stormed out in frustration that their trauma was immediately being politicized.
Those STEM students said they had been told not to talk to reporters, and criticized journalists covering the event.
Earlier in the rally, Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat who represents the area, criticized politicians who offer “thoughts and prayers,” but don’t take action.
“Our children deserve action,” he said. “Tomorrow we must get to work.”
Earlier Wednesday, the family of another student who said he was involved in disarming the assailant released a statement saying he was shot twice in the attack. Joshua Jones’ family called Castillo “a special hero” and said “we consider ourselves fortunate the result was not much, much worse.”
The other shooter was apprehended by an armed security guard contracted by the school, the security company's owner said. Grant Whitus said the guard, a former sheriff's deputy and Marine who saw combat, ran to the sound of gunshots and took custody of the youth at gunpoint.
“God only knows how many lives he saved,'' Whitus said. "He had to run down to the location, he confronted the shooter and he took the shooter into custody, and then gave the shooter to the police when they arrived.''
Still, Whitus said the guard, whose name has not been released, was upset that several of the kids he protected over the past school year got hurt. He was working in another part of the school when he heard the incident begin over his radio.
“We’re just trying to console him, because you can’t stop something like this from happening," Whitus said.
Students and activists against gun violence are holding a memorial for Castillo and their injured classmates Wednesday evening.
Sheriff Tony Spurlock said Erickson and McKinney opened fire in two classrooms Tuesday, igniting chaos. Spurlock said deputies from a nearby substation were on the scene within two minutes.
"They immediately engaged the suspects and started rescuing the children who were injured," Spurlock said at a news conference. Three of the eight wounded remained hospitalized Wednesday.
The suspects entered through a middle-school door on the K-12 school of about 1,800 students, which specialized in math and science, Spurlock said.
The shooters were armed with weapons they were not old enough to purchase or own, he said. The public charter school has no metal detectors, Spurlock said.
Nui Giasolli told NBC’s "Today" show she was in a literature class when Erickson came in late, walking around the room and opening and closing doors.
"The next thing I know he's pulling a gun and he is telling nobody to move," she said.
The assault came less than three weeks after the 20th anniversary of the shooting at nearby Columbine High School, where two teens shot and killed 12 students and a teacher. Tuesday's tragedy was the fourth school shooting in Colorado since then.
District Attorney George Brauchler said the attack was personal to him, noting that he grew up in the area and his wife has a business near the school. As a father, he knows what parents of all the students are going through, he said.
"There are those that won't be classified as victims that are feeling it this morning, right now," he said. "Moms and dads who are making decisions about sending their kids to school in one of the greatest districts in the country because they don't feel safe."
Reports:Woman 'infatuated' by Columbine shooting found dead
'You would all be dead':Active shooter training in March for Our Lives PSA
Douglas County School District, which includes the STEM school, canceled classes last month during an FBI manhunt for a woman "infatuated" with the Columbine shooting. The school is about 8 miles from Columbine High School.
The STEM school will be closed for the rest of this week, officials said. Polis ordered all flags lowered to half-staff on all state buildings until sunset Tuesday.
"We know that the life of a student has been taken too soon,” Polis said. “America has seen too many senseless acts of violence.”
Bacon reported from McLean, Virginia. Contributing: Kristin Lam, reporting from Los Angeles; The Associated Press
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59f1653ba289dcd9ba6f7f476fb2588c
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/09/florida-woman-arrested-after-hundreds-bugs-childs-backpack/1151595001/
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'Hundreds of bugs' in child's backpack leads to Florida mom's arrest
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'Hundreds of bugs' in child's backpack leads to Florida mom's arrest
PENSACOLA, Fla. — A Florida woman was arrested last week after her children's poor hygiene at school prompted a sheriff's office inquiry revealing living conditions unfit for children.
Jessica Stevenson, 33, of Milton, was arrested Friday and charged with child neglect without causing great bodily harm. Her bond was set at $12,500.
According to her arrest report, a staffer at Bagdad Elementary School reported on three siblings who attended the school to the Florida Department of Children and Families.
The employee said she’d noticed a second-grade student wearing the same clothing for an entire week in April and that the child’s body odor was hard to ignore, the report stated
The employee questioned the second-grader as to when their last bath had been, the report stated. The student replied they did not know.
The employee provided the student with new clothing and took the old outfit, she said. The old clothes were “severely soiled” with dirt caked into the fabric, the report stated.
The employee also told investigators that at one point “hundreds of bugs crawled out” of the student’s “backpack in the lunchroom,” the report stated.
The second-grade student has four siblings, according to the arrest report. The five siblings were between ages 5 and 14.
Three of the five children attended Bagdad Elementary School, the report stated.
Another teacher at Bagdad Elementary School told investigators that she’d met with the children’s caretaker, Jessica Stevenson. The teacher said Stevenson “immediately berated her after assuming it was her who called DCF,” the report stated.
The teacher said she knew that one of the siblings had repeatedly been given new clothing by the school, the report stated.
Each new outfit would be worn continuously, day-after-after, until it was inevitably worn out, at which point, another new set of clothing would be provided by the school to the student, the report said.
The teacher said her student was frequently crying, “having meltdowns” and seemed depressed, the report said.
Based on the school staffer's report, the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation April 18 into the living conditions of the students, the arrest record stated.
Deputies visiting the siblings’ residence discovered a cockroach infestation, the report said: “The roaches were on nearly every surface in the home” including “on the children’s mattress, in the pots and pans in the kitchen, and inside the cabinets/fridge.”
Cabinets were empty of food, and the refrigerator contained two cartons of rancid milk, spoiled eggs, some sugar and a stick of butter, the report said. A plugged in microwave dangled out of a window by its cord.
The home was “filthy" overall, the report stated, except for Stevenson’s bedroom. Compared to the rest of the home, Stevenson’s bedroom was clean with minimal roaches and had a stashed bag of snacks.
Stevenson made bond the day after her arrest and was released from custody on May 4.
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e5710539ffb65dc35ec25395a4d20a61
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/09/notre-dame-concept-garden-solar-power-glass-canopy/1155906001/
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This striking Notre Dame concept imagines a rooftop garden and solar power generation
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This striking Notre Dame concept imagines a rooftop garden and solar power generation
A Paris-based architect has released a "tribute" to the Notre Dame cathedral that imagines the building being transformed into a green power generator using a new roof construction made out of materials including timber, glass and carbon fiber.
Vincent Callebaut Architectures' concept would create more energy than it consumes, according to a release. The design would feature a rooftop garden and a spire designed to work like a "wind powered chimney."
The project aims to be "a symbol of a resilient and ecological future that offers the city Paris a set of solutions inspired by biomimicry," which is a design philosophy that draws inspiration from nature.
A "three-dimensional Gothic stained glass graft" used in the roof's construction would generate more than enough electricity to power the cathedral, the concept claims.
The design would allow for natural light and air flow; it draws inspiration from the concept of rebirth. The concept aims to bring attention to "the environmental challenges we are facing through climate change," a release says.
In April, a fire ravaged the iconic church's famous roof, causing Notre Dame’s spire to collapse. After battling flames for nine hours into the night, firefighters were able to save the landmark’s main stone structure.
The Independent reports that Vincent Callebaut Architectures' concept is one of the designs for the roof to be submitted after an international design competition was announced by the French government.
Multiple renderings of the concept have been posted to social media, and more have been published by Vincent Callebaut Architectures.
Contributing: Kim Hjelmgaard and Joey Garrison, USA TODAY
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7725f84b9be4cef583d14f6017d7fbfb
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/10/antarctic-life-thrives-thanks-penguin-and-seal-poop-study-says/1165000001/?utm_campaign=DonanimHaber&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=DonanimHaber
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Penguin and seal poop gives life to Antarctica, new study finds
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Penguin and seal poop gives life to Antarctica, new study finds
A study published Thursday credits penguin and seal excrement for consistently enabling a bloom of life in the harsh climate of Antarctica.
Gasses from the waste of Antarctic penguins and elephant seals are responsible for a hotspot of small invertebrates surrounding the colonies, the study found. Researchers say that creatures such as mites and roundworms often found a home in moss around the colonies.
The study says the presence of penguin and elephant seals caused the number and diversity of invertebrates to increase between two and eight times.
"What we see is that the poo produced by seals and penguins partly evaporates as ammonia," a release quotes Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam researcher Stef Bokhorst. "Then, the ammonia gets picked up by the wind and is blown inland, and this makes its way into the soil and provides the nitrogen that primary producers need in order to survive in this landscape."
The study, published in "Current Biology," set out to study biodiversity in the Antarctic. Authors say the information could be used to assess the impact of climate change.
May 8:'Flesh-eating' genital infection linked to certain diabetes drugs, study finds
Oct. 23:People are pooping plastic, new study shows
Researchers found "hot spots" of biodiversity surrounding the colonies and attributed the great variety of life to the spread of nitrogen from the colonies' waste. The scale of such hot spots tracks closely with the size of the colony of penguins or seals – more so than the harshness of the climate, a release says.
"The influence of this excrement can extend more than 1,000 meters beyond the colony," a release says.
Bokhorst said that grasslands in the U.S. or Europe can have 100,000 invertebrates per square meter. But through extensive sampling and analysis, researchers found "millions" of invertebrates per square meter in Antarctica.
Researches suggested that the rich life surrounding the colonies could allow an invasive species to thrive, which could lead to the presence of creatures such as spiders and beetles. Researchers plan to study the possible impacts of an invasive species further.
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e96b7c19dd094851ffebf950463d78d6
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/13/american-psychological-association-sexism-discrimination-harm-women/1174801001/
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Therapists need to check their sexism, too (and other recommendations from the APA's new guidelines)
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Therapists need to check their sexism, too (and other recommendations from the APA's new guidelines)
The American Psychological Association (APA) Monday issued a fresh set of guidelines to help therapists who treat girls and women, noting that changes to "education, work, reproductive and caregiving roles, and personal relationships" in the last several decades have led to greater equality, but have also changed the ways in which women encounter adversity in the U.S. and around the world.
The guidelines include:
These guidelines come after guidelines on male treatment were issued earlier this year, sparking an uproar from conservatives for its characterization of toxic masculinity.
Sharon Lamb, Lillian Comas-Díaz and Debra Mollen served as co-chairs of the committee that developed the "APA Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Girls and Women." USA TODAY spoke with Comas-Díaz and Mollen about key takeaways:
Therapists are sexist and racist, too
Therapists are human, and no human is impervious to cultural attitudes about gender or race. The guidelines encourage practitioners to think about how their own experiences and beliefs may impact their treatment.
The guidelines note that psychotherapy often includes biases, such as overvaluing autonomy while undervaluing relationships or "basing definitions of positive mental health on behaviors that are most consistent with masculine stereotypes or life experiences."
In addition to self-awareness, the guidelines encourage diversity and gender sensitivity training and for therapists to "build their knowledge about racial, sexual orientation, elitist, ablest, ageist, and other types of microaggressions and how these intersect with their beliefs and attitudes about girls and women."
Microaggressions aren't so micro
The guidelines focus heavily on the persistence of subtle forms of sexism, including microaggressions. Harvard psychiatrist Chester Pierce, who coined the term in 1970, described them as racially charged "subtle blows ... delivered incessantly." A little more than a decade ago, Columbia psychology professor Derald Wing Sue expanded the concept of microaggressions to include its affects on other marginalized groups, including women.
"There have been changes in how racism and sexism are exhibited. Now it can show up more in terms of microaggressions and sometimes the person who is engaging in the behavior — whether a hetero-sexist, an ageist, a racist — may not be aware they're doing that because of their implicit biases," Comas-Díaz said.
A therapist asking a Korean American woman what country she's from is an example of a microaggression, the guidelines note, making the assumption that she is foreign.
"The sexism a white woman experiences is going to show up differently than the sexism an African American woman experiences because of her race," Comas-Díaz said.
The new guidelines give more attention to women with diverse marginalized identities.
INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM:A look at the term you may be hearing a lot
"We may identify as women, but we may also identify as women of color, as women with disabilities, as lesbian, queer, bisexual women. There's been incredible attention — much needed — on folks who identify as nonbinary and trasngender," Mollen said. "It's so important for psychologists to conceptualize girls and women with their complex identities."
Sexual violence remains a primary issue
The guidelines note United Nations data indicates that 70% of women experience some form of violence in their lifetime, with more recent research estimating this figure at 90% for the United States.
While the guidelines don't specifically mention #MeToo, both Comas-Díaz and Mollen say the movement shows how the cultural understanding of violence against women is changing.
"The statistics we have around the epidemic against sexual violence are startling and thank goodness for #MeToo which has brought widespread attention the issue," Mollen said. "In the guidelines, we don't talk solely about sexual violence, but everything that accompanies it: physical abuse, financial abuse, human trafficking, emotional abuse in addition to sexual harassment. We're talking about widespread persistent trauma."
Women need to be able to talk honestly about motherhood
As women continue to be primary caregivers of children, it's important to note the transition to motherhood can be much more difficult than women are led to believe.
"When you become a mother, you're supposed to be happy. Look at all this attention paid to Meghan and the royal baby. Society does not give women permission to explore the wide range of feelings and experiences that motherhood brings," Comas-Díaz said.
The new guidelines state that "for many women, there is a disconnection between the discourse around the joys of motherhood and the lived experience of parenting."
"Motherhood has become incredibly romanticized and idealized, yet a lot of mothers are suffering profoundly and in silence and I don't think that's adequately and accurately discussed. I think what we get presented with is motherhood is inherently satisfying, that it will complete women, that it will provide a source of joy for women," Mollen said. "Mothering puts tremendous pressure on women. If things aren't working well in your life, if you're feeling overwhelmed, the message you get is you need to be trying harder. ... It's a profoundly toxic perspective, and for mothers in particular it fails to take into the account the systemic factors that we don't have the language or vision to explain. These forces that have a profound impact on the places we live, the jobs we hold, the number of children we have and on mental and physical health."
Call your girlfriends
Women and girls tend to have healthier more supportive friendships than boys and men, and these relationships can help them lead happier lives. However, the guidelines state "difficulties in girls’ and women’s relationships can engender and/or exacerbate mental health issues."
HOW TO:Find female friendships that will lift you up
"When we are with female friends there's a psychological reaction. We release oxytocin and serotonin, the wonderful feel good hormones," Comas-Díaz said. "When you feel the best of you is there in that friendship, it's absolutely healing and affirming."
Girls and women have a lot to overcome — and they can
Girls and women around the world face sexism, oppression, discrimination, prejudice — but the guidelines are clear that they're also well-equipped to overcome these adversities. Women are more willing to talk about their problems, more likely to self-report when they feel they have a problem, and tend to have much healthier personal relationships than boys and men.
Without minimizing the challenges girls and women face, therapists are encouraged to focus on their resilience and on their identities as survivors.
You may also be interested in:
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e50ddd9d2d6ab7f88b53084ce1dfd84c
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/13/national-police-week-officers-feel-more-scrutinized-than-ever/1195040001/
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On National Police Week, officers 'feel more scrutinized than ever'
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On National Police Week, officers 'feel more scrutinized than ever'
National Police Week often slips under the radar, much as speeding drivers wish they could.
For law-enforcement officers, however, this is a time to honor their fallen comrades, and, under the right circumstances, also an occasion to be recognized for the perilous duty they perform.
In recent years, police throughout the country have come under intensified scrutiny in the wake of several killings of unarmed black men at the hands of officers, most of them white. Several of those deaths have led to protests and calls for reforms and heightened accountability, especially when the officers have not been penalized.
But when 25,000-40,000 people gather in Washington, D.C., this week to partake in National Police Week activities, they will provide a reminder of the vital role law enforcement serves and the sacrifice many officers and their families have made.
A total of 158 officers died in the line of duty in 2018, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, and the tally is at 42 this year.
“They are public servants and we need to keep that in mind,’’ said Chris Harris, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell who has researched public perception of police and their performance.
“People call the police when they need them and the police come. That’s not true of every nation in the world. It’s important we remember that these officers do on occasion put their lives on the line as a public service.’’
Here are five things to know about National Police Week:
What is it?
Mostly, it’s a large-scale commemoration of the officers who perished while doing their job, with attendance by representatives from all over the U.S. and some foreign countries. There are also seminars, receptions, pipe band performances and bonding opportunities for officers and their relatives.
Police Week came into effect under President John F. Kennedy’s administration in 1962 with the designation of May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day.
What are the events?
The highlights are Monday night’s candlelight vigil at the National Mall, where officers killed in the line of duty in 2018 and those previously unrecognized will be remembered, and Wednesday’s 11 a.m. memorial on the west front of the Capitol. At that two-hour service, all the fallen officers from last year will be commemorated.
In keeping with recent tradition, President Trump and other high-level elected officials are expected to attend, although their participation is not confirmed ahead of time for security reasons.
How dangerous is their job?
It’s hard to imagine any other occupation in which 10% of the employees were assaulted every year, but statistics show that’s the case with police. One positive development, though, is their fatalities have been steadily declining since the 1970s, when the totals routinely rose well into the 200s.
Last year’s figure of 158 was the sixth lowest this century, and it includes 27 deaths due to illnesses related to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
At the current rate, this year’s number of police deaths would be around 115, the lowest figure since 1959.
How do people feel about police?
Better than it might seem. Harris said citizen satisfaction surveys consistently rank police high, although the numbers dip some among minority groups and also take a hit when high-profile incidents like the Rodney King beating get exposed.
On Monday, the Bureau of Justice Statistics tweeted that 83% of residents were satisfied with the police response during their most recent contact, and 89% said officers behaved properly. Those figures were from 2015, based on a survey conducted every three years. The results were released in October.
Are police under siege?
That would be too strong a term to use, but they’re under a microscope. Technological advancements have made it much easier for instances of police misconduct to be exposed to the public eye, and the killings of unarmed black me like Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Stephon Clark have drawn national media attention.
Harris said police realize being closely monitored comes with the territory.
“They’ve always been scrutinized to a heavy extent, and to some degree they should,’’ Harris said. “Theirs is the only occupation that has the right to use force against the general public. In that regard, it’s probably appropriate. But at the same time, with technology and social media, there’s a lot more discussion of problems with police, more videos taken and shared. The police themselves, at least the officers I’ve talked to, feel more scrutinized than they ever have been.’’
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db6a6bf29615131a6695797b2f0f9d56
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/14/half-americans-swimming-pools-communal-bathtub/3672300002/
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Half of Americans have used swimming pools as an alternative to showering, study finds
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Half of Americans have used swimming pools as an alternative to showering, study finds
Summer is almost here, and one of the ways to stay out of the heat is to take a dip in the pool.
But how clean is the water?
According to a new survey presented by the Water Quality and Health Council, 51% of Americans reported using a swimming pool as a communal bathtub — using the pool as an alternative to showering or rinsing off after engaging in exercise or yard work. Even though 64% of Americans know pool chemicals don't eliminate the need to shower, people continue to do it anyway.
“When dirt, sweat, personal care products, and other things on our bodies react with chlorine, there is less chlorine available to kill germs,” said Dr. Chris Wiant, chair of the Water Quality & Health Council. “Rinsing off for just 1 minute removes most of the dirt, sweat, or anything else on your body.”
The 2019 Healthy Pools survey, released Tuesday, was conducted online by public relations firmSachs Media Group and measured perceptions and behaviors related to swimming pools and public health. The organization interviewed 3,100 Americans adults on April 12 and 13. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7% at the 95% confidence level and was nationally representative of American adults in terms of age, race, gender, income and region.
Following the study's release, critics have pointed out that the Water Quality & Health Council is a group sponsored by the Chlorine Chemistry Division of the American Chemistry Council, an industry trade association.
'A pathogen soup':Mom files $1 million lawsuit after brain-eating amoeba at Texas water park kills son
Why you need to shower: Here's what would happen if you didn't shower for a year?
The survey comes as experts from the council, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance work to educate the public on healthy and safe swimming.
Along with not showering before entering a pool, 40% of Americans admitted they have peed in the pool as an adult. Urine reacts with chlorine, reducing the amount of chemicals available to kill germs.
The survey also revealed that 24% of Americans would go in a pool within one hour of having diarrhea, and 48% reported that they never shower before swimming. Most people did not know that pool chemistry can be impacted by personal care items such as makeup (53%) and deodorant (55%).
To check the chlorine and pH levels for a personal or public pool, the council is offering free pool tests kits through its 15th annual Healthy Pools campaign on its website. In addition, the agency is urging people to check local and state health departments for pool inspection records. While the records for several states are available on the council's website, Michigan is not on the list.
But there's hope that records will be more readily available for public inspection in the near future, according to the state.
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, formerly the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, said in a statement:
"Data on Michigan swimming pool inspections is available through open records requests with the state. EGLE currently is working through the bid process for an IT solution that would help make this information more readily available."
“Pools are great places to have fun with friends and family,” said Jim Mock, interim executive director of the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance. “A trained pool operator can get the mix of pool chemicals healthy and safe, and swimmers can help keep it right by swimming healthy.”
Are beards dirtier than dogs?:'Significantly' more germs hide in men's beards, study finds
Don't leave your sponge in the sink:Sponges left in sinks become fecal germ bombs
Follow Micah Walker on Twitter: @Micah_walker701
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271c9650d4ebb84852c70aa590038cb4
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/14/trash-including-plastic-bag-found-deepest-ocean-point-earth/3664885002/
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Deepest dump? American explorer spots plastic garbage in world's deepest ocean
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Deepest dump? American explorer spots plastic garbage in world's deepest ocean
We've heard recently that the roof of the world — Mount Everest — is littered with tons of trash. Now comes the unsettling news that garbage has also been spotted at the world's deepest ocean depth.
How do we know this? Intrepid American explorer Victor Vescovo has seen both places for himself.
Vescovo, 53, the first and only human being to visit both spots, recently took a four-hour dive in a submersible to Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. At seven miles below sea level in the western Pacific Ocean, it's the deepest place in the world.
In addition to some weird fish and other undersea creatures, the trash Vescovo saw down there included a few candy wrappers and a plastic bag.
"It was very disappointing to see obvious human contamination of the deepest point in the ocean," Vescovo said to Reuters.
“It’s just an unfortunate consequence of multiple billions people on earth and all we consume,” he told ABC News.
Incredibly, as much as 8 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year.
More:Plastic garbage in the North Atlantic Ocean skyrocketing
More:Humans have produced 18.2 trillion pounds of plastic since the 50s.
Vescovo's voyage in the submersible called "The Limiting Factor" was part of a journey to visit the world's deepest spots and was filmed for Discovery Channel, according to CNN.
The series, "Deep Planet," will air later this year.
Despite the trash, Vescovo still marveled at the voyage: "It is almost indescribable how excited all of us are about achieving what we just did," Vescovo told BBC News.
"This submarine and its mother ship, along with its extraordinarily talented expedition team, took marine technology to a ridiculously higher new level by diving – rapidly and repeatedly – into the deepest, harshest, area of the ocean."
In addition to the world's highest and lowest locations, Vescovo has also been to both the North and South Poles. When he finishes his dives later this year, he will have been to the deepest part of all seven seas on Earth.
Follow Doyle Rice on Twitter @USATODAYWeather
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4ae13cca93ad3a0312cd14c7ae7cee31
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/15/alabama-abortion-ban-signed-into-lay-gov-kay-ivey/3686512002/?fbclid=IwAR2JbZhgLBWWjqCyGACE7VQHDvDd-yFZKYMCh1qF95uO-3BdoyZgcE8l-us
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Alabama governor signs near-total abortion ban into law
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Alabama governor signs near-total abortion ban into law
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a near-total abortion ban Wednesday, putting in place one of the nation's most restrictive laws on the procedure and all but guaranteeing legal challenges.
The governor had been quiet about her intentions after the Alabama Senate gave final legislative approval to the bill Tuesday night.
"To the bill’s many supporters, this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians’ deeply held belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from God," Ivey said in a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon.
But in a nod to the likely legal challenges the bill would face, Ivey's statement also said that Alabama's pre-1973 ban on abortion is unenforeceable due to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, which struck down state bans on abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy.
"No matter one’s personal view on abortion, we can all recognize that, at least for the short term, this bill may similarly be unenforceable," the statement said. "As citizens of this great country, we must always respect the authority of the U.S. Supreme Court even when we disagree with their decisions."
Abortion rights supporters have vowed to fight the measure, which bans abortion in nearly all cases except where a woman's health is in danger.
"We haven’t lost a case in Alabama yet and we don’t plan to start now," Staci Fox, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast, said in a statement Wednesday evening. "We will see Governor Ivey in court."
Randall Marshall, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama, said his group would fight the ban.
“By signing this bill, the governor and her colleagues in the state legislature have decided to waste millions in Alabama taxpayer dollars in order to defend a bill that is simply a political effort to overturn 46 years of precedent that has followed the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision," the statement said.
Without legal challenges, the ban would take effect in November.
The ban, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Terri Collins, makes it a felony punishable by life or 10 to 99 years in prison to perform an abortion in the state of Alabama. Attempting an abortion would be a felony, with a prison sentence of one to 10 years.
The only exceptions to the ban would be a threat to the life of the mother; a mental illness where a birth might lead to a woman's death or the death of her child, or in the case of fetal anomalies where a child might be stillborn or die after birth.
Collins' bill provides no exceptions for rape or incest. Republicans in both chambers of the Legislature rejected attempts to add exceptions for sexual assault victims in debates over the measure. All but four of 25 Republicans rejected an amendment Wednesday that would place a rape and incest exception in the bill. On April 30, 74 House Republicans voted to reject a rape and incest exception.
"If you are going to allow a baby to be raped, or a father, or an uncle, or a cousin to have babies by their own family, you couldn't have been thinking this through," Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, a Democrat, said during the debate Tuesday.
Collins and other supporters of the bill said it is designed to take a challenge to Roe v. Wade to the U.S. Supreme Court, and adding exceptions for sexual assault in the bill would weaken its argument for fetal personhood. Collins has argued the state could design a new abortion law if Roe is struck down, and said she would support rape and incest exceptions in that instance.
It's unclear, though, whether a legislature that overwhelmingly voted to keep those exceptions out would want to revisit the issue. Legislators’ ability to write that prospective new law may also be limited by a state constitutional amendment approved by Alabama voters last year, which said there was no right to abortion.
Women seeking an abortion in Alabama must first receive mandatory counseling, then wait 48 hours.
More:Planned Parenthood readies challenge to near-total abortion ban in Alabama
More:How does Alabama's abortion bill compare to Georgia's 'fetal heartbeat' law?
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1ef4fa32205a73af504ae016da13f4b1
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/15/alabama-abortion-bill-vote-senate-rape-incest-details-law/3677977002/
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Alabama abortion bill: What happens next for most restrictive ban in US in 40 years?
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Alabama abortion bill: What happens next for most restrictive ban in US in 40 years?
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Alabama Senate has passed a near-total ban on abortions that would essentially prohibit the procedure statewide.
If the bill becomes a law, performing an abortion would be considered a Class A felony, which carries a sentence of life or 10 to 99 years in prison. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, was passed by the Alabama House last month.
The Alabama vote comes just more than a week after Georgia passed its own "fetal heartbeat" bill, which is now one of the most restrictive anti-abortion laws in the nation.
Here's everything you need to know about Alabama's abortion bill, what it contains and what happens now that it's passed in the Senate.
What are the abortion bill's details?
Rep. Terri Collins, the bill's sponsor, says the abortion bill aims to create a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down state bans on abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Alabama state law currently outlaws abortion after 20 weeks into the pregnancy, unless it's to protect the women’s health or in cases involving rape or incest. The new bill would remove that 20-week restriction, essentially outlawing abortions entirely.
In addition to making performing an abortion a Class A felony, the bill would also make attempting to perform one a Class C felony. The resulting penalty for an attempted abortion under the new law would be a prison sentence of one to 10 years.
Does the bill make exceptions for rape and incest?
Earlier this week, Senate Democrats introduced provisions to the bill that would allow for exceptions in cases involving rape or incest. Those provisions were rejected in the Senate on Tuesday, though, meaning the bill will move forward without any such exceptions.
In the House, Republicans also rejected an amendment to provide exceptions for victims of rape and incest.
The bill does include exceptions for when the life of the mother was at risk; when the fetus had a lethal anomaly that would result in stillbirth or death after childbirth, or when a mental illness could lead to the woman’s death or that of her child.
Will Alabama's governor vote 'yes' on the bill?
Now that the bill has passed the Senate, it will go to Gov. Kay Ivey's desk for her approval.
The governor hasn't said anything regarding whether or not she will sign the bill, or what conditions she might attach to it.
"As this legislation is still making its way through the legislative process, the governor intends to withhold comment until it makes its way to her desk for signature," Lori Jhons, a spokeswoman for Ivey, wrote in an email on Monday.
Still, Republicans hold 27 of 35 seats in the Senate, so even if Ivey vetoed the measure, the Legislature can override any veto by simple majority votes.
How would Alabama's law compare to Georgia's 'fetal heartbeat' law?
The Alabama law is more restrictive than the "fetal heartbeat" bill passed in Georgia last week.
Under the new Georgia law, abortions would be illegal after about six weeks of pregnancy, which is when a heartbeat can be detected in the womb. Mississippi, Ohio and Kentucky have all passed similar laws that ban abortions after a heartbeat is detected.
Alabama's bill goes further. If passed, the provision would ban abortions entirely, except in particular cases such as if the mother's life is at risk.
What abortion access is currently available to Alabama residents?
If Ivey does sign the bill into law, it won't take effect for six months. That means, that time, Alabama residents will still have the same access to abortion resources as they do now. Here's what that looks like.
There are just three abortion clinics left in the state, according to the National Abortion Federation's database: The Alabama Women's Center for Reproductive Alternatives in Huntsville, the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa and the Reproductive Health Services of Montgomery in Montgomery.
Alabama-based groups such as P.O.W.E.R. House and national organizations like Planned Parenthood and Pro-Choice America also offer additional information and resources.
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f3e04a494085f7a8b1328cdc1fadbad7
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/15/harvard-lampoon-apologizes-sexualized-anne-frank-photo-bikini/3678083002/
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Harvard students apologize for publishing image of Anne Frank's face on bikini-clad woman
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Harvard students apologize for publishing image of Anne Frank's face on bikini-clad woman
Harvard's satire magazine has apologized for publishing a doctored image of Anne Frank after outraged students said the image improperly sexualized the teen Holocaust victim and contained anti-Semitic themes.
The Harvard Lampoon posted an apology on its website after their latest issue included an image of Anne Frank's face edited onto a bikini-clad woman's body.
A headline above the image read, "Gone Before Her Time: Virtual Aging Technology Shows Us What Anne Frank Would Have Looked Like if She Hadn’t Died."
Beneath, the publication added: "Add this to your list of reasons the Holocaust sucked."
Anne, who was Jewish, died at age 15 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and gained international fame posthumously when her diary was published depicting her and her family's time in hiding from Nazi persecution in the Netherlands.
Waning Holocaust knowledge:Like Americans, Austrians are forgetting the Holocaust. These are the shocking numbers
"We as individuals and we as an organization would like to apologize for our negligence in allowing this piece to be created for and printed in our latest issue. We are sorry for any harm we have caused. Furthermore, we want to both affirm and emphasize that the Lampoon condemns any and all forms of anti-Semitism," the magazine's leadership wrote in their apology.
According to the Harvard Crimson student newspaper, the issue was circulated over the weekend on campus, and many students began criticizing the image on social media by Sunday night.
A petition with almost 300 signatures as of early Wednesday had circulated, calling for an apology and explanation of how and why the image made it into the magazine, the Crimson reported.
The newspaper also said that the head of Harvard Hillel, Rabbi Jonah C. Steinberg, emailed the Lampoon separately, comparing the image "to obscenity of the Nazis."
"Your depiction of Anne Frank’s face grafted to pinup imagery goes far beyond the distastefulness and provocativeness you obviously intend. It is the sexual violation of a child – one who, in life, was subjected to the most hideous of crimes," Steinberg reportedly wrote.
A Harvard spokesperson said the image was "deeply offensive and insulting" and denigrated Frank's legacy.
"It is not aligned with the values that Harvard College works tirelessly to promote, and we have already begun discussions with the students and organization involved to ensure that appropriate action is taken," Harvard spokesperson Aaron Goldman said.
The Lampoon is an independent student group, not operated by the university.
In a statement to USA TODAY, the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect in New York said empathy for others must guide all interactions.
"As Anne Frank said, 'People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.' We all make mistakes. It's important we learn from them, especially at our educational and cultural institutions," the statement read.
'A lesson for life':Holocaust survivor educates California teens after 'horrible' party
Robert Trestan, the head of the Anti-Defamation League’s Boston office, tweeted that the image was "shameful and harmful" amid rising anti-Semitism around the world and called it "outrageous, insensitive, sexualized."
The Harvard Lampoon was founded in 1876 as a student humor magazine and has many notable alumni, including Conan O'Brien, Lawrence O'Donnell and Colin Jost.
In their apology, the Lampoon's student leaders vowed to change their editorial practices to ensure that images like the one recently published are not included in the future. They also said they would work with the school's office of diversity to improve their organization's culture overall.
"Moving forward, we will approach the content of our magazine with greater care," the editors said.
'4 minutes saved my life':Holocaust survivor had bullets whiz by outside Tree of Life
Follow USA TODAY's Ryan Miller on Twitter @RyanW_Miller
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64abb4e63e387e15dd93b5951c14d0e7
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/15/ivey-defends-alabama-abortion-bill-but-doesnt-commit/3682386002/
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Alabama's governor defends near-total abortion ban bill, but doesn't commit to signing
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Alabama's governor defends near-total abortion ban bill, but doesn't commit to signing
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey told reporters Wednesday that her office hadn’t gotten a bill that would criminalize abortion in nearly all cases, and that she’d have to review it before making a decision.
She then defended some of the bill’s most contentious points.
The Alabama Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would make it a Class A felony, punishable by life or 10 to 99 years in prison, for a doctor to perform an abortion in the state. Attempting to perform an abortion would be a Class C felony, punishable by one to 10 years in prison.
The Senate rejected an amendment that would have put in exceptions for rape and incest. Ivey was asked Wednesday about victims of rape and incest who would be required by law to carry their babies to term.
“All human life is precious,” she said.
If signed into law, it would likely trigger a costly legal battle for the state. Ivey dismissed that as a concern.
“You certainly cannot deter your efforts to protect the unborn because of cost, even if it means going to the United States Supreme Court,” she said.
Ivey said she expected to get the bill later Wednesday.
More:End Roe v. Wade? Here's what would happen next
If she signs it, the ban would take effect six months after her signature. If she vetoes it, a simple majority in both chambers could override the veto. It passed the House 74 to 3 and passed the Senate 25 to 6.
She spoke after a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama’s new, $388 million engine plant. The ceremony happened on a day when “#BoycottAlabama” was one of the trending hashtags on social media.
Asked if she was concerned that the abortion bill and its backlash could make it more difficult to recruit business to the state, she said only that Alabama is “open for business.”
“It’s a great place to do business,” Ivey said. “We’ve got a business-friendly environment.”
More:After Alabama's abortion bill, Missouri could be next
Bryan Lyman contributed to this report.
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ee6801bedfdb835a806b4cea04306159
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/15/las-vegas-police-serge-fournier-bus-murder-video/3686863002/
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He told her to be 'nicer' and she pushed him off a bus, authorities say. He died a month later
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He told her to be 'nicer' and she pushed him off a bus, authorities say. He died a month later
Las Vegas police on Tuesday released video of a woman pushing a 74-year-old man off a bus, asking witnesses to come forward and describe the alleged murder.
The man hit his head on the sidewalk about 8 feet from the door of the parked bus, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, and died about a month later from his injuries.
Witnesses told detectives that the woman, 25-year-old Cadesha Bishop, was yelling profanities on the Las Vegas bus in the late afternoon of March 21.
When Serge Fournier passed her in the aisle, the report reviewed by the Review-Journal said, he told her "to be nicer to the passengers." Then she pushed him off the bus with both hands, the video shows.
The muted surveillance video released by authorities shows a man holding a walker or folded cart. As he approaches the front of the crowded bus, a woman shoves him out the door with both hands.
Bishop walked away without offering help, according to the report, and held her son's hand as they passed Fournier on the sidewalk.
Senior care:There's a 'perfect storm' (of good news) for senior living costs in 2019
Safety concerns:When should seniors stop driving? Most never talk to anyone about giving up their car
Police said Fournier refused medical attention at the scene, the Review-Journal reported, but went to a hospital that night. He died from complications of blunt force torso injuries on April 23, leading the coroner to rule his death as a homicide.
Court records show Bishop is charged with murdering an older person, the Review-Journal reported. She is scheduled to appear in court next week.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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98889705baf31dff269b2edec41cd536
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/15/thousands-gather-memorial-colorado-school-shooting-victim-kendrick-castillo-stem-school/3687318002/
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'Now it’s time for us to live for him': Thousands remember Colorado school shooting victim
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'Now it’s time for us to live for him': Thousands remember Colorado school shooting victim
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. – Thousands gathered at a Colorado church Wednesday to celebrate the life of Kendrick Castillo.
The 18-year-old was just days away from graduating from STEM School Highlands Ranch when two shooters entered his classroom on May 7.
Castillo didn’t hesitate.
He tackled one of the gunmen, losing his life while trying to save those of his classmates.
Castillo, along with classmates Brendan Bialy and Joshua Jones, is credited with helping minimize the bloodshed of the shooting that injured seven students. Castillo was the only fatality.
At a memorial for Castillo held at Cherry Hills Community Church in Highlands Ranch, his father, John Castillo, said it was no surprise to him and his wife, Maria, that their son acted as he did on May 7, when he and two classmates disarmed one of the suspects. He urged those in attendance to be more like his son and put love and compassion for others first.
“We love our community,” Castillo said. “We’re a family of three and a little dog, but you know, I feel the love of thousands.”
Speaker after speaker praised the young man, focusing on his character and the accomplishments of his short life. References to the shooting were few, including one by Dakota Mann, who was on the school robotics team with Castillo.
“He died for us. Now it’s time for us to live for him,” Mann said.
A procession featuring more than 600 Jeeps – Castillo was a Jeep and off-road vehicle enthusiast – began around 12:15 p.m.
As attendees streamed into the church, volunteers passed out tissues.
Pastor Dan DeMay said people often ask “why” when terrible things happen.
“The truth is, many times the question of why is often unresolved,” DeMay said.
The better question to ask, he said, is what next?
Castillo would have wanted everyone to move forward in love, kindness, respect and generosity, a number of speakers said.
John Castillo said at the service he knew his son was a gift and a hero, even before he died saving others.
Castillo said we can all learn to make time for people – that we should never be too busy to put something on hold for a little bit to love others.
“We can all be a little like Kendrick,” Castillo said. “There’s risk in love. He knew that.”
Thousands stood in the church to applaud the teen's father as he walked off the stage, the clapping punctuated by sniffles in the audience.
Charlene Molis was Kendrick Castillo’s principal from preschool to eighth grade at Notre Dame Catholic School. During the service, she said that even as a young child Castillo had a heart for helping others.
She recounted a time when, on the first day of preschool, he saw a classmate crying.
Castillo wasted no time moving to comfort the boy. He walked over, put his arm around him and told him it would be OK.
More:Kendrick Castillo, hero killed in Colo. school shooting, told his dad he would act if confronted with a gunman
Dakota Mann is a STEM alum and is a systems engineer at Lockheed Martin and a design and fabrication mentor for Team Impulse, a robotics team Castillo was part of. As a mentor, he worked closely with Castillo.
“Everyone was drawn to him,” Mann said. “He was my friend.”
Mann knew Castillo for about four years, he said. Mann was a senior when Castillo was a freshman.
Castillo loved robotics. He spent much of his time at STEM School Highlands Ranch learning and mentoring other kids, Mann said.
That’s why a line of robots from various Colorado FIRST Robotics teams lined the walkway into the church.
“We asked if we could do something like a procession you might do for like a fallen officer or soldier because the effect was so profound,” Mann said.
As folks walked in, they stopped to look at the robots, many decorated with signs bearing Castillo’s name.
Julia Beller, 17, stood on the sidewalk outside the church before the procession began. She goes to Valor Christian High School, just across the street. Beller said she and some fellow students wanted to come out to stand with Castillo’s family and classmates. In her own small way, she said, she wanted to do what she could to show the love of God.
“Sometimes it’s about just being there,” Beller said.
The shooting feels close to home, Beller said.
STEM School Highlands Ranch is just about 4 miles away from Valor. It’s also about 4 miles away from Arapahoe High School, where a shooting took place in 2013. There have also been several student suicides in the Denver area, she said, including at Valor.
The school is also just about 8 miles away from Columbine High School, where 20 years ago two shooters killed 12 students and a teacher.
“I just keep telling my mom, we’re like sitting ducks,” Beller said. “Who’s next? But this is normal for us now.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
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950899f2f02af107caece19f961b3b4e
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/16/737-max-boeing-software-fix-done/3697037002/
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Boeing says 737 Max software is fixed, now it's up to the FAA
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Boeing says 737 Max software is fixed, now it's up to the FAA
Boeing said Thursday that it has completed its software fix on the 737 Max, a key step toward getting the grounded jetliner back in the air after two deadly crashes.
But the jet still isn't likely to be back in service for months. It now faces tests and certification by the Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies around the world.
The software update focuses on the automated system designed to counteract a tendency for the plane's nose to point up due to heavier engines mounted in a more forward position on the wing than previous 737 versions.
The system, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), played a role in the crash of 737 Max jets operated by Lion Air in October and by Ethiopian Airlines in March. The two crashes claimed a total of 346 lives. The pilots of both jets wrestled trying to keep their planes in the air as the system repeatedly kept pushing the nose toward the ground.
Boeing has said it is redesigning the software so that pilots can more easily shut off the system, keeping it from repeatedly reengaging, and not making it react as dramatically in pushing down the nose. Rather than relying on data from a single sensor, the new system will take a measure of both sensors that tell the MCAS system whether the nose is pointed too high.
Boeing said it has flown 207 test flights comprising 360 hours of flight time in 737 Max jets with the new MCAS software.
The FAA has asked for information on how pilots will interact with cockpit controls and displays in different flight scenarios with the new software, Boeing said in a statement. After submitting answers to those queries, Boeing said it plans to start certification flight tests.
“We’re committed to providing the FAA and global regulators all the information they need, and to getting it right," said Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg in a statement. "We’re making clear and steady progress and are confident that the 737 Max with updated MCAS software will be one of the safest airplanes ever to fly."
The Max has been in service around the world with thousands of planes on order. Some airlines, which have put all their Max jets in storage, are not counting on them being back in the air until the fall, although no formal schedule has been announced. In the US, Southwest and American are airlines with substantial numbers of Max planes in their fleets.
Acting FAA administrator Daniel Elwell said at a hearing Wednesday that the Max will return to service "only when the FAA's analysis of the factual and technical data indicates it is safe to do so." It is yet to be seen whether international counterparts to the FAA act with the same speed as U.S. regulators.
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01f2d1093afe6c2848dbea8f9821a587
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/16/california-gas-powered-car-sales-ban/3699738002/
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Is California ready to ban gas-powered cars? Not yet. But they're thinking about it
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Is California ready to ban gas-powered cars? Not yet. But they're thinking about it
LOS ANGELES — California without gasoline-burning cars? The idea is starting to be floated.
A top regulator came close Thursday, but ultimately backed away from directly raising the notion of giving the boot to exhaust-belching automobiles, a staple of life in the freeway-happy Golden State for more than a century.
Speaking at an air-quality workshop in San Diego, Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board, was expected to toss in the idea of killing off gas-powered cars based on her prepared remarks. They called for her to list ways in which the state can get tougher on pollution.
Start the day smarter:Get USA TODAY's Daily Briefing in your inbox
The list ...:America’s most eco-friendly vehicles from BMW to VW, includes a Tesla trio and two Toyotas
“That might mean, for example, tougher requirements for low-carbon fuels, looking at tighter health-protective regulations on California refineries, doubling down on our enforcement efforts on mobile and stationary sources — and might lead to an outright ban on internal-combustion engines,” according to the remarks obtained by Bloomberg News.
But when it came to actually delivering the remarks, the direct reference to a gas-engine ban was omitted. In closing the conference, Nichols said if the air can't be cleaned fast enough, tougher measures like "fees, taxes and bans on certain types of vehicles" might be required. She added, "These are things that most of us don't think is the right way to go."
Nichols wasn't proposing a gas-vehicle ban on a whim, said Simon Mui, senior scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Rather, she was reacting to steps that California may have to take to stay in compliance with toughening federal clean-air regulations. If the state, famous for its smoggy air, were to fall short, it would face sanctions.
"The feds have clearly put the states into a bind," Mui said after attending the conference.
In California, a ban on the sale of internal-combustion cars is considered a fanciful idea. In fact, a bill to ban the sale of internal-combustion cars by 2040 was introduced in the California Legislature last year, though it didn't get far.
Bike to Work Week:Are e-bikes the answer to health, traffic and environmental issues?
“It’s time that we clear the path for emissions-free transportation and take significant steps to achieve our ambitious emissions reduction goals," Assemblyman Phil Ting, a San Francisco Democrat, said in a statement at the time.
The California New Car Dealers Association opposed the measure, saying the state lacked enough public charging stations to keep all those electrics on the road, that the bill didn't take into account the valuable role played by gas-electric hybrid vehicles and that it was too hard to mandate rules on vehicle sales more than 20 years in the future.
Already, California is the nation's leader in the sale of electric cars. The association says more than 500,000 are on the road.
What's a 'frunk'? Electric cars like Rivian, Tesla, Jaguar offer unique storage spaces
Some experts agree the timing isn't yet right to talk about a gasoline-free future.
"California has always been a visionary when it comes to 'green' cars," said Ron Cogan, publisher of the Green Car Journal.
"It's not surprising there are elements in government who want to move us away from internal-combustion cars." But "given the high cost of electric cars and that a great majority of entry-level buyers can't afford them, it's too early about talk about taking gas-powered cars off the road," Cogan said.
Given the charging challenge and other issues, "so many things have to happen before that is financially or fundamentally possible," he added
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69f8ec2fe63359df1a6b6ceab608bd42
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/16/kenneth-howard-kentucky-missing-child-found-safe-strip-mine/3691099002/
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Toddler missing for 3 days found alive on 50-foot cliffside near strip mine
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Toddler missing for 3 days found alive on 50-foot cliffside near strip mine
SALYERSVILLE, Ky. – Kentucky State Police say a 22-month-old boy has been found safe, almost three days after disappearing from his rural Kentucky home.
State police said in a tweet the boy – Kenneth Howard – was found just before 2 p.m. Wednesday in Floyd County in the area of a stripe mine. He was taken by emergency medical services to be examined.
According to WYMT-TV, the boy was located on a 50-foot, steep incline cliffside, 1,755 feet away from his home, when crews heard him crying. The TV station said the boy was being treated for dehydration.
News outlets reported earlier that Magoffin County Emergency Management Director Robert Prater said the original search area was a half-mile radius from the home but widened to about 1 mile and included an old, overgrown mining operation.
Magoffin County Search and Rescue Chief Carter Conley said crews were using dogs, ATVs, helicopters and drones with thermal cameras to search the rugged terrain.
Kentucky State Police spokesman William Petry said earlier there was no evidence of foul play. The boy’s father offered a $5,000 reward for the child’s safe return.
"He's tough, that little kid is. I can't believe all the help. I don't know how we're going to thank everybody. But we've had people from everywhere. I really don't know where all they've come from, out of state, and everywhere to help us," South Magoffin Fire Department Assistant Chief, Brent Handshoe, said, per WYMT.
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16f4e8103342775468c244f7504f473a
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/16/mall-america-balcony-throwing-man-pleads-guilty-boy-healing/3691617002/
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Man accused of throwing boy from mall balcony pleads guilty; boy continues to heal
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Man accused of throwing boy from mall balcony pleads guilty; boy continues to heal
MINNEAPOLIS – A man who reportedly told investigators that he went to the Mall of America "looking for someone to kill" pleaded guilty Tuesday to throwing a 5-year-old boy from a third-floor balcony and faces 19 years in prison.
Emmanuel Aranda, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty to attempted premeditated first-degree murder in the April 12 attack. The child suffered head trauma and multiple broken bones but survived.
Aranda, 24, will be sentenced June 3. His plea deal calls for prosecutors to drop an aggravated-circumstances component to the charge that could have meant an additional year in prison. Prosecutor Cheri Ann Townsend said the boy's family supports the deal.
Aranda was arrested moments after the attack as he waited to board a light-rail train at the mall, and police say he had quickly admitted to it.
A criminal complaint filed soon after the attack said Aranda told police he was angry at being rejected by women at the mall and was "looking for someone to kill" when he went there that day.
April 24:Boy thrown off balcony at Mall of America miraculously suffered 'zero brain damage,' pastor says
April 16:Man accused of throwing 5-year-old boy over Mall of America balcony was 'looking for someone to kill'
He had two past convictions for assaults at the mall, both in 2015, and had been banned from the property at one point. Court records showed that Aranda had been ordered to undergo psychological evaluation or treatment after those attacks.
His attorney, Paul Sellers, previously said Aranda had been in mental health court in the past. But he said after Tuesday's hearing that Aranda was mentally competent enough to proceed in the attempted murder case.
"He is competent, clearly. I wouldn't be able to go forward with the plea if he wasn't competent," Sellers said.
He added that it was "absolutely, 100 percent" Aranda's decision to plead guilty.
"He went into the courtroom and accepted full responsibility," Sellers said. Barring "something unbelievably unusual," Aranda will be out of prison in about 12 years, he said.
Aranda spoke quietly during the hearing while giving yes-or-no answers to questions aimed at making sure he understood what he was admitting.
The child plunged almost 40 feet and suffered head trauma and multiple broken bones. Authorities have not released the boy's name and say his family requested privacy. His family released a statement in late April saying the boy was alert and no longer in critical condition. On Monday, the family said he has continued to heal.
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098688814514f20d89bc732183ce8356
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/16/weather-forecast-tornado-alley-wake-storm-threatens-18-states/3690905002/
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Tornado Alley 'about to wake up': Wall of storms threaten 18 states
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Tornado Alley 'about to wake up': Wall of storms threaten 18 states
Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes will threaten almost 1 million square miles of 18 states in coming days as tumultuous spring weather sweeps the nation.
"Tornado Alley is certainly about to wake up," AccuWeather extreme meteorologist Reed Timmer said.
Tornado Alley references a swath of Plains states, including portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and South Dakota.
Southern and Midwestern states such as Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Iowa, Tennessee, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Minnesota are also sometimes included, with the southern states referred to as "Dixie Alley."
The wild weather sets in late Thursday with storms across parts of South Dakota and Nebraska to Michigan and Indiana before sprawling into a wider area Friday and the weekend. More than 40 million people live in the storm zone, which will roll as far south as New Mexico and Texas.
But there is no end in sight – the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center (SPC) highlighted a risk area for severe weather for eight straight days.
"Pretty sure it's the first time that all days on the day 4-8 have had contours drawn" since the forecasting tool became operational in 2007, climatologist Harold Brooks tweeted.
Alabama-based TV meteorologist James Spann also chimed in on Twitter: "Storm chasers are licking their chops… significant severe weather possible on every SPC outlook days 4-8."
On Saturday, parts of Texas and Arkansas have the greatest chance of severe weather, the Weather Channel warned. On Sunday, key targets might be Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.
Damaging winds, large hail and a few tornadoes will all be threats from these storms.
A "storm train" roaring in from the Pacific Ocean will move across the Rockies and clash with warm moisture rolling up from the Gulf of Mexico, triggering the weather chaos, AccuWeather senior meteorologist Paul Walker said. This is normally a dry season for California, he said, but this year the rain has been unrelenting.
"It's hard to nail down where the most severe weather and tornadoes will hit over the next few days," Walker said. "Pay attention to the weather, pay attention to weather alerts, pay attention to local warnings. Just pay attention!"
Damaging storms have already flared up this week, with homes and businesses in Orlando, Florida, battered by wind gusts above 55 mph on Tuesday.
In the West, a storm more typical of winter will bring everything from rain and thunderstorms to wind and mountain snow, AccuWeather said. The storm will make for slower-than-normal travel, ruin outdoor plans and increase the risk of flooding and damage in some communities.
Up to 5 inches of rain is possible in some areas of the West. That amount of rain is "extremely out of the ordinary" for this time of year, AccuWeather said.
In the Sierra, "total snow accumulations of 12 to 18 inches, with localized amounts up to 35 inches, are expected," the National Weather Service in Sacramento said. AccuWeather warned that "travelers through the high terrain should use extreme caution as roadways will be slippery and snow covered with lane restrictions possible."
The storm weather follows a lengthy pattern of wet weather that, along with serious flooding in the Midwest, has brought "sizable drought relief" across the nation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported last week. Drought now covers a "near-record low" of 2.4% of the nation, Thursday's U.S. Drought Monitor said.
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ecc91b3a2d7599633f166d241c47ee44
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/17/climate-change-25-west-antarctic-ice-sheet-now-unstable-due-global-warming/3706584002/
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'Extraordinary': Almost 1/4 of West Antarctic ice is now 'unstable'
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'Extraordinary': Almost 1/4 of West Antarctic ice is now 'unstable'
More unsettling news from the bottom of the world.
Almost one-quarter of the ice in the West Antarctic ice sheet has been classified as "unstable," according to a new study released this week.
This is due to the huge volume of ice that's melted from the ice sheet over the past 25 years. Some areas are losing ice five times faster than they were in the early 1990s.
“In parts of Antarctica, the ice sheet has thinned by extraordinary amounts," said study lead author Andy Shepherd, a polar scientist at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.
The ice has thinned by some 400 feet in some places, the study said. The ice sheet and its glaciers are melting from underneath as warming sea water – overheated due to man-made climate change – chews away at it from below.
“Along an 1,850-mile stretch of West Antarctica, the water in front of the glaciers is too hot,” Shepherd told the Guardian. "This causes melting of the underside of the glaciers where they grind against the seabed. The melting lessens the friction and allows the glaciers then to slide more quickly into the ocean and therefore become thinner."
A reminder: This isn't the floating sea ice around Antarctica, which melts and refreezes with the seasons. This is freshwater ice on the gigantic ice sheets and in the glaciers that cover most of the continent.
The ice is unstable because melting and calving (the breaking off of ice chunks) is reducing their mass faster than it can be replenished by snowfall, CNN reported.
The melting contributes to rising sea levels around the world: "Altogether, ice losses from East and West Antarctica have contributed 4.6 millimeters (about 1/5 of an inch) to global sea level rise since 1992," Shepherd said.
The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters, a publication of the American Geophysical Union.
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949279e145bf4c61381966bb0ff3eb2e
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/17/tiger-woods-lawsuit-florida-bartenders-parents-face-stiff-test/3699475002/
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Wrongful death lawsuit against Tiger Woods faces stiff challenge because of 'habitual drunkard' law
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Wrongful death lawsuit against Tiger Woods faces stiff challenge because of 'habitual drunkard' law
To defeat the greatest golfer of his time in a court battle, the plaintiffs suing Tiger Woods will have to prove their son was a “habitual drunkard.”
That inelegant term is repeatedly used in the wrongful death lawsuit filed Monday by the parents of Nicholas Immesberger, a bartender at The Woods in Jupiter, Florida, who was killed in a one-car crash in December after leaving the sports bar owned by Woods.
Immesberger's blood-alcohol level of .256 was more than three times above the legal limit for driving.
The lawsuit, which also names Erica Herman – Woods’ girlfriend and the restaurant’s general manager – as a defendant, alleges Immesberger drank for about three hours at The Woods after his shift was over, getting served despite a known history of alcoholism.
Filed days before Woods began play at the PGA Championship on the heels of his stirring April victory at the Masters, the lawsuit has generated considerable publicity. Whether it has a realistic chance to succeed, particularly in the allegations against him, may be a different story.
Wrongful death lawsuit:Tiger Woods, girlfriend Erica Herman face suit brought by parents of restaurant employee
Horace Moody, a former chief of law enforcement for Florida’s Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco who went on to found a training and consulting organization called the Beverage Law Institute, said the plaintiffs face a stiff legal challenge.
The Sunshine State’s courts have defined a “habitual drunkard’’ as “someone whose habit of indulgence in strong drink is so fixed that he cannot resist getting drunk anytime the temptation is offered, with the inebriety frequent, excessive, and the dominant passion.’’
“It’s a very high bar,’’ Moody said. “The words that go along with it are ‘addiction to alcohol.’ A lot of people get it confused, saying, ‘Well, if you go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings then you’re a habitual drunkard.’ No, not necessarily. The thing about a person addicted to alcohol is they have no self-control, and that’s a big distinction.’’
Florida is one of 42 states with some form of dram shop laws, which allow aggrieved parties to hold alcohol providers responsible for damages caused by patrons who were served negligently, typically when they were visibly intoxicated.
In one well-known case, a jury in 2005 awarded $135 million to the family of a girl who was left paralyzed in a car crash caused by a drunken football fan after a New York Giants game. The stadium’s beer vendor was initially deemed liable for $105 million, though the parties later settled for $25 million.
In this instance, Immesberger’s parents are claiming the loss of his “companionship and affection and protection’’ as well as economic support. He was 24.
However, Florida’s is not a traditional dram shop statute in that it holds establishments that sell alcohol potentially liable only if they willfully serve underage persons (younger than 21) or knowingly furnish alcohol to a “habitual drunkard.’’ The law also uses the term “habitually addicted.’’
As opposed to most other states, there is no penalty for providing alcohol to someone who’s clearly inebriated.
“In spring break, people come down and they get trashed, and it’s perfectly legal to serve them,’’ said Liz Trendowski, a dram shop expert with 25 years in the liquor and hospitality industry.
More:Alcohol use soaring worldwide: The average adult now consumes about 1.7 gallons of pure alcohol per year
More:Colleges fight binge drinking, but are they making money on alcohol?
Trendowski has served as an expert witness in hundreds of cases all over the country, for both plaintiffs and defendants. But she’s reluctant to take cases in her adoptive state of Florida, partly because the standard for the plaintiffs is so hard to meet.
That doesn’t mean Immesberger’s parents don’t have a dram shop case against the restaurant, though it would be harder to make it against Woods and Herman individually.
Based on her experience and the news accounts she has read, Trendowski believes the high blood-alcohol content and the knowledge that Immesberger had a drinking problem – if that can be established – could help sway a properly educated jury, or provide impetus for a settlement.
White House honor:Tiger Woods receives Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump
“A lot of people think, ‘If you didn’t want to be so drunk, you didn’t need to have that drink,’’’ she said. “And that’s where the education comes in with expert reports, with toxicology and with explaining to the jury that there’s a reason alcohol is a regulated product. It’s a central nervous system depressant.’’
Like Trendowski, longtime liquor-liability expert Louis J. Terminello believes the case will be settled, with the insurance carrier for the restaurant providing compensation and Woods and Herman avoiding personal liability.
“The cause of action against Tiger and the bar manager is a little bit strained, especially under Florida law,’’ said Terminello, who chairs the Hospitality, Alcohol and Leisure Industry group for the law firm of GreenspoonMarder and also teaches a class on alcoholic beverage law at the University of Miami School of Law.
“It is not easy to pierce the corporate veil here in Florida, and as a general rule there’s no personal liability in tort on anyone’s part just because you’re an officer, a shareholder, an employee, etc., unless that person actually commits the act or participates in that particular tort.’’
It might be even tougher to prove liability without surveillance video showing Immesberger drinking at The Woods bar, which plaintiffs attorney Spencer Kuvin said at a Tuesday news conference has been intentionally destroyed.
The complaint states that Immesberger consumed alcoholic drinks with Woods and Herman “a few days prior’’ to the fatal accident, but does not put them at the restaurant, let alone serving him liquor, on the day he died.
“The whole lawsuit is replete with, ‘Tiger knew, everybody knew, blah, blah, blah,’ Terminello said, “but that’s not going to be enough under Florida law to bring him in individually.’’
Aaron Larson, a Michigan-based lawyer who has written about alcohol liability, says the laws are different in every state and Florida’s might be unique.
Even elsewhere, he said, the cases against bars and restaurants can prove challenging because of the difficulty of proving a customer was served while visibly inebriated and didn’t also drink after leaving that tavern.
“Even if they knew he was frequently intoxicated,’’ Larson said of Immesberger and The Woods staff, “it could also be that they saw him work entire shifts while sober, creating an argument that, as he could prepare and serve drinks without consuming alcohol, he was able to resist the temptation even when opportunity was present.’’
That would likely fall short of the “habitual drunkard’’ standard.
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8ea4dba40ee84a5ceadc9d41aee987c1
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/17/tornado-alley-storms-hail-winds-tornadoes-slam-texas-south-dakota/3704233002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatodaycomnation-topstories
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Violent weather: Hail, winds, tornadoes begin hammering swath from Texas to Nebraska
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Violent weather: Hail, winds, tornadoes begin hammering swath from Texas to Nebraska
Severe storms, with large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes, began hammering major parts of Tornado Alley from Texas to South Dakota Friday in the first round of violent, unsettled weather that's expected to last into next week.
The National Weather Service said damaging hail and a few tornadoes had hit the region by Friday evening, primarily affecting the area straddling Nebraska and South Dakota. The fierce weather is also expected to invade west Texas as a high-energy system sweeping in from the Pacific clashes with warm, humid Gulf Coast air.
AccuWeather meteorologists warn of the likelihood of hailstones so large they could cause serious injury, kill livestock and inflict substantial property damage.
Around 6:45 p.m. ET, a tornado touched down near McCook, Nebraska, AccuWeather reported. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Storm Prediction Center reported tree and power line damage along with minor damage to a farm, the weather service reported.
As the storm tracked northeast, is spun up rare twin tornadoes near Farnam, Nebraska around 8:26 p.m. ET. Details on damage were not yet available.
AccuWeather Extreme Meteorologist Reed Timmer was reporting from Nebraska for the AccuWeather Network and intercepted a tornado on foot near McCook, Nebraska, losing his hat in the process.
The threat area is almost a textbook description of traditional Tornado Alley: A swath of Plains states, including portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and South Dakota.
In assessing the likely drama to unfold over the weekend, AccuWeather extreme meteorologist Reed Timmer called it "one of the more active periods this generation of storm chasers will remember!"
In a preview of the expected severe weather, more than 40,000 were left without power around Indianapolis after severe storms slammed the area Thursday afternoon, while another severe storm brought large hail to parts of Illinois and Indiana.
Cities in the first wave of severe weather late Friday include Midland, Texas; Dodge City and Goodland, Kansas; North Platte, Grand Island and Lincoln, Nebraska; Sterling, Colorado; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Forecasters warn that the risk of tornadoes – including the large, violent twisters that stay on the ground for several minutes – is likely to extend into the overnight hours, with damaging winds across central and northern Texas into early Saturday.
But there is no end in sight – the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center (SPC) highlighted a risk area for severe weather through Tuesday at least.
Earlier this week, the threat area was on the map for 8 straight days: "Pretty sure it's the first time that all days on the day 4-8 have had contours drawn" since the forecasting tool became operational in 2007, National Severe Storms Laboratory meteorologist Harold Brooks tweeted.
A "storm train" roaring in from the Pacific Ocean will continue move across the Rockies and clash with warm, moist air rolling up from the Gulf of Mexico, triggering the weather chaos, AccuWeather senior meteorologist Paul Walker said. This is normally a dry season for California, he said, but this year the rain has been unrelenting.
"It's hard to nail down where the most severe weather and tornadoes will hit over the next few days," Walker said. "Pay attention to the weather, pay attention to weather alerts, pay attention to local warnings. Just pay attention!"
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6c08a76bb57a5448a96d99867b9b2ff1
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/18/bikers-bring-30-000-meals-new-mexico-migrants-facility/3726760002/
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Bikers bring 30,000 meals to feed migrants at facility in New Mexico
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Bikers bring 30,000 meals to feed migrants at facility in New Mexico
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The arrival of about 25 motorcycles announced the donation of 30,000 non-perishable meals for migrants being processed at a facility in New Mexico.
Las Cruces Fire Department Battalion Chief Michael Daniels, the emergency operations commander on scene, said the donation was a welcome surprise.
The bikers arrived Friday ready to unload five or six pallets' worth of meals from Pack Away Hunger, an Indiana-based nonprofit that distributes meals in pouches that can be prepared with hot water. The organization delivers to countries worldwide.
They arrived without announcement, and with the help of migrants, who immediately lined up to assist, the meals were unloaded in minutes.
Their first stop had been the nearby transitional living community, Camp Hope, where they delivered 5,000 meals.
City spokesman Udell Vigil told the Sun-News the motorcycle clubs at the scene included the Bandidos, Soldados, Squad, Riga, and Guardians of Children.
Victoria Fisk, a former educator who lives in Las Cruces, told the Sun-News the donation came about after she contacted a friend who worked with Pack Away Hunger.
As it happened, a large shipment was being organized for sites in Guatemala and Honduras, she said, and the organization arranged to send some meals to Las Cruces.
"This went so fast," Fisk said. "We literally put it together a week ago."
Daniels said that Border Patrol continued to release the migrants, who are legally present in the United States while applying for political asylum, at the facility Friday, with 216 on the premises at lunchtime. Daily drop-offs of asylum seekers have been ongoing in Las Cruces since April 12.
More than 5,000 asylum applicants have been released in Las Cruces since April 12.
Fisk said asking her friend if Pack Away Hunger could help seemed natural enough.
"I was a single mom that struggled for many many years," she said, "and something I always taught my students is that it’s so rewarding to give back."
Follow Algernon D'Ammassa on Twitter: @AlgernonActor
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743829db2bae0c43e29bddcc3a09b816
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/19/billionaire-pledges-pay-off-morehouse-grads-student-loan-debt/3733949002/
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Billionaire pledges to pay off $40 million in student loan debt for Morehouse College class of 2019
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Billionaire pledges to pay off $40 million in student loan debt for Morehouse College class of 2019
Investor and philanthropist Robert F. Smith surprised the Morehouse College class of 2019 with a special graduation gift: He’s going to pay all of their student loan debt.
"My family is going to create a grant to eliminate your student loans!" Smith told the graduates during his commencement address. “You great Morehouse men are bound only by the limits of your own conviction and creativity.”
His gift to the nearly 400 graduating seniors is about $40 million, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"If I could do a backflip, I would. I am deeply ecstatic," Elijah Dormeus, a business administration major from Harlem in New York City who has $90,000 in student loan debt, told the Journal-Constitution.
Smith, founder of private equity and venture capital firm Vista Equity Partners, is worth about $5 billion, according to Forbes. He was the wealthiest African American in the country in 2018.
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Opinion:Student loans are problematic
He is the only African American to sign the Giving Pledge, the initiative created by billionaires Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet in 2010 to “help address society’s most pressing problems” by shifting “the social norms of philanthropy toward giving more, giving sooner and giving smarter.”
He pledged to give away half his net worth to causes that support equality for African Americans and protect the environment.
"I will never forget that my path was paved by my parents, grandparents and generations of African Americans whose names I will never know," he wrote. "Their struggles, their courage, and their progress allowed me to strive and achieve."
The billionaire had already pledged $1 million to Morehouse in January to create the Robert Frederick Smith Scholars Program and an additional $500,000 to design an outdoor study area for students.
“Robert F. Smith’s donation of $1 million for student scholarships will have a profound impact on the lives of deserving young men who have the desire to attend Morehouse College, but lack the resources,” Morehouse President David A. Thomas said in a statement. “We appreciate his generosity and his investment in a generation of students who will follow in his footsteps as global leaders and entrepreneurs.”
Sunday, Smith received an honorary degree from the college alongside Academy Award-nominated actress Angela Bassett and psychologist Edmund Gordon, a professor emeritus at Yale and Columbia universities.
Morehouse is a historically black college for men, according to the school’s website, that has produced alumni including Shelton "Spike" Lee, Martin Luther King Jr., Samuel L. Jackson and Herman Cain.
Free college?:Plans such as Elizabeth Warren's are pretty pricey. Some say her plan would benefit the rich most.
Federal student loan debt:An unpaid $1,250 student loan can become thousands more and land you in federal court
Contributing: David Carrig, USA TODAY
Follow N'dea Yancey-Bragg on Twitter: @NdeaYanceyBragg
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c38cac1d4b1cf18a1cc41775ec7cc4c0
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/19/columbine-school-shooting-survivor-austin-eubanks-found-dead/3732079002/
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Columbine school shooting survivor Austin Eubanks found dead
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Columbine school shooting survivor Austin Eubanks found dead
Austin Eubanks, a survivor of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, was found dead early Saturday, according to Routt County Coroner Robert Ryg.
Eubanks, 37, was found at his home in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. There were no signs of foul play, according to the coroner, and an autopsy was scheduled for Monday to determine the cause of death.
Eubanks was shot twice – in the hand and the knee – and watched his best friend Corey DePooter die, as they took refuge under a table in their school’s library on April 20, 1999.
DePooter was one of the 13 people – 12 students and one teacher – killed in what was the worst school shooting in U.S. history at the time.
Columbine 20 years later:For survivors, life is about finding 'that new normal' two decades later
No strings attached:More opioid addicts get meds without talk therapy
While Eubanks' physical pain subsided after a few days, he was prescribed medications and continued to take them. His unwillingness to feel his emotional pain led to an opiate addiction that almost killed him.
He struggled with addiction throughout his 20s and went through multiple treatment centers.
He went on to serve as chief operations officer for Foundry Treatment Center and traveled the country speaking about his personal journey, as well as strategies for addressing the opioid crisis, according to his website.
Eubanks "lost the battle with the very disease he fought so hard to help others face,” according to a statement from his family obtained by KMGH-TV.
“Helping to build a community of support is what meant the most to Austin, and we plan to continue his work,” the statement read. “As you can imagine, we are beyond shocked and saddened and request that our privacy is respected at this time."
'We've lost so many':Columbine, Sandy Hook and Parkland shooting survivors struggle with suicide, guilt
Addiction at work:8 signs your co-workers are struggling with addiction
Contributing: The Associated Press; Megan Henry, The Indianapolis Star
Follow N'dea Yancey-Bragg on Twitter: @NdeaYanceyBragg
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287957ba6415b1629da4322f24548e4f
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/20/morehouse-graduate-had-100-k-student-loans-one-speech-changed/3748362002/
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One Morehouse College student's $100,000 in debt, vanished. 'God has smiled on me,' he says after billionaire Robert F. Smith's speech
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One Morehouse College student's $100,000 in debt, vanished. 'God has smiled on me,' he says after billionaire Robert F. Smith's speech
Elijah Dormeus was sitting Sunday among the throngs of graduating students at Morehouse College in Atlanta, trying to focus on the commencement speaker, but mostly basking in the glow of finishing four years of college.
Then the speaker, billionaire Robert Smith, told the graduates he and his family will be taking care of their student loans. Just like that, Dormeus' $100,000 in student loans vanished.
Dormeus dropped his head into his hands, cried briefly, then jumped up and whooped and yelled with the others.
"It was surreal," said Dormeus, 22, a business administration major. "I was so ecstatic. I just jumped up and started yelling, 'Yes, Robert! Speak!'"
Smith's stunning, unplanned announcement Sunday that he would be paying off the student loans of all the nearly 400 graduating Morehouse students ripped through the nation, lighting up social media and creating a legion of grateful parents and alumni.
"We're going to put a little fuel in your bus," Smith told the students before telling them his family would make a grant to pay off their loans.
Director Spike Lee, a Morehouse graduate, posted a video to Instagram thanking Smith.
"Robert Smith, the wealthiest African American in the United States of America: Thank you, thank you, thank you," Lee said, before singing a few bars of the college hymn, "Dear Old Morehouse."
Morehouse College President David A. Thomas said he hopes Smith's grant, estimated at up to $40 million, spurs other wealthy donors to support historically black colleges and universities, known as HBCUs, such as Morehouse.
"If we look at how many HBCUs, for example, are struggling, I think you could make a case that our community, those of us with means, have not prioritized supporting them because many of them should not be struggling the way that they're struggling,” Thomas told SiriusXM Host Joe Madison.
After Smith's announcement, the students in the crowd cheered, hugged and launched into a chant of "MVP! MVP!"
Perhaps few in the crowd were as stunned and happy as Dormeus. One of nine children from Harlem, New York, Dormeus said he was raised by a single mother after his father died when he was seven years old.
They struggled to make ends meet but never felt like they were missing anything, he said. "We never knew we were lacking," he said. "Our mom always told us, 'You can do anything you put your mind to.'"
Getting into Morehouse was great but also a financial struggle, Dormeus said. Each year, he took out loans to get him through the semester, got small grants and scholarships where he could, and took on a job in the sales department of AT&T.
By graduation, he had amassed $100,000 in loans. He said he planned to keep working full-time at AT&T and dedicate a chunk of his salary to paying off his loans.
Now, he hopes to save money and help pay college costs for his younger brother, Jeremiah, a junior in high school in New York who also hopes to attend Morehouse. His long-term dream: Build a financial foundation that helps people in his community get out of debt and into college.
"I want to pay it back in ways we haven’t yet seen," Dormeus said. "Robert Smith has done that. He’s set the tone."
After the commencement ceremony, Dormeus filed out with the other students and headed back to his dorm. There, he sat and let the tears roll again.
The gospel song, God Has Smiled On Me, played endlessly in his head, as if caught in a loop.
God has smiled on me He has set me free, oh God has smiled on me He's been good to me, oh.
"I was struggling for four years straight," Dormeous said. "Now look at it. God has smiled on me."
Follow Jervis on Twitter: @MrRJervis.
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ec4d936b2d739f9f041d7b4088ac6d98
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/20/sea-level-rise-rising-oceans-could-swamp-coastal-cities-worldwide/3742291002/
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Earth's oceans could rise over 6 feet by 2100 as polar ice melts, swamping coastal cities such as NYC
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Earth's oceans could rise over 6 feet by 2100 as polar ice melts, swamping coastal cities such as NYC
Miami? Underwater. Norfolk? Swamped. New York City? Fuggedaboutit.
Top experts say that in a worst-case scenario, portions of these and other U.S. coastal cities could be lost to the sea by the end of the century as ocean levels rise because of global warming, a study released Monday said. In fact, on average, seas around the world could be as much as 6.5 feet higher by the end of the century if climate change continues unchecked.
This is an estimate that a group of 22 top scientists came up with by using new techniques to measure how the ice will melt in the world's polar regions. The primary cause of the rising seas will be the ongoing melt of the gigantic ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica.
While admittedly a high-end estimate, "we should not rule out a sea-level rise of over two meters (6.5 feet) if we continue along a business-as-usual emissions trajectory," said study lead author Jonathan Bamber of the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom.
Start the day smarter:Get USA TODAY's Daily Briefing in your inbox
This is potentially twice the upper limit suggested by the United Nations' climate science panel’s last major report, according to New Scientist.
Man-made climate change, aka global warming, is caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as gas, coal and oil, which release greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane into the atmosphere. This extra CO2 causes temperatures of the atmosphere and oceans to rise to levels that can't be explained by natural causes.
Low-lying coastal cities are most vulnerable to rising seas, Bamber said. This includes cities in Florida and Louisiana, along with California cities such as Los Angeles and the Bay Area of San Francisco.
Worldwide, “such a rise in global sea level could result in a land loss of almost 700,000 square miles," he said. That's equivalent to an area over three times as large as the state of California.
Other big global cities partially lost to the sea include London and Rio de Janiero.
Such a rise in water levels would also swamp "critical regions of food production, and potential displacement of up to 187 million people," which is about 2.5% of the Earth's population.
"A sea-level rise of this magnitude would clearly have profound consequences for humanity," Bamber said.
More:'Extraordinary': Almost 1/4 of West Antarctic ice is now 'unstable'
More:Carbon dioxide levels hit landmark at 415 ppm, highest in human history
And yes, the seas have risen and fallen many times before. What's new is the enormity of coastal development that will need to be protected, moved or abandoned.
Sea level has risen nearly 8 inches worldwide since 1880 but, unlike water in a bathtub, it doesn't rise evenly.
In the past 100 years, it has climbed about a foot or more in some U.S. cities because of ocean currents and land subsidence – 11 inches in New York and Boston, 12 in Charleston, 16 in Atlantic City, 18 in Norfolk and 25 in Galveston, Texas, according to a recent USA TODAY analysis of tide gauge data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Here's why: As the Earth's temperature warms, so do the seas. Heat-trapping greenhouse gases cause more land ice (glaciers and ice sheets) to melt and water to expand. Warmer water simply takes up more room than cooler water.
Scientists say global warming will be the primary cause of future sea-level rise. Their greatest uncertainty is how quickly the massive West Antarctic ice sheet will melt.
Referring to the new study, Bamber said it's "important to consider the relatively low probability – but high-impact consequences – of ice sheet melt in the future."
The study was published Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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6fc208c0f3b10696d79ec767a278773d
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/22/blackface-photo-virginia-governor-northam-yearbook-report/3765466002/
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Was that Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam in blackface photo? Investigation inconclusive
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Was that Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam in blackface photo? Investigation inconclusive
The law firm handling an investigation into Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's medical school yearbook page that included a blackface photo said Wednesday that it was unable to determine whether the governor appeared in the picture.
The law firm of McGuireWoods conducted the probe on behalf of Eastern Virginia Medical School, reaching out to 1984 yearbook staffers and alums of the school and releasing a 32-page report.
"We could not conclusively determine the identity of either individual depicted in that photograph," said Richard Cullen, who led the investigation for McGuireWoods.
The report said no one interviewed could say whether the photo appeared on the page in error – and that no one could say definitely whether Northam was in the picture.
"The governor himself has made inconsistent statements in this regard," Cullen said.
Northam issued a statement after the report was released reaffirming that he is not the "racist" in the photo and apologizing again for the hurt it caused.
A muddled defense that included moonwalking and a Michael Jackson costume has thus far been sufficient for Northam to keep his job despite widespread calls for his resignation in the days following the discovery of the page four months ago.
Northam, a Democrat, at first apologized for being in the 1984 photo, which depicted one person in blackface standing next to someone wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe. But he soon reversed direction, saying he didn't believe he was in the photo and calling it "disgusting, offensive, racist."
Blackface, KKK hoods: USA TODAY review of 900 yearbooks finds blatant racism
Richard Homan, president and provost of the school, said the investigation indicated Northam initially did not think he was in the photo but was not certain. That indecision, he said, left Northam's staff with a dilemma.
"They said, 'You can either deny it or apologize for it, those are your only two choices,'" Homan said. "He decided initially to go with apology as opposed to outright denial."
Northam said he felt compelled to take responsibility for the photo's presence on his page.
"But rather than providing clarity, I instead deepened pain and confusion," Northam said in his statement Wednesday.
In the weeks after the photo surfaced, a USA TODAY review of 900 yearbooks from the 1970s and 1980s at 120 schools found more than 200 examples of offensive or racist material. Homan said bias and racism remain a part of society.
“Unless we face this fact head on, this bias and racism will not abate,” he said. “Uncomfortable silence only perpetuates these problems."
Northam said he has engaged in frank dialogue on how to best use the power of the governor’s office to provide meaningful progress on issues of equality.
"I know and understand the events of early February and my response to them have caused hurt for many Virginians," his statement said. "For that I am sorry."
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said the report probably won't hurt Northam. Tobias told USA TODAY that the governor has kept a low profile since the photo emerged but has "enjoyed considerable success" in the legislative session.
Tobias also noted that Cullen has strong ties to the state's Republican Party, making it unlikely investigators faced pressure to favor the governor.
"What happens next is unclear," Tobias said. "I think that he will survive."
Northam has admitted to blackening his face with shoe polish for a Michael Jackson costume at a dance contest in the 1980s, although no photo from that incident has emerged. At that news conference in February, Northam appeared to consider displaying his moonwalking skills until his wife shut that down.
Virginia’s Constitution says elected officials who commit “malfeasance in office, corruption, neglect of duty or other high crime or misdemeanor” may be removed from office. There is no indication that Northam did anything "that satisfies those terms," Tobias said.
Northam is not the only top official under fire in the state, though none has resigned or been removed from office. Days after the blackface photo emerged, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax was accused of sexual assault, which he adamantly denies, stemming from a 2004 encounter. That drew calls for his ouster. Then, Attorney General Mark Herring admitted he, too, donned blackface in the 1980s.
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be1e3e277820f689fef1f3143f6ba938
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/22/late-spring-snowstorm-record-snow-hits-parts-colorado/3765498002/
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Surprisingly strong, late-spring winter storm dumps record snow in Colorado
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Surprisingly strong, late-spring winter storm dumps record snow in Colorado
A surprisingly strong, late-spring snowstorm dumped more than a foot of snow around Colorado Springs on Tuesday and up to 6 inches in the Denver metro area, which broke a 128-year record for the lowest high-temperature for the date at 39 degrees.
The one inch of snow in Fort Collins was the latest measurable snow of the season on record since a half-inch fell on June 12, 1947.
The snow was triggered by the same big storm that brought severe weather to the Plains. The wintry mess snarled roads and forced some school closings, including the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
The wintry onslaught was particularly hard on trees that buckled and broke under the weight of wet snow landing on freshly sprouted leaves.
In Colorado Springs, three greenhouses at one nursery collapsed, the Colorado Gazette reported.
“We’ll have to wait for the snow to melt, and then to dismantle the structure that’s on top of the plants” to determine how many plants survived, the nursery's general manager, Joey Clark, told the newspaper.
In northern El Paso county, where Colorado Springs is located, as much as 20 inches of snow fell in some areas, the National Weather Service reported. At one point, snow fell at the rate of 3 inches per hour.
The U.S. Air Force Academy, located north of the city, registered 18 inches, according to the weather service.
Boulder recorded 5.1 inches, the first time since May 25, 1950 – when 8.7 inches fell –that more than 5 inches of snow had accumulated this late in the year.
Denver set a record low temperature of 30 degrees early Wednesday morning, the weather service said. That broke the old record low of 32, last set in 1930.
The unexpected ice and snow in the mountains around Denver forced the shutdown of Interstate 70 at several points over the past two days because of vehicle crashes. It also triggered the cancellation of more than than 80 flights in and out of Denver International Airport, where 3.4 inches of snow fell.
As the storm moved on, forecasters warned that the lower than normal temperatures could extend the mountain snowmelt into early June, increasing the risk of flooding.
Contributing: Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
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66c1e05d6e218ac66c0f7a58f7c50259
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/22/pilot-arrested-triple-murder-case-pleads-not-guilty/3771308002/
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Pilot arrested at Louisville airport pleads not guilty in triple murder case
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Pilot arrested at Louisville airport pleads not guilty in triple murder case
HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. – The pilot arrested at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport earlier in May in connection with a 2015 triple murder case in Western Kentucky pleaded not guilty to murder charges Wednesday.
During an arraignment hearing, Christian "Kit" Richard Martin, 51, appeared at the Christian County Detention Center and will remain held without bond.
A Christian County grand jury indicted Martin earlier this month in the 2015 murders of Calvin and Pamela Phillips and Edward Dansereau.
Calvin Phillips, 59, was found shot to death Nov. 18, 2015, in his home in Pembroke.
The bodies of his 58-year-old wife, Pamela Phillips, and the couple's 63-year-old neighbor, Dansereau, were found a few miles away in a corn field inside a burned car owned by Pamela Phillips.
Martin and the victims were neighbors on Main Street in Pembroke, a town of about 900 residents that is 10 miles southeast of Hopkinsville.
Background:Airline pilot charged with killing 3 in 2015 in Kentucky; arrested at Louisville airport
The murder case was cold until May 11, when Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear announced authorities had arrested Martin about 6:30 a.m. that day at a security checkpoint in the Louisville airport.
Martin has been a pilot for PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines, since January 2018 and was arrested about an hour before Flight 5523 was set to depart for Charlotte with him at the controls.
Martin has been placed on administrative suspension by the airline pending the outcome of the criminal investigation, a spokeswoman said.
A criminal background check that all pilots undergo turned up no criminal history on Martin "that would disqualify him from being a commercial pilot," the spokeswoman said.
Beshear has declined to explain what helped investigators crack the case, saying he couldn’t comment on evidence.
Beshear said the indictment came nearly two years after he said he met with Calvin and Pamela Phillips' son, who was worried the case had stalled.
After that meeting, Beshear accepted a request from the local commonwealth's attorney to appoint a special prosecutor from his office to handle the case.
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Apart from being neighbors, Martin and Calvin Phillips were linked through a complicated court-martial case at Fort Campbell in Kentucky.
Martin, a former Army major, was accused in 2015 of sexual assault charges involving several juvenile witnesses.
Calvin Phillips was scheduled to testify in December 2015 in the case but would be killed before he could do so.
Martin was briefly taken into custody, but no charges were filed against him in relation to the triple homicide.
In May 2016, the Leaf-Chronicle in Clarksville, Tennessee, reported that Martin had been acquitted of the sexual assault charges, which arose after several juvenile witnesses accused him of physical and sexual abuse dating back to 2008.
But Martin, who had served in the Army for almost 30 years, was found guilty by the court-martial on lesser charges of two counts of mishandling classified information and two counts of simple assault.
He was dismissed from the Army and sentenced to 90 days in prison.
According to Beshear's office, Martin moved out of Christian County after the alleged murders and was living in North Carolina at the time of the indictment.
Martin has an address in Raleigh, North Carolina, according to online records.
He told a Nashville television station in a 2016 interview that Calvin Phillips was his "star witness."
But Calvin Phillips' son, Matt Phillips, told CNN his father had evidence that was harmful to Martin’s case in military court.
Muhlaysia Booker:Transgender woman found fatally shot, one month after viral group assault
Thompson, Martin's attorney, told the New York Times earlier this month that Calvin Phillips' testimony would have helped Martin and that Phillips was expected to be a witness for both the defense and the prosecution.
Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom after Wednesday’s arraignment, Matt Phillips said he was thankful the case is advancing “in the right direction.”
This was the first time Phillips, 35, said he saw Martin since 2015.
“(Martin) would’ve been on his front porch watching us remove items from my parents’ house after the murders,” Matt Phillips said regarding their last encounter.
Matt Phillips said he believes in the justice system and his family hopes the case progresses in a timely matter.
“My grandparents are 83 years old and they deserve to see this move forward,” he said.
The unsolved murders shocked the small town of Pembroke, Mark A. Hicks told the Courier Journal while standing outside the courtroom before Martin’s hearing Wednesday.
Hicks said he was neighbors with Dansereau for 12 years.
“Nobody’s ever seen anything happening like this,” Hicks, 62, said. “So it scared everybody.”
But Hicks said neighbors and “the ones who had any sense” have suspected Martin was responsible for the killings all along.
Drug deal argument:'You're going to have to smoke me,' victim said before being killed
Police:7 shot, 3 with life-threatening wounds, at off-campus party near Indiana university
Hicks cited an interview that Martin gave to a Nashville TV station in 2016 in which he said his ex-wife had an affair with Calvin Phillips.
Now, Hicks said neighbors are hopeful the murder case can reach a conclusion and provide some closure to the community.
He remembers Dansereau as an “excellent cook” who would “lay a bowl of bread over my fence each weekend.”
Dansereau was also a gifted pianist, Hicks added.
“He was a wonderful person,” Hicks said.
Martin's daughter and fiancée have told some TV stations that they believe Martin is innocent.
The Special Prosecutions Unit in Beshear's office is prosecuting the case.
Martin was indicted on three counts of murder, one count of attempted arson, two counts of burglary in the first degree and three counts of tampering with physical evidence.
A pretrial conference is scheduled for July 10.
Follow Billy Kobin on Twitter: @Billy_Kobin
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bff1df3312391fe36aa4a1f7085b9da6
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/23/american-taliban-john-walker-lindh-released-prison/1203550001/
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John Walker Lindh, American who became Taliban fighter, released from prison after 17 years
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John Walker Lindh, American who became Taliban fighter, released from prison after 17 years
A California man dubbed the "American Taliban" following his capture on a battlefield in Afghanistan in 2001 was released from prison Thursday after serving 17 years, authorities confirmed, amid allegations of his continued adherence to extremist views.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that John Walker Lindh, 38, who was serving his sentence at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, was no longer in its custody.
Lindh, who was convicted of providing support to the Taliban, was freed three years early for good behavior, according to CNN, which first reported the release.
President Donald Trump said Thursday afternoon that he heard about Lindh's imminent release two weeks ago and sought legal advice in an effort to stop it. "I don't like it at all," Trump told reporters.
He claimed that Lindh had not given up his support for terrorism, but that authorities had to release him.
"Am I happy about it? Not even a little bit." he said.
But, Trump warned, "We will be watching him – and watching him closely."
Lindh, the son of a Justice Department lawyer who grew up in a San Francisco suburb, was captured in a battle with Northern Alliance fighters in late 2001. Video footage showed Lindh – weak, dirty and almost incoherent from apparent battlefield injuries – laying on a cot in a detention center.
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A CNN camera filmed Lindh, in halting English, telling American forces how he had wound up at a detention camp in northern Afghanistan and survived a Taliban uprising there that killed hundreds of prisoners and CIA officer Mike Spann.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed the release, calling it "unexplainable and unconscionable.”
Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News that Lindh "still is threatening the United States of America, still committed to the very jihad that he engaged in that killed a great American and a great CIA officer. There’s something deeply troubling and wrong about it."
Lindh's release was also opposed by Spann's family. The CIA officer's father, Johnny Spann, called Lindh a traitor on Twitter, charging that he "knew they were going to attack America, stayed with them, training in (al-Qaida) camps." He appealed to President Donald Trump to block the release.
Lindh was not accused of participating in the killing but was present during the attack, according to authorities.
Lindh admitted to participating in the revolt near Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan, but prosecutors did not say that he had a role in Spann's death.
His freedom comes with court-imposed restrictions, including software on his internet devices. He is required to only use English online and to surrender his passport. He also is banned from viewing or possessing extremist material, and is required to undergo mental health counseling.
Lindh, raised a Catholic, converted to Islam as a teenager after seeing the film "Malcolm X" and went overseas to study Arabic and the Koran. In November 2000 he traveled to Pakistan and from there made his way to Afghanistan where he was a volunteer at an al-Qaida training camp.
He was with the Taliban at the time of the 9/11 attacks and was captured in the U.S.-backed retaliatory raids on Afghanistan.
In his trial in 2002, Lindh pleaded guilty to serving in the Taliban army and carrying weapons but denied taking up arms against the U.S.
"I did not go to fight against America, and I never did," Lindh told the court. "I have never supported terrorism in any form, and I never will. ... I made a mistake by joining the Taliban. Had I realized then what I know now, I would never have joined them."
In the run-up to Lindh's release, Foreign Policy reported that two government documents it obtained expressed concerns about Lindh's extremist views. One document, from the National Counterterrorism Center, found that as of 2016 Lindh "continued to advocate for global jihad and to write and translate violent extremists texts," the magazine reported.
According to Foreign Policy, the document, which cites various Federal Bureau of Prisons intelligence summaries, claims that in March of last year, Lindh “told a television news producer that he would continue to spread violent extremist Islam upon his release.”
The TV producer is not identified, no specific statements are quoted, and there is no public record that Lindh has participated in media interviews, according to the magazine.
The Bureau of Prisons said it cannot comment specifically on Lindh's case, but noted that it has policies and procedures for monitoring communications of inmates with known or suspected ties to domestic and foreign terrorism and "shares information with law enforcement as appropriate."
The Bureau of Prisons, citing studies by its staff, says it "has found that many inmates have turned away from radicalized ideology in prison based on self-study or due to participation in programming or sentence length."
"While we are aware of a small number of this population who have returned to BOP custody, none have returned to BOP custody for terrorism-related charges," the bureau said.
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b48d0d78a6cbbba226cf56716c819bf4
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/23/heat-wave-dangerous-record-breaking-death-ridge-scorch-southeast/1208562001/
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Forget the 'Polar Vortex.' Here comes the 'Death Ridge' and record heat for the Southeast
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Forget the 'Polar Vortex.' Here comes the 'Death Ridge' and record heat for the Southeast
A blistering, dangerous heat wave, which one expert calls a "death ridge," is poised to scorch the southeastern U.S. over the Memorial Day weekend.
While the central U.S. deals with floods and storms, some all-time record high temperatures for May could be shattered as highs rocket into the upper 90s to low 100s all the way from Alabama to Virginia.
"In what has been a warmer-than-normal May to date across the Southeast, temperatures will take a notable turn upwards through the end of the week and into Memorial Day weekend," AccuWeather meteorologist Max Vido said.
A few of the records that could be broken date back to the 1800s.
Start the day smarter:Get USA TODAY's Daily Briefing in your inbox
"Most high temperature records across the region stand in the 90s, so these cities are expected to consistently challenge records during the heat wave," Vido said.
In Charleston, South Carolina, the National Weather Service called it "prolonged and dangerous heat wave."
More:Bomb cyclone, anvil zits and other weird weather terms
Weather.us meteorologist Ryan Maue referred to the heat as a "death ridge" that will bring calm winds and bone-dry conditions, in addition to the extreme heat. (A "ridge" is an area of high atmospheric pressure, one that prevents clouds and rain from forming.)
No cooling showers are expected, either: "The chance for precipitation will remain virtually nil," the weather service in Atlanta said.
The duration of the heat wave could make it "life-threatening," Weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Erdman said. "Minimize your time outdoors during the hottest times of day, typically from late morning through late afternoon. Drink plenty of liquids and wear light, loose-fitting clothing if you must be outside for longer periods of time," he advised.
Unfortunately, the unusual heat is predicted to continue baking the Southeast well into early June, according to the latest forecast from the Climate Prediction Center.
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36fc2055ef2f9328cbc6f14032a488f3
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/23/massachusetts-man-reports-break-in-nothing-taken-house-cleaned/1211477001/
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Man reports 'weird and creepy' home break in: Nothing taken, house cleaned
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Man reports 'weird and creepy' home break in: Nothing taken, house cleaned
MARLBOROUGH, Mass. – Whoever broke into a Massachusetts man's home last week didn't take a thing. They did, however, leave the house spotless.
Nate Roman tells The Boston Globe that when he returned to his Marlborough home from work May 15, he could tell a stranger had been there.
Nothing was missing, but the 44-year-old Roman noticed the beds were made, the rugs vacuumed and the toilets scrubbed. They even crafted origami roses on the toilet paper rolls.
He called the experience "weird and creepy" and contacted police.
Sgt. Daniel Campbell says that the department hasn't heard of similar episodes and that there are no suspects.
May 23:Comedian whose joke prompted 911 call performs in Florida club, crowd shows support
Roman says he may have left his back door unlocked. He thinks perhaps a housekeeping service went to his home by mistake.
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a7c794f35e8539dd4d037afe3b253d64
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/23/west-point-cadet-peter-zhu-parents-can-use-his-sperm/1203763001/
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Parents of dead West Point cadet can use his sperm to make baby, judge rules
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Parents of dead West Point cadet can use his sperm to make baby, judge rules
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The parents of a 21-year-old West Point cadet who died in a skiing accident can use their son’s frozen sperm — retrieved under court order when he was in a coma at Westchester Medical Center in February — to produce a child, a Westchester judge has ruled.
The 12-page decision by Westchester Supreme Court Justice John P. Colangelo, dated May 16, is a victory for Yongmin and Monica Zhu of Concord, California, parents of Peter Zhu.
The ruling came days before Saturday's U.S. Military Academy Commencement.
“At this time, the court will place no restrictions on the use to which Peter’s parents may ultimately put their son’s sperm, including its potential use for procreative purposes,” Colangelo wrote.
“They shall possess and control the disposition and potential use of their son Peter's genetic material."
Within days of the cadet’s Feb. 23 accident on the West Point ski hill, their son was in a coma in preparation for organ transplants he authorized on his driver’s license. The Zhus asked the judge to order Westchester Medical Center to retrieve Peter’s sperm and permit them to “use his sperm for third-party reproduction.”
The medical center had said that the unmarried cadet had left no directive for postmortem sperm retrieval; it would need a court order to perform one.
On March 1, Colangelo ordered the medical center to retrieve the sperm and transfer it to a facility of the Zhus’ choosing. The family selected a local sperm bank.
Their son’s organs were harvested and went to help those in need; the cadet’s remains were then buried in the West Point Cemetery.
More: Tour the West Point Cemetery
Is it what their son wanted?
On March 21, the judge turned to the parents’ request for third-party reproduction. They testified by phone from their California home.
Colangelo had to rely on the Zhus’ petition and recollections, including their son's repeated desire — expressed to them and to friends throughout his life — that he wished to have a family.
They also pointed out that his choice to enter the military was a sign of their son’s generosity of spirit.
“Unfortunately, Peter left no express direction with respect to the posthumous disposition or use of his genetic material, including how or whether it could or should be used for procreative purposes," the judge concluded.
"Nonetheless, Petitioner's presumed intent can be gleaned from certain of his prior actions and statements, in conjunction with statutes designed to serve as surrogates for a decedent's intent.”
Colangelo noted Peter’s organ-donor status, a sign, his parents told the judge, of his desire to help others. Peter’s kidney and pancreas gave a 53-year-old man a new life; his heart now beats in the chest of a 12-year-old girl.
Granting permission to use Peter’s sperm for procreation, Colangelo ruled, “would not do violence to his memory.”
Still, it's unclear whether doctors will go along with the parents' wish, even one granted by a court.
March:Family approved to extract sperm from West Point cadet
Parents, but no partner: A slippery ethical slope
For medical ethicists who study the issue, Zhu’s failure to express his intentions while he was alive posed something of a dilemma.
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine issued a report in April 2018 raising specific concerns regarding posthumous reproduction sought by parents rather than a surviving spouse. Peter Zhu was unmarried and had no fiancée or girlfriend.
The judge also weighed testimony from Capt. Marc Passmore, Zhu’s West Point mentor.
Passmore told the judge about mentoring sessions with Peter in which he “emphasized a goal of having several children.”
Passmore pointed to what West Point calls a “baseball card” each senior cadet fills out. The card resembles the back of a baseball card, with the cadet’s stats and interests listed, Colangelo noted.
“Peter's card, completed by him only months ago, lists as his 'Family/Goals/Notes' to “have three kids, get married before 30; become a career officer in the military," the judge wrote.
Having established that Peter wanted to be a father, Colangelo then ruled that statutes support giving his parents — his closest kin — power to decide “the fate of his biological legacy.”
He cited the Public Health Law and Estates, Powers and Trusts Law as “additional, albeit imperfect guides” to Peter’s intent.
The Public Health Law, he said, “authorizes the donation and therefore disposition of bodily organs and, by extension, bodily fluids even in the absence of a potential decedents's express intent.”
March:With West Point cadet on life support, his family wants his sperm
The law establishes a pecking order of consent, Colangelo said, from health-care proxy, or agent, spouse or domestic partner, son or daughter over the age of 18, or either parent.
In the absence of a spouse or children, living will or proxy, the Zhus were “next on the list,” Colangelo wrote.
A similar pecking order is spelled out in the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law, Colangelo said, when determining how the property of a decedent be distributed.
'Certain obstacles' still exist
But the judge warned the Zhus that while he was granting them legal permission, there were other “certain obstacles” to surmount before deciding whether to exercise that right.
Medical professionals might be reluctant to perform such a procedure, he noted, citing the April 2018 admonition from The American Society for Reproductive Medicine. And some states have decided that a child born during a certain period of time after a father’s death “may not be deemed such father's offspring for certain purposes," Colangelo said.
Calls to Westchester Medical Center seeking comment were not immediately returned.
Whether the Zhus choose to exercise the power granted to them by the judge is yet to be seen.
Colangelo noted that "no potential surrogate or eggs have been located or even sought after, and no physician retained.”
Had things gone to plan, Peter Zhu would have graduated Saturday with classmates at West Point, the first lieutenant hurling his hat in the air at Michie Stadium with fellow members of The Long Gray Line.
His parents, no doubt, would have been there, beaming at his accomplishment.
Instead, they are in California, without their son, but with a newfound right.
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8779cf4e6b10be45b7f09e7775e995a3
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/24/hackers-hit-vulnerable-cities-like-baltimore-ransomware-attacks/1211611001/
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'Soft targets': Beleaguered Baltimore still reeling from a cyberattack. And that's just its latest woe.
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'Soft targets': Beleaguered Baltimore still reeling from a cyberattack. And that's just its latest woe.
Baltimore is not alone in its woes. It does have an extra dose of them, though.
Maryland’s largest city is still grappling with the aftermath of a May 7 ransomware attack that froze thousands of government computers, disabled e-mail functionality and crippled city services.
That’s a major hardship for a beleaguered city that’s adjusting to new leadership after the recent ouster of its previous mayor, and only the latest setback to confront Baltimore, whose population has dwindled to 600,000.
Bernard “Jack” Young, who took over as mayor on May 2, said it may take months to bring all systems back up. He has declined to pay the hackers’ ransom demand of approximately $75,000 worth of bitcoin.
Perhaps the biggest consolation for Baltimoreans these days might be having company among municipalities victimized by cyberattacks.
Lee McKnight, an associate professor at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies who’s an expert on cybersecurity, said these kinds of intrusions are becoming more common and only figure to increase because local governments are “soft targets.”
“Unfortunately, it happens again and again to municipal systems that don’t have all the latest software, the latest protections or the highest-paid IT staffs either,” McKnight said. “If it can happen to Atlanta, Baltimore shouldn’t be embarrassed.’’
Atlanta, which bid to become the second headquarters for online retailer Amazon last year, had more than a third of its systems paralyzed by a March 2018 ransomware attack. Recovery has taken more than a year and costs have been pegged at $17 million.
According to the technology company Recorded Future, there have been more than 170 ransomware attacks on U.S. state and local governments since November 2013.
FBI statistics do not separate by public or private entity, so it’s hard to get an official count on the frequency of these incidents. The bureau’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) tallied 1,493 victims of ransomware in 2018, a figure that does not include direct reports to field offices or agents.
In November, the FBI indicted two Iranian men in a computer hacking and extortion scheme that targeted cities like Atlanta and Newark, New Jersey, in addition to the Port of San Diego, the Colorado Department of Transportation and six health care-related organizations. The estimated losses added up to more than $30 million.
Still, Baltimore’s latest malware breach – its second one in 14 months – comes on the heels of a particularly rough stretch for a town having a hard time living up to its “Charm City’’ nickname.
Earlier this month, Mayor Catherine Pugh resigned under pressure after a book-selling scandal prompted federal and state investigations of her.
Last year, the city was rocked by one of the biggest police-corruption cases in its history, when eight members of an elite task force were convicted of racketeering for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, jewelry and drugs.
More:2 men based in China indicted on hacking charges in massive Anthem data breach
More:$356,000 to protect your computer? Feds promise 'all-out attack' on scams targeting the elderly
Community trust in the police department had already eroded following the 2015 incident involving Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a severe spinal injury while in police custody and later died, setting off riots.
The department is now on its fourth commissioner since the beginning of 2018, a lack of continuity that presents yet another obstacle in the efforts to curb an unrelenting problem with violent crime.
Baltimore has had at least 300 homicides four years in a row, and in 2017 it had the nation’s highest homicide rate among major cities, according to FBI statistics released in September. Baltimore’s 56 homicides per 100,000 people easily outpaced Detroit’s 40 per 100,000 and was double the rate of third-place Memphis, Tennessee.
And now, routine transactions like paying a water bill or a traffic ticket have become an ordeal, although the city this week implemented a manual workaround to complete real estate deals that had been on hold.
And on top of everything else, the city's baseball team – a source of pride for decades – is in last place as the Orioles struggle to overcome a dismal record for the third year in a row.
Brandon Scott, who replaced Young as president of the City Council the day before the ransomware hit, wants to shift the narrative of Baltimore as an embattled city that was already broadly projected by the long-running TV show “The Wire.”
“When you think about those unfortunate incidents, you’re talking about individuals who had power and abused it,’’ Scott said, referring to Pugh and the convicted cops. “But for all the bad things that happened and that the media talks about in Baltimore, there are also great things going on in our city. Those are the things we need to highlight.’’
However, Scott also said that in his previous role as councilman he tried to convince the Pugh administration to make cybersecurity a higher priority, to no avail.
That comes as no surprise to Janne Lindqvist, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rutgers University, who pointed out government officials often think of securing computer systems as an added cost, not an inherent part of their duty to protect residents.
“A general problem, and not just for cities, is that no one wants to pay for security, and nobody knows what security looks like,’’ Lindqvist said. “It’s like, if you go buy a used car, the seller knows much better what’s wrong with the car and what are its features and so on. It’s the same with security products.’’
Lindqvist said proper protection would involve backing up all the systems and deploying a strategy for bringing them back online after an attack. That’s not a cheap endeavor.
McKnight, who’s working with the city of Syracuse and the federal government on a secure cloud architecture for so-called smart cities, said the hacking perpetrated on Baltimore wasn’t particularly sophisticated. Too many cities are simply unprepared to fend off those attacks, and it’s going to take time for them to get up to speed.
According to Joel DeCapua, supervisory special agent in the FBI’s Cyber Division, those vulnerabilities include legacy systems that aren’t updated, weak passwords set up by administrators and a failure to monitor networks. Attempts at providing cybersecurity are further complicated by tight budgets.
DeCapua said hackers aren’t necessarily targeting cities over other victims, but find them easier pickings.
“Hackers are opportunistic, and if they’re able to crack a weak password or find a specific vulnerability, they’re going to exploit it,’’ DeCapua said. “It may seem like you’re hearing more about municipalities being targeted because when a municipality is affected by a cybercrime, a lot of people find out. Either they can’t pay their traffic tickets or the court system has to go on standstill.’’
Folks in Baltimore know all about that.
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ae5d8c52c26be9285f51eda61fdfcaa3
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/24/iowa-man-tractor-accused-impaling-sheriffs-car-bale-spear/1221662001/
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Man riding tractor accused of impaling Iowa sheriff's car with bale spear, charged with attempted murder
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Man riding tractor accused of impaling Iowa sheriff's car with bale spear, charged with attempted murder
DES MOINES, Iowa – A man is accused of the attempted murder of an Iowa sheriff after authorities said he used a bale spear to impale the lawman's car and push it more than 100 feet into a field.
In a news release, the Iowa Department of Public Safety said Gerry Greenland, 54, of Grand River, took aim at Decatur County Sheriff Ben Boswell when the sheriff and two other deputies responded to a call Thursday afternoon.
Greenland was astride a John Deere 4250 tractor with a bale spear attached to its front when authorities arrived. The spears are used to pick up and move hay bales.
Greenland first took aim at the car the two other deputies were in, but they were able to avoid him, police say. He then drove toward Boswell, who had parked on the grass near the driveway, and punctured the driver's side door.
The tractor then pushed the car – with Boswell in it – further into the field, and deputies apprehended Greenland when he stopped, the release said.
Boswell was unharmed, and Greenland faces one charge of attempted murder.
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5cba9c969e338378c9cff215d3c28309
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/24/michael-cummins-murders-sumner-county-sheriff-not-tell-public-jim-dunn/1219638001/
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Authorities found a headless body in the woods. The public wasn't told until 7 more died
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Authorities found a headless body in the woods. The public wasn't told until 7 more died
WESTMORELAND, Tenn. – When the Sumner County Sheriff's Office found the decapitated body of James "Jim" Fox Dunn Jr. outside of a burning shack he called home for more than 20 years, they said they didn't consider Michael Cummins a suspect in his death.
Investigators knew who Cummins was. They knew he was capable of committing crimes. And he, along with "certain others," was considered a person of interest, Sheriff Sonny Weatherford said.
But Weatherford said they couldn't connect him to the scene they discovered on April 17 – 10 days before the discovery of seven more bodies in two separate locations just over two miles from Dunn's cabin.
Still, authorities had found a headless body outside of a burning cabin.
Cummins, who was arrested in April, would eventually be charged in all eight deaths in what authorities have called the case one of the worst mass killings in state history.
Should authorities have alerted the public of a potential safety threat or a possible suspect on the loose in the highly wooded, rural community near the Kentucky border?
The USA TODAY Network in Tennessee spoke to experts on public safety information who said their agencies routinely ask the public for help or alert them to safety risks.
"Under the right circumstances, if we are looking for someone to question to further a violent crime investigation, we will put it out," said Metro Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron, who was not speaking about the Cummins case specifically.
New details from the scene
When the Oak Grove Volunteer Fire Department was called to the scene of the fire at Dunn's cabin, they knew he had been reported missing.
The department received a call at 7:18 p.m. on April 17 for a possible grass woods fire, according to the incident report from the fire department obtained by the USA TODAY Network.
Burned cabin and a headless body:Tennessee suspect charged with eighth homicide
"While en route dispatch advised that this could be a cabin explosion in the woods and that the man who lived in the cabin has not been seen," the report reads.
A Sumner County dispatcher said the communications center would not say who reported the fire, and Fire Chief Jon Richardson said his department was unable to release other documents pertaining to the fire, citing the ongoing investigation.
The fire department report states that when crews arrived, they found what appeared to be a "medium size pile on fire with some personal belongings on fire but it was way down in a valley and crews had a hard time making an advancement on the pile."
In total, 39 emergency personnel responded.
Crews took a brush truck into the area so they could put the fire out, then raked the pile "so an investigation could begin into where the person who lived in this pile was."
No bodies were found in the pile, but hours later the Sumner County Sheriff's Office found Dunn deceased nearby, according to the report.
His body appeared to "have been there for a few days and had been eaten on by wild animals," the report states.
The fire was not thought to be involved in his death
No public alert
"I think he was dead like that before (the fire)," Weatherford said. "We don't think his head was cut off (by a person). The medical examiner can't give us a definite because there were signs of an animal."
Weatherford said it appeared a coyote had gotten to the body.
Weatherford said there were several reasons the department did not alert the public to Dunn's death.
Medical examiner:Seven Tennessee homicide victims died from blunt force trauma
First, he said, the body had been there for some time.
The fire was likely not started by the person who killed Dunn, he explained, and instead could have been the result of some combustible materials found at the scene of the crime. That blaze likely started a day or more after Dunn was killed.
Next, investigators didn't immediately know a cause of death due to the condition of the body, Weatherford added.
"We were waiting for the autopsy to come back," he said. "There were several things we were waiting on."
As of Thursday, results of Dunn's autopsy by the Davidson County medical examiner had not been released.
"We didn't really receive information on him (Cummins) until after the bodies were found ... and then everybody wanted to talk about it."
What wasn't said
Weatherford said that while investigators were looking into Cummins and "certain people," they had not found evidence to put Cummins at the cabin until after April 27. That's when more bodies and a .30-30 rifle registered to Dunn were found.
"I don't want to say (Cummins) was a suspect," Weatherford said. "We couldn't put him there. We had been looking into it, but we couldn't put him there."
Before the seven bodies were found on April 27 and 28, Weatherford said "no one wanted to talk about" Cummins.
'Wake-up call':Red flags before deaths of 7 in Tennessee a 'wake-up call,' attorney says
"This is what's aggravating," he said. "Everybody wants to talk about it now. No one wanted to talk about it then. I hate that it happened. Everybody says they knew this was going to happen. Well, if you knew he was going to kill eight people, nobody said anything. ... If you see something going on and you don't tell us, then we don't know about it. Everyone just assumes the sheriff's office knows."
Experts weigh in
Hendersonville, home to more than 55,000 people and the largest city in Sumner County, regularly releases information regarding crimes and suspects to the media and public.
While the department has a media relations policy, it's a liberal one, according to Detective Sgt. Neal Harris with the criminal investigation division.
“If it’s within the law for us to release information or talk to the media, it’s pretty much wide open,” he said.
Harris, who was also not speaking about the Cummins case specifically, said that the department tries to share as much information as possible with the public, especially when it comes to safety.
“We utilize the media as much as we can … to alert citizens to anything possibly dangerous or any arrests to be aware of for safety reasons," he said.
More:Man accused of killing seven in Tennessee set home on fire in 2017, threatened to 'finish the job'
Aaron shared the same sentiment.
He referenced a bar shooting that took place in East Nashville last August. Initially, he said, police did not have suspect information in that case.
“Persons involved in the Cobra Night Club matter were, in the department’s belief, very dangerous,” he said. "And often times there’s a balancing act when you are looking for a suspect.
“If you publicize the fact that a person is wanted and you have a notion or general area of where the person might be, it could cause the person to go underground and cause the individual to elude immediate apprehension.”
But when public safety is at risk, Aaron said the department notifies the community.
“In situations where we believe a person is potential a danger to the community, once we have them identified, we will let the community know we are seeking an individual," he said.
Cummins' criminal history
At the time of the Dunn homicide, Cummins was no stranger to law enforcement.
He pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated arson and aggravated assault in Sumner County on July 19. In that case, Cummins set fire to his neighbor's home and assaulted her as she attempted to extinguish the flames, shoving her to the ground and pulling her hair, according to the warrant.
After he was read his Miranda warning, he threatened he'd return to finish the job, the warrant states.
Other guilty pleas include theft and domestic assault in August 2017, evading arrest in April 2017, theft in April 2017 and probation violations.
The 2017 domestic assault case involved Cummins grabbing his grandmother by the arm, yanking her up and using her hair to move her, according to court documents.
Follow reporters Amy Nixon and Natalie Neysa Alund on Twitter @AmyKNixon and @nataliealund.
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8fa959aafcaa9332dcb4c9ff5430676e
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/25/memorial-day-world-war-2-dementia-family-research/1236730001/
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As a WWII vet battles dementia, his family's research uncovers lost stories from his life
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As a WWII vet battles dementia, his family's research uncovers lost stories from his life
Carl Thompson's loved ones haven't heard him tell a wartime story in a few years, but a renewed passion for his past has brought those tales, and then some, to the forefront.
Thompson, who enlisted in Louisville in the days following Pearl Harbor, was on the beaches of Okinawa in World War II, earned a Silver Star for valor in Korea, and was at Guantanamo Bay during the Cuban Revolution.
Thompson, who is now 95, traveled far beyond the Kentucky farm where he grew up around hogs and tobacco.
His tale was partly expanded by son-in-law Dan Treter, who made a hobby in recent years of researching Thompson's history. But as Treter collected newspaper clippings, gathered military records and compiled hundreds of pages of notes about the 25-year Marine, Thompson's memories faded with dementia's progression.
Photos:Honoring those who served and sacrificed on Memorial Day across the country
For Jason Treter, 36, his father’s research brought a fuller picture of his beloved grandfather. But the growing understanding of his grandfather’s life has been bittersweet.
“I just wish this had happened 20 years ago,” Jason Treter said.
For about the last five years, Thompson has lived with worsening dementia.
“We’ve lost the original source, so to speak,” the grandson said. “I just wish he could have the cognition to enjoy what we created and provide more insight.”
Thompson is part of the "Greatest Generation," the men and women who weathered the Great Depression and helped win World War II. Of the 16 million Americans who served in the war, only 496,777 were still alive in 2018, according to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. It estimates that 348 of them die each day.
Because of Thompson's condition, there are many questions, gaps to fill or stories to flesh out that the paper trail cannot answer.
Still, Jason Treter said, he treasures the archive his father has amassed.
One of the earliest documents is a Dec. 15, 1941, newspaper clipping from the Courier Journal.
A week earlier, Japanese aircraft dealt the U.S. Navy a severe blow in a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, destroying or damaging almost 20 naval vessels and killing more than 2,400 Americans.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan, and by week’s end America had a war on two fronts – in the Pacific and in Europe, after Adolf Hitler declared Nazi Germany at war with the U.S.
Watch:The history of celebrating Memorial Day
The following Sunday, an 18-year-old Thompson walked into Louisville’s Marine Corps recruiting office to join the fight. He had graduated high school in Ashland just months earlier and was living in Louisville with a cousin.
The recruiting office, which was in the Heyburn Building at Fourth Street and Broadway, had been opened 24/7 so Americans could enlist for war.
"The keys have been thrown away," a recruiting leader said at the time.
A Courier Journal photographer captured Thompson reading the paper behind round-framed glasses, a large “A” visible on his high school football sweater.
Thompson’s picture appeared in the next day’s paper, declaring him the first Sunday applicant to the Marines in Louisville since World War I.
“He was confident his parents would give the necessary consent,” the story read. Indeed they did, and on Jan. 6, he enlisted.
“Well back in Ashland excitement was hitting the fan,” Thompson would later write in a long letter about his life. “Friends started calling my family telling them about my enlisting and my mother got just a little excited about her little boy joining the M.C.”
Four years ago, while going through his grandfather’s belongings, Jason Treter discovered the handwritten letter.
May 24:They fought the Nazis, now they're fighting rust: Veterans struggle to save World War II ships
The autobiography penned by Thompson was previously unseen by his family and took them through his more than two decades of military service and beyond.
He earned two Purple Hearts, one in the Battle of Peleliu – which had the highest casualty rate of any amphibious assault in U.S. military history – in the western Pacific in September 1944 and another in 1950 in Korea during the Korean War.
He fought on Okinawa in 1945 – the bloody, last major battle of World War II – and in the Battle of Inchon in 1950, helping to turn the tide of the Korean War. He was awarded a Silver Star for valor near Seoul, the South Korean capital, which changed hands multiple times.
In the late 1950s, he was stationed at the Guantanamo Naval Base during the Cuban Revolution and later worked in the National Security Agency in Maryland.
In 1967, he retired as a Major to California with his wife, with whom he’ll celebrate 70 years of marriage this summer.
Looking at his grandfather’s adventures, from his climb up Japan's Mount Fiji to his audience with Pope Pius XII at the Vatican, grandson Treter can hardly believe where life took the Eastern Kentucky boy.
“I think being a soldier facilitated a lifestyle he otherwise never would have had,” Treter said.
And while he’s lived with his wife and three children in California for more than 50 years, Thompson still referred to himself as a Kentucky farm boy, his grandson said.
Memorial Day deals:Free food and Memorial Day deals for active military and veterans Monday
When he’d drink, he’d ask for “some of that good old Kentucky bourbon.” And there’s his accent. That stuck with him, Treter said.
Thompson and his wife, Anna Marie, traveled extensively in retirement, visiting all 50 states.
Closer to home, into the 1990s, Thompson would sit in the audience of boot camp graduations at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego and shake graduates' hands, Jason Treter said.
He amassed some 10,000 books, his grandson said, many of which dealt with archaeology and military history.
It was among those books, just last week, that the family found a Marine Corps “yearbook” put together by a fellow soldier in 1996.
The handwritten letter Jason Treter had found four years ago, turns out, was written back in the ’90s for Thompson’s entry in the yearbook.
It was a fresh find for the family, its pages containing new photos and bits of information from his life.
As exciting as the discovery was, it was another piece of Thompson’s life his grandson cannot ask him about.
Watch:Veterans recall D-Day horror and triumph
Excavating his life has brought a certain degree of pain, he said. With a graduate history degree, Jason Treter was used to piecing together the lives of strangers long dead.
But grandpa, he’s family, alive yet in some ways lost to them.
Though flipping through the yearbook’s pages, he can hear his grandfather's voice in the plain-spokenness of the prose.
“I gave to the Marine Corps and the Marine Corps gave to me,” Thompson wrote. “It was and is a good life. Beat on drummer.”
Follow Matthew Glowicki on Twitter: @MattGlo
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d9a10bd8012d7e124a1382cb93bb8f26
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/26/2-dead-unknown-number-missing-oklahoma-tornado/1243924001/
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Powerful EF3 tornado kills 2, injures 29 in Oklahoma town recovering from flooding
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Powerful EF3 tornado kills 2, injures 29 in Oklahoma town recovering from flooding
A powerful EF3 tornado killed at least two people, destroyed a motel and devastated a mobile home park in the Oklahoma City suburb of El Reno overnight as severe weather continued to threaten the nation's middle section Sunday.
Twenty-nine people were injured, some critically, and a search and rescue effort was underway in areas reduced to rubble, El Reno Mayor Matt White said Sunday. He said language barriers and other issues made the number of people unaccounted for unclear.
"It's a pretty devastating sight," White said. "It is very traumatic. We are all hands on deck."
The National Weather Service rated the tornado as an EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, about 75 yards wide at its widest point and on the ground for 2.2 miles. An EF3 tornado can drive winds of up to 165 mph.
The Midwest has been hammered by scores of tornadoes and heavy storms in recent days, leaving at least nine dead and a trail of damage from high winds and flooding. And the weather pattern isn't expected to change soon.
"The overall weather pattern that has been in place across the U.S. will continue early this week, which will bring more rounds of severe weather to the Plains," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brett Rathbun said.
Saturday's tornado was spawned by a powerful storm system rolling through the state. The tornado cranked up at about 10:28 pm and lasted only four minutes, the weather service said. White said tornado sirens were sounded at 10:27 p.m.
The American Budget Value Inn was destroyed, and images at the scene showed emergency crews sifting through the rubble after part of the motel's second story collapsed into a pile of debris.
Mobile homes in the Skyview Estates mobile home park adjacent to the motel were damaged, as was part of a nearby car dealership, White said.
The scene was "horrific," he said. "Decimated."
Elton Garrison, 32, said his parents called him from Skyview after the storm and said they were trapped in their home with two of his children, 9 and 12. Garrison, who lives less than a mile away, arrived to see another trailer sitting on top of his parents' home.
Garrison went to the home and was able to clear enough debris to free the family.
“My main emotion was fear. I couldn’t get them out of there quick enough.”
He said he had heard the sirens but thought little of it.
“We hear them all the time here, so it didn’t seem like a big deal," Garrison said. "I heard a lot of rain with the wind. But when it kinda got calm all of a sudden, that’s when it didn’t feel right.”
The weather service's Storm Prediction Center warned that a moderate risk for severe thunderstorms will continue Sunday evening across the central high plains. Conditions are expected to weaken overnight, but wind gusts may pose a threat as the storm moves toward the middle Missouri Valley.
And more could be coming: Forecasters warned that conditions are ripe for more severe weather at least through month's end.
Meteorologists are predicting residents along parts of the Arkansas River will see the worst flooding in recorded history this week. The river near Fort Smith on Sunday surpassed a crest set in 1945.
In El Reno, Saturday's tornado came just days after the town was hit by widespread flooding.
"Pray for our community," White said. "We've been through a lot lately."
Contributing: The Associated Press
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2ea71a39355506880ac253db5494ff2d
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/26/hawaii-shark-attack-kills-california-man-1st-fatality-2015/1247236001/
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California man, 65, swimming off Maui killed in Hawaii's first fatal shark attack since 2015
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California man, 65, swimming off Maui killed in Hawaii's first fatal shark attack since 2015
A California man died Saturday in Hawaii's first fatal shark attack since 2015, prompting officials to post shark warning signs.
The 65-year-old was swimming about 60 yards from the shore of Ka’anapali Beach Park on Maui when a shark attacked, authorities said. Multiple Sacramento television stations reported Sunday night that the man who died was Thomas Smiley, a longtime local optometrist.
Witness Allison Keller told Hawaii News Now that rescuers pulled an unconscious man ashore, then performed CPR.
“As we got closer, I saw some blood on his stomach and then I got looking a little bit more and his wrist, it looked like the skin on his wrist was just torn off,” Keller said. “And then I got looking closer and his entire left leg from his knee down was just missing.”
Shark attacks:How common are they?
Hawaii’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement did not release the victim's name or say where he lived in California. The species of the involved shark was not confirmed, the Honolulu Star Advertiser reported.
The last fatal shark attack in Hawaii was in 2015, when a snorkeler off Maui was killed. Other shark incidents this year include a tiger shark in Hanalei Bay injuring a surfer's left leg and a cookiecutter shark in the Kaiwi Channel biting a swimmer's back, the Star Advertiser reported.
Around the world in 2018, 66 unprovoked shark attacks were confirmed, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File. People have a one in 3.7 million chance of dying from a shark attack in their lifetime, according to the museum, compared to a 1-in-84 chance of being involved in a fatal car accident.
While boogie boarding:Suspected shark attack kills man in his 20s near Cape Cod, police say
Contributing: The Associated Press
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34a09e14e5a3f48f684433b7d4045201
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/26/oregon-man-charged-murder-missing-mother-son/1244916001/
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Oregon man charged with aggravated murder in disappearance of mother and her 3-year-old son
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Oregon man charged with aggravated murder in disappearance of mother and her 3-year-old son
SALEM, Ore. – Detectives arrested an Oregon man Friday, charging him with two counts of aggravated murder in the case of a missing mother and her young son.
Michael John Wolfe, 52 – the boy's biological father – also faces two kidnapping charges, according to Salem police.
Multiple agencies continued searching Friday for Karissa Fretwell, 25, and her son, William, 3. The pair was last seen May 13; their last known location was West Salem.
The two were reported missing May 17 by family after Fretwell didn't show up at work.
Wolfe, who lives on rural acreage in Yamhill County, had been identified earlier as a person of interest in the case, prompting searches of at least two properties.
At a news conference Friday, Salem police Lt. Treven Upkes said detectives found him at a doughnut shop in Portland – Blue Star Donuts at 12th and Morrison streets.
Upkes declined to provide many details on the case – including why Wolfe was a suspect in the case – due to the ongoing investigation. Wolfe was booked into Yamhill County Jail and is being held there without bail.
Maleah Davis:Man who reported 4-year-old missing arrested in her disappearance
Missing Idaho teenager:Teen girl abducted from her job found safe in Arizona, suspect in custody
Upkes said officials can have probable cause for an arrest even if they don't have every fact in place when an arrest is made, knowing that more investigative work could still take place. Charges also can change at the district attorney's discretion based on additional evidence, he said.
"Based on what we have at this point, we believe that we can charge him with aggravated murder and kidnap," Upkes said.
However, investigators "are dogged in their pursuit of finding William and Karissa," Upkes said.
Wolfe was being booked in Yamhill County because that's where authorities believe crimes took place, he said. Wolfe is expected to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 28.
AJ Freund:Parents of 5-year-old boy found in shallow grave allegedly beat him after long, cold shower
A DNA test established Wolfe was William's biological father, according to a Polk County court judgment. Fretwell in 2018 filed a petition to establish paternity of William, and she had full custody.
Authorities searched a home near Gaston and a field on Hopewell Road northwest of Salem just across the Polk County line, according to Salem police.
On Friday, Clackamas County Sheriff's Office divers assisted Salem police and other agencies in the search, according to the sheriff's office.
In Gaston, the search was on a property on NW Phillips Road. Court records list Wolfe's address as being on 2700 NW Phillips Road.
Randy Ruggles, a neighbor of Wolfe's in Gaston, said Wolfe and his family have lived at the estimated 10-acre property for about eight years.
"This was a big shocker to us," Ruggles said Thursday. "It's just scary."
Law enforcement officials from the FBI and Salem Police have been at Wolfe's house since Sunday, he added.
'Truly the worst outcome':Missing Indiana mom's foot found in pond, police say
Ruggles said the last time he saw Wolfe was months ago.
"We don't mingle," he said of his neighbors on NW Phillips Road. "Everyone works and keeps to themselves."
Karissa is described as 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing approximately 135 pounds. She has blue eyes and naturally blond hair that she dyes red.
William is a white male, approximately 3 feet tall, and weighs approximately 30 pounds. He has blond hair and blue eyes.
Fretwell's friend Megan Harper, of McMinnville, said she was supposed to watch William on May 17, but never heard from Fretwell. The last time they spoke was May 11 when Fretwell asked Harper about installing Ring, a security camera system.
"I feel ill with worry about William," Harper said.
Harper described Fretwell as "shy and awkward" when they first met in a sociology class at Chemeketa Community College.
Follow Jonathan Bachon Twitter @jonathanmbach
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02dd58fea724209b9f09ef8a8099f2fd
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/27/151-years-late-revolutionary-war-vet-honored/1252732001/
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A slave became a Revolutionary War hero. Now, 151 years late, he's being honored
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A slave became a Revolutionary War hero. Now, 151 years late, he's being honored
DETROIT — Pvt. James Robinson played an important role in the Revolutionary War's final battle, but like many African Americans who took up arms against the British, he received little lasting recognition.
That's about to change.
Members of two patriotic lineage societies plan to give Robinson, who died in 1868, military funeral honors during a ceremony next month at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit. A special grave marker will be unveiled, too.
"Over 5,000 African Americans served in the Revolutionary War, and Robinson is one of the most consequential figures of the period," said Elijah Shalis, secretary of the Michigan Society Sons of the American Revolution.
"He deserved this honor 151 years ago for his service to his country."
Robinson led a remarkable life: He was a slave and a minister who fought in two wars and died at age 115 as the last known living African American veteran of the Revolutionary War.
A war hero, and then back to slavery
Born into slavery in 1753 in Maryland, Robinson served in a light infantry regiment after the Revolutionary War broke out in 1775, Shalis said.
During the battle of Yorktown, Robinson charged up a British rampart, fought against and killed three men and helped take over the rampart, Shalis said. The battle ended with the British surrendering.
Robinson also fought in the battle of Brandywine. Later, French General Marquis de Lafayette awarded Robinson a Gold Medal of Valor.
Robinson had been promised freedom in exchange for fighting. Instead, he remained a slave and was sold in Louisiana. He went on to fight in the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.
By the 1820s, Robinson had a license to preach as a Methodist minister, according to a letter to the editor that ran in the Detroit Free Press in 1984 from a writer pushing then for a special historical marker for Robinson.
It's unclear when Robinson finally became free. Shalis said U.S. Census records show him living as a free man in Ohio in the 1840s and 1850s. The 1860 census lists him living in Detroit.
More:Groundbreaking World War II unit of black women honored decades later
No known honor for him after the war
It's also unclear what type of recognition he received, if any at all, at the time of his death for his military service.
Elmwood Cemetery's handwritten records from 1868 say that Robinson was "colored" and died of old age, but don't mention his service.
Shalis learned about Robinson through conversations with Maurice Barboza, who is leading the effort to build the National Liberty Memorial in Washington, D.C., to honor African Americans involved in the American Revolution.
"James Robinson ... was indicative of the kind of spirit we want to inject in this memorial," Barboza said.
"It’s heroism, but it’s also incredible doggedness. Nothing destroyed his spirit. He must have been one extraordinary human being to have endured what he did."
Barboza said while black soldiers were honored for their accomplishments in the war, they were largely forgotten in the decades that followed as slavery persisted.
"Following the Revolutionary War, people weren't thinking about freedom or liberty," he said. "They were thinking about building the country, and to continue to do so with the slave labor that they had.”
More:Marine vet delivers first pitch after double arm transplant
A 21-gun salute planned
The Michigan Society Sons of the American Revolution (MISSAR) and the Michigan Society of the War of 1812 purchased bronze emblems that represent the wars in which Robinson fought. The emblems were affixed to a granite stone donated by Elmwood Cemetery.
The special grave marker will be dedicated during a June 22 ceremony at the cemetery. A sword salute and a possible 21-gun salute are among activities planned.
Shalis said Robinson's last living relative appears to have been a granddaughter who died in the 1980s.
It's important to keep Robinson's memory alive because his story shows how all types of people helped create the United States of America, Shalis said.
He noted that along with people of African descent, the French, Dutch, Spanish, Native Americans, Muslims, Jews and others contributed to the American Revolution in various ways, from fighting to providing financing and goods.
"America was only founded because everybody was involved, not just old white men, like a lot of people think about when they think about the American Revolution," Shalis said. "Without every single segment of society that was involved, it wouldn’t have been possible."
Follow Ann Zaniewski on Twitter: @AnnZaniewski
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6dfa94e29d7af5b52415e6c032e35a27
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/27/army-veteran-celena-adams-locke-spreads-word-arthritis/1253946001/
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Arthritis is prevalent in the military. This Army veteran wants to help
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Arthritis is prevalent in the military. This Army veteran wants to help
Celena Adams-Locke is proud of her service.
It was more than three decades ago that she got her parents’ permission to sign up for the military at 17, a dream come true for a girl who wanted to serve just like her father.
She imagined a lifetime of service, with dreams of retiring with the Army. As one of the few female African Americans with the prestigious 10th Mountain Division, she took special pride in beating the boys during grueling marches.
“When you’re running with 12 men and I’m the only female, I was like ‘OK, let’s do it!’” she recalled.
Now 47, Adams-Locke does not run much any more. In fact, most physical activity for her is difficult now.
The military gave her a lot: a career, an education and a sense of duty. But it also gave her arthritis, a disease that inflames joint tissues and makes it hard to move muscles. Cartilage, the tissue that covers the ends of bones and allows free movement, breaks down, eventually resulting in joint failure.
She first noticed a sharp pain in her knees back in the 1990s, when she was stationed at Fort Drum in New York following Operation Desert Storm. It was a physically demanding post, with her battalion often required to complete six-mile road marches on uneven terrain while carrying 45 pounds of equipment.
Treatment kept her from the physical training, but brought scorn from commanding officers.
“It’s sort of shunned upon when you keep going to the doctor in the military. They kinda make you feel a little bad,” Adams-Locke said as she tried to figure out what was wrong with her knees.
“It got to the point where it was hard for me to get out of bed,” she said.
That was when she knew she had to walk away from the Army.
There’s no one treatment for arthritis. Adams-Locke takes a variety of pain-treatment drugs including Tramadol to combat her disability. The dosage changes depending on the day and her level of pain.
“I went from taking nothing to taking all this medication I’m taking now. I’m worried it’s causing problems with my liver and I don’t know what it does to me in the long run,” she said.
1 in 3 veterans has arthritis
This is the reality for thousands of veterans like Adams-Locke who live with some form of arthritis. While one in four Americans have arthritis, one in three veterans are affected by this preventable disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“If you look at health-related reasons for active duty honorable discharge, arthritis is second behind combat-related injuries. It’s a big deal,” said Dr. Kelli Allen, associate director of the Center for Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation at the Durham, North Carolina, Veterans Affairs.
Dr. Richard Loeser, director of the Thurston Arthritis Research Center at the University of North Carolina, has spent nearly three decades studying the disease and is developing new methods to treat it, as well as working to raise awareness.
More:Could your kids' heavy backpacks lead to early arthritis?
“Lots of people in the past considered it a wear-and-tear disease, like a car tire that gets worn down over time. But it’s clearly not that. It’s an active biological process in the joint, so we’ve been trying to understand it better by looking at those basic biological process that cause your joint tissues to break down,” he said.
The old wear-and-tear attitude is detrimental to treatment, Loeser said, because people see it as inevitable as opposed to preventable.
“A lot of people don’t know what type of arthritis they have, and they don’t know what they can do to treat it,” Loeser said.
The causes vary for arthritis, from genetics to diet, age and even gender. Female veterans may be more at risk for arthritis because of the loss of estrogen during menopause, Loeser said.
But veterans are at more risk to develop the disease because of the constant pressure on their joints. Occupational duties like through marching, running with heavy equipment and even jostling about in vehicles over rough terrain lend themselves to joint injuries that could lead to arthritis.
“Activities, like jumping out of a helicopter or carrying a heavy pack, can damage joints but we don’t fully understand the impact of these different activities on future risk of arthritis," Allen said.
A new duty
Adams-Locke had dreams of becoming an air assault instructor, but her arthritis prevented her from completing the physical requirements. After she medically retired from the Army in 2005, she went back to school to become a nurse.
She now has a new mission.
After earning her master’s degree in healthcare administration, Adams-Locke went to workfor the CDC as a public health advisor. She splits her time between her home in Georgia and UNC, helping others combat arthritis.
May is Arthritis Awareness Month and Adams-Locke is working the Osteoarthritis Action Alliance to raise awareness about the early signs of the disease and coping with pain. She talks to people online and provides them with the same encouragement she received from her family.
“When I'm talking to people in their 40s like me who don't have anyone to take care of them, I feel that," she said. "I don't want to give them medical advice, but I tell them to stay strong."
She's met many other veterans with arthritis — even including some in her old unit who criticized her for receiving treatment years ago.
Despite her diagnosis, Adams-Locke has no regrets. Her service to country was worth it.
“Through life you’re going to go through ups and downs but, at the end of the day, that was just minor to what I was doing in the military and the people that I’ve met,” she said.
If you or a loved one is dealing with arthritis and in need of resources, contact the Osteoarthritis Action Alliance here.
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b5522a93833d158a015df28c082a49cb
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/27/castle-park-log-ride-riverside-california-ejects-family-boat/1249401001/
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'Cartwheels out of the boat': Family ejected from log ride at California amusement park
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'Cartwheels out of the boat': Family ejected from log ride at California amusement park
A family of three was tossed from a log ride at a Southern California amusement park when a water pump malfunctioned over the weekend.
A woman was critically injured and a man and child suffered minor injuries as the log-shaped car hit the bottom of a water slide, flipped over and ejected the three from the vessel at Castle Park in Riverside on Saturday, fire officials say.
Riverside Fire Department said in a Facebook post that all three people were treated at a local hospital for their injuries.
"What it appeared is that there was no water flowing on the ride. There was a pump that had malfunctioned on the ride that caused that one car to come down the descent rapidly," Fire Captain Brian Guzzetta told KTLA-TV.
More:12 children rescued after roller coaster stalls at Texas amusement park
In a statement, Castle Park said the ride would remain closed as park and state officials conducted an investigation.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family involved in the incident," the park said in its statement.
Robert Mahler told KCAL-TV that his children were on the next ride over when he watched horrified, realizing something had gone wrong.
More:How safe are amusement park rides?
"I was watching my kids on the ride and I just heard this big thud. And this huge wall of water washed over," he said. "All of a sudden I saw the boat careening around the corner and it went way too fast and it tilted – maybe 45, 55 degrees – and all I saw was, just essentially, legs falling out of the boat. Cartwheels out of the boat. And down into the water."
"Everybody was just screaming and panicking," he added.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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2737debba69962f2a179d0139fd9cd8a
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/27/elizabeth-shelley-utah-girl-still-missing-uncle-police-custody/1249284001/
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Police searching for missing 5-year-old Utah girl. Her uncle is in custody
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Police searching for missing 5-year-old Utah girl. Her uncle is in custody
ST. GEORGE, Utah – Police in Utah continued their search Monday for a missing 5-year-old girl, alongside officials from the FBI and state law enforcement agencies.
Elizabeth Jessica Shelley was last seen around 2 a.m. Saturday and reported missing approximately 8 hours later, according to the Logan Police Department.
Officials said the girl may have been with her 21-year-old uncle, Alex Whipple, who is now in police custody.
Whipple was booked into Cache County jail in connection with a warrant out of Salt Lake County regarding a failure to comply with probation, police said.
Logan police described the 21-year-old as the "main suspect" in a Facebook post on Sunday.
Law enforcement personnel conducted searches throughout Saturday night and into Sunday morning. More than 200 people were participating in the search as of Sunday evening, Logan police said.
The search for the girl stretched into a third day on Monday, with the child's family saying they are overwhelmed, scared and saddened by her disappearance.
Jill Parker, a victim advocate with the Cache County Attorney's Office, read the family's statement at a brief news conference Monday in Logan
Authorities advised residents in the search area to monitor their home security systems for suspicious activity.
"Any residents in the area between 300 South to 100 North and 300 West to 600 West that have video surveillance, including smart doorbells please check your videos and cameras specifically for the hours between 2 a.m. and noon on Saturday, May 25, 2019," Logan police said in a Facebook post.
"If anything is found, please don’t touch it and call dispatch immediately," police officials said.
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6d6cc7c1feb8e8c772702f1798921b43
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/27/open-and-closed-memorial-day-2019-mail-banks-stores-usps/1234600001/
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What's open and closed Memorial Day 2019: Mail, banks, and stores impacted by the holiday
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What's open and closed Memorial Day 2019: Mail, banks, and stores impacted by the holiday
As America celebrates Memorial Day, most government offices and some private businesses will be closed.
Most banks, the mail service, the stock market and schools are among the highest impact closings that Americans will notice on Monday, May 27.
Monday's federal holiday was created to honor soldiers who have died in military service and is observed annually on the last Monday of May. It was recognized as a national holiday by an act of Congress in 1971.
Memorial Day traces its roots to "Decoration Day" — a 19th century U.S. tradition where the graves of Civil War soldiers were decorated at the end of May.
Watch:The history of celebrating Memorial Day
Here's a look at what will be open and closed Monday:
Grocery stores, restaurants and retail stores
Many grocery stores, retailers, restaurants and fast food chains will remain open. One big exception: Costco Wholesale will be closed.
Here's a more thorough look at which businesses are open on Memorial Day 2019. There are also numerous sales planned for the holiday.
Mail services
The United States Postal Service will not deliver mail on Memorial Day. Most UPS and FedEx services will also be closed. FedEx Custom Critical and UPS Express Critical services will remain open; FedEx Office locations will operate on modified hours.
Banks
Most banks, including Federal Reserve Banks, will be closed. In most cases, ATMs may still be used for some banking transactions.
Schools
Most public schools will be closed to observe the federal holiday, and many private schools will do the same.
Stock markets
The New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and bond markets will be closed Monday. Foreign markets, however, remain open.
Garbage
Trash pickup will vary. Check with your local provider.
DMV
Department of Motor Vehicles offices across the U.S. will be closed.
Courts
Courts will not be in session.
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87288664d318f9b7c3f197bd2f7616a7
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/27/taps-bugle-military-why-play-history/1254362001/
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'The hardest 24 notes to play': Why 'Taps' is played to honor fallen heroes
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'The hardest 24 notes to play': Why 'Taps' is played to honor fallen heroes
As the sun begins to set, the melancholy sound of a bugler playing "Taps" echoes off the old brick buildings on the town square in Martinsville, Indiana.
A small crowd, mostly comprised of veterans who stand at attention, listen as names are read, followed by the clang of a silver bell. Then the mournful tune is played as pedestrians stop and listen in quiet respect.
“Anybody that has served our nation, police, fire, military, MIAs that are recovered and our sweet old Rosie the Riveters, we read their names to honor their memories,” bugler Bruce McKee said.
The ceremony began when a call went out to buglers across the country to sound "Taps" for seven days at 7 o'clock on the county squares to honor the memory of the 26 people killed during the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012.
After the final night, a woman approached McKee and asked if he would sound "Taps" in memory of her father, who didn’t get the honor at his funeral.
The names just kept coming.
'Taps' every Friday, for 330 weeks
Taps on the Square began that evening and has continued for over 330 consecutive Fridays, in rain, snow or heat.
Jerry Vest reads the names. Randy Sichting rings the bell. McKee serves as the main bugler, and Jim Martin and Zondra Kale-Griffin serve as the echo buglers.
“They are the hardest 24 notes to play because you’re playing it for the fallen and for their families,” McKee said.
The tune is thought to be a revision of a French bugle signal called a “tattoo,” which was a “last call” for soldiers to stop drinking and to return to their units.
Union Army Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield arranged the present version to signal “lights out.” Bugler Oliver Norton was the first to sound the call.
The tune was adopted by the Confederate army as well.
Today, "Taps" signals the conclusion of military funerals, wreath-laying ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and ceremonies on the beaches of Normandy.
"Taps" is the final call of the day on U.S. military bases worldwide.
McKee is the founder and director of Indiana Spirit of '45, which provides live "Taps" for military honors, memorial services, national holidays and private services.
“It’s the final salute," McKee said. "The last 24 notes that are ever played for a brother or sister who served. It’s heart-wrenching. Even as a bugler, I have to say a prayer, and I try to find things to focus on so I don’t look at the family, because of the emotion there.”
McKee notes the buglers play "live Taps" whereas most use a bugle with an MP3 recording.
"When you use the digital, it's playing 'Taps,'" McKee said. "When we do it as individuals, it's sounding 'Taps.' It comes directly from the heart and not a triple-A battery."
McKee’s family has deep military roots that go back to the Revolutionary War. His father, Robin, served in the Army during World War II and McKee served in the Air Force.
He didn't get to play at his dad's funeral
McKee has one regret: He didn’t get to play "Taps" at his father’s funeral.
"I had cancer surgery on my tongue and throat," McKee said. "When they did the surgery, they said I would never speak normally, sing or ever play the bugle again.”
McKee proved them wrong.
The weekly tribute is especially poignant to Taylor Downing of Martinsville. Her father, Army Pfc. Stephen P. Downing, was killed in combat in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2004.
“It’s amazing that people stop to take time to remember these people," Downing said. "They gave everything for our freedom."
And McKee does remember those who are gone.
“Life and service is a lot. It’s why we can stand out here in the open and do this without worrying. We have the freedom to do it because of them,” McKee said, “This is our way of saying, ‘thank you’ to the loved ones.”
Follow Dawn Mitchell Twitter: @dawn_mitchell61
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cab6eb5d5b77451ee120bd836ef33c11
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/28/amanda-eller-hawaii-hiker-found-forest-thanks-her-rescuers/1263259001/
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'You guys are the heroes': Missing hiker Amanda Eller thanks rescuers in emotional appearance
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'You guys are the heroes': Missing hiker Amanda Eller thanks rescuers in emotional appearance
Amanda Eller, the yoga teacher who survived 17 days lost in a Hawaiian forest, thanked her rescuers Monday in an emotional apperance at a community event.
Eller made a last-minute address to praise the hundreds of neighbors who aided her rescue after she reportedly hiked into the woods on May 8 and found herself disoriented, Hawaii's KHON-TV reported.
"I'm just the girl that got lost in the woods," said Eller, wearing a lei around her neck. "You guys like showed up hard. This is like true aloha."
She continued, thanking the community for "showing up with so much frickin' heart and so much passion."
Amanda Eller found alive:Hiker rescued after being lost 2 weeks in Maui, Hawaii forest
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The 35-year-old was airlifted to safety Friday after a helicopter pilot spotted her close to a creek bed. Her SUV had been found at Maui's Makawao Forest Reserve with her wallet and phone inside.
Eller, who reportedly survived on river water and wild fruit, suffered a leg fracture, severe sunburns and abrasions, her family said. On Tuesday, a friend who coordinated the search effort for Eller updated NBC's "Today" on her injuries.
"She's going through a very grueling process on her legs, where they need to remove the tops of the wounds and it's very painful, much like a burn victim," Sarah Haynes said, describing Eller as now in a wheelchair after initially walking out of the hospital.
Javier Cantellops, a former Army Ranger who helped rescue Eller, told "Today" that "It was incredible to see her" at Monday's event.
Now Eller's rescuers aim to find another Maui hiker reported missing, according to Hawaii's KITV-TV, which reported that Noah Kekai Mina, a 35-year-old who hikes often in Iao Valley, disappeared on May 20.
'I chose life':Hiker Amanda Eller survived on wild fruit, water and grit for 17 days in the Hawaiian forest
"Circumstances are different, but we're moving on to the next mission because he's a member of our community," Cantellops said Saturday, according to KITV-TV.
On Monday, Eller acknowledged her recovery while praising the community that saved her.
"You guys are the heroes,'' Eller said, according to NBC. "I am not the hero, I am just the girl sitting here healing my ankles."
Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner
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007c9ee1ed03176319a317e0851ace7b
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/28/dayton-ohio-tornado-large-and-dangerous/1255956001/
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Rescues underway after tornadoes smash across Ohio, Indiana; 1 dead
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Rescues underway after tornadoes smash across Ohio, Indiana; 1 dead
CELINA, Ohio – A string of tornadoes unleashing their fury across Ohio and Indiana ripped apart communities and left a wide swath of debris as a two-week wave of severe weather continued its unrelenting assault on the nation's midsection.
Celina firefighter Brian Davis confirmed Tuesday that an 81-year-old man died and seven people were injured when an EF3 tornado roared through just before midnight Monday. As many as 90 homes were damaged.
Celina resident Kylie Post, who said her home was spared, has no basement, so she and her son huddled under a mattress in a bathtub.
"We heard the tornado sirens, and then it got really quiet," Post said. "Next, it sounded almost like a train was near us that lasted for only a few minutes."
Severe weather threatened more than 100 million Americans from Texas to New Jersey, the National Weather Service said.
"Large hail and damaging wind will be the main threats, but a few tornadoes will be possible," the Storm Prediction Center warned.
Late Monday, an area around Dayton, in Ohio's Montgomery County, saw some of the worst damage.
"A large, dangerous tornado touched down last night in northwest Montgomery County," the county said in a statement. "We are focused on supporting life-saving measures, such as shutting down gas lines or locating people who are trapped by debris."
Dayton Fire Chief Jeffrey Payne said no fatalities and a few minor injuries were reported. Considering the amount of property damage, that was "pretty miraculous," he said.
Urban Search and Rescue teams from Columbus and Cincinnati helped first responders pick through rubble in search of survivors, Payne said.
Five miles north of Dayton, Harrison Township Fire Chief Mark Lynch and his crews worked to rescue people trapped in houses and cars.
"Devastation. World War III. It's tough," Lynch said. "It's going to be several years of rebuilding, I'm sure."
More than 50 tornadoes may have touched down in eight states over the Memorial Day weekend, the National Weather Service said. The Midwest has been hammered by scores of tornadoes and heavy storms since mid-May, leaving at least 10 dead and a trail of damage from high winds and flooding.
In the past 30 days, about 500 eyewitness tornado reports were recorded, the Storm Prediction Center said, among the most active periods since records began in 1950.
Late Monday and early Tuesday, the weather service issued a string of tornado watches and warnings from Indiana into Ohio, many of them along the Interstate 70 corridor that cuts through the heart of the two states. The outbreak was so severe the National Weather Service said a tornado near Vandalia cut across the path of the earlier twister.
More than 60,000 homes and businesses were without power Monday in Ohio, the website PowerOutage.US reported. A boil-water advisory was issued, and residents of Dayton and Montgomery County were asked to conserve water after power went out at water plants and pump stations.
Some lanes of Interstate 75 north of Dayton were blocked by debris, and trucks with plows scraped tree branches and rubble to the side of the highway.
In Indiana, scores of homes were damaged or destroyed by storms. The weather service confirmed that a tornado ripped through Pendleton, 35 miles northeast of Indianapolis, damaging more than 70 homes.
Todd Harmeson, a spokesman for the Madison County Emergency Management Agency, said emergency officials went door to door to check on residents. Trees and power lines were down "on every street" in the city, he warned, and power was out across the area.
"Stay inside. Shelter in place if you can," Harmeson said.
Multiple tornadoes ripped through eastern Iowa on Monday, damaging several homes, barns and trees.
Authorities reported a half-dozen tornadoes in the eastern part of the state as a severe weather system moved eastward Monday afternoon. No injuries were reported. The National Weather Service is working on surveying the sites.
"It was about the quickest thing I've ever seen," said Shawn Zweibohmer, who was working on a house he owns outside Charles City on Monday afternoon when the tornado came through. "There was no alert, there was nothing."
The Oklahoma City suburb of El Reno was digging out from an EF3 tornado late Saturday that killed at least two people, destroyed a motel and devastated a mobile home park. Some communities in Oklahoma and Arkansas braced for their worst-ever flooding as the Arkansas River reached record crests in some areas.
Bacon and Rice reported from McLean, Va. Contributing: Ian Richardson, Des Moines Register; Jennie Key and Cheryl Vari, The Cincinnati Enquirer; Kellie Hwang, The Indianapolis Star; The Associated Press
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4dff569b3feaf260d8863527703d3c28
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/28/human-remains-found-suitcase-identified-missing-man/1264177001/
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Human remains found in suitcase identified as missing Indianapolis man, police say
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Human remains found in suitcase identified as missing Indianapolis man, police say
INDIANAPOLIS - Human remains that were found in a suitcase in southeast Indianapolis were identified Tuesday as a 56-year-old man who was reported missing in March.
The Marion County Coroner's Office identified the remains as Larry Terry, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police said in a news release. Terry's remains were found Monday afternoon.
According to IMPD officer Genae Cook, several people were walking along Bean Creek and came across a suitcase. One of the individuals opened the suitcase to find human remains, she said.
Terry was reported missing March 12. A family member reported that he was last seen at his home , about three miles north of where his remains were found, according to the IMPD. The relative told police that Terry was diabetic and was on insulin.
The IMPD says the investigation into Terry's death remains active.
Woman found dead in suitcase:Ex-boyfriend arrested in death of Valerie Reyes
Mysterious suitcase washes up on shore:Couple finds suitcase containing bones in water on Maryland beach
Contributing: Kellie Hwang, Indianapolis Star
Follow Crystal Hill on Twitter: @crysnhill
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c813b34116cc9f57822fc2350a103166
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/28/lawsuit-unlawful-separation-migrant-families-texas/1262534001/
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Despite court order, migrant fathers were separated from their children, lawsuit claims
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Despite court order, migrant fathers were separated from their children, lawsuit claims
AUSTIN, Texas — More than a dozen migrant fathers were forcibly and "unlawfully re-separated" from the children at the Karnes Detention Center in South Texas last year despite a court order preventing such action, the legal aid group RAICES says in a new lawsuit.
The nonprofit Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services said in a news release Tuesday announcing the filing of the suit in federal court that the GEO Group, which operates the center in Karnes County, "sanctioned" the separation of 13 fathers in August 2018.
Two months earlier, the suit says, a federal court in California prohibited the separation of migrant families.
"With no prior notice, GEO permitted armed men to forcibly remove the fathers from their rooms at the Karnes Detention Center by using bulletproof vests, shields, knee pads, boots, helmets, tear gas equipment and guns," the release said.
Migrant deaths:A 10-year-old from El Salvador is the 6th migrant child to die in US custody in 8 months
The GEO Group, which operates more than 100 detention and correctional facilities nationwide, denied what it called "baseless allegations made against our staff."
"Placement and transfer decisions are solely made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement," GEO said in a written statement. "Activist organizations understand that for three decades, under both Republican and Democratic administrations, the federal government has relied on contractors to provide operational services at ICE processing centers and attacking the contractors is part of a larger strategy to impact immigration policy."
On its website, GEO said it is guided by its formal human rights policy adopted in 2013.
Migrant family separation:Hundreds of migrants deported without children, analysis of cases shows
"GEO acknowledged the unique nature of its operations as a private provider of detention, correction, residential treatment, and monitoring related services to governmental entities, and significant role that respect for human rights plays in those operations," the entry says.
RAICES:ICE is denying migrants rightful access to lawyers, legal group says
"GEO’s implementation of its commitment to respect human rights is a process that requires ongoing assessment of its efforts, and continuous improvement. The GEO Group is committed to that process, and that commitment stems from the highest level of the organization."
The lawsuit said the migrant fathers had earlier been separated from, and then reunited with, their children before being separated again. They were not told why the separations were taking place or where their children would be held, the lawsuit said. The fathers were told they would be deported and their children would be adopted by families in the United States.
“GEO intentionally traumatized families who came to the United States seeking refuge," said RAICES lawyer Manoj Govindaiah.
Border Patrol sued:Migrant woman's family sues Border Patrol for $100M over fatal shooting
Follow John C. Moritz on Twitter @JohnnieMo.
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2bc60c76ff736ba0a2c44b3b33c58aaf
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/28/louisiana-teen-accepted-139-college-8-million-scholarship/1264970001/
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Louisiana teen accepted into 139 colleges, awarded $8.7 million in scholarships
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Louisiana teen accepted into 139 colleges, awarded $8.7 million in scholarships
LAFAYETTE, La. - Most parents and guidance counselors advise high school seniors to apply to more than one college — to have at least one "backup school."
Well, Normandie Cormier of Lafayette had more than 100 backups.
She applied to schools through the Common App and the Common Black College App, which allows students to apply one time and have their information sent to hundreds of schools rather than apply 100 times.
Cormier, 18, was accepted into 139 colleges across the country. She has two big binders filled with her acceptance letters in page protectors.
Tupac Mosley:Memphis teen overcomes homelessness to earn $3 million in scholarships, valedictorian honors
The books sit among letters from the White House, schools and organizations like Burger King, GE and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation about awards and scholarships — $8.7 million in all.
Her family's kitchen table is covered, as are her two graduation caps.
The binders were her mom's idea, even before she got one letter. Single mother Chantelle Gary has been intent on inspiring her children to dream big, work hard and believe. She wore a T-shirt Friday that summed it up — "God. Goals. Grind."
"Sometimes you have to speak it into existence," Gary said. "Be careful what you ask for."
Gary home-schooled her daughter for several years. Then the teen decided she wanted to try Early College Academy for high school.
More:New Orleans high school senior admitted to 115 colleges, gets $3.7 million in scholarships
The school, on the campus of South Louisiana Community College, offers an accelerated program in which students take two years of high school and two years of college courses. So on May 9, Cormier graduated twice, first in her burgundy cap and gown to receive her diploma from the academy and then in navy blue to receive an associate degree in general studies from SLCC.
If that wasn't enough, she's an entrepreneur, tutoring kids and adults in her home and online, visiting a local nursing home, shadowing doctors as a hospital intern during the summer and mentoring girls about STEM education.
Entrepreneurship and hard work are her family's traits. They set goals and write them on white boards they keep around the house.
"Then we help each other to accomplish them," Gary said.
Her mom home-schools about 12 kids in addition to her son, Payton. They're always working, learning and volunteering, putting their business profits back into the community, Gary said.
And the family balances the workload of school and home businesses with a chronic illness. Since she was a little girl, Cormier's immune system has not been able to fight sickness, which has resulted in asthma and chronic skin issues.
She has been hospitalized many times, at least twice this year, her mom said, and spent much of Friday having blood work done to check her white blood cells. But she'll smile, as she describes it, true to her mission of inspiring others.
More:She got 39 college acceptance letters and $1.6 million in scholarships. Here's her secret.
"Since I was a child, I was always in and out of the hospital," Cormier said. "When I was young, it affected my self-esteem. But now I can use it to inspire others."
She had many options for this fall, but Cormier had to choose one. She landed on Xavier University of Louisiana, a private historically black university in New Orleans that offered her a full ride — as did 16 other schools.
"It was an easy decision," Cormier said, but not because of the money. Xavier is well-known for its "pipeline" of African-American graduates to medical school and those students' success rates.
Because she wants to be a doctor, it made perfect sense.
"Xavier's goals align with mine," she added.
Her time in the hospital, both as a patient and a volunteer, led her to choose that path. She has been mentored by medical and other STEM professionals.
"She wants to continue to inspire children," Gary said.
"To want more for themselves and for their education," Cormier said to finish her mom's sentence.
College football:Arizona eighth-grader has two Division I college football offers
Follow Leigh Guidry on Twitter: @LeighGGuidry
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8f8a91bf11b21ff61c1be86d7518cdfc
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/28/mississippi-river-flooding-longest-lasting-since-great-flood-1927/1261049001/?fbclid=IwAR32zFZwORUKcM4e0MqvXOlkQFxsd2n6EygWkdMPFtZLO6Hz9PH88MQlOFI
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Mississippi River flood is longest-lasting in over 90 years, since 'Great Flood' of 1927
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Mississippi River flood is longest-lasting in over 90 years, since 'Great Flood' of 1927
Flooding in at least 8 states along portions of the Mississippi River – due to relentless, record-breaking spring rainfall – is the longest-lasting since the "Great Flood" of 1927, the National Weather Service said.
The 1927 flood, which Weatherwise magazine called "perhaps the most underrated weather disaster of the century," remains the benchmark flood event for the nation's biggest river.
Anytime a modern flood can be mentioned in the same breath as the Great Flood is newsworthy: During that historic flood, hundreds of thousands of people fled their homes as millions of acres of land and towns went underwater.
At one point in 1927, along the Tennessee border, the Mississippi rose an astonishing 56.5 feet above flood stage, and in Arkansas, the river ballooned to 80 miles wide, according to the book Extreme Weather by Christopher Burt.
Start the day smarter:Get USA TODAY's Daily Briefing in your inbox
Hundreds of people died in the flooding.
That flood "was the seminal event that led to the federal flood-control program and gave the Army Corps of Engineers the job of controlling the nation's rivers via the erection of dams, dikes and other measures of flood abatement," Burt wrote.
At the height of the disaster, some 750,000 refugees were under the care of the Red Cross.
While the scale of this year's flood may not match the 1927 catastrophe, in terms of longevity, this year's flood rivals that one: For example, In Vicksburg, Mississippi, the river went above flood stage on Feb. 17, and has remained in flood ever since. The weather service said this is the longest continuous stretch above flood stage since 1927.
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the Mississippi first rose above flood stage in early January, and has been above that level ever since, the National Weather Service said. If this record-long stretch extends well into June, it would break the record from 1927, according to the Weather Channel.
And farther north, the Mississippi River at the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois saw its longest stretch above major flood stage ever recorded, even surpassing that of 1927.
A large portion of the downtown of Davenport, Iowa, was also swamped by the flooding. Davenport's public works department has spent more than $1 million on fighting floods this spring and that figure is expected to rise as the city prepares to hold back future deluges, officials said.
All of this year's flooding is due to both early spring snowmelt and seemingly endless rain: Since the start of 2019, much of the lower Ohio and lower Mississippi River Valleys have picked up more than 2 feet of rain. A few spots have even received over 40 inches of rain, the Weather Channel said.
As the planet warms due to human-caused climate change, heavy downpours are increasing in the Midwest, according to the National Climate Assessment. From the early 1990s to the mid-2010s, very heavy precipitation events in the Midwest increased by 37%, the assessment said.
In 2018, the assessment said that "an increase in localized extreme precipitation and storm events can lead to an increase in flooding. River flooding in large rivers like the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri Rivers and their tributaries can flood surface streets and low-lying areas, resulting in drinking water contamination, evacuations, damage to buildings, injury, and death."
As of Tuesday, more than 370 river gauges were reporting levels above flood stage in the central U.S., the weather service said. And of those, 71 gauges reported major flooding, 105 moderate flooding and 206 minor flooding, the weather service reported.
Although fatalities have been reported due to flash floods elsewhere in the central U.S. this spring, no deaths have been reported in the river flooding along the Mississippi.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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7901a03adf7f4abcd24e6aadaed1931c
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/28/missouri-abortion-clinic-may-shut-down-planned-parenthood/1260784001/
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Missouri's last abortion clinic could close, making the state the only one without a facility
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Missouri's last abortion clinic could close, making the state the only one without a facility
Missouri’s threat to decline a license renewal may force the state’s only abortion clinic to shut down by the end of the week, Planned Parenthood officials said Tuesday.
The current license for the clinic in St. Louis expires Friday, Planned Parenthood said, adding that if it’s not renewed, Missouri would become the first state without a working abortion facility since the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973.
Leaders of the nonprofit organization said they have filed a lawsuit seeking a restraining order to prevent the state from closing the clinic.
State officials have not returned several messages seeking comment.
Planned Parenthood said it was informed by state officials that they’re investigating “a large number of possible deficiencies” and they requested interviews with seven physicians. Only two staff physicians agreed to the interviews.
“This is not a drill,” said Dr. Leana Wen, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “This is not a warning. This is real and it’s a public health crisis.”
More:Supreme Court upholds part of Indiana anti-abortion law requiring disposal of fetal remains by burial or cremation
Related:Kamala Harris wants some states to get pre-clearance before passing abortion laws
If the St. Louis clinic were to close, the nearest facilities performing abortions are located in a Kansas suburb of Kansas City and in Granite City, Illinois, across the Mississippi River from the Gateway City.
“While the state of Missouri is waging a war against its abortion services and providers, the Hope Clinic remains committed to the patients of Missouri,” Erin King, executive director of the Granite City clinic, said in a statement.
Missouri is among a handful of states that have passed sweeping anti-abortion laws. Last week, Alabama approved a near-complete ban on abortions that calls for lengthy prison sentences of up to 99 years for doctors who perform them.
The bill signed Friday by Missouri Gov. Mike Parsons is not quite as restrictive, but it would forbid abortions on or beyond the eighth week of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Doctors who violate the eight-week cutoff could face five to 15 years in prison. Women who terminate their pregnancies cannot be prosecuted.
The ACLU of Missouri said Tuesday it has submitted a referendum petition to the secretary of state’s office as a first step toward blocking and potentially repealing the law. If the petition is approved for circulation, the ACLU would need to gather more than 100,000 signatures to block the law from taking effect on Aug. 28 and force a referendum in 2020.
Further legal challenges to the new law are also likely, and Missouri legislators structured the bill to establish cutoff points at 14, 18 or 20 weeks if the eight-week limit is struck down.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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5bf897685f3680a93c69bba921ea24b2
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/28/murfreesboro-dental-excellence-richard-nate-schott-health-care-fraud-tennessee/1258624001/
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No teeth left and drowning in debt: Victims of a Tennessee dentist speak out
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No teeth left and drowning in debt: Victims of a Tennessee dentist speak out
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Jeff Patton lost $3,300. Rochelle Therrien lost $400. Vessie Moore lost a whopping $14,000.
They're a few of the people whose finances were destroyed by visiting Richard "Nate" Schott, the former dentist who pleaded guilty to swindling nearly $1 millionfrom insurance companies.
Schott's been ordered to forfeit $932,000 that he stole from insurance companies, but individual victims aren't entitled to restitution. U.S. attorneys prosecuting Schott represent only the insurance companies, not individual victims who paid out of pocket.
"I don't think it's fair that an individual who made (money) fraudulently can steal from people who pay out of pocket," Therrien said after learning prosecutors were not representing the victims.
Left with no teeth, she feels 'less than human'
After visiting Schott's practice, Dental Excellence, Moore didn't just leave broke — she left with no teeth.
Problems started immediately after the popular Murfreesboro dentist incorrectly installed her teeth implants in October 2016. They weren't placed correctly: Teeth fixed to the implant were crooked and often popped out.
Moore went to Schott's practice more than 20 times for issues, she estimates. Employees eventually refused to see her and said she'd have to get used to the implants the way they were.
Then she had what felt like mini strokes. But after a trip to the emergency room – and a hefty price tag – she learned the implants were actually tangled in her nerves. A different dentist removed the implants, but she's now buried in medical debt and can't afford dentures.
"It makes me feel like I'm less than human," Moore said. "I can't even get affordable dentures. ... I can't live. I can't eat. I can't do nothing."
Moore filed a lawsuit in Rutherford County Circuit Court, but the case was thrown out by Judge Darrell Scarlett since Moore filed paperwork incorrectly. She plans to refile with the help of an attorney and hopes to be compensated for the burdens placed on her by Schott's work.
Pushing pricey crowns and credit cards
Patton went to Schott eight years ago. After an examination, Schott told Patton he needed crowns and it would cost over $3,000. Schott paid $1,700 out of pocket and signed up for a credit card after being pressured by one of Schott's staff members.
Patton planned to pay it off within a year, as not to accrue any interest. But after five months of payments, he was shocked to learn that it said he owed over $3,000, more than double what he expected.
Patton called Schott's office nearly six times and was told the credit card company was to blame. But the credit card company blamed Schott.
The two businesses were in a stalemate, and Patton still owed thousands. He was able to get the charges dismissed with the help of a local attorney, but others weren't so lucky.
"I hate it for him," Patton said of Schott's downfall. "But he crushed people and represented himself as Mr. Clean."
Therrien had issues with her teeth, so she went to Schott expecting a root canal.
Employees pushed her to get crowns, she said. She refused. Employees made the crowns anyway without permission and charged her credit card for the costs. She never got her money back, and eventually paid it off.
"I just want him to pay for what he's done," Therrien said.
U.S. attorney's office spokesman David W. Boling said in an email that individuals who believe they're a victim of Schott's illegal conduct should file a report with a local law enforcement agency.
"They may also want to explore any civil remedies which may be available," Boling said.
Follow Brinley Hineman of The (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) Daily News Journal on Twitter: @brinleyhineman
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0ce2489099992af1fa35bb44f963782f
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/28/opioid-lawsuit-first-state-trial-against-drugmakers-underway/1262108001/
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First state trial against drugmakers in opioid crisis underway
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First state trial against drugmakers in opioid crisis underway
NORMAN, Okla. – The nation’s first state trial against drugmakers blamed for contributing to the opioid crisis started Tuesday in Oklahoma in a case that could shape negotiations to resolve the roughly 1,500 other opioid lawsuits consolidated before a federal judge.
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter started opening arguments by saying powerful painkillers have led to the “worst manmade public health crisis” in U.S. history. The state alleges drugmakers extensively marketed highly addictive opioids for years in a way that overstated their effectiveness and underplayed the risk of addiction.
“This crisis is devastating Oklahoma,” Hunter said, adding that opioid overdoses killed 4,653 people in the state from 2007 to 2017.
Drugmakers deny Oklahoma’s claims. The companies maintain they are part of a lawful and heavily regulated industry that is subject to strict federal oversight, and that doctors are the ones who prescribe the drugs. Much of the opioid crisis, they say, is the result of illegal activity, such as drugs being stolen or obtained fraudulently.
More:Marijuana as a cure for opioid use? Nation's top drug scientist says she's skeptical
Lawyers for consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson and several subsidiaries were expected to start making their case later Tuesday. Two other companies, OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma and Teva Pharmaceuticals, have already settled with Oklahoma.
The trial could bring to light documents and testimony that show what the companies knew, when they knew it and how they responded.
More:President Trump threatens to sue opioid makers, says crisis is 'warfare'
A federal judge in Ohio is overseeing the 1,500 consolidated opioid lawsuits filed by state, local and tribal governments.
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1da4550f79c32cab835876f69b1b44cb
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/28/virginia-beach-event-floatopia-leaves-10-tons-trash-memorial-day/1256984001/
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'We can do better than this!' 10 tons of trash left on Virginia beach after Memorial Day event
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'We can do better than this!' 10 tons of trash left on Virginia beach after Memorial Day event
Inflatable rafts, trashed awnings, red cups and towels made up mounds of garbage left on a Virginia shore following a Memorial Day weekend event.
The total amount of trash removed? Ten tons, the city of Virginia Beach told local news stations. That's 20,000 pounds.
Floatopia, a massive start-of-summer party at Chic's Beach, drew hundreds of people Sunday for a day of drinking and lounging in the Chesapeake Bay, WCNC-TV reported, but photos of the messy aftermath spread quickly online.
A crew of only nine people arrived Monday morning to clean up the mess, Virginia Beach Public Works spokesman Drew Lankford said, removing the 10 tons of garbage by about 9:15 a.m.
Start the day smarter:Get USA TODAY's Daily Briefing in your inbox
"It was food wrappers, cans, bottles, pieces of floats, towels, everything," Lankford told WCNC-TV. "It was almost like they saw a tornado coming and everybody just got up and ran for safety and left everything there."
For comparison, Florida volunteers picked up a reported 9 tons of trash on Pensacola-area beaches throughout 2018 — less than Virginia Beach partyers produced just last weekend.
And a typical weekend at Chic's Beach results in just 1 ton of trash, WAVY-TV reported.
A Facebook video from user Melissa Noel shows two plastic trash barrels stuffed and surrounded by a small mountain of brimming trash bags. Abandoned rafts, boxes and cans add to the scene.
"Stay classy, Virginia Beach," a voice off-camera says.
Lankford told WCNC-TV that Floatopia is organized largely on social media, making communication with the event's organizers difficult.
City Councilman Michael Berlucchi posted an image of the same scene from the video and lamented the "trash all over our beautiful Chesapeake Bay."
"We can do better than this!" the councilman said.
More:Top 10 trash items found littering our beaches and waterways — and the weirdest
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dbb06596434438ea2c66013c89597d45
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/29/arkansas-river-flood-danger-levees-threatened-arkansas-oklahoma/1268616001/
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'Slow-motion disaster' along Arkansas River: Every large community will see major flooding within 7-10 days
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'Slow-motion disaster' along Arkansas River: Every large community will see major flooding within 7-10 days
Every large community along the Arkansas River will see major or record flooding within the next week to 10 days as swift-moving water from weeks of heavy rain challenges Arkansas' aging levee system, the National Weather Service said Wednesday.
Worse, more heavy rain is on the way.
Arkansas is not alone. Record flooding is also creating havoc in Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and northeast Oklahoma, both from locally heavy rainfall and from swollen rivers bringing water south from the north-central U.S.
Eight states along the Mississippi have seen the longest period of flooding since the Great Flood of 1927, according to the NWS. The river has been at flood stage in Baton Rouge since January as snowmelt and rainfall waters make their way downstream.
More:Mississippi River flood is longest-lasting in over 90 years, since 'Great Flood' of 1927
One death in Arkansas has been attributed to the floods. Police said a 64-year-old victim apparently ignored a barricade and drove his minivan into floodwaters near the main gate at Fort Chaffee near Fort Smith.
The Arkansas River, swollen from water released upriver in Oklahoma, is expected to crest Wednesday near Fort Smith, Arkansas, at 41 feet, well above the previous record of 38.1 feet.
The weather forecast offers scant hope for relief: Severe thunderstorms were predicted for the Fort Smith area both Wednesday and Thursday.
The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management said floodwaters had already overwhelmed a levee in Logan County, in an area of mostly farmland, and one in Perry County, at the unincorporated town of Toad Suck.
In Van Buren, Arkansas, police Chief Jamie Hammond warned residents in the most vulnerable areas not only of potential flooding, but also of snakes and other dangerous animals fleeing the rising water.
More:'I thought I was going to die': Tornado barrage leaves path of destruction from Kansas to Pennsylvania
“Those critters don’t have anywhere to go, so they go to dry land. Unfortunately, that’s in the city,” Hammond said, according to the Fort Smith Times Record.
In Little Rock, Pulaski County officials closed the Big Dam Bridge while the U.S. Corps of Engineers fortified the lock and dam beneath the bridge against rising floodwaters, said Laurie Driver, a spokeswoman for the Corps.
"The structures on the Arkansas River in Arkansas are not built to hold back floodwaters," Driver said, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported. "They're there to hold back water in low-water conditions to ensure we have a 9-foot channel for barge traffic."
In Fort Smith, where some homes have already been flooded, officials shut down two bridges over the Arkansas River and closed schools through Thursday.
Water was already creeping into homes in Pine Bluff along the river, inching higher hour by hour.
"It's a slow-motion disaster," said Constable Steve Tidwell of nearby Spring Township, according to ArkansasOnline. "It's taking a long time to rise, and it'll take a long time to fall."
Oklahoma
The mayor of Tulsa said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to continue releasing 275,000 cubic feet of water per second to help drain the swollen Keystone Lake reservoir. Mayor G.T. Bynum said on his Facebook page that the number could increase, depending on the rainfall.
While expressing confidence that a 70-year-old levee system would protect Sand Springs and west Tulsa, he strongly urged residents to evacuate vulnerable areas along the 20-mile system voluntarily.
"The levees have never been tested like this, and if anything were to go wrong the amount of time to evacuate could be minutes rather than hours,“ he warned.
As a sign of concern, an Oklahoma National Guard helicopter has dropped sandbags north of west Tulsa to shore up a seeping spot along the levee.
More:Oklahoma, Arkansas cities brace for 'the worst flood in our history'
After eyeballing the levee, Vernon Ramsey was among some 80 people seeking shelter at the Crosstown Church of Christ, one of many Red Cross shelters opened in the city.
"The way I see it, there's a 79-year-old man holding that water back. And I know with my age, I'm not as strong as I used to be," Ramsey told KTUL.
Adding to the headaches, the National Weather Service forecasts up to three inches of rain in some parts of the state through Thursday, and warns of a "potential for catastrophic flooding" in areas near the Arkansas River channel.
Mississippi
Floodwaters have swamped 860 square miles north of Vicksburg, which is perched on a bluff above the Mississippi River. Unlike other states, where water from the Mississippi or Arkansas rivers spill into adjoining land, the Vicksburg area flooding is caused by keeping floodgates on the Mississippi closed, blocking water pouring into the south end of the Delta region from entering the big river.
More:'Everything is underwater.' Floods claim homes, farms, livelihoods. Recovery years away.
Current forecasts suggest the water won’t drain significantly from the backwater area in Mississippi until July at the earliest.
Louisiana
In Louisiana, where the Mississippi has been at flood stage since January, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is meeting this week with residents of Butte La Rose and Morgan City who face potential floods with the opening of the Morganza Spillway on Sunday.
More:Morganza Spillway: Preparations for opening underway, thousands of acres expected to flood
The rare move, which has occurred only twice in more than 60 years to relieve pressure on the Mississippi, will inundate tens of thousand of acres of the Atchafalaya River Basin.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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b63eb6f20becdbf81b01e4610156f45a
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/29/michael-cummins-mass-killing-hearing-gruesome-crime-scene/1281957001/
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Investigators describe gruesome scenes in hearing for Tennessee man accused of killing 8
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Investigators describe gruesome scenes in hearing for Tennessee man accused of killing 8
GALLATIN, Tenn. – It was a scene so bloody that investigators didn't find two of the victims until the next day. The bodies they did find had injuries so extensive, it was impossible to differentiate the fatal wounds. And at least 50 bloody shoe impressions were found inside the small mobile home shared by seven people on Charles Brown Road.
In a preliminary hearing Wednesday, witnesses for the state testified to the brutality of three separate crime scenes, where Michael Cummins, 25, is suspected of killing eight people in Sumner County last month. Judge James M. Hunter found the state presented enough evidence to bind the case over to the grand jury.
Following his initial hearing, Cummins, who was shot in the leg while fleeing authorities, was rolled into into the courtroom in a wheelchair, wearing a yellow jumpsuit.
Excluding media, attorneys and law enforcement, fewer than 10 people – some of them family members of the deceased – sat in the courtroom gallery to observe the proceedings.
Tennessee killings:Authorities found a headless body in the woods. The public wasn't told until 7 more died
Cummins sat in his wheelchair, his head and upper body compulsively bobbing back and forth throughout the morning. At times, he whispered to his attorney, but otherwise kept a straight face and did not speak.
Sumner County District Attorney Ray Whitley called three witnesses for the state.
Among the most compelling evidence presented was from Miranda Gaddes, a forensic scientist with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, who testified as an expert witness.
Gaddes described the scene on Charles Brown Road, where six bodies were found over the course of two days beginning on April 27, as being so bloody that two of the bodies were not initially found.
"It was hard to tell the injuries of the victims because so much blood was present," she said.
As Gaddes described the bodies of Marsha Nuckols and her granddaughter, 12-year-old Sapphire McGlothlin-Pee, Sapphire’s uncle, Steve McGlothlin, jumped up from his seat and shouted. Court bailiffs immediately asked him to leave the courtroom.
Outside the courthouse, he said the testimony confirmed his worst fears.
“I got upset, I couldn’t hold myself back. The man doesn’t deserve another breath,” he said with tears in his eyes, adding that it was the first time he’d heard any physical evidence presented about Sapphire's death.
Gaddes testified that under Sapphire’s body, investigators found a baseball bat, a large serrated knife and what appeared to be the barrel of the broken .30-30 rifle that belonged to victim James Fox Dunn Jr.
Sexual assault kits were collected and taken to the medical examiner’s office, Gaddes said.
“I don’t believe there was anything found on Sapphire at this time,” she said, adding that DNA experts would need to speak to that.
Whitley reiterated, “at this point, there is no evidence we have a sexual assault,” and Gaddes agreed.
Sapphire was the “only one determined to have sharp-force injuries,” Gaddes said.
Several defensive wounds were also found on her body, Gaddes said.
She said the bodies of Sapphire's mother, Rachel McGlothlin-Pee, Cummins' uncle Charles Hosale, and Cummins' parents, David and Clara Cummins, were also found throughout the home.
A headless body
Detective Lance Hampton with the Sumner County Sheriff's Office testified that he was one of the responders to the scene on Ransom Mandrell Road, where the headless body of James Fox Dunn Jr. was found outside of a burning cabin on April 17.
He testified that the cause of the cabin fire remained undetermined, and that upon first examination, it appeared Dunn’s head could have been removed by animals. The medical examiner has since ruled the cause of death as blunt force trauma.
The body, he said, had likely been there for three to four days, but the fire was recently set to the cabin and was still smoldering when he arrived on scene.
The head, which was found some 20 yards from the body, Hampton said, appeared to have been drug through the thick wooded area. There were what appeared to be rabbit holes every 4 to 5 feet, he said, and in each of those spots, investigators found hair.
Dunn’s rifle, which was reported missing by his brother, was later found inside the crime scene on Charles Brown Road, according to testimony given.
Hampton also described the crime scene at the home of Cummins’ neighbor, Shirley Fehrle.
Hampton said Fehrle was found inside the unlocked front door of her home, with “obvious trauma to the head and face.”
Probable cause
TBI investigator Andrew Graves testified that a search warrant was issued for the home of Cummins’ uncle, Brian Cummins. Duwayne Robinson, who told investigators Cummins asked him to help get the Kia out of the creek, also lives in the home, where investigators seized a pair of shoes Cummins reportedly left there before the bodies were found.
Those shoe prints appear to match the impressions left at the crime scene, Gaddes later testified.
Shoe impressions from a barn behind Fehrle's home also appear to match those found at the crime scene on Charles Brown Road, Gaddes said.
Another pair of shoes that appeared to match impressions from the scene were found behind the washer and dryer at the Charles Brown Road home.
Cummins' attorney, Paul Bruno, argued that there was not enough evidence to warrant first-degree murder charges.
“What we have is basically shoe prints,” he said.
In his closing statement, Whitley said the state can connect Cummins to all three crime scenes through the shoes, the rifle and the manner of death of all the victims — blunt force trauma to the head.
“By admission of Mr. Cummins that he had worn those shoes for a couple of weeks or so and those shoes were found in the house and the hidden shoes behind the washing machine,” he said.
The state provided testimony that Dunn’s rifle, which he purchased 39 years ago, “went from Dunn’s property into the house mangled up in the hair of Sapphire McGlothlin-Pee,” he said.
“I think the state has carried the burden on probable cause,” Judge Hunter said.
Whitley told the judge there was too much evidence to be reviewed for it to be presented to the July grand jury, so the case will go before the August grand jury. That date has not yet been set.
TIMELINE:'Horrific' discovery, manhunt and investigation of eight killed in Sumner County
Cummins sentenced on probation violation
In his first hearing of the morning, a circuit court judge sentenced Cummins to serve the remainder of a 10-year prison sentence he received after pleading guilty in a 2017 arson and assault case.
Cummins was out on probation at the time of the killings.
Judge Dee David Gay said Cummins violated probation by contacting the victim in the arson case and by failing to seek court-ordered mental health treatment.
Steve McGlothlin said he was frustrated watching Cummins rock back and forth during the preliminary hearing, noting that he sat still during his first hearing Wednesday.
“Everyone knows he did it. I doubt something was wrong with him,” he said. “He knew what he was doing.”
“I’m the last one of my immediately family left," he added.
Marsha Nuckols’ husband Virgil Nuckols said after the hearing that he was "heartbroken."
"I'm crippled and disabled, now he's taken the most important thing away from me," he said while talking about his wife, daughter and granddaughter.
Contributing: Natalie Alund and Brooklyn Dance
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a553751bcf2796f4854ad7fa836bd0b3
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/29/new-york-times-business-runs-distracted-boyfriend-meme-front-page/1275963001/
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New York Times runs 'distracted boyfriend' meme on front page of Business section
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New York Times runs 'distracted boyfriend' meme on front page of Business section
Thanks to the New York Times' Business section, the distracted boyfriend meme has made it in print.
The Business section used the meme on its Wednesday front page to explain Fiat Chrysler's possible merger with French automaker Renault.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles outlined a detailed plan Monday to merge with Renault, which responded "with interest."
If the merger is approved, Nissan — currently an ally of Renault — runs the risk of turning into a rival due to its presence in the United States — where it competes in sales with Chrysler, according to the New York Times.
The meme portrays Nissan as a jilted girlfriend, Fiat Chrysler as a new girl passing on the street and Renault as the "distracted boyfriend." (The article's online equivalent uses an image of a Renault car on the streets of Italy.)
The meme has also been labeled the "disloyal man." It has been used to make jokes about the solar eclipse, Star Wars, and, last year, was used in a controversial Swedish recruiting advertisement.
Previous notable memes in print have been accidents, such as when a prominent Mexican newspaper ran a falsified announcement about a new Pokémon game in its print edition last year. To see a newspaper of record publish one in print might bode well for fully integrating meme culture into traditional media.
Contributing: Eric D. Lawrence, Detroit Free Press
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eddffba70462bf6e88ae56498b1473a1
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/29/python-slithers-out-toilet-bites-florida-man-arm-coral-springs/1269761001/
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Florida man bitten after python slithers out of toilet
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Florida man bitten after python slithers out of toilet
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – Authorities say a ball python slithered out of a toilet and bit a South Florida man on the arm.
Coral Springs police spokesman Chris Swinson said the man was treated at the scene after the 4-foot snake bit him when he lifted the toilet seat on Sunday morning. The snake is nonvenomous.
Swinson told news outlets the snake didn't belong to the man and it was unclear how it got into the apartment.
The South Florida SunSentinel reports the Coral Springs Humane Society took the snake to a veterinarian's office. It was being treated for a scale infection.
'Virgin birth':A captive anaconda became pregnant by herself and gave birth to two babies
More:They don't look as scary as a snake or a bear, but these animals are surprisingly deadly
Over the years other creatures have found their way into toilets in South Florida, including an iguana freed by Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue in March.
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7b5e3fa6eb7c4de41f10ec50fdbf48be
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/30/hawaii-hiker-noah-mina-found-dead-days-after-rescue-another-hiker/1283830001/
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No happy ending: Missing Hawaiian hiker Noah 'Kekai' Mina found dead
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No happy ending: Missing Hawaiian hiker Noah 'Kekai' Mina found dead
Less than a week after the sensational discovery and rescue of a hiker lost in a Hawaiian forest for 17 days, the search for another missing Hawaiian hiker has ended in tragedy.
A search helicopter on Wednesday discovered the body of Noah "Kekai" Mina, 35, at the bottom of a 300-foot fall line near the summit of Mauna Kahalawai, a 1.7 million-year-old volcano on Maui, family members said. Mina was reported missing May 20 while hiking in the West Maui Forest Reserve.
Mina's body was found five days after the stunning rescue of Amanda Eller, who was spotted by a helicopter search team near a creek bed. The same helicopter company, Windward Aviation, involved in the Eller search found Mina's body.
Mina's family thanked searchers and the general public for their support.
"We brought our son, brother and friend home today, just not the way we would have wanted and prayed for," the post said. "Thank You everyone who joined into this platform, of love and support for KEKAI. Your kind and loving sentiments meant the world to us, lifting us up every day."
Mina's parents, Vincent and Irene Mina, asked that all who showed concern for the fate of their son "continue to live life to the fullest, in sharing your hearts with others you love, and hug a little longer your sons and daughters tonight and beyond!"
An autopsy was scheduled to determine how Mina died. Keahi Bustamente, with the Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife, was in the helicopter that located Mina’s body.
"We descended the fall line in the helicopter and about 300 feet down – the sun was perfectly lighting the area – and there was a second when the rotor wash blew open (brush) that was camouflaging his body," Bustamente told ABC News. "The light reflected from his skin. We were able to confirm it was Kekai.”
Eller, a physical therapist and yoga instructor, walked into Maui's Makawao Forest Reserve on May 8 and was not seen again for more than two weeks. She was airlifted to safety Friday with injuries that included a leg fracture, abrasions and sunburn.
Eller, 35, was released from a hospital Saturday. She thanked the hundreds of volunteers who conducted exhaustive searches, saying her days lost in the forest were the most difficult of her life.
"There were times of total fear and loss and wanting to give up," she said in video posted on Facebook. "It did come down to life and death."
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d294abf8c74db5719c310a4ae4f947ff
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/30/heat-wave-drought-wildfires-bake-southeast/1286350001/
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It's not wet everywhere: Record-shattering hot, dry weather sparks drought and wildfires in Southeast
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It's not wet everywhere: Record-shattering hot, dry weather sparks drought and wildfires in Southeast
Folks in the central U.S. may not believe it, but it's not wet everywhere.
While the Plains and Midwest continue to endure drenching rain and record-breaking floods, extreme heat is fueling drought conditions and wildfires in the Southeast.
In Florida, 66 wildfires were burning as of Thursday, according to the Florida Fire Service. Smoky skies were reported across the state.
And with temperatures soaring above 100 degrees in some spots, dozens of record highs have fallen amid the Southeast heat wave since it began late last week, AccuWeather said.
On Sunday, Savannah, Georgia, set an all-time record high for May as the mercury soared to 102 degrees. So far, at least nine cities have either tied or set new all-time May monthly high-temperature records in this heat wave, the Weather Channel said.
Such extreme heat so early in the season "can put residents, especially older adults and children, at risk for heat exhaustion and heatstroke," AccuWeather meteorologist Max Vido said.
To counteract the heat, the Weather Channel said to "minimize your time outdoors during the hottest times of day, typically from late morning through late afternoon. Drink plenty of liquids and wear light, loose-fitting clothing if you must be outside for longer periods of time."
In South Carolina, because of the heat and dryness, officials are strongly encouraging residents to avoid outdoor burning amid a heightened threat of wildfires.
And while farmers in the Midwest cope with flooded fields and ruined crops, farmers in Georgia are dealing with a lack of rain: Reports from Coffee County, Georgia, included hay reserves disappearing, soils drying and heat stress to crops, the U.S. Drought Monitor said.
Over 50% of the southeastern U.S. was either abnormally dry or in a drought, according to Thursday's Drought Monitor. That's compared to 4% of the High Plains, 3.9% of the Midwest and 5% of the South (from Texas to Mississippi).
The Southeast is the only part of the Lower 48 states in a drought, along with portions of Washington state and New Mexico.
"Dry and hot conditions have prevailed for the last two to four weeks, with below-normal precipitation noted in many areas for the last three months" in the Southeast, the monitor said.
The Drought Monitor noted that in Brunswick County, in southeastern North Carolina, a notice to "use water wisely" has been issued because of developing drought conditions and increased demand. The county was also considering instituting water conservation measures.
Nearby Pender County restricted water use because of an ongoing "water shortage emergency" in southeastern parts of the county caused by high demand, hot weather, and limits in their distribution system, the Drought Monitor said.
There is some good news in the forecast in the Southeast: A bit of heat relief is expected late this week into the weekend, the Weather Channel said, shaving several degrees off the searing temperatures. But, overall, temperatures should still remain hotter than average.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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9ffcd30efdee54df1f55cebde1e888ec
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/30/judge-shelley-joseph-wants-pay-indicted-helping-undocumented-immigrant-evade-ice/1290020001/
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Judge indicted for helping undocumented immigrant evade ICE wants pay during suspension
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Judge indicted for helping undocumented immigrant evade ICE wants pay during suspension
BOSTON — A sitting Massachusetts judge facing federal obstruction charges for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant evade ICE is seeking the reinstatement of her salary during her ongoing suspension from the bench.
Attorneys for District Judge Shelley Joseph on Thursday asked the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to reconsider her suspension without pay, calling it "without precedent" to impose the penalty before the court or another administrative body has determined a wrongful act.
Joseph, a state judge in Newton, outside Boston, was indicted April 25 by the Justice Department for allegedly preventing federal immigration agents last year from arresting an undocumented immigrant. A court officer, Wesley MacGregor, was also charged.
Prosecutors say that Joseph and MacGregor allowed Jose Medina-Perez, Dominican national, detained on drug and outstanding warrant charges, to leave the courthouse from a downstairs back door after the judge instructed an immigration agent to wait in the hallway outside her courtroom. Medina-Perez has been deported twice before in 2007 and 2003 and had been barred from reentering the country until 2027.
Joseph has been charged with one count of obstruction of justice, and two counts of aiding and abetting to obstruct justice, carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. MacGregor, who retired in March from his court duties, faces the same charges, plus a perjury count. Both have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The Supreme Judicial Court, which handles discipline for state judges, responded the same day as the indictment by suspending Joseph without pay, saying it was not based on opinions about the case but "solely on the fact that a sitting judge has been indicted for alleged misconduct in the performance of her judicial duties."
Joseph, who has pleaded not guilty to charges, has an annual salary of $181,328.
In a motion to reconsider filed Thursday, first reported by the Boston Globe, her attorneys Michael Keating and David Kluft ask that Joseph's suspension be with pay. They argue withholding her salary runs counter to the presumption of Joseph's innocence and undermines the court's stated position about not offering an opinion on the case.
They also said her suspended pay has presented a "financial dilemma," forcing Joseph to borrow "significant sums of money from family and friends to meet her expenses."
The motion says that Joseph has also lost the state's contributions to her health and pension benefits and as a judicial officer, she is extremely limited in the types of alternative or temporary employment she may pursue."
"She may soon be forced to choose between keeping her family home and mounting a robust defense to the criminal indictment," the motion reads.
The high-profile indictment of Joseph came amidst a standoff between President Donald Trump, who has overseen a strict enforcement of immigrant policy, and U.S. communities that have objected to providing the federal government information on residents' immigration status.
Attorneys for both defendants appeared in federal court Thursday for a procedural status conference hearing Thursday. Magistrate Judge Donald Cabell gave a two-month deadline for motions from the two sides as the case heads toward trial. The next court hearing has been set for July 25.
Joseph was not present but MacGregor sat among friends, family and other supporters from the gallery.
The U.S. Attorney in Boston prosecuting the case, Andrew Lelling, has said the case is "about the rule of law," not immigration. But an attorney for Joseph has called the indictment "absolutely political."
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11ab4dd956aca102820f98d7cf20cec7
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/30/lawsuit-calls-mississippis-governor-elections-racist/1291462001/
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Lawsuit calls Mississippi's way of choosing governors racist
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Lawsuit calls Mississippi's way of choosing governors racist
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — In 1890, as white politicians across the South cracked down on the black population with Jim Crow laws, Mississippi inserted into its constitution an unusually high bar for getting elected governor or winning any other statewide office.
The provision, which remains in force to this day, says candidates must win not only a majority of the popular vote — that is, more than 50% — but also a majority of the state’s 122 House districts.
On Thursday, more than a century later, four black Mississippians sued in federal court to put an end to what they say is a racially discriminatory system, unique in the U.S. and deliberately aimed at thwarting the election of African Americans.
“The scheme has its basis in racism — an 1890 post-Reconstruction attempt to keep African Americans out of statewide office,” said former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the first black person to hold that position. He added: “In the 21st century, it’s finally time to say that this provision should be struck down.”
What you need to know:Mississippi governor signs 'heartbeat' abortion ban into law
Holder is chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, whose affiliated foundation is providing financial and legal backing for the lawsuit.
Under the Mississippi provision, if no candidate wins the required majorities, the election is decided by the Mississippi House.
It’s not one of those dusty segregation-era provisions that have remained on the books, forgotten and unused. It was invoked in 1999, when the House chose between two white candidates who were the top vote-getters in a four-person race for governor.
“This is not a theoretical thing,” Holder said. “We have seen no statewide African American elected to office since this was enacted, in spite of the fact that Mississippi has the highest percentage of African Americans of any state in the country.”
The lawsuit asks a judge to prohibit Mississippi from using the procedure in this year’s elections. It does not suggest an alternative way, but Holder said Mississippi could simply be ordered to do what most states do — “count all the votes and the person who gets the greatest number of votes wins.”
Mississippi Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, declined to comment.
The longtime chairman of the Mississippi House Elections Committee, Republican Rep. Bill Denny, said that during his 32 years in office, there has been no serious effort to change Mississippi’s method of electing statewide officials.
“I’m comfortable with it,” Denny said of the current system.
It was put in place as white politicians sought to suppress black voting power that emerged during Reconstruction and propelled some black candidates to statewide office.
Stay safe:Mississippi River flood is longest-lasting in over 90 years, since 'Great Flood' of 1927
The lawsuit cites comments at the time by the president of Mississippi’s constitutional convention, who asserted that black control of government “meant economic and moral ruin” and that the state had an “over generous” number of black voters.
The case is part of an effort by Holder’s organization to influence the election of the politicians who will oversee congressional redistricting in Mississippi after the 2020 census. Some African American candidates are running for governor and other statewide offices this year.
The lawsuit notes that black voters are highly concentrated in some Mississippi House districts, holding a majority of the voting-age population in 42 of them. Mississippi’s white residents overwhelmingly vote Republican, while its black residents overwhelmingly cast their ballots for Democrats. About 38% of the state is black.
Because of the racially polarized and concentrated voting, a candidate preferred by white voters could win a majority of the House districts without winning the statewide vote, the lawsuit says. Yet it asserts that a candidate preferred by black voters would have to get more than 55% of the popular vote to meet the House-district requirement.
To date, no Mississippi candidate who won the most votes for a statewide office has been prevented from taking office because of the other requirements.
From the capital:Man dies after setting himself on fire near White House, police say
Marvin King, an associate professor at the University of Mississippi who focuses on African American politics, said that if the lawsuit succeeds, it is unlikely to lead to more statewide victories by Democrats or black candidates.
“The racial polarization in Mississippi is just so high,” he said.
African American candidates have faced other hurdles in Mississippi politics over the years. After Reconstruction, extremely few blacks were registered to vote until the mid-1960s because of poll taxes and deadly violence.
The lawsuit says just four states — Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi and Vermont — require a candidate for governor to win a majority of the popular vote. Arizona and Georgia have runoffs if needed, while in Vermont, the state House and Senate decide the winner.
The four plaintiffs in the lawsuit include two retired political science professors.
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d6f5b743885cfe09dc847751630e0453
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/30/louisiana-oks-strict-anti-abortion-law/1283891001/
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The move to overturn Roe v. Wade: La. latest to pass an abortion ban. Here's where other key states stand.
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The move to overturn Roe v. Wade: La. latest to pass an abortion ban. Here's where other key states stand.
In passing its strict abortion ban, Louisiana has joined the ranks of conservative states hoping to push the deeply emotional issue before the U.S. Supreme Court even as they energize abortion rights forces for a high-stakes political showdown.
In a 79-23 vote, the Louisiana House gave final passage Wednesday to a bill barring abortion once there’s a detectable fetal heartbeat, as early as the sixth week of pregnancy. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, the Deep South’s only Democratic governor, signed the bill into law Thursday, despite opposition from national party leaders who say such laws are attacks on women.
“I know there are many who feel just as strongly as I do on abortion and disagree with me – and I respect their opinions,” Edwards said in a statement after the ban was passed.
Following in the wake of Alabama, Mississippi and Ohio, the Louisiana law does not include an exception for a pregnancy caused by rape or incest.
The ban would go into effect only if neighboring Mississippi’s law is upheld by a federal appeals court. A federal judge temporarily blocked the Mississippi law last week.
Louisiana is the latest state to pass a so-called heartbeat bill that would, in effect, prohibit an abortion before women even know they are pregnant.
Most of Wednesday’s somber debate had focused on whether to add an exception for rape or incest.
“I am not man enough to tell a woman who has had her insides ripped apart and been raped," Democratic Rep. Ted James said. "I’m not man enough to tell that woman, ‘You know what? Live with it.’”
Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio have enacted similar heartbeat bills, while Missouri has adopted an eight-week ban on abortion.
While none of the bans have taken effect, they have staked out a path for challenging the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationally.
SCOTUS:Strict anti-abortion laws like Alabama's are aimed at Supreme Court, which may prove to be an obstacle
Many of the states have long been active in their anti-abortion efforts but now find the political atmosphere under the Trump administration more supportive, particularly with the addition of two conservative justices on the high court.
In response, abortion rights forces have used the new laws to rally their supporters.
Last week, thousands of abortion rights marchers turned out nationwide in protests organized by #StopTheBans aimed at what the group calls a "new wave of extreme bans on abortion."
"We will show up to speak out and fight back against this unconstitutional attempt to gut Roe and punish women," the movement says on its website. "Politicians shouldn't be making decisions best left to women, their families, and their doctors."
In this highly charged atmosphere, the Supreme Court has moved gingerly, without offering a clear signal as to its view of Roe.
This week, in an apparent compromise in a case from Indiana, high court justices turned down an appeal that asked the court to reinstate a state law banning abortions sought solely because of the sex or disability of a fetus.
However, it upheld part of the same law requiring abortion providers to bury or cremate fetal remains.
Here's a look at where key states stand on abortion:
Kentucky
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin's administration has started its appeal of a federal judge's ruling that struck down the state's abortion law that would halt a common second-trimester procedure to end pregnancies.
More:Where is abortion legal? Everywhere. But ...
U.S. District Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr. has ruled that the 2018 law would create a "substantial obstacle" to a woman's right to an abortion, violating constitutionally protected privacy rights.
Candidates:'An utter disgrace': 2020 Democrats denounce Alabama's near-total abortion ban
Alabama abortion law:25 men voted to ban abortion in the state. Do they reflect the rest of America?
Missouri
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed a bill last week that bans abortions at or beyond the eighth week of pregnancy, without exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
The measure would require that both parents be notified in order for a minor to get an abortion, with exceptions. In addition, it would include a ban on abortions based on race, sex or a "prenatal diagnosis, test or screening indicating Down Syndrome or the potential of Down Syndrome in an unborn child."
The new law threatens to force the closure of the state's lone abortion clinic, making the state the only one in the nation without a licensed abortion provider.
Law:Ending Roe v. Wade wouldn't end abortion in America. This is what happens next
The governor has defended a state investigation into the facility and urged a judge not to intervene.
Planned Parenthood has sued the state Department of Health and Senior Services, accusing it of unlawfully refusing to renew the St. Louis clinic's license, which expires Friday, over demands to interview physicians for the investigation.
Alabama
Alabama's law, passed last week, makes performing virtually all abortions a crime, a Class A felony punishable by life or 10 to 99 years in prison. The bill, signed by Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, provides no exception for rape or incest.
"It is clearer than ever that Roe is far from being settled law in the eyes and hearts of the American people, and this is increasingly reflected in state legislatures," Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion advocacy group, said in a statement after Alabama adopted the ban. "The American people want a fresh debate and a new direction, achieved by consensus and built on love for both mothers and babies. The time is coming for the Supreme Court to let that debate go forward.”
The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood have filed lawsuits challenging the law.
For abortion rights supporters, the Alabama law is ominous.
"The bill that ... is an all-out abortion ban. But make no mistake: Women across the country see what is happening, and they are going to be the deciding voters in the 2020 election," said Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood.
More:How does Alabama's abortion bill compare to Georgia's 'fetal heartbeat' law?
In April, Ohio became the third state this year to pass a "heartbeat" bill.
Georgia
Gov. Brian Kemp touched off a firestorm of protest last week after signing his state's anti-abortion "heartbeat bill." The outcry prompted Kemp to delay an annual trip to Los Angeles to promote Georgia’s burgeoning film industry.
Amid growing opposition from movie executives, producers and actors, Netflix says it is reconsidering its "entire investment" in the state. Disney CEO Bob Iger told Reuters on Wednesday that it would be "very difficult" to keep filming in Georgia if the new abortion law takes effect because many industry people will not want to work in the state.
NBCUniversal joined Netflix, Disney and WarnerMedia in a statement Ton the issue, saying they expect the bills will face serious legal challenges and won't take effect. "If any of these laws are upheld, it would strongly impact our decision-making on where we produce our content in the future,” they said in a joint statement.
Mississippi
A federal judge blocked the state's heartbeat bill last week that bans abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy and does not allow exceptions for rape or incest.
In issuing a preliminary injunction, Judge Carlton Reeves said the law "threatens immediate harm to women's rights, especially considering most women do not seek abortions services until after six weeks."
The bill was signed in March by Gov. Phil Bryant. The state's 2018 law banning abortions after 15 weeks was struck down in federal court in November. The state attorney general filed papers in April to appeal the ruling.
Meanwhile, heartbeat bills have passed one chamber of the Legislature in Tennessee and have been introduced in Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, South Carolina and West Virginia.
The bills hit at the nexus of the abortion debate and frames the act in stark, emotional terms: Proponents argue that preserving life outweighs arguments against government interference in personal, medical decisions.
The Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit group focused on sexual and reproductive health issues, finds the abortion debate ranges from seven states deemed "very hostile" to abortion rights (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, South Dakota) to one state (California) considered "very supportive."
The institute says legislation is under consideration in more than 25 states to ban abortion in a variety of ways.
These include "trigger bans" that would automatically make abortion illegal if Roe is overturned; "method bans" that would bar providers from performing a specific type of abortion; "reason bans" that would prohibit abortion based on fetal characteristics, such as sex, race or disability status; and "gestational age bans," prohibiting an abortion at a specific point in pregnancy, such as six, 18 or 20 weeks after the last menstrual period.
North Dakota
In April, North Dakota's Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed a bill outlawing a second-trimester abortion procedure known as dilation and evacuation.
The law, which includes the non-medical term “human dismemberment abortion," makes it a crime for doctors to use instruments such as clamps, scissors and forceps to remove the fetus from the womb during the second trimester.
Women getting the procedure would not be charged, but doctors performing it would face a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. An exception exists for medical emergencies.
Legal roadblocks and opportunities
Kentucky's bill has been stymied by a federal court order blocking enforcement, and the first-in-the-nation bill passed by North Dakota in 2013 was ruled unconstitutional, as was one passed last year in Iowa.
To many anti-abortion voices, legal challenges are the point.
“The heartbeat bill is the next incremental step in our strategy to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis told the Associated Press last month.
“While other states embrace radical legislation to legalize abortion on demand through the ninth month of pregnancy, Ohio has drawn a line and continues to advance protections for unborn babies."
Likewise, abortion rights backers see the courts as an avenue to create precedents to fortify their position.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the passage of the Alabama bill a "heartbreaking and unconstitutional assault on basic reproductive freedoms."
"I don’t want to be a fearmonger, but I do believe they’re trying to go on a path that will totally dismantle Roe v. Wade and we have to be vigilant and express our concerns on this,” Pelsoi, a Democrat, told reporters Thursday.
Jennifer Dalven, director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, said recently that the attempts to go after Roe have been going on for a decade, but now the opponents "are out in the open as to their goal."
Meanwhile, she says, states are also passing other laws, such as narrowly restricting clinic options for women, that are "quietly pushing abortion out of the reach for thousands of women."
Dalven also notes that the Supreme Court already has a number of abortion-related cases that it could take up immediately it if wanted to and does not have to wait for a "heartbeat" abortion challenge to work its way up the appeals track.
In a new twist in the legal wrangling, state abortion laws could face a potential obstacle: prosecutors who refuse to enforce them.
The Associated Press reached out to nearly two dozen district attorneys across seven states, and several said they would not file criminal charges against doctors who violate the laws. Even a few who left open potentially charging doctors said they would not prosecute women for having an abortion, which some legal observers say could be a possibility under Georgia’s law.
“I am never going to enforce a law that’s unconstitutional, and furthermore, especially not one that targets women and girls,” said David Cooke, chief prosecutor in Macon, Georgia, about 80 miles southeast of Atlanta.
The four district attorneys who said they would not enforce the laws at all cited the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide, saying their states’ abortion laws clearly conflict with that decision.
Divide over abortion in America
Laws against abortion are by no means a slam-dunk, even in red states. Proposed heartbeat bans failed to pass this year in Texas and fell short in Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
In addition, 13 states have introduced legislation that would establish legal protections for abortion or repeal what they view as outdated abortion laws.
In January, New York adopted the "Reproductive Health Act" that affirms the right to abortion until the fetus is viable and when the patient’s life or health is at risk.
It joins nine other states in establishing legal protections for abortion. Similar bills have passed the first legislative chamber in New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Contributing: Associated Press
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364b1a014b42ed8af96b71981bf3cd8d
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/30/maryland-man-dies-after-setting-himself-fire-near-white-house/1284509001/
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Man dies after setting himself on fire near White House, police say
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Man dies after setting himself on fire near White House, police say
A man who set himself on fire outside the White House has died, park police said Thursday.
United States Park Police identified the man as Arnav Gupta, 33, of Bethesda, Maryland, who died Wednesday of his injuries.
Police say the man reportedly lit himself on fire on the Ellipse, just south of the White House. The fire was extinguished and the man was brought to an area hospital, police said.
Earlier Wednesday, authorities in Montgomery County had issued a missing person's alert for Gupta, saying police were concerned for his "physical and emotional welfare."
Local police in Washington, D.C., will take over the investigation, park police said.
In April, a man survived after he set his jacket on fire.
Contributing: The Associated Press.
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e231f61e682759606bd04d67d1c970f2
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/30/oklahoma-flooding-absolute-mess-left-water-begins-to-recede/1290246001/
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'Absolute mess' left behind as Oklahoma flooding from Arkansas River begins to recede
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'Absolute mess' left behind as Oklahoma flooding from Arkansas River begins to recede
FISHER BOTTOMS, Oklahoma – A school of fish now lives in ghost hunter Jim Pace’s yard, flopping around in the muddy water and darting between the cinder blocks and trailer wheels.
Shad, he says, swept out of the normal channel of the Arkansas River as heavy rains swelled Keystone Lake and forced government officials to release millions of gallons of water from the Keystone Dam a few miles upstream. The waters inundated the neighborhoods below, including parts of Sand Springs, Tulsa and the unincorporated subdivision known at Town & Country, where Pace, 66, and his wife, Vicky, 67, have lived for four years.
It is the worst flooding to hit the Tulsa area since 1986, when even higher waters swamped communities. Oklahoma is not alone. Record flooding this week has created havoc in Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Arkansas from locally heavy rainfall and from swollen rivers bringing water south from the north-central U.S.
Authorities were beginning Thursday to make damage assessments and said they don't yet know the true scale of the disaster.
Muddy, stinking floodwaters swamped hundreds of homes in the area, tangling fences with debris and leaving a bathtub ring of red silt on the green grass. Pace’s single-story brick house sits on a small rise, and while floodwaters filled his barn and yard, the house remained untouched.
The floods stood nearly two feet deep Thursday afternoon inside his barn, which they had time to mostly empty as the waters rose, hauling out couches and golf clubs and boxes of paperwork.
Pace doesn't remember what day they pulled items out – everything has been running together since the waters started swirling around his feet last weekend while he was trimming weeds at the bottom of the field.
“We were damn lucky,” he says with a sigh. “I think we did alright, considering. We aren’t spring chickens so it wasn’t easy.”
Like many of the residents of this area, the Paces are retirees on a fixed income. She recently left her job at a local university; he is a retired martial arts teacher who now conducts paranormal investigations. Like many, they didn't have flood insurance and face a months-long process of cleaning and rebuilding, mucking out the stinking sludge that authorities say may contain raw sewage and dangerous bacteria.
And while the rains have temporarily stopped and the waters are beginning to recede, authorities say the sodden dirt levees protecting Sand Springs and Tulsa are at risk for collapse as the water withdraws, at least until they dry out.
"It’s just going to be an absolute mess for a while," Pace said. "We just have to suck it up. It’s going to hurt. We’ve got no flood insurance.”
Thursday afternoon found the couple working on their front yard, the one facing away from the stinking floodwaters and the flopping fish and the mud and the debris.
The power company shut off electricity to the area, and those people who remained in their homes lack hot water. Most people evacuated the area, and on Thursday disheartened residents tried to reach their homes, braving the muddy waters in pickups and bass boats. Those who could still can't get started on repairs until everything dries out.
The Paces' barn will have to be dried out and repaired, with new drywall and new carpeting laid in for Vicky's lady cave. The barn's left side is Jim's domain, ordinarily filled with tools and equipment, while the right side was built as a quiet retreat for Vicky.
They didn't evacuate as the waters rose, trusting the home's position on the hill to keep them dry. Wednesday was the worst of the flooding, they said, but the levels are dropping now, revealing the damage.
"Keeping busy keeps you from thinking about it," Vicky Pace says. "There’s nothing you can do until it’s all over.”
A few streets away, Kay and Joe Foster inspected their daughter's home, which until Thursday afternoon was flooded. Lowering levels allowed them to walk barefoot through calf-deep water to reach the single-story brick house, where green trees swayed in the gentle afternoon breeze as the temperature topped 70 degrees under finally clear skies.
Their own nearby home is still surrounded, they said: "We can't even get to it," says Kay, who was celebrating her 69th birthday Thursday.
Like many residents, the Fosters have seen their share of flooding over the years. The '86 flood filled their home with water, and now they have flood insurance.
"We're sure glad we have it, but we're sure not glad we need it," says Joe Foster, 74.
While the waters are now receding, nervous residents are already looking ahead to a predicted storm system that may drop even more rain on the area this weekend, and authorities are trying to balance water releases from the dam with the need to reduce flooding.
Reducing the amount of water flowing out of the dam reduces downstream flooding, but it means the dam will have more water behind it when the new rains arrive. As of Thursday, the lake was 32 feet above normal and the flood-control pool was 108.24% full, but more water was flowing out of the lake than entering via the Arkansas River.
"We can't breathe yet," Vicky Pace said. "Still, we looked out and we saw ground over there – such a good sign!”
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037f03eb0f7e15b95c0f35e4a548831c
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/30/tennessee-man-sentenced-urinating-kelloggs-assembly-line/1283835001/
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Tennessee man sentenced to 10 months in prison for urinating on a Kellogg's assembly line
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Tennessee man sentenced to 10 months in prison for urinating on a Kellogg's assembly line
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Tennessee man was sentenced to 10 months in prison for urinating on a Kellogg's assembly line and uploading the video to the internet in 2016, U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said.
Information was presented in court of the video that was recorded in 2014 of Gregory Stanton, 46, after he tampered with the production line at the plant.
Stanton was indicted in September on charges of tampering with consumer products with the intent to cause serious injury.
Stanton was officially sentenced to prison May 24 by a U.S. District Court judge and was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution, according to a media release.
“American citizens and consumers rely upon food manufacturers engaged in interstate commerce to provide them with safe and consistent products. Unfortunately, this defendant betrayed that trust by tampering with and tainting food products," Dunavant said in the release.
"We commend the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for their investigation in this matter, and we are pleased that the defendant has been held accountable for his criminal conduct."
Follow Phillip Jackson on Twitter: @phillej_
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7c2d85f3be20d5a9f7ad2e7a5d4f2728
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/30/viral-thread-shows-what-women-do-feel-safe-while-running-outside/1292727001/
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Knives, dogs and pepper spray: What women use to feel safe while running outside
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Knives, dogs and pepper spray: What women use to feel safe while running outside
Women around the world are sharing the things they take with them to feel safe on outdoor runs.
Amanda Deibert, a television and comic book writer, shared on Twitter that the women in one of her moms' groups kept a long list of items they carry while running. Among them: Pepper spray, alarm necklaces and whistles.
She asked her female followers what they take when they go out running, and the tweet has since attracted more than a thousand responses.
“My daughter runs with a vest and we modified it to carry a knife which she knows how to use to devastating effect,” one commenter shared.
Several cases of women being attacked while running have brought a spotlight onto the issue.
Mollie Tibbetts, 20, was abducted and killed after going out for an evening jog last summer in her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa, about 70 miles east of Des Moines. And two months ago, a man was convicted of sexually abusing and killing Karina Vetrano while she was out running near her New York City home in 2016.
Survey:One in six women say they were sexually harassed at Coachella and Stagecoach 2019
Deibert told Good Morning America the reaction to her tweet made her think about the lengths she and other women go to in order to stay safe.
"When I was reading the thread that all just kind of hit me, that is something we all do, all the time, without thinking about it," she told the outlet. "It speaks to how universal it is, that every woman does have an answer to this question."
Opinion:Don't blame immigration for Mollie Tibbetts' death, blame misogyny
'More than likely' a random attack:Avid jogger stabbed to death in Washington's Logan Circle neighborhood
Forty-three percent of female runners said they sometimes, often or always experienced harassment while running according to a 2016 survey from Runner’s World, compared to just 4 percent of men.
Street harassment can not only negatively affect women emotionally but can escalate into physical harassment and violence, according to Stop Street Harassment, a nonprofit organization dedicated to documenting and ending gender-based street harassment worldwide.
Follow N'dea Yancey-Bragg on Twitter: @NdeaYanceyBragg
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b9aae6594992991d06ddea9cc7289bbd
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/30/we-build-the-wall-gofundme-sunland-park-new-mexico-completed-soon/1292467001/
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GoFundMe border wall construction back in motion after New Mexico city lifts cease-and-desist
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GoFundMe border wall construction back in motion after New Mexico city lifts cease-and-desist
Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of the story misstated the location of Sunland Park. It is in New Mexico.
EL PASO, Texas – A non-profit group touted the progress on a privately funded border wall Thursday, two days after a New Mexico mayor said the barrier was being built illegally.
The We Build the Wall group held a press conference Thursday to officially unveil the “first ever privately built border wall on US-Mexico border."
On Tuesday, Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea claimed that the wall was built illegally after the property owners did not obtain the necessary permits to erect the fencing.
Sunland Park city officials sent the property owners and the group a cease and desist letter to halt the construction. Construction stopped Tuesday, but quickly began again Thursday after the group got the go-ahead from the city.
“We actually applied for permits last week and we were told we were set and ready to go,” We Build the Wall general counsel Kris Kobach said.
He added, “A statement from someone (from the city on Tuesday) when the stop work order was issued that they thought the project was not in compliance with the city's ordinances, that statement was incorrect. The city now agrees with us that there is no violation of any ordinance.”
Perea, however, maintains that American Eagle Brick Co., which owns the property where the wall is being constructed, was out of compliance by not having building permits at the time of construction.
“If they had done their due diligence ahead of time it would have given the staff enough time to address the concerns in an appropriate manner,” Perea said. “We will continue to ensure that they are meeting all city ordinances for the time being.”
GoFundMe border wall:City issues cease and desist order
More'Why wouldn't we allow it?':Land owner plans privately funded border wall built
He added the company may still be fined for initial non-compliance.
The stop work order was lifted by Sunland Park city officials at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Kobach said, and construction resumed Thursday morning.
The wall, which is about a half-mile long, is now expected to be completed within the next two days, Kobach said.
The barrier is being built near Monument One, an official marker at the spot where New Mexico, Texas and the Mexican state of Chihuahua converge.
The wall is more than 20 feet tall and goes up a 300-foot incline over mountainous terrain. It also extends 7 feet into the ground.
The group built the wall, which is costing between $6 million to $8 million, with funds raised through a GoFundMe campaign which has raised more than $23 million as of Thursday.
The group was started by Brian Kolfage, a U.S. Air Force veteran, and is led by several prominent Republicans, including former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and and former White House strategist Steve Bannon.
“This is a project by the American people who believe in border security and that there is a crisis down here,” Kolfage said.
Go in depth:The Wall's untold stories, unintended consequences
Follow Aaron Martinez on Twitter: @AMartinez31
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