· 6 years ago · Jul 10, 2019, 03:58 PM
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4 <title>Chicago Tribune</title>
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9 <title>North Carolina company mislabeled meat as Atlantic blue crab</title>
10 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:35:47 +0000</pubDate>
11 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-us--mislabeled-seafood-20190710-story.html</link>
12 <description>
13 <![CDATA[A North Carolina seafood company has been charged with selling almost 200,000 pounds of foreign crab meat falsely labeled domestic Atlantic blue crab for $4]]>
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16 <![CDATA[<p>A North Carolina seafood company has been charged with selling almost 200,000 pounds of foreign crab meat falsely labeled domestic Atlantic blue crab for $4 million.</p><p>Charges filed last month by the U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of North Carolina say Capt. Neill's Seafood of Columbia repackaged and mislabeled crab from Asia and South America as a "Product of the USA."</p><p>The charging documents accuse the company of selling the mislabeled crab meat from 2012 through 2015.</p><p>The Virginian-Pilot reports that a company statement acknowledged that a "small portion" of its crab meat didn't have a sticker accurately listing its country of origin. But the company said the meat was still high quality and safe to eat, and it says they've only sold correctly labeled domestic crab since then.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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21 <title>3 juveniles in custody after house fire kills boy, 11</title>
22 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:35:34 +0000</pubDate>
23 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-pa--fire-child-killed-20190710-story.html</link>
24 <description>
25 <![CDATA[Authorities say three juveniles have been taken into custody following an early morning fire that killed an 11-year-old boy in northeastern Pennsylvania.]]>
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28 <![CDATA[<p>Authorities say three juveniles have been taken into custody following an early morning fire that killed an 11-year-old boy in northeastern Pennsylvania.</p><p>Police say firefighters were dispatched to a two-story Pittston home shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday and carried out 11-year-old Aiden Middlemiss.</p><p>He was rushed by ambulance to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, where Luzerne County Coroner Dan Hughes pronounced him dead.</p><p>Firefighters said five other people escaped, three of them by jumping from second-floor windows.</p><p>Investigators, including a state police fire marshal, focused on the porch under the boy's bedroom, where a neighbor's surveillance camera caught a flash and then a fireball.</p><p>No information was immediately available about the juveniles taken into custody or what charges they might face.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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33 <title>Pittsburgh Zoo mourns death of 10-year-old African lion</title>
34 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:35:21 +0000</pubDate>
35 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-pa--zoo-lion-death-20190710-story.html</link>
36 <description>
37 <![CDATA[The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium says its 10-year-old African lion has died.]]>
38 </description>
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40 <![CDATA[<p>The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium says its 10-year-old African lion has died.</p><p>Razi's death was announced Wednesday.</p><p>Officials say the lion had suffered for years from seizures. He had a grand mal seizure on Sunday and fell in his exhibit, breaking his jaw.</p><p>Veterinary and zoo staff determined that it wasn't in Razi's best interest to attempt the difficult surgery he would need.</p><p>Razi was first diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy after experiencing a seizure in the spring of 2013, a year after he arrived at the zoo with his brother, Ajani, who is still at the facility.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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45 <title>Sudan activists say internet restored after crackdown</title>
46 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:34:57 +0000</pubDate>
47 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-bc-ml--sudan-20190710-story.html</link>
48 <description>
49 <![CDATA[Sudanese activists said Wednesday the ruling generals restored internet service in the country, following a weekslong blackout imposed during a deadly]]>
50 </description>
51 <content:encoded>
52 <![CDATA[<p>Sudanese activists said Wednesday the ruling generals restored internet service in the country, following a weekslong blackout imposed during a deadly crackdown early last month.
53<br/><br/> The long-waited move came a week after the military council and the pro-democracy movement reached a power-sharing deal, ending a three-month standoff since the military removed autocratic President
54
55 Omar al-Bashir
56 from power amid nationwide demonstrations against his rule.
57<br/><br/> A group of legal experts has been finalizing the wording of the deal to be signed by both sides in the coming days.
58<br/><br/> The military council had blocked internet service after security forces razed a protest camp in the capital of Khartoum on June 3, killing over 128 people in an ensuing three-week crackdown, according to protest organizers. Authorities offered a lower death toll of 61, including three security forces.
59<br/><br/> The Forces for Declaration of Freedom and Change, which represents the protesters, has repeatedly called for internet service restoration. This demand was one of the trust-building measures set by protesters to resume talks with the generals after the violent dispersal of the sit-in.
60<br/><br/> A telecommunications affiliate of the Sudanese Professional's Association, which has been spearheading the protests, said that users across the country have been back online. It demanded telecommunication companies compensate users.
61<br/><br/> People in Sudan have begun posting footage of alleged abuses by security forces against protesters during the break-up.
62<br/><br/> "The one thing we wanted to see is the videos. .... We saw the horrific scenes, and I closed down the internet and couldn't open it again," said Malaz Hassan, student.
63<br/><br/> Amal al-Zein, an activist, said internet service came back on gradually after a Khartoum court on Tuesday ordered telecommunication companies in Sudan to restore service.
64<br/><br/> Lawyer Abdel-Azim Hassan sued last month to restore internet service. A court ordered authorities to restore service for Hassan, who then filed another lawsuit demanding internet service be restored for all Sudanese.
65<br/><br/> "The reason behind blocking internet service was to hide facts, information and evidence related to crimes" committed by security forces in the crackdown, he said.
66<br/><br/> U.N. human rights experts on Monday denounced measures taken by the authorities to shut down the Internet in Sudan, saying it stifles free expression and association.
67<br/><br/> "In the past few weeks, we have continued to receive reports on Internet blocking of social media platforms by the Transitional Military Council," the experts said in a statement.
68<br/><br/> Late on Tuesday, the NetBlocks observatory said data showed significant restoration of internet service in Sudan, both mobile and fixed-line connections via multiple providers.
69<br/><br/> It said real-time measurements show no social media or messaging app restrictions via the leading providers that have come online. Current traffic data, however, showed levels remain significantly below June 3 levels, suggesting many users remained offline, NetBlocks added.
70<br/><br/> The group said internet disruption may cost Sudan's economy upwards of $1 billion.
71<br/><br/> _____
72<br/><br/> Magdy reported from Cairo.
73<br/><br/> Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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78 <title>Portugal's Socialists eye re-election on economic record</title>
79 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:34:54 +0000</pubDate>
80 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-bc-eu--portugal-state-of-the-nation-20190710-story.html</link>
81 <description>
82 <![CDATA[Portugal's Socialist prime minister is vowing to address the challenges of a low national birth rate, the increasing cost of health care and climate change as]]>
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85 <![CDATA[<p>Portugal's Socialist prime minister is vowing to address the challenges of a low national birth rate, the increasing cost of health care and climate change as he bids for a second straight term in the country's Oct. 6 general election.</p><p>Prime Minister Antonio Costa used his annual State of the Nation speech in parliament Wednesday to laud his government's record of economic growth, with the budget deficit of 0.5% the lowest in more than 40 years.</p><p>Portugal needed a 78 billion-euro ($88 billion) bailout in 2011, after recording a deficit above 11%, and plunged into a three-year recession.</p><p>Costa's center-left Socialist Party, ruling as a minority government for the past four years, holds a comfortable lead in polls.</p><p>Critics say public services are starved for cash under the Socialists.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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90 <title>Florida deputy accused of planting drugs in traffic stops</title>
91 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:34:37 +0000</pubDate>
92 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-us--deputy-planted-drugs-20190710-story.html</link>
93 <description>
94 <![CDATA[A former sheriff's deputy in the Florida Panhandle has been arrested on charges that he routinely pulled over drivers for minor traffic infractions, planted]]>
95 </description>
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97 <![CDATA[<p>A former sheriff's deputy in the Florida Panhandle has been arrested on charges that he routinely pulled over drivers for minor traffic infractions, planted drugs and then arrested them on made-up drug charges.</p><p>A Florida Department of Law Enforcement statement says former Jackson County deputy Zachary Wester was arrested Wednesday in Crawford, Florida.</p><p>Wester is facing felony charges of racketeering, official misconduct, fabricating evidence, possession of a controlled substance and false imprisonment. He also faces misdemeanor charges of perjury, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.</p><p>The FDLE began investigating Wester last August at the request of the sheriff's office. The Tallahassee Democrat reports he was later fired. Prosecutors had to drop charges in nearly 120 cases.</p><p>Online court records showed no attorney listed for Wester.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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102 <title>China's largesse in Tonga threatens future of Pacific nation</title>
103 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:34:06 +0000</pubDate>
104 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/travel/sns-bc-as--tonga-chinas-reach-abridged-20190710-story.html</link>
105 <description>
106 <![CDATA[The days unfold at a leisurely pace in Tonga, a South Pacific archipelago with no traffic lights or fast-food chains, and where snuffling pigs roam dusty roads.]]>
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109 <![CDATA[<p>The days unfold at a leisurely pace in Tonga, a South Pacific archipelago with no traffic lights or fast-food chains, and where snuffling pigs roam dusty roads.</p><p>Yet even in this far-flung island kingdom, there are signs a battle for power and influence is heating up among much larger nations — and Tonga may end up paying the price.</p><p>Government officials work in a shiny new office block that was an $11 million gift from China. Dozens of bureaucrats take all-expenses-paid training trips to Beijing each year. And China has laid out millions of dollars to bring Tongan athletes and coaches to a training camp in China's Sichuan province.</p><p>"The best facilities. The gym, the track, and a lot of equipment we don't have here in Tonga," said Tevita Fauonuku, the country's head athletic coach. "The accommodation: lovely, beautiful. And the meals. Not only that, but China gave each and everyone some money. A per diem."</p><p>China also offered low-interest loans after pro-democracy rioters destroyed much of downtown Nuku'alofa in 2006, and analysts say those loans could prove Tonga's undoing. The country of 106,000 people owes about $108 million to China's Export-Import bank, equivalent to about 25 percent of GDP.</p><p>Teisina Fuko, a 69-year-old former parliament member, suspects China finds his country's location useful.</p><p>"I think Tonga is maybe a window to the Western side," he said. "Because it's easy to get here and look into New Zealand, Australia."</p><p>"It's a steppingstone."</p><p>For decades, the South Pacific was considered the somewhat sleepy, backyard of Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Now, as China exerts increasing influence, Western allies are responding.</p><p>After Cyclone Gita destroyed Tonga's historic Parliament House last year, the government first suggested China might like to pay to rebuild it. Then Australia and New Zealand stepped in and are now considering jointly funding the project.</p><p>Experts say the South Pacific could be important to China's navy or coveted for its fisheries, seabed minerals and natural resources. China is also engaged in an ongoing effort to lure away the few remaining countries that recognize Taiwan instead of China — several of them Pacific island nations.</p><p>"It's not entirely clear what China wants in the South Pacific," said professor Rory Medcalf, the head of the National Security College at Australian National University. "It's just clear that China is becoming very active and making its presence felt."</p><p>China has poured about $1.5 billion in aid and low-interest loans into the South Pacific since 2011, putting it behind only Australia, according to an analysis by Australian think-tank the Lowy Institute. And that figure rises to over $6 billion when future commitments are considered.</p><p>Some worry the loans could become debt traps when nations can't repay.</p><p>China's ambassador to Tonga, Wang Baodong, said China has only benevolent intentions in Tonga and no hidden agenda. "Some people in the West are being over-sensitive and too suspicious," he said. "No need."</p><p>It's not just money that is flowing in from China. Chinese immigrants began arriving in the 1990s when Tonga started selling passports.</p><p>The idea was to attract wealthy Hong Kong residents hedging their bets ahead of the former British colony's return to China in 1997. Instead, they were snapped up by rural Chinese looking for a better life.</p><p>In a country with few jobs, Tongans worry that Chinese immigrants are now running most of the corner groceries and are expanding their business interests into farming and construction.</p><p>Wang acknowledges the criticism that Chinese immigrants run many businesses but said Tonga's leaders recognize the contribution they make and have even called on Tongans to learn from their hard-work ethic.</p><p>The real threat to Tonga's future may lie in its crippling loans from China. Repayments were due to start last year, and panic crept in.</p><p>Last August, Prime Minister 'Akilisi Pohiva called on other Pacific nations to join forces to demand debt relief, warning that China could snatch away buildings and other assets. But he reversed his position days later, saying Tonga was "exceedingly grateful" for China's help.</p><p>Within months Tonga announced it had been given a reprieve and didn't need to start repayments for another five years.</p><p>Tonga also said it was joining China's Belt and Road Initiative, the trillion-dollar investment-and-lending program that is a signature policy of President Xi Jinping.</p><p>Tongan officials don't seem eager to discuss the relationship with China, saying all questions about China's loans and aid should be directed to Chinese officials.</p><p>Wang said there was no link between Tonga getting a break on its loans and joining the Belt and Road Initiative. He said Tonga had raised concerns about the loan, and China was willing to help.</p><p>Fuko thinks the loans have given China the upper hand with Tonga.</p><p>"I don't know how we are going to pay that back," the former lawmaker said.</p><p>An unintended consequence of Tonga's China loans could be a reduction in foreign investment and a withering of the revenues needed to pay them back.</p><p>Critics point to the Foreign Exchange Control Act Tonga introduced last year, designed to keep money in the country and protect its currency during financial emergencies.</p><p>Tongan-based lawyer Ralph Stephenson said that while the law isn't being enforced, it's still spooking investors.</p><p>"The penalties for breaching the act are Draconian," he said.</p><p>Wang said any notion that China might be engaged in a Pacific power struggle with the West or was using Tonga to keep tabs or even spy on New Zealand and Australia is nonsense.</p><p>"Tonga is a small country. It's almost impossible to hide any secret," Wang said. "For some of our Western friends, personally, I think they should be confident in their relations and influence in this region."</p><p>For Ola Koloi, who runs a tourist lodge, China's footprint is too pervasive, influencing what she can buy since so many goods for sale come from China.</p><p>She said the loans to China should worry every Tongan.</p><p>"I feel like I'll be Chinese soon," she said.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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114 <title>Spanish judge rules 43-year-old man is son of Julio Iglesias</title>
115 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:32:11 +0000</pubDate>
116 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/entertainment/news/sns-bc-eu--spain-julio-iglesias-paternity-20190710-story.html</link>
117 <description>
118 <![CDATA[A Spanish judge has ruled that there is sufficient evidence to determine that a 43-year-old Spanish man is the biological son of Julio Iglesias, despite the]]>
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121 <![CDATA[<p>A Spanish judge has ruled that there is sufficient evidence to determine that a 43-year-old Spanish man is the biological son of Julio Iglesias, despite the singer's refusal to submit to genetic testing.</p><p>The judge said Wednesday that the famous crooner's refusal to have a DNA test, along with other evidence, is enough to rule in favor of the paternity suit brought by Javier Sánchez. The judge's ruling says "there existed contacts and a relationship between the mother of (Sánchez and Iglesias) near the date of conception."</p><p>Sánchez says that his mother, María Edite, gave birth to him in 1975 exactly nine months after meeting Iglesias at a party.</p><p>Iglesias' lawyers say they will appeal the decision.</p><p>Any possible financial compensation for Sánchez would be determined at a separate trial.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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126 <title>Acosta to take questions on his handling of Epstein case</title>
127 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:31:09 +0000</pubDate>
128 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-us--financier-labor-secretary-20190710-story.html</link>
129 <description>
130 <![CDATA[Labor Secretary Alex Acosta plans to make a statement Wednesday regarding his handling of a sex trafficking case involving now-jailed billionaire financier]]>
131 </description>
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133 <![CDATA[<p>Labor Secretary Alex Acosta plans to make a statement Wednesday regarding his handling of a sex trafficking case involving now-jailed billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein.</p><p>The Labor Department said Acosta will "make a statement and answer questions" from reporters at 2:30 p.m.</p><p>Acosta, a former federal prosecutor in south Florida, is under fire for his role in a secret 2008 plea deal that let Epstein avoid federal prosecution after allegations he molested teenage girls.</p><p>Epstein pleaded not guilty on Monday to new child sex-trafficking charges and could face up to 45 years in prison if convicted.</p><p>President Donald Trump has praised Acosta's work in his Cabinet and said he feels "very badly" for him, but said he'll be looking "very closely" at the matter.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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138 <title>Feds: Stolen info used to buy construction materials</title>
139 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:07:05 +0000</pubDate>
140 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-ri--identity-theft-scheme-20190710-story.html</link>
141 <description>
142 <![CDATA[Federal prosecutors have charged several Rhode Island men with using stolen identities and credit card information to buy construction materials and tools at]]>
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145 <![CDATA[<p>Federal prosecutors have charged several Rhode Island men with using stolen identities and credit card information to buy construction materials and tools at home improvement stores.</p><p>The U.S. Attorney's office in Providence says the scheme involved items that were ordered online, by telephone or in person at the stores in Rhode island and Massachusetts In each case, investigators say, the stolen payment information was provided by phone to unwitting store cashiers during pick-up.</p><p>Prosecutors say tens of thousands of dollars in construction materials were fraudulently taken from the stores between last September and January.</p><p>Four defendants face charges including aggravated identity theft.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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150 <title>Smoke from western Canadian wildfires reach New England</title>
151 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:06:43 +0000</pubDate>
152 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-nne--new-england-haze-20190710-story.html</link>
153 <description>
154 <![CDATA[Sunny skies across New England are being dimmed by haze caused by smoke from fires burning out of control in western Canada.]]>
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157 <![CDATA[<p>Sunny skies across New England are being dimmed by haze caused by smoke from fires burning out of control in western Canada.
158<br/><br/> The fires are on the other side of the continent but the
159
160 National Weather Service
161 says strong winds in the upper atmosphere are bringing the smoke to Maine.
162<br/><br/> Meteorologist James Brown, in Gray, Maine, said Wednesday the smoke is far aloft so there are no air quality problems in the region.
163<br/><br/> The wildfires have burned thousands of acres of land in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
164<br/><br/> Brown said the smoke will be around New England until later in the week, when the winds shift, pushing the smoke to the north.
165<br/><br/> Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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170 <title>Accuser says Jeffrey Epstein raped her when she was 15</title>
171 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:06:25 +0000</pubDate>
172 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-us--sexual-misconduct-epstein-20190710-story.html</link>
173 <description>
174 <![CDATA[One of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers says he raped her at his New York home when she was 15.]]>
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177 <![CDATA[<p>One of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers says he raped her at his New York home when she was 15.</p><p>Jennifer Araoz (Uh-ROHS') said Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show she hasn't spoken to authorities about her allegations against the wealthy financier because she feared retribution.</p><p>Like other victims, Araoz says she was told to undress and give Epstein massages that often led to groping and sex acts. She says he "forcefully raped" her when she was 15 despite her pleas asking him to stop.</p><p>Messages were left with Epstein's defense attorneys seeking comment about Araoz's claims.</p><p>Epstein has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges. His lawyers said in court that the allegations in the indictment couldn't amount to statutory rape because there was no penetration.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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182 <title>Woman's horseback protests against pipeline is almost done</title>
183 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:06:12 +0000</pubDate>
184 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-nc--pipeline-protest-20190710-story.html</link>
185 <description>
186 <![CDATA[A Virginia woman protesting the Atlantic Coast Pipeline by riding her horse along the route is nearing the end of her journey.]]>
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189 <![CDATA[<p>A Virginia woman protesting the Atlantic Coast Pipeline by riding her horse along the route is nearing the end of her journey.</p><p>The Fayetteville Observer reports Sarah Murphy arrived this week in Cumberland County and expects to finish in the next week or so at the pipeline's end near Pembroke.</p><p>The 36-year-old Murphy has been riding two horses and traveling on foot since she left her home near Charlottesville, Virginia, in September.</p><p>The 600-mile, $7 billion natural gas pipeline is to run from the mountains of West Virginia to eastern Virginia and to Robeson County in North Carolina. Construction began last year but has been delayed by federal litigation.</p><p>The pipeline is a project of Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and Southern Company Gas.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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194 <title>2 workers injured by metal beam in UNC construction accident</title>
195 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:05:58 +0000</pubDate>
196 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-nc--construction-accident-20190710-story.html</link>
197 <description>
198 <![CDATA[University officials say two contractors were injured when a metal beam fell on them in a construction accident on the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill]]>
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201 <![CDATA[<p>University officials say two contractors were injured when a metal beam fell on them in a construction accident on the
202
203 University of North Carolina
204 Chapel Hill campus.
205<br/><br/> Chapel Hill Fire Department officials said emergency crews rescued the two injured workers after the fortifying beam fell, and brought them to UNC Hospitals. The Herald-Sun reports they were both conscious at the time.
206<br/><br/> Fire Chief Matthew Sullivan described the accident as a trench collapse. The workers were reportedly repairing a utility steam vault in front of a campus academic building.
207<br/><br/> It's unclear what the two workers' conditions are.
208<br/><br/> Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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213 <title>Some teachers to do double duty in Indiana driving buses</title>
214 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:05:41 +0000</pubDate>
215 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-in--school-bus-driver-shortage-20190710-story.html</link>
216 <description>
217 <![CDATA[A suburban Indianapolis school district is signing up teachers to drive school buses before and after their usual time in the classroom.]]>
218 </description>
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220 <![CDATA[<p>A suburban Indianapolis school district is signing up teachers to drive school buses before and after their usual time in the classroom.</p><p>Roger McMichael, associate superintendent for Carmel Clay Schools, says the district has struggled for years to find drivers. He says that driving buses can be more convenient than other second jobs available to teachers. And he says a teacher's ability to manage a classroom can help on a bus.</p><p>The Indianapolis Star reports Mike Bostic was the first teacher to take the district up on the offer. He's gone through an extensive licensing process, including weeks of training.</p><p>The newspaper says five more teachers are now going through the training.</p><p>The Indiana district's plans come as school districts throughout the U.S. struggle to find school bus drivers.</p><p>___</p><p>Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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223 <item>
224 <guid isPermaLink="true">GOPGYWSZORG5JESG6JKTW6O77U</guid>
225 <title>Exterior work on taking down Brown County arena begins</title>
226 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:05:21 +0000</pubDate>
227 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-wi--arena-demolished-20190710-story.html</link>
228 <description>
229 <![CDATA[Demolition of the Brown County arena has moved to the exterior of the 61-year-old building.]]>
230 </description>
231 <content:encoded>
232 <![CDATA[<p>Demolition of the Brown County arena has moved to the exterior of the 61-year-old building.
233<br/><br/> Deconstruction crews have stripped the aluminum sheathing from the facade of Veterans Memorial Arena, located near
234
235 Lambeau Field
236. Miron Construction project manager says Kurt Wolfgram in the next week or so, crews will use a giant, hydraulic snipping device to cut through the dozens of vertical support beams holding up the dome.
237<br/><br/><br/><br/> WLUK-TV says the arena and neighboring Shopko Hall will be replaced by a $93 million expo hall in 2021.
238<br/><br/> Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach says it's sad to see the arena go, but says he's looking toward the future and what business the new expo hall will attract.
239<br/><br/> ___
240<br/><br/> Information from: WLUK-TV,
241<a href="http://www.fox11online.com">http://www.fox11online.com</a><br/><br/> Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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245 <guid isPermaLink="true">CA4LDTAJTFETFHXDTAZLRBU224</guid>
246 <title>West Virginia working to bring back bobwhite quail</title>
247 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:05:07 +0000</pubDate>
248 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-tn--bobwhite-quail-20190710-story.html</link>
249 <description>
250 <![CDATA[West Virginia wildlife officials are hoping to bring back the bobwhite quail.]]>
251 </description>
252 <content:encoded>
253 <![CDATA[<p>West Virginia wildlife officials are hoping to bring back the bobwhite quail.</p><p>The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports , the birds disappeared from the state in the late 1970s thanks to a combination of habitat destruction and two very harsh winters.</p><p>Now wildlife officials say they are a good candidate for reintroduction at the Tomblin Wildlife Management Area. That's a 32,000 acre tract of former surface-mined land in Logan and Mingo counties acquired by the state Division of Natural Resources in 2015.</p><p>The agency reintroduced elk to the area in 2016. Now they are working to make a suitable habitat for quail.</p><p>The earliest the birds could arrive would be next spring. Even then, they will be kept off limits to hunters until a self-sustaining population is established.</p><p>___</p><p>Information from: The Charleston Gazette-Mail, http://wvgazettemail.com.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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257 <guid isPermaLink="true">X2R4KGL7BBFLNF3C5U7XFFEKNY</guid>
258 <title>Supreme Court dismisses ethics case against former DA</title>
259 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:04:53 +0000</pubDate>
260 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-wi--prosecutor-charges-20190710-story.html</link>
261 <description>
262 <![CDATA[The state Supreme Court has dismissed allegations of ethics violations against former Kenosha County District Attorney Robert Zapf.]]>
263 </description>
264 <content:encoded>
265 <![CDATA[<p>The state Supreme Court has dismissed allegations of ethics violations against former Kenosha County District Attorney Robert Zapf.</p><p>The Office of Lawyer Regulation accused Zapf of professional misconduct in December 2016 for failing to fully disclose information that a Kenosha police officer had planted a suspect's ID card and a bullet in a 2014 homicide investigation.</p><p>Zapf didn't seek re-election in the fall 2016 but the OLR recommended the Supreme Court suspend his law license for a year.</p><p>The Supreme Court dismissed the allegations Wednesday. The court found the ID and the bullet bore no relevance to the suspect's involvement and other officers didn't tell Zapf that the officer planted evidence in the sense that he was trying to frame the suspect, only that he had made a mistake.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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270 <title>Bulgaria's government to buy 8 new F-16s from US</title>
271 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:04:48 +0000</pubDate>
272 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/business/nationworld/sns-bc-eu--bulgaria-us-fighter-jets-20190710-story.html</link>
273 <description>
274 <![CDATA[Bulgaria's government has decided to buy eight new F-16 fighters in a bid to replace its aging Soviet-built jets and bring its air force in line with NATO]]>
275 </description>
276 <content:encoded>
277 <![CDATA[<p>Bulgaria's government has decided to buy eight new F-16 fighters in a bid to replace its aging Soviet-built jets and bring its air force in line with NATO standards.</p><p>The government gave the go-head Wednesday for the defense minister to sign the contract for the purchase of eight multi-role F-16 Block 70 fighter aircraft.</p><p>Deputy defense minister Atanas Zapryanov told reporters that the $1.25 billion deal includes the aircraft, ammunition, equipment and pilot training, and that there is an option for the U.S. Congress to contribute $60 million. He said that six single-seat and two two-seat F-16s would be delivered by 2023.</p><p>The decision still needs parliamentary approval, but it is expected to get that easily given that the ruling coalition has a majority.</p><p>Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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282 <title>Chicago man gets 15-year sentence for choking ex-girlfriend</title>
283 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:04:24 +0000</pubDate>
284 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-il--choking-attack-sentence-20190710-story.html</link>
285 <description>
286 <![CDATA[A judge has given a Chicago man a 15-year prison term for choking his ex-girlfriend in her Naperville home in 2018 when he was on parole for murder.]]>
287 </description>
288 <content:encoded>
289 <![CDATA[<p>A judge has given a Chicago man a 15-year prison term for choking his ex-girlfriend in her Naperville home in 2018 when he was on parole for murder.</p><p>The (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald reports DuPage County judge Brian Telander sentenced 48-year-old Michael Spivey Tuesday, calling it an "extremely violent attack." The judge convicted Spivey of two counts of aggravated domestic battery during an April bench trial.</p><p>Prosecutors say Spivey went to the woman's home when she wouldn't answer his phone calls. They say he started choking her after she let him in when he threatened to damage her car. The woman's son says he found her gasping for air as Spivey fled.</p><p>Spivey served 20 years of a 45-year sentence for a 1993 first-degree murder conviction in Cook County.</p><p>___</p><p>Information from: Daily Herald, http://www.dailyherald.com</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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293 <guid isPermaLink="true">RZOTRMDHAFD57CATORRTGGTSC4</guid>
294 <title>Berlin opening new addition to its Museum Island complex</title>
295 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:04:11 +0000</pubDate>
296 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/travel/sns-bc-eu--germany-museum-island-20190710-story.html</link>
297 <description>
298 <![CDATA[Berlin is opening a new addition to its Museum Island complex, a stylish entrance building described by officials as a milestone in a long-term effort to]]>
299 </description>
300 <content:encoded>
301 <![CDATA[<p>Berlin is opening a new addition to its Museum Island complex, a stylish entrance building described by officials as a milestone in a long-term effort to renovate the neoclassical ensemble that is home to treasures such as Babylon's Ishtar Gate and a famous bust of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti.</p><p>Designed by British architect David Chipperfield, the James Simon Gallery was presented to reporters Wednesday and opens to the public Saturday. Built on a narrow riverside site with a colonnade stretching along the bank, it provides an imposing entrance to the five-museum UNESCO world heritage site.</p><p>The building includes exhibition space but is meant largely to make the museums more user-friendly, providing facilities such as a cafe, shop and auditorium that are lacking in buildings such as the Pergamon Museum and Neues Museum.</p><p>The new 134 million-euro ($150 million) building is a key part of a "master plan" drawn up 20 years ago to renovate the Museum Island, which was built between 1830 and 1930.</p><p>Parts of it were badly damaged during World War II, and cash-strapped communist East Germany never fully restored it. Work on three museums has now been completed — including the Neues Museum, home to Nefertiti, which was half-ruined before being restored by Chipperfield. Renovation is underway at the Pergamon Museum, home to the Ishtar Gate and the Pergamon Altar, the latter currently closed to visitors.</p><p>"Even if we still have a long road before us to complete the Museum Island, the opening of this building is still a historic moment" as it is the only new addition, said Hermann Parzinger, the head of the foundation that oversees Berlin's public museums.</p><p>The building is named after Jewish collector and benefactor James Simon, who died in 1932 and donated some 10,000 objects to Berlin museums over the years, including the Nefertiti bust.</p><p>Officials said the museums wouldn't be what they are without Simon, and Parzinger said the name is also a tribute to "the many other, mostly Jewish, patrons of the late kaiser era and the Weimar era who did an infinite amount for culture in (...) Germany, in Berlin."</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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305 <guid isPermaLink="true">L6Q5ZSYJVVER7LHOKLBM42UVKA</guid>
306 <title>Lawyer who took on DuPont has book coming out</title>
307 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:01:33 +0000</pubDate>
308 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-us-books-poisoned-water-20190710-story.html</link>
309 <description>
310 <![CDATA[A top environmental lawyer, the inspiration for a film starring Mark Ruffalo, has a book coming about his 20-year battle with DuPont. Rob Bilott's "Exposure"]]>
311 </description>
312 <content:encoded>
313 <![CDATA[<p>A top environmental lawyer, the inspiration for a film starring Mark Ruffalo, has a book coming about his 20-year battle with DuPont. Rob Bilott's "Exposure" is scheduled for release in October.
314<br/><br/> Bilott had been representing corporations when he was contacted in 1998 by a West Virginia farmer who believed his creek was contaminated by runoff from a DuPont landfill. Bilott eventually filed a class action suit on behalf of thousands of people, a case ending in 2017 when DuPont and Chemours Co. agreed to pay more than $600 million. In a statement Wednesday issued through publisher Atria Books, Bilott said he hoped "Exposure" would inspire activists and raise awareness of chemicals in drinking water.
315<br/><br/>
316
317 Todd Haynes
318 is directing the film adaptation, which does not yet have a release date.
319<br/><br/> Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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322 <item>
323 <guid isPermaLink="true">VOFI7LG46RHBLP2GBBXCH6CFSU</guid>
324 <title>Matis Test TPP5-90 MSN 1</title>
325 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:59:10 +0000</pubDate>
326 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/about/matis-test-tpp5-90-msn-1-20190710-vofi7lg46rhblp2gbbxch6cfsu-story.html</link>
327 <description>
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329 </description>
330 <content:encoded>
331 <![CDATA[<p>Add Gallery</p><div class="slideshow"><cite><cite></cite></cite><title>test ryan 2</title><figure><img alt="A light dusting of powdered sugar tops this decadent Bundt cake." height="1365" src="https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/Sb3OfDePKeQIgtl3G4DmUDgBU8w=/arc-anglerfish-arc2-sandbox-staging-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/TOCFLUMRYZFPVGSJ6P7IBN24PA.jpg" width="2048"/><figcaption>A light dusting of powdered sugar tops this decadent Bundt cake.</figcaption></figure><figure><img alt="In this July 31, 2017 photo, Scranton Mayor Bill Courtright speaks to the media at Scranton City Hall in Scranton, Pa. following a grant presentation ceremony. Mayor Bill Courtright wrote City Council members to say he was stepping down Monday, July 1, 2019, a day before he's scheduled to appear in federal court in what prosecutors said is a corruption investigation. (Christopher Dolan/The Times-Tribune via AP)" height="1365" src="https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/zd7zmZbJbYrroMvkoVRMC9xiJEM=/arc-anglerfish-arc2-sandbox-staging-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/PMPMD7VX2JANLMQY7OCWPLI46Y.jpg" width="2048"/><figcaption>In this July 31, 2017 photo, Scranton Mayor Bill Courtright speaks to the media at Scranton City Hall in Scranton, Pa. following a grant presentation ceremony. Mayor Bill Courtright wrote City Council members to say he was stepping down Monday, July 1, 2019, a day before he's scheduled to appear in federal court in what prosecutors said is a corruption investigation. (Christopher Dolan/The Times-Tribune via AP)</figcaption></figure><figure><img alt="Colombia's Radamel Falcao Garcia falls to the ground during a Copa America quarterfinal soccer match against Chile at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday, June 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)" height="1287" src="https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/1ZL9qzXh_FFNMtTq2oH2Bst9oq0=/arc-anglerfish-arc2-sandbox-staging-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/GXIESPK5OVBA5P7QHVSEJTSZY4.jpg" width="2048"/><figcaption>Colombia's Radamel Falcao Garcia falls to the ground during a Copa America quarterfinal soccer match against Chile at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday, June 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)</figcaption></figure><figure><img alt="Christopher Bell drives to the track during the final NASCAR Xfinity Series auto race practice at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., Friday, June 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)" height="1520" src="https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/zOGzBuVgW85DbfR78gwuDRHhLqc=/arc-anglerfish-arc2-sandbox-staging-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/N2NRW6CKBJDMPLVJ3MC3QH6XO4.jpg" width="2048"/><figcaption>Christopher Bell drives to the track during the final NASCAR Xfinity Series auto race practice at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., Friday, June 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)</figcaption></figure><figure><img alt="Chile's Charles Aranguiz holds a ball during a Copa America quarterfinal soccer match against Colombia at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday, June 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)" height="1365" src="https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/lLWEZWzncaReQw1eAbFwa56RCx8=/arc-anglerfish-arc2-sandbox-staging-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/DFA6V2LWLRDTDOLQULZIEENITU.jpg" width="2048"/><figcaption>Chile's Charles Aranguiz holds a ball during a Copa America quarterfinal soccer match against Colombia at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday, June 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)</figcaption></figure><figure><img alt="People pose for a picture in front of the Stonewall Inn as they arrive to attend the Stonewall 50 Pride Rally, Friday, June 28, 2019, in New York. Thousands of people have converged on New York City's Stonewall Inn for the 50th anniversary of the rebellion that catalyzed a movement for LGBTQ liberation. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)" height="1365" src="https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/RrBNDK24GzD0xh_3FlEgO-CrDNE=/arc-anglerfish-arc2-sandbox-staging-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/DVZDONBBQNHMXCAE2NCQJRVLHA.jpg" width="2048"/><figcaption>People pose for a picture in front of the Stonewall Inn as they arrive to attend the Stonewall 50 Pride Rally, Friday, June 28, 2019, in New York. Thousands of people have converged on New York City's Stonewall Inn for the 50th anniversary of the rebellion that catalyzed a movement for LGBTQ liberation. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)</figcaption></figure></div>]]>
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335 <guid isPermaLink="true">TBHW3YTIL5A65MGLR2EL2PIVPQ</guid>
336 <title>North Carolina pastor accused of sex acts with 13-year-old</title>
337 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:36:02 +0000</pubDate>
338 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-nc--pastor-sex-offense-20190710-story.html</link>
339 <description>
340 <![CDATA[A pastor at a North Carolina church is accused of engaging in sexual acts with an underage girl.]]>
341 </description>
342 <content:encoded>
343 <![CDATA[<p>A pastor at a North Carolina church is accused of engaging in sexual acts with an underage girl.</p><p>Johnston County Sheriff's officers charged 61-year-old Stephen Arthur Morris on Friday with statutory rape/sex offense and indecent liberties with a child.</p><p>Sheriff's spokesman Capt. Jeff Caldwell says Morris is accused of committing crimes against a 13-year-old from 2013 to 2014.</p><p>News outlets report Morris has led the Oliver's Grove Baptist Church in Four Oaks. His bail was set at $2.5 million ahead of a July 25 hearing.</p><p>It is unclear whether he has an attorney who can comment on his behalf.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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347 <guid isPermaLink="true">LQT2R6RFRBDGLF3NJXFH5RTBEQ</guid>
348 <title>City mourns death of civil rights leader at age 99</title>
349 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:35:35 +0000</pubDate>
350 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-oh--obit-marian-spencer-20190710-story.html</link>
351 <description>
352 <![CDATA[An Ohio city is mourning the passing of a longtime champion for civil rights.]]>
353 </description>
354 <content:encoded>
355 <![CDATA[<p>An Ohio city is mourning the passing of a longtime champion for civil rights.</p><p>A family friend says Marian Spencer has died at age 99. She had been in hospice care. Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, who is also publisher of The Cincinnati Herald, says Spencer died Tuesday evening.</p><p>The granddaughter of a former slave, the Gallipolis-born woman led a 1950s battle to desegregate the swimming pools at the Coney Island amusement park east of Cincinnati. In 1983, she became the first black woman elected to Cincinnati's city council. She also was the first female president of the Cincinnati NAACP chapter and served on the University of Cincinnati board of trustees.</p><p>Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley ordered city flags flown at half-staff and said Wednesday: "Our city is better for her life."</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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359 <guid isPermaLink="true">XZP2GOSUWJDRDDAKCKA4FCENXI</guid>
360 <title>State to direct money returned from GE sale to housing</title>
361 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:35:21 +0000</pubDate>
362 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-ma--ge-sale-housing-20190710-story.html</link>
363 <description>
364 <![CDATA[Massachusetts plans to use $86 million it received through the sale of General Electric's Boston headquarters to fund an affordable housing program.]]>
365 </description>
366 <content:encoded>
367 <![CDATA[<p>Massachusetts plans to use $86 million it received through the sale of General Electric's Boston headquarters to fund an affordable housing program.</p><p>Gov. Charlie Baker's administration announced Tuesday that $60 million will go toward hundreds of new homes for first-time homebuyers with moderate incomes. The remaining funds will be directed toward the creation of 260 new rental units.</p><p>GE announced in February that it was downsizing its world headquarters in Boston and would return money that Massachusetts spent as part of an incentives package to lure the company from Connecticut in 2016. The company decided to sell a waterfront parcel it had originally eyed for a 12-story office building.</p><p>Baker also continues to seek passage of legislation he says will address a statewide shortage of affordable housing.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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371 <guid isPermaLink="true">JXCVQQNNBBESTC5RQO5S56DOYM</guid>
372 <title>Evers: Foxconn will hire 1,500 workers</title>
373 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:35:08 +0000</pubDate>
374 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-wi--foxconn-wisconsin-20190710-story.html</link>
375 <description>
376 <![CDATA[Gov. Tony Evers says he believes Foxconn Technology Group will hire 1,500 people by the time production begins next spring at its new display panel plant in]]>
377 </description>
378 <content:encoded>
379 <![CDATA[<p>Gov. Tony Evers says he believes Foxconn Technology Group will hire 1,500 people by the time production begins next spring at its new display panel plant in southeastern Wisconsin.</p><p>Evers told CNBC during a June 27 interview posted online Tuesday that he believes the plant will have about 1,500 employees in place when production begins in May.</p><p>The company needs to hire 1,820 workers by the end of 2020 to qualify for job-creation incentive payments.</p><p>The state has promised to make more than $4 billion available in state and local tax credits if Foxconn spends about $9 billion and hires 13,000 people.</p><p>The company failed to meet job targets last year and has downsized the type of factory it plans to build, raising questions about its commitment.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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384 <title>Maryland teachers union led spending on lobbying</title>
385 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:34:47 +0000</pubDate>
386 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-md--lobbying-disclosure-maryland-20190710-story.html</link>
387 <description>
388 <![CDATA[The Maryland State Education Association spent the most money on lobbying in the state capital during the latest filing period.]]>
389 </description>
390 <content:encoded>
391 <![CDATA[<p>The Maryland State Education Association spent the most money on lobbying in the state capital during the latest filing period.</p><p>Reports covering Nov. 1 through April 30 were recently made public by the State Ethics Commission. The period includes the state's annual 90-day legislative session, which ran from Jan. 9 to April 8.</p><p>MSEA spent about $784,000 on lobbying at a time when the state's largest union was pushing for major new investments in state schools spending.</p><p>Baltimore Gas and Electric spent the second highest, about $606,000. Johns Hopkins Institutions, which successfully pushed for the ability to create its own police force, spent about $531,000.</p><p>Lobbyist Gerry Evans made the most money among lobbyists during the period, more than $2.4 million. Bruce Bereano was second, with more than $1.9 million.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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396 <title>2 playground fires under investigation in Rockford</title>
397 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:34:34 +0000</pubDate>
398 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-il--rockford-playground-fires-20190710-story.html</link>
399 <description>
400 <![CDATA[Fire officials in Rockford are investigating blazes at two playgrounds that destroyed more than $300,000 of new equipment.]]>
401 </description>
402 <content:encoded>
403 <![CDATA[<p>Fire officials in Rockford are investigating blazes at two playgrounds that destroyed more than $300,000 of new equipment.</p><p>The Rockford Register Star reports Rockford Fire Department officials believe both fires were set intentionally. The first fire was June 18 at West View Elementary School, destroying about $153,000 of new playground equipment. The second fire was set at about 7 p.m. Monday at McIntosh Elementary School, destroying $157,000 worth of equipment.</p><p>Rockford school district officials say they're working to increase security at playgrounds, including adding and upgrading cameras. District officials say they're hoping to replace both playgrounds before school starts.</p><p>School Board President Ken Scrivano says the board is "saddened and disturbed" by the fires. He says they find it "hard to believe that someone would want to intentionally destroy a playground for children."</p><p>___</p><p>Information from: Rockford Register Star, http://www.rrstar.com</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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408 <title>Train carrying construction equipment derails</title>
409 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:34:20 +0000</pubDate>
410 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-ct--train-derails-20190710-story.html</link>
411 <description>
412 <![CDATA[A train carrying construction equipment and scrap metal has derailed in central Connecticut.]]>
413 </description>
414 <content:encoded>
415 <![CDATA[<p>A train carrying construction equipment and scrap metal has derailed in central Connecticut.</p><p>Police in Bristol say at least six cars on the freight train came off the tracks near Riverside Avenue and Mellen Street at about 6 a.m. Wednesday.</p><p>There were no reports of injuries and police say no hazardous materials were involved.</p><p>Police Lieutenant Geoffrey Lund says most of the rail cars involved had open tops and fell on their left side, dumping at least a portion of their contents.</p><p>He says it's not clear how long it might take to clear the tracks.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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419 <guid isPermaLink="true">RC4XIFHXJNBFVMAUQKVS4ZPZEA</guid>
420 <title>Felony misconduct charges dropped against Chicago officer</title>
421 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:34:06 +0000</pubDate>
422 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-il--chicago-police-misconduct-20190710-story.html</link>
423 <description>
424 <![CDATA[Prosecutors have dropped felony charges against a Chicago police officer who was accused of striking a handcuffed patient in a hospital room in 2014.]]>
425 </description>
426 <content:encoded>
427 <![CDATA[<p>Prosecutors have dropped felony charges against a Chicago police officer who was accused of striking a handcuffed patient in a hospital room in 2014.</p><p>The Chicago Tribune reports Wednesday that a judge during a June hearing dropped the official misconduct charges against veteran officer Clauzell Gause after the Cook County state's attorney's office said the victim wouldn't come to court. Assistant State's Attorney Kenneth Goff said in court that prosecutors "cannot proceed and meet our burden without the testimony."</p><p>Hospital surveillance footage showed Gause punching and shoving the 24-year-old victim, who had punched Gause. Gause and another officer were transporting the man for a mental health evaluation. Prosecutors said when charges were filed in 2016 that the man was restrained and handcuffed, after which Gause allegedly pushed him and punched him several times.</p><p>___</p><p>Information from: Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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431 <guid isPermaLink="true">P6OSU45FZ5FCTIH2XBJDWH5B2M</guid>
432 <title>Oops! All-Star scoreboard has rough night in Cleveland</title>
433 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:32:56 +0000</pubDate>
434 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/sports/sns-bc-bbo--all-star-game-scoreboard-errors-20190710-story.html</link>
435 <description>
436 <![CDATA[The only errors on the scoreboard at the All-Star Game were by the scoreboard.]]>
437 </description>
438 <content:encoded>
439 <![CDATA[<p>The only errors on the scoreboard at the
440
441 All-Star Game
442 were by the scoreboard.
443<br/><br/> At least one player noticed — and wasn't too pleased.
444<br/><br/> The giant board at
445
446 Progressive Field
447 was filled with mistakes Tuesday night, including a couple of misspelled names, a wrong picture and a pair of incorrect team logos.
448<br/><br/> "They had what, two weeks to get ready for this? That can't happen,"
449
450 New York Mets
451 sparkplug Jeff McNeil said.
452<br/><br/> McNeil is leading the majors with a .349 batting average, an impressive feat seeing how he made his major league debut less than a year ago.
453<br/><br/> A late sub, he came up for the
454
455 National League
456 in the eighth inning and noticed the headshot on the scoreboard wasn't of him. Instead, it was of Mets teammate Jacob deGrom.
457<br/><br/> "That was tough, to see deGrom's picture up there," McNeil said. "I didn't really like that."
458<br/><br/> "I wanted to see my picture up there. I know my family did, too. What are you going to do, I guess, but I don't think that should happen," he said.
459<br/><br/>
460
461 David Dahl
462 didn't fare any better. The Colorado outfielder batted right before McNeil and was listed on the scoreboard as "Davis Dahl."
463<br/><br/> Same for Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras. A starter, his first name was missing a letter and spelled "Wilson."
464<br/><br/> Big-hitting Cody Bellinger plays for the
465
466 Los Angeles Dodgers
467 and Ketel Marte is with the
468
469 Arizona Diamondbacks
470, but when the starting lineups were shown, they both appeared with the logo of the
471
472 Atlanta Braves
473.
474<br/><br/> The
475
476 American League
477 won 4-3 and neither team was charged with an error.
478<br/><br/> "I don't think there was a lot of mistakes on either side," said NL manager Dave Roberts of the Dodgers.
479<br/><br/> Not on the field, anyway.
480<br/><br/> "When I saw deGrom's face, I was confused. I know there were a couple of others, too," McNeil said.
481<br/><br/> "That gives me motivation to make it next year," he said. "Maybe next time, they'll get my picture right."
482<br/><br/> ___
483<br/><br/> More AP
484
485 MLB
486: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
487<br/><br/> Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
488 </content:encoded>
489</item>
490<item>
491 <guid isPermaLink="true">5CCQDBJAOBD4LMEO3HTVHCQE7M</guid>
492 <title>Valentina Cortese, Italian screen diva, dead at 96</title>
493 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:31:54 +0000</pubDate>
494 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/entertainment/news/sns-bc-eu--italy-obit-cortese-20190710-story.html</link>
495 <description>
496 <![CDATA[Valentina Cortese, one of Italy's post-war screen divas who was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar, has died. She was 96.]]>
497 </description>
498 <content:encoded>
499 <![CDATA[<p>Valentina Cortese, one of Italy's post-war screen divas who was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar, has died. She was 96.</p><p>Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala announced the death Wednesday of the Milan-born actress in a tweet.</p><p>Cortese was a popular muse for leading Italian directors including Michelangelo Antonioni and Franco Zeffirelli.</p><p>She garnered an Oscar nomination in 1975 playing a fading diva in Francois Truffaut's "Day for Night," a movie about making movies.</p><p>She was also an acclaimed stage actress. Her performances at Milan's Piccolo Theater included roles in works by Brecht, Goldoni and Pirandello, directed by Giorgio Strehler. The theater will hold a wake for her on Thursday and Friday.</p><p>The theater in a statement mourned the loss of a "splendid, elegant, iconic" actress.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
500 </content:encoded>
501</item>
502<item>
503 <guid isPermaLink="true">6MASNFVONBEE7CZQSYBQKQ4CLY</guid>
504 <title>Editorials from around New York</title>
505 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:05:21 +0000</pubDate>
506 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-ny--exchange-editorial-roundup-20190710-story.html</link>
507 <description>
508 <![CDATA[Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from New York's newspapers:]]>
509 </description>
510 <content:encoded>
511 <![CDATA[<p>Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from New York's newspapers:
512<br/><br/> The Wall Street Journal on Greece's election
513<br/><br/> July 7
514<br/><br/> When hundreds of thousands marched through the broiling streets of Hong Kong in recent weeks, they posed a serious challenge for the Chinese government. But when some of them stormed the Legislative Council and ransacked the chamber on Monday, they put their movement's fragile gains at risk.
515<br/><br/> What first set off the latest wave of mass
516
517 protests
518 was a proposed law that would have allowed extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China. On the surface a legal formality, it was perceived by a large majority of Hong Kongers as yet another surreptitious attempt by the government in Beijing to erode the enclave's rule of law and autonomy, guaranteed under the "one country, two systems" formula. The protests, by residents of all ages and walks of life, were a powerful and inspiring declaration that people raised in freedom will not easily surrender it.
519<br/><br/> For China's hard-line leader, Xi Jinping, the reaction was a humiliating rejection of his basic premise that Western liberties and independent judiciaries are incompatible with the "people's republic." Yet so long as the protests were big but peaceful, he seemed content to have his captive media grumble about "Western" incitement and otherwise inform the mainland public as little as possible about what was going on in Hong Kong. The Beijing-backed leader of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, was left to retreat, issuing public apologies and then indefinitely suspending consideration of the contentious legislation.
520<br/><br/> All that changed on Monday, the day Hong Kong's Beijing-endorsed officials were to make their annual demonstration of fealty to China at ceremonies marking the anniversary of the handover of sovereignty from Britain to China. A small group of masked protesters broke away from a peaceful march and attacked the legislature, smashing down glass doors, destroying official portraits and spray-painting slogans in the formal chamber. It will be weeks before the legislators can meet there again.
521<br/><br/> Those masked protesters may well be convinced that peaceful action results only in tactical retreats by a system determined to bring Hong Kong more firmly under the heel of China's central government. When they stormed the legislature, Ms. Lam had only suspended consideration of the contentious extradition law, and the angry protesters recalled that a 79-day occupation of major thoroughfares in 2014 to demand freer elections, the so-called Umbrella Movement, achieved nothing durable. Among the spray-painted messages in the legislature was one to Ms. Lam: "You taught me peaceful protests are futile."
522<br/><br/> Yet they should be asking themselves whether violent protests can possibly be a better answer. The mass demonstrations in Hong Kong's narrow streets, like the Umbrella Movement before them, had confronted China's Communists, and China's people, with the powerful message that people reared in freedom — normal people, not radicals or rebels — do not buy the notion that the rule of law or freedom of speech are affectations of a decadent West that would be harmful in the East.
523<br/><br/> Further, the sight of Ms. Lam publicly apologizing and finally shelving the extradition law was a demonstration of the moral power of the people, even if the greater struggle with the mainland was certain to continue.
524<br/><br/> The ransacked Legislative Council, by contrast, gave the authorities an excuse to crack down on all their detractors. China's government assailed the vandalism as "totally intolerable" and demanded strong countermeasures from Hong Kong authorities.
525<br/><br/> No doubt the authorities are aware that a crackdown would carry a heavy price in global opinion and potentially drive away the many multinational businesses headquartered there. The protesters, for their part, stand not only to provoke a crackdown but also to forfeit the support of most Hong Kong demonstrators. Both sides need to consider whether violence is the best way forward. It rarely is.
526<br/><br/> Online: https://on.wsj.com/2xxV38X
527<br/><br/> ___
528<br/><br/> The New York Daily News on the closing of Rikers Island
529<br/><br/> If a cherished criminal-justice-reform dream of New York progressives — closing down the arcane and often inhumane jail complex on Rikers Island — collapses, they will have to blame not tough-on-crime prosecutors or judges or Republicans, but some of their own closest political allies.
530<br/><br/> It is the arrogant missteps and utopian idealism of a handful of left-wing New Yorkers that now poses a clear and present threat to a project many of these very same New Yorkers insist is a moral imperative.
531<br/><br/> In the former category, we put Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson's rushed decision last August to put one of five modern, new borough jails — actually, four, after Staten Island was stupidly ruled out — in a residential neighborhood in Mott Haven, on a site long intended for affordable housing, rather than on another available site far closer to the Bronx County courthouse.
532<br/><br/> At the time, given that local pols seemed lined up in favor, the Mott Haven site looked like the path of least resistance. But then members of the community, worried about guarding hard-won progress against crime and wise to how the proposed location failed pols' own tests, revolted.
533<br/><br/> Thursday, Bronx Borough President
534
535 Ruben Diaz
536 Jr. added his voice to the opposition.
537<br/><br/> If that winds up sinking the plan, it's on de Blasio and Johnson for picking the wrong site and shutting the public out of the process.
538<br/><br/> A second progressive threat arises in Queens, where Tiffany Cabán, embroiled in a recount, still could end up the next Queens district attorney. Should she succeed, her uberprogressive promise of "no new jails" would likely embolden those looking to block a modern new facility in Kew Gardens.
539<br/><br/> If Queens and the Bronx are back to square one, or off the table, you can kiss closing Rikers within 10 years goodbye.
540<br/><br/> Online: https://bit.ly/2JuCwQv
541<br/><br/> ___
542<br/><br/> Syracuse Post-Standard on the U.S. Women's National Soccer team reaching equitable pay
543<br/><br/> July 7
544<br/><br/> The Women's World Cup ends today. The defending champion Americans will face the Netherlands in the final. Whatever the result on the pitch, the U.S. women's national soccer team successfully kicked the legs out from under their federation's argument against equal pay with the men's national team.
545<br/><br/> In March, the U.S. women filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against U.S. Soccer, alleging they are paid 38 cents to the dollar earned by their male counterparts. (The teams have different pay structures, which accounts for some of the difference.) The highest paid men's player makes $200,000 more than the highest-paid women's player. Even the head coach earns less. Women's coach Jill Ellis earned $318,000 last year; fired men's coach Jurgen Klinsmann made $3.35 million.
546<br/><br/> It's not a performance issue. The women's team has run rings around the men's team. Since 1996, the U.S. women have won three World Cups, four Olympic gold medals and consistently ranks No. 1 in the world. The men's team did not even qualify for the 2018 World Cup and hasn't won an Olympic medal since Theodore Roosevelt was president. The men earned $5.375 million in bonuses for losing in the quarterfinal of the 2014 World Cup; the women earned $1.725 million for winning the World Cup in 2015.
547<br/><br/> It's not a revenue issue. In 2017, U.S. Soccer reported the women's team brought in $17 million -- $5 million more than it spent on the team. The men's team ran a $1 million deficit. The women's team brought in $50.8 million in ticket revenue from 2016-2018, while the men brought in $49.9 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.
548<br/><br/> It's not an audience issue, either. TV ratings and live streaming records are being smashed. By the time today's match concludes, a billion people worldwide will have tuned in to watch the Women's World Cup, according to FIFA, soccer's global governing body. Fox Sports recorded a peak of 8.24 million viewers watching last Friday's quarterfinal match between the U.S. squad and host France.
549<br/><br/> So what's the issue? Fairness and respect. Women and men should be paid the same for equal work. Women's sports are not a pale imitation of men's sports. They have value on their own - and so do the women who play them.
550<br/><br/> The excellence of the U.S. women's team has set the standard for other nations, lifting the women's game around the globe. Despite their stunning success, they've had to fight and scrape for better pay, better training, better playing fields and more professional opportunities. Their lawsuit for equal pay keeps the line moving.
551<br/><br/> Their play and their activism are inspiring. Inspiration doesn't pay the bills.
552<br/><br/> Game over, U.S. Soccer. The women have already won. Now pay them what they're worth.
553<br/><br/> Online: https://bit.ly/2LHCE1v
554<br/><br/> ___
555<br/><br/> The Post Star on New York representatives in supporting use of intelligence in confrontations with Iran
556<br/><br/> July 7
557<br/><br/> Republican members of
558
559 Congress
560 like Elise Stefanik face many dilemmas in dealing with and reacting to President Trump. For Stefanik, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, one of those dilemmas has been trying to support Trump and, at the same time, support the country's intelligence services.
561<br/><br/> Her solution seems to be to point out how excellent the intelligence services are when their conclusions support Trump's behavior and to ignore them when they contradict Trump.
562<br/><br/> But this becomes a difficult balancing act, as so many things do when dealing with a mercurial president. Constituents witnessed this tricky balance recently when Stefanik, while defending Trump's right to take military action against Iran, praised the intelligence he was receiving.
563<br/><br/> "The president had a unique vantage point in terms of advice from military leadership, in terms of intelligence that is incredibly precise that congressional leaders do not have. I support the president's decision," Stefanik said.
564<br/><br/> Her statement was precipitated by Trump's decision to launch, then abort, a missile strike on Iran. We're glad that, as a well-informed member of the Intelligence Committee, Stefanik believes the president is receiving "incredibly precise" intelligence.
565<br/><br/> Back at the end of January, however, the director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, put out the "Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community," which includes conclusions that contradict Trump at every turn.
566<br/><br/> "We continue to assess that Iran is not currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons-development activities we judge necessary to produce a nuclear device," that report says.
567<br/><br/> The report says Iran has been abiding by the nuclear deal worked out by the Obama administration with an international coalition, including China, the
568
569 European Union
570, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom. It also says Iran's leaders were threatening to break the terms of the deal unless they could realize the economic benefits it promised.
571<br/><br/> The reason Iran wasn't realizing those benefits in January and still isn't is because Trump pulled out of the Iran deal.
572<br/><br/> Trump has attacked his own intelligence services for many things, including for saying the Iran nuclear deal was working. Since pulling out, he has tightened sanctions on Iran, engaging in a back and forth that brought him to the brink of bombing the country. That context makes it difficult for people like Stefanik, who try to justify Trump's aggression based on intelligence reports.
573<br/><br/> When a president repeatedly undermines the credibility of his intelligence services, it's hard for a congresswoman to then say with a straight face that he is doing the right thing, based on "intelligence that is incredibly precise."
574<br/><br/> All of this matter because presidents use intelligence for making consequential decisions, like launching air strikes on other countries. The intelligence must, therefore, be unbiased. We never want to repeat our experience with the invasion of Iraq, when the country realized, too late, that the decision to invade was based on bogus intelligence.
575<br/><br/> We also need to get back to the constitutional requirement that military action be a joint decision of the president and Congress.
576<br/><br/> Presidents Bush, Obama and Trump have justified various military actions with the use of force authorization passed by Congress shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. That authorizations starts with the following:
577<br/><br/> "The president is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons .. "
578<br/><br/> You can tie that 18-year-old authorization to our continued military presence in Afghanistan, but it does not cover starting a war with Iran, and Stefanik knows it. We need her to stand up for Congress, the Constitution and the intelligence services against warmongering. We've got more chaos than we can handle right now on the home front. The country will be shattered if we get pulled into another war.
579<br/><br/> Online: https://bit.ly/2JpMuE1
580<br/><br/> ___
581<br/><br/> Niagara Gazette on New York State police use of body cams
582<br/><br/> July 7
583<br/><br/> The death of Troy Hodge, who died after an interaction with Lockport police officers last month, highlights a larger issue facing communities across the nation, including Niagara County.
584<br/><br/> While the officers involved in the Hodge case work for a department that previously purchased body cameras, initial reports indicate that, in one instance, an officer's camera fell off and, in another instance, the officer did not have their camera activated.
585<br/><br/> Family members have suggested a Taser used by an officer at the scene contributed to Hodge's death on June 17. Questions also remain about whether Hodge was, as police allege, wielding a knife on the night in question.
586<br/><br/> The New York State Attorney General is currently attempting to sort out all the details.
587<br/><br/> Having body camera footage from all of the officers involved would most certainly help in drawing accurate conclusions over the course of the probe.
588<br/><br/> Larger question still looms where uniformity is concerned.
589<br/><br/> Why does it seem that so often, whether incidents of this nature occur here in Western New York or in other parts of the country, there are no solid standards regarding the use of body cameras by law enforcement officers?
590<br/><br/> Lockport Police Chief Steve Preisch recently noted that officers in his department are required to use body cameras only during traffic stops. The rest of the time, he said, cameras are activated solely at the discretion of individual officers.
591<br/><br/> As Preisch also demonstrated for members of the city's police board last week, the department's current set of cameras, while deemed adequate at the time they were purchased, are not as reliable as they probably should be.
592<br/><br/> Preisch is urging city officials to purchase a new set of cameras and, in light of recent events, it seems like a wise and necessary investment.
593<br/><br/> In the wake of Hodge's death, Preisch has also prepared a draft body camera policy for officers that would mandate their use of body cameras at all times.
594<br/><br/> This is a no-brainer, something all departments across Niagara County should consider if they don't have such policies in place already.
595<br/><br/> Taxpayers have already picked up the tab for body cameras in Lockport.
596<br/><br/> Many, especially in light of the Hodge incident, are probably wondering how one officer's camera managed to fall off during the encounter and why another officer's camera wasn't turned on.
597<br/><br/> Having a uniform set of standards erases a lot of doubt for all parties involved.
598<br/><br/> Officials in the city of Lockport should find a way to heed the chief's call and purchase a new set of body cameras so officers have operational equipment that serves their interest and the public interest.
599<br/><br/> The city won't realize the full return on such an investment unless, as Preisch is recommending, there's a policy in place for officers to use those cameras whenever they are on the job.
600<br/><br/> Online: https://bit.ly/2S5cJlv
601<br/><br/> ___
602<br/><br/> Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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606 <guid isPermaLink="true">5N4TJRYGZNCJNC637WJ3SFDJU4</guid>
607 <title>West Virginia county reports 144 overdoses in a 6 month span</title>
608 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:05:06 +0000</pubDate>
609 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-wv--overdoses-west-virginia-20190710-story.html</link>
610 <description>
611 <![CDATA[Social workers are providing a deep look into opioid addiction in a West Virginia county, where they say some addicts relapse as many as seven times before]]>
612 </description>
613 <content:encoded>
614 <![CDATA[<p>Social workers are providing a deep look into opioid addiction in a West Virginia county, where they say some addicts relapse as many as seven times before getting clean.</p><p>The Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports that Mercer County had 144 overdoses including four deaths through June of this year.</p><p>The Southern Highlands Community Mental Health Center presented its report on the situation to the county commission on Tuesday. Southern Highlands CEO Lisa Jones says only 44% of the overdoses involved illicit drugs, while 56% involved prescription opioid medications.</p><p>She says programs like hers and others are working with the county follow up with people who overdose to guide them into treatment.</p><p>West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources says about 7,000 people died from overdoses between 2001 and 2015.</p><p>___</p><p>Information from: Bluefield Daily Telegraph, http://www.bdtonline.com</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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618 <guid isPermaLink="true">LYMAVGTBQJFAZFN3DFCRJZYHOE</guid>
619 <title>Murder trial begins for Baltimore man accused of slaying ex</title>
620 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:04:17 +0000</pubDate>
621 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-md--slain-girlfriend-20190710-story.html</link>
622 <description>
623 <![CDATA[Prosecutors say a Baltimore murder defendant bound, beat and stabbed his former prom date, leaving her body to be discovered in a high school's bleachers.]]>
624 </description>
625 <content:encoded>
626 <![CDATA[<p>Prosecutors say a Baltimore murder defendant bound, beat and stabbed his former prom date, leaving her body to be discovered in a high school's bleachers.</p><p>The Baltimore Sun reports prosecutors presented evidence Tuesday they say proves Christopher Rather killed his ex-girlfriend Jasmine Pierce-Morris last June.</p><p>Rather's defense attorney says he's innocent. He says investigators mishandled evidence and set out to blame the boyfriend.</p><p>But prosecutors accused Rather of killing Pierce-Morris because she was seeing someone new. They revealed her last text message to a friend, saying she was meeting Rather at the football field. It said: "I think this goin be our last conversation. ... ain't that good news?!?"</p><p>She was found bound by ropes with beating, stabbing and strangulation wounds.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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630 <guid isPermaLink="true">BKBBMUF56ZGBTCXVXR56MQK4MQ</guid>
631 <title>Thousands of endangered animals seized in customs operation</title>
632 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:02:33 +0000</pubDate>
633 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-bc-eu--france-wildlife-smuggling-20190710-story.html</link>
634 <description>
635 <![CDATA[Police and customs officials have carried out the most widespread anti-wildlife-trafficking operation ever in a joint global operation that's led to the]]>
636 </description>
637 <content:encoded>
638 <![CDATA[<p>Police and customs officials have carried out the most widespread anti-wildlife-trafficking operation ever in a joint global operation that's led to the seizure of tens of thousands of endangered animals and the arrest of nearly 600 suspects.</p><p>The World Customs Organization and Interpol said Wednesday that across 109 countries, in June, they conducted nearly 2,000 seizures in a historic operation that helped local authorities round up nearly 10,000 live turtles and tortoises, nearly 1,500 live reptiles, 23 live apes, 30 live big cats, hundreds of pieces of elephant tusk, half a ton of ivory and five rhino horns.</p><p>"Wildlife crime not only strips our environment of its resources, it also has an impact through the associated violence, money laundering and fraud," Interpol Secretary General Juergen Stock said.</p><p>Interpol released searing images from the global trafficking haul: Thousands of protected tortoises crawling over each other in a dark container in Kazakhstan; an inquisitive-looking white tiger cub concealed in a pick-up in Mexico; and elephant tusks lined up symmetrically on the ground in Kenya.</p><p>Operation Thunderball, which operated out of Interpol's Singapore innovation complex, led to the arrest of 582 suspects, it said.</p><p>Among the discoveries was a ray of hope that some trafficking is slowing: The WCO said it noted slight declines in the seizures of certain species, "a sign that continued enforcement efforts are bearing fruit."</p><p>Conservations groups globally have applauded the anti-trafficking push.</p><p>"This massive disruption of criminal networks is key to saving endangered wildlife across the globe," the Wildlife Conservation Society said in a statement.</p><p>It warned, however, that seizures and arrests are only a first step, and that "governments now must follow up with strong, meaningful prosecutions."</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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642 <guid isPermaLink="true">ZANRS5NNRZFPDCUA3MUJQARDAM</guid>
643 <title>Police: 2 adults shot; 2 children may have died from smoke</title>
644 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:01:02 +0000</pubDate>
645 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-us--bodies-found-cleveland-20190710-story.html</link>
646 <description>
647 <![CDATA[Authorities investigating the deaths of two children and a woman found dead inside a home, and of a man discovered in a vacant lot, say both adults were shot]]>
648 </description>
649 <content:encoded>
650 <![CDATA[<p>Authorities investigating the deaths of two children and a woman found dead inside a home, and of a man discovered in a vacant lot, say both adults were shot and the children may have died from smoke inhalation.</p><p>Police have released all of the ages and the man's name. Authorities believe the deaths are connected, but have released few details on what happened.</p><p>Authorities said in releases Tuesday that the man was 35-year-old David Cousin Jr. Police say the Cleveland man was shot in the head and chest. They say the woman was shot in the back and stomach.</p><p>Authorities didn't immediately release the identities of the 25-year-old woman or of the 2-year-old girl and 6-year-old boy or say how they may have been related.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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654 <guid isPermaLink="true">PC3F462XVZAHFASLYGH2HZNVJE</guid>
655 <title>USDA: Excessive rainfall hits quality of Indiana's corn crop</title>
656 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:33:05 +0000</pubDate>
657 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-in--indiana-corn-crop-20190710-story.html</link>
658 <description>
659 <![CDATA[Agricultural officials say this year's Indiana corn crop is expected to be among lowest quality in three decades following planting delays caused by excessive]]>
660 </description>
661 <content:encoded>
662 <![CDATA[<p>Agricultural officials say this year's Indiana corn crop is expected to be among lowest quality in three decades following planting delays caused by excessive spring rainfall.
663<br/><br/> Greg Matli is a statistician with the
664
665 U.S. Department of Agriculture
666's National Agricultural Statistics Service. He tells The Herald-Times that the agency expects Indiana's 2019 corn to be the fifth-lowest in quality since 1986.
667<br/><br/><br/><br/> Monday's report from the agency rates just 38 percent of Indiana's corn crop as currently of good to excellent quality.
668<br/><br/> That comes after heavy spring rains significantly delayed the planting of corn and soybeans, likely lowering crop yields.
669<br/><br/> Sadie Davis is the Purdue Extension office director in southwestern Indiana's Greene County. She calls this spring's wet field conditions "astounding" and something Hoosier farmers haven't seen in a long time.
670<br/><br/> ___
671<br/><br/> Information from: The Herald Times,
672<a href="http://www.heraldtimesonline.com">http://www.heraldtimesonline.com</a><br/><br/> Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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676 <guid isPermaLink="true">DBC5OFLYPBCUHNYCAOPWLDCDSQ</guid>
677 <title>Denied a local permit, Woodstock 50 promoters forge on</title>
678 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:32:37 +0000</pubDate>
679 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-ny--woodstock-50-20190710-story.html</link>
680 <description>
681 <![CDATA[Woodstock 50 promoters say they're appealing after being denied a local permit to stage the festival at an upstate New York horse track.]]>
682 </description>
683 <content:encoded>
684 <![CDATA[<p>Woodstock 50 promoters say they're appealing after being denied a local permit to stage the festival at an upstate New York horse track.</p><p>The town of Vernon ruled Tuesday that the application to stage the festival at the Vernon Downs track and casino was too late and incomplete. Vernon Downs emerged as a possible site for the Aug. 16-18 anniversary festival after the original venue, Watkins Glen International, pulled out last month.</p><p>Woodstock 50 organizers said in an email Tuesday night that they remain hopeful they can prevail through their appeal and reapplication process. They denied that the application was incomplete and said they believe unspecified "political forces" were working against the festival.</p><p>The festival has faced other setbacks, including the losses of a financial partner and a production company.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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688 <guid isPermaLink="true">XCIBLDZFGJG37FNC23PYRTFSFE</guid>
689 <title>New Orleans, states along Gulf brace for torrential rains</title>
690 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:31:57 +0000</pubDate>
691 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/weather/sns-bc-us--tropical-weather-20190710-story.html</link>
692 <description>
693 <![CDATA[Forecasters expect a tropical weather system to develop into a storm that could push the already swollen Mississippi River precariously close to the tops of]]>
694 </description>
695 <content:encoded>
696 <![CDATA[<p>A tropical weather system was expected Wednesday to develop into a storm that could push the already swollen Mississippi River precariously close to the tops of levees that protect New Orleans.
697<br/><br/> The low pressure area was over water, south of the Florida Panhandle early Wednesday and was expected to strengthen into a storm as it moved west through the Gulf's warm waters.
698<br/><br/> Forecasters say parts of Louisiana could see up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain by Monday, with heavier amounts possible in some spots.
699<br/><br/> Mississippi and Texas were also at risk of torrential rains.
700<br/><br/> The
701
702 National Weather Service
703 said New Orleans is protected to a river level of 20 feet (6.1 meters), but it was forecast to rise above flood stage to 19 feet (5.8 meters) by Friday.
704<br/><br/> Though much of the heaviest rain isn't expected until the weekend, the broad area of disturbed weather in the Gulf was already producing strong thunderstorms over Louisiana on Wednesday. Those storms prompted tornado and flash flood warnings Wednesday morning in the New Orleans area. The weather service said up to 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of rain had fallen in the area.
705<br/><br/> Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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709 <guid isPermaLink="true">ESP63UKLWZEFHGTAB3CDAOFMEI</guid>
710 <title>Suspect at large after woman with stroller attacked</title>
711 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:06:01 +0000</pubDate>
712 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-ma--woman-attacked-20190710-story.html</link>
713 <description>
714 <![CDATA[Police are trying to identify a suspect after woman with a baby stroller was attacked in Cambridge.]]>
715 </description>
716 <content:encoded>
717 <![CDATA[<p>Police are trying to identify a suspect after woman with a baby stroller was attacked in Cambridge.</p><p>Witnesses told investigators that a barefoot man yelled at the woman who was walking in the area of Harvard Street on Tuesday, before striking her with a cellphone and unsuccessfully attempting to pull the stroller away from the victim.</p><p>Cambridge police said in a Facebook post that the man, believed to be in his late 20s, fled toward Central Square and remains at large.</p><p>Police said the woman did not seek medical attention after the incident and her 1-year-old child was not hurt.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
718 </content:encoded>
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722 <title>Police seek group, mostly teens, that looted pharmacy</title>
723 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:05:43 +0000</pubDate>
724 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-pa--pharmacy-looted-20190710-story.html</link>
725 <description>
726 <![CDATA[Philadelphia police are seeking a mob of people, mostly teens, who looted a pharmacy.]]>
727 </description>
728 <content:encoded>
729 <![CDATA[<p>Philadelphia police are seeking a mob of people, mostly teens, who looted a pharmacy.</p><p>Police on Tuesday released video that shows about 60 people flooding into a Walgreens on South Street around 10 p.m. on July Fourth.</p><p>Some are shown knocking items off shelves while others are shown fleeing with merchandise.</p><p>Police Capt. Sekou Kinebrew tells WPVI-TV a cashier who tried to intervene was hit on the head with a glass bottle.</p><p>Kinebrew says between stolen items and damaged property, there was $6,000 to $7,000 in damage.</p><p>The group earlier had stopped traffic while running along South Street, a busy thoroughfare lined with shops and restaurants.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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734 <title>Signature bonds ordered in death of 13-year-old girl</title>
735 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:04:59 +0000</pubDate>
736 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-wi--teen-death-charges-20190710-story.html</link>
737 <description>
738 <![CDATA[Signature bonds of $250,000 have been ordered for a woman and her adult daughter accused in the death of a 13-year-old girl in Mineral Point.]]>
739 </description>
740 <content:encoded>
741 <![CDATA[<p>Signature bonds of $250,000 have been ordered for a woman and her adult daughter accused in the death of a 13-year-old girl in Mineral Point.</p><p>Fifty-year-old Laurie Barry and 27-year-old Alexis Barry were in Iowa County Circuit Court Tuesday for their initial appearances. Both are charged with first-degree reckless homicide as a party to a crime for the May 2018 death of Selah Kaden.</p><p>WISC-TV reports a forensic pathologist determined Selah died from homicidal smothering or suffocation and blunt force trauma.</p><p>According to a criminal complaint, Selah's adoptive parents paid the Barry family to care for their daughter for the summer.</p><p>The women each face a maximum of 60 years in prison, if convicted.</p><p>___</p><p>Information from: WISC-TV, http://www.channel3000.com</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
742 </content:encoded>
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745 <guid isPermaLink="true">2GUYS6JTEFEFRNQRLRNQMFWT7I</guid>
746 <title>Germany denies backing BoE chief Carney as next head of IMF</title>
747 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:04:57 +0000</pubDate>
748 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/business/nationworld/sns-bc-eu--germany-imf-20190710-story.html</link>
749 <description>
750 <![CDATA[The German government says it hasn't decided who it wants to succeed Christine Lagarde as the next head of the International Monetary Fund.]]>
751 </description>
752 <content:encoded>
753 <![CDATA[<p>The German government says it hasn't decided who it wants to succeed
754
755 Christine Lagarde
756 as the next head of the
757
758 International Monetary Fund
759.
760<br/><br/> Government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer told reporters in Berlin on Wednesday that Germany "would wish for a qualified European candidate."
761<br/><br/> She denied reports that Germany and France have agreed to support departing Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, who is Canadian but who recently became a British citizen too.
762<br/><br/> German Chancellor
763
764 Angela Merkel
765 later said that Europeans lay claim to nominating the next IMF chief, but said such positions wouldn't be decided solely based on a candidate's "geographical origin."
766<br/><br/> Lagarde has been nominated to lead the
767
768 European Central Bank
769, replacing
770
771 Mario Draghi
772.
773<br/><br/> Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
774 </content:encoded>
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777 <guid isPermaLink="true">XW47BYIOQVDOTKJ7CA3HJQAVEE</guid>
778 <title>Romania's president blasts government over corruption report</title>
779 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:04:52 +0000</pubDate>
780 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-bc-eu--romania-corruption-20190710-story.html</link>
781 <description>
782 <![CDATA[Romania's president says the country's government is ignoring the will of its own citizens by not adopting anti-corruption recommendations made by a European]]>
783 </description>
784 <content:encoded>
785 <![CDATA[<p>Romania's president says the country's government is ignoring the will of its own citizens by not adopting anti-corruption recommendations made by a European anti-graft body.</p><p>President Klaus Iohannis said Wednesday that it was "extremely worrying" that Romania was still in the focus of European institutions.</p><p>A report by the Council of Europe's corruption monitoring division said Tuesday that Romania had fully complied with only four of 13 recommendations for handling high-level corruption.</p><p>Iohannis, a former leader of Romania's National Liberal Party, said that the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Viorica Dancila's Social Democrat Party, "got a red card once again" for the "damages made by this government by modifying the justice and penal laws."</p><p>Romania has faced international criticism because of legal changes considered to undermine anti-corruption efforts.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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790 <title>Principal reassigned after Holocaust remarks blames parent</title>
791 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:04:35 +0000</pubDate>
792 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-fl--school-principal-holocaust-20190710-story.html</link>
793 <description>
794 <![CDATA[A Florida high school principal who was reassigned for telling a student's mother that "not everyone believes the Holocaust happened" blames the parent for his]]>
795 </description>
796 <content:encoded>
797 <![CDATA[<p>A Florida high school principal who was reassigned for telling a student's mother that "not everyone believes the Holocaust happened" blames the parent for his removal in a farewell message to his staff.</p><p>William Latson said in his message on Monday that he was being reassigned because of false statements by the mother.</p><p>The Palm Beach Post obtained the message Tuesday through a public-records request and reports that Latson was reassigned because of the public outcry over his written comments in an email to the mother who had inquired whether students at the school study the Holocaust.</p><p>The Anti-Defamation League in Florida has called for his resignation or termination. The anti-hate group says Latson's farewell comments suggest an earlier apology wasn't genuine.</p><p>___</p><p>Information from: The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, http://www.pbpost.com</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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802 <title>Convicted Baltimore officer to pay $100K for beating teen</title>
803 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:04:21 +0000</pubDate>
804 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-md--officer-teen-beating-20190710-story.html</link>
805 <description>
806 <![CDATA[A federal jury has ordered the former Baltimore police officer who was convicted of assaulting a 14-year-old handcuffed to a hospital gurney to pay the teen's]]>
807 </description>
808 <content:encoded>
809 <![CDATA[<p>A federal jury has ordered the former Baltimore police officer who was convicted of assaulting a 14-year-old handcuffed to a hospital gurney to pay the teen's family $100,000.</p><p>The Baltimore Sun reports a jury returned the verdict of the civil complaint against Duane Williams Jr. on Tuesday. Williams was already convicted of assault and misconduct in 2016 and sentenced to one year of home detention.</p><p>The complaint filed by the boy's mother, Latoya Coner, accuses Williams of beating the teen 10 to 15 times, causing him to lose hearing in his left ear.</p><p>A Department of Justice investigation says the teen was at a Baltimore hospital in 2015 for a mental health evaluation when Williams beat him.</p><p>Two other officers received probation for denying and not reporting the beating.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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814 <title>Delaware newlyweds say thousands in gifts stolen from hotel</title>
815 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:04:08 +0000</pubDate>
816 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-de--wedding-thefts-20190710-story.html</link>
817 <description>
818 <![CDATA[Four Delaware newlywed couples say they've had thousands of dollars' worth of gifts stolen from them during separate weddings at Hotel du Pont.]]>
819 </description>
820 <content:encoded>
821 <![CDATA[<p>Four Delaware newlywed couples say they've had thousands of dollars' worth of gifts stolen from them during separate weddings at Hotel du Pont.</p><p>Three couples told the Delaware News Journal that they think the cards went missing when hotel staff delivered champagne to the locked, unattended bridal suite as the couples socialized with guests downstairs.</p><p>The Wilmington Police Department says it's investigating four theft reports from the hotel since October 2018.</p><p>Couples allege a $500 speaker, thousands of dollars in cash and checks as well as cards from family members like the father of the bride went missing.</p><p>Hotel spokeswoman Shannon Maguire DeLucia told the paper they've "cooperated fully" with police.</p><p>Hotel du Pont was built in Wilmington in 1913 and was the site of 70 weddings last year.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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826 <title>Thai leader names new Cabinet with military colleagues</title>
827 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:04:01 +0000</pubDate>
828 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-bc-as--thailand-politics-20190710-story.html</link>
829 <description>
830 <![CDATA[Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Wednesday officially named his new Cabinet, a mix of members of the military government he headed after leading a 2014]]>
831 </description>
832 <content:encoded>
833 <![CDATA[<p>Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Wednesday officially named his new Cabinet, a mix of members of the military government he headed after leading a 2014 coup and key politicians who helped him assemble a majority in the House of Representatives after March elections.</p><p>Prayuth will be both prime minister and defense minister in the 36-member Cabinet announced in the Royal Gazette.</p><p>Democrat party leader Jurin Laksanawisit will be a deputy prime minister and commerce minister, while Bhumjai Thai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul will be deputy prime minister and health minister. Anutin campaigned for legalization of the production of marijuana to aid farmers.</p><p>The three other deputy prime ministers held the same job in Prayuth's military government. One, Prawit Wongsuwan, was a senior career military officer like Prayuth. Another former senior officer, Anupong Paojinda, retains the post of interior minister.</p><p>The Cabinet members are expected to be sworn in next week.</p><p>The March elections were held under laws enacted by the junta to disadvantage established political parties. Critics also charged that the Election Commission helped the military-backed Palang Pracharath party, which backed Prayuth.</p><p>On June 6, the combined chambers of Parliament elected Prayuth prime minister by a vote of 500 to 244 for his opponent, anti-military candidate Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit.</p><p>Prayuth's election was virtually assured because all 250 senators were appointed by the junta he headed. Every member of the Senate voted for Prayuth except for the Senate speaker, who abstained.</p><p>Analysts say the next government is likely to be short-lived because the coalition that supports Prayuth includes many political parties, each with its own agenda, and they will face strong opposition in the House, where they have only a slight majority.</p><p>The announcement of the new Cabinet came a day after Prayuth revoked dozens of special executive orders and vowed to stop issuing more as he prepared to lead an elected civilian government.</p><p>After seizing power, Prayuth gave himself special legislative powers that allow him to issue orders that have the force of law.</p><p>He signed an order Tuesday revoking 66 of the more than 500 executive orders he had issued. Critics claimed it was an attempt to make it appear that the military is relinquishing power and transitioning to an elected government, although the new government will have members of his military regime retaining key positions.</p><p>"The reason Prayuth revoked these orders is to help with image during the transition to the next government and to reduce pressure on him," said Yingcheep Atchanont, program manager of the legal monitoring group iLaw.</p><p>Yingcheep said the junta has deliberately kept in place orders that enable the military to influence politics, such as one that allows soldiers to search and arrest people they suspect of threatening national security for up to seven days without charges.</p><p>The junta has regularly detained critics at military camps as a method of intimidation.</p><p>Another order Prayuth failed to revoke allows a committee to review and direct the removal of online content without a court order.</p><p>Prayuth said Tuesday he would no longer use his special legislative power, known as Article 44, which will cease together with the junta once the new Cabinet is inaugurated.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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838 <title>Gallery in central Mexico displays a trove of folk art</title>
839 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:03:24 +0000</pubDate>
840 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/lifestyle/sns-bc-us--mexico-crafts-travel-folk-art-20190710-story.html</link>
841 <description>
842 <![CDATA[It's been said that if you're not an artist when you first visit San Miguel de Allende, you'll certainly be one by the time you leave. Similarly, if you step]]>
843 </description>
844 <content:encoded>
845 <![CDATA[<p>It's been said that if you're not an artist when you first visit San Miguel de Allende, you'll certainly be one by the time you leave. Similarly, if you step into Mayer Shacter's Galeria Atotonilco as a novice, you'll walk out an appreciator of fine Mexican folk art.</p><p>Shacter, a former ceramics artist from Berkeley, California, who has lived in Mexico since 2003, is much more than a curator. He travels to remote areas of Mexico to meet the artists and learn about their craft, and then he brings their work back to his gallery, where he imparts his knowledge to his customers.</p><p>His is now regarded as one of the finest collections of Mexican folk art anywhere. On TripAdvisor, the gallery, which opened in 2006 in a 600-square-foot section of his home and now consumes 6,000 square feet, is currently the top-rated "thing to do" in San Miguel de Allende, which is a short 15-minute drive away.</p><p>Shacter's passion for his gallery is immediately obvious. His collection, which ranges from textiles and woven baskets to antique ironwork and papier maché masks, is broad, and "a reflection of my many interests."</p><p>"I have a personal relationship with these people. I love helping them preserve these cultural traditions," he said.</p><p>For example, about 15 years ago, he met some artisans from Nayarit, who make Huichol yarn and bead art, after they rear-ended his car. Shacter said the police threatened to confiscate the family's pickup truck because it was uninsured.</p><p>"We got their information and agreed to pay for our own repairs. They agreed to give us some yarn paintings," he said, adding that they've been doing business ever since.</p><p>The Huichol are an indigenous people who mostly live in the mountainous areas of northwestern Mexico. They press brightly colored yarn onto boards coated with a thin layer of special beeswax from Campeche and tree resin. The "paintings" began as ceremonial religious art, and often include representations of deer, corn, peyote and other symbols from Huichol mythology.</p><p>Shacter says the artists' quality of life and sustainability are paramount to him. He rarely buys work on consignment.</p><p>"With one or two exceptions, everything in the gallery, we purchase outright," he said. "When we leave a person's house, they have money in hand or money in their bank account."</p><p>Another highlight of his collection is the lacquered gourds from Temalacatzingo, Guerrero. Lacquering is one of Mexico's oldest crafts.</p><p>During the pre-Hispanic period, oil from chia seeds was mixed with powdered minerals or plant-based dyes to create protective coatings and decorative designs. The gourds can grow on trees or vines and are dried before using. Those with bottle-like shapes are cut so the top can be used as a lid.</p><p>The layers of lacquer must be applied separately, dried and then burnished. Several small pieces can be done in a single day, while a larger decorative piece may take two or three months.</p><p>Because Shacter has developed relationships with some of the best artists in Mexico, his gallery is packed with treasures.</p><p>Among his current favorites is the pottery from Tonalá in Jalisco. He's particularly proud of the work by Geronimo Ramos, one of the few artists who still creates petatillo pottery, which is identified by its light, yellow background filled with crosshatching that looks like a woven palm mat or petate. The tighter the crosshatching, the finer the piece. The style requires a certain type of clay to produce a smooth painting surface. On top of the crosshatching, the artist usually paints in black, green and cream, and one of the most common images portrayed is the nagual, a mythical half-human, half-animal creature. Then, the piece must go through two separate firings to get its high-gloss sheen.</p><p>Shacter and his wife, writer Susan Page, who started the San Miguel Writers' Conference and Literary Festival in 2005, were drawn to this part of central Mexico in part because of the arts community.</p><p>San Miguel de Allende was inhabited by rich arts patrons from its start in the 1500s. And in the 1600s, silver was discovered nearby, making the town an important trade thoroughfare. By the mid-1800s, it hit its stride, and many of its mansions, palaces and churches were built during this time. But San Miguel gained its contemporary reputation as an arts center after American artist and writer Stirling Dickinson arrived in 1937. He and Felipe Cossio del Pomar, a Peruvian painter and political activist, established the town's first art school, which still exists today. In the years after World War II, veterans flocked to the school and others when they realized they could stretch their G.I. Bill money further south of the border.</p><p>The city's architecture, cobblestone streets and rich, saturated colors make it an artist's — and collector's — dream. Some believe it's built on a bedrock of rose quartz, which channels positive energy and attracts creative types. Whatever the reason, they continue to flock to San Miguel de Allende — and Shacter's gallery.</p><p>https://galeriaatotonilco.com/</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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850 <title>ASK A DESIGNER: Outdoor kitchens keep evolving</title>
851 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 13:03:11 +0000</pubDate>
852 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/lifestyle/sns-bc-us--homes-designer-outdoor-kitchens-20190710-story.html</link>
853 <description>
854 <![CDATA[Since the basic backyard barbecue began evolving into the outdoor kitchen, the trend has only grown. Some of today's outdoor cooking areas can seem almost like]]>
855 </description>
856 <content:encoded>
857 <![CDATA[<p>Since the basic backyard barbecue began evolving into the outdoor kitchen, the trend has only grown. Some of today's outdoor cooking areas can seem almost like full kitchens, with more appliances and food prep space. Even walls, ceilings and TVs.</p><p>"It's not just where you prepare the food. It's where people gather," says HGTV's Vern Yip. "Just as the kitchens inside of our homes are kind of the center of energy at a party or gathering, the outdoor kitchen really has become that as well."</p><p>This trend "used to be limited to the upper end of the market," Yip says. But today "even the middle portion of the market is embracing it."</p><p>Josu Gaubeka, founder and design director at La Cuisine Appliances, based in Miami, agrees: At all price ranges, he sees homeowners doing more outdoor cooking throughout the year.</p><p>One goal is better health — you're not frying with oil if you're outside grilling, or even using an outdoor oven, Gaubeka notes.</p><p>We've asked Yip, Gaubeka and New York-based designer Brett Beldock for advice on what's trending in outdoor kitchens, and how you can create one even on a relatively modest budget.</p><p>PREP SPACE WITH SINK AND STORAGE</p><p>Many homeowners begin by installing "a small island made of concrete or synthetic material," says Gaubeka. These are usually built around a grill and offer counter space for food prep, plus the option of adding other conveniences.</p><p>Among the most popular: a small outdoor sink that's hooked up to the outdoor water system by hose, and a small refrigerator. Having these basics outside cuts down on trips into the house during cooking and entertaining.</p><p>Prices vary widely: "You can buy all those elements for $1,200 if you'd like," Gaubeka says. Or you could spend $1,200 or more on the grill alone.</p><p>For those considering a larger investment, Yip points out that a built-in outdoor kitchen adds monetary value to a home.</p><p>COOKING BEYOND THE GRILL</p><p>Another trend Gaubeka sees at a range of costs: adding a brick pizza oven or gas-fired pizza oven that can be used for much more than pizzas.</p><p>"You can bake outside or you can actually sear a thick piece of meat," he says. While indoor ovens generally reach 550 degrees Fahrenheit, outdoor pizza ovens can reach 700 or 800.</p><p>Beldock says a fire pit can also be a fun place to cook "anything from s'mores to hamburgers."</p><p>WALLS AND CEILING</p><p>To make a backyard cooking area feel even more like a kitchen, Yip recommends covering it with something more permanent than a canopy.</p><p>"A permanent roof structure is a much better way to go because it allows you to use that room during more times of the year," he says. "It also helps protect your investment."</p><p>Beldock suggests adding a tile backsplash along the exterior wall when installing a built-in cooking area. Use materials that can withstand the weather. Choose tiles that have either a fire-glazed or a cement finish, she says.</p><p>Beldock has also done outdoor wallpaper that's printed on "the film that you put on cars or buses," she says; it's weather-resistant and great for the wall behind an outdoor sink.</p><p>GROWING YOUR GROCERIES</p><p>Many people already grow some herbs on an indoor windowsill. An outdoor kitchen is a great place to expand on that, says Beldock.</p><p>Add planters or pots for basics like parsley, fennel, basil and tomatoes, she says. Plant some thyme to use in recipes and enjoy the beauty of purple flowers that sprout on top.</p><p>GOING FURTHER?</p><p>Wall-mounted televisions are also popular for outdoor entertaining areas, though they must be outdoor-rated and protected from the elements. Many people also install ice makers, and on the luxury end, Beldock sees some clients adding dishwashers and even trash compactors.</p><p>"Everyone loves the idea of being able to hang out outside," Yip says. "We've really moved toward a grilling, outdoor entertaining, casual culture."</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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861 <guid isPermaLink="true">AJSRH532EZGQBF2DNNLE3VKSGY</guid>
862 <title>New York man drowns while on rafting trip in Pennsylvania</title>
863 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:35:04 +0000</pubDate>
864 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-pa--man-drowns-rafting-trip-20190710-story.html</link>
865 <description>
866 <![CDATA[Authorities say a New York City man has drowned while on a rafting trip through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Pennsylvania.]]>
867 </description>
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869 <![CDATA[<p>Authorities say a New York City man has drowned while on a rafting trip through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Pennsylvania.</p><p>Christopher Rivera was last seen around 4 p.m. Tuesday swimming in the river near the Karamac Bridge abutments just upstream from the Interstate 80 toll bridge. Authorities say other members of his group saw the 20-year-old Staten Island man struggling in the current before he went under the water.</p><p>Search-and-rescue and dive teams from the National Park Service and a local fire company found his body about four hours later.</p><p>Authorities say Rivera was not wearing a life jacket.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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874 <title>Missing 3-year-old girl found dead in Virginia river</title>
875 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:34:50 +0000</pubDate>
876 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-va--child-found-in-river-20190710-story.html</link>
877 <description>
878 <![CDATA[Virginia authorities have found the body of a missing 3-year-old girl in the New River.]]>
879 </description>
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881 <![CDATA[<p>Virginia authorities have found the body of a missing 3-year-old girl in the New River.</p><p>News outlets report the Wythe County Sheriff's Office confirmed the death of Josie Burleson on Wednesday morning.</p><p>WDBJ7 says boats and search crews were on the water looking for the child overnight.</p><p>A friend of the family told the station the girl was last seen playing by the New River Trail in the western part of the state.</p><p>It's unclear if anyone has been charged, or the circumstances surrounding Burleson's disappearance.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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886 <title>UK health service to use Amazon Alexa to give medical advice</title>
887 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:34:44 +0000</pubDate>
888 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/business/nationworld/sns-bc-eu--britain-health-alexa-20190710-story.html</link>
889 <description>
890 <![CDATA[Alexa will see you now.]]>
891 </description>
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893 <![CDATA[<p>Alexa will see you now.</p><p>Britain's health care service is teaming up with Amazon's digital voice assistant to help answer medical queries with advice from the service's official website. Critics, however, warn about risks to data privacy.</p><p>The British government said Wednesday that the system will help people get quick and accurate health information. It will be especially useful for senior citizens, blind people and others who find it hard to access the internet while also easing pressure on doctors.</p><p>Using Amazon's algorithms, Alexa can answer voice questions from users about common maladies such as the flu or chickenpox with information verified by the National Health Service.</p><p>It's part of the British government's long-term modernization plan to provide more digital health services.</p><p>"We want to empower every patient to take better control of their health care," said Health Secretary Matt Hancock.</p><p>Privacy campaigners said that while making it easier for people to access reliable medical advice was a step in the right direction, they were concerned about the partnership and its implications.</p><p>"Amazon is a company with a worrying track record when it comes to the way they handle their users' data," said Eva Blum-Dumontet, a researcher at Privacy International. "Our medical information is often the most sensitive data there is about us and a lot can be inferred from the questions we ask and the searches we make when we have health concerns."</p><p>Privacy concerns surrounding voice assistants have come into focus amid reports that services like Alexa are listening and recording conversations in homes. A lawsuit filed last month in U.S. federal court alleged that Amazon is violating laws in eight states by recording children without consent through Alexa devices.</p><p>Amazon on Wednesday sought to reassure users that their information will be kept confidential, and not shared with third parties, used to sell products or to build a health profile.</p><p>"Customer trust is of the utmost importance, and Amazon takes privacy seriously," the company said in a statement, adding that users control their voice history and can delete recordings.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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898 <title>DC Council approves gambling contract despite concern</title>
899 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:34:30 +0000</pubDate>
900 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-dc--sports-betting-contract-20190710-story.html</link>
901 <description>
902 <![CDATA[D.C. Council members approved a sole source contract for the Greek gaming company Intralot to manage online sports betting and the lottery program.]]>
903 </description>
904 <content:encoded>
905 <![CDATA[<p>D.C. Council members approved a sole source contract for the Greek gaming company Intralot to manage online sports betting and the lottery program.</p><p>The Washington Post reports Tuesday's 7-5 vote came despite some council members expressing concerns about the $215 million, five-year deal. The top concern was the bill's chief champion Jack Evans who's in the middle of an ethics probe .</p><p>Members were also weary of the subcontractors hired by Intralot, some of whom had connections to D.C. elected officials or previous contracts with the city government.</p><p>Intralot already manages the lottery and the contract confirms their monopoly on mobile and computer based betting in the district. Residents and visitors can start placing bets as early as the fall. An app is expected to go live next year.</p><p>___</p><p>Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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910 <title>3 vehicles owned by Elvis Presley going up for auction</title>
911 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:34:28 +0000</pubDate>
912 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/entertainment/news/sns-bc-us--elvis-presley-auction-20190710-story.html</link>
913 <description>
914 <![CDATA[Elvis Presley fans can take to the road in his personal stretch limousine, on his last motorcycle or in a pickup truck if they have the money, an auction house]]>
915 </description>
916 <content:encoded>
917 <![CDATA[<p>Elvis Presley fans can take to the road in his personal stretch limousine, on his last motorcycle or in a pickup truck if they have the money, an auction house announced Wednesday.</p><p>Kruse GWS Auctions said the items will be part of its Artifacts of Hollywood auction on Aug. 31.</p><p>Presley drove the white-on-white 1973 Lincoln Continental stretch many times around Memphis, Tennessee, Kruse said. It features an old-school TV and other amenities. There are photos showing "the King" driving the car he was in when he stopped at a car accident in Memphis in 1976.</p><p>The auction house said a 1976 Harley Davidson FLH 1200 Electra Glide motorcycle was the last motorcycle Presley ever purchased. He transported it from California to Memphis and sold it 90 days before he died in 1977 at age 42. The Harley has been on display at the Pioneer Auto Museum in Murdo, South Dakota, since the late 1980s.</p><p>The third Presley vehicle is one of three GMC pickups that Presley purchased in 1967 for his Circle G Ranch in Mississippi. Two years later, his father, Vernon, sold them back to the same dealership, the auction house said. It has undergone a total restoration.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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922 <title>Police: Maryland man arrested for death at pool party</title>
923 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:34:09 +0000</pubDate>
924 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-md--pool-party-shooting-20190710-story.html</link>
925 <description>
926 <![CDATA[Maryland police arrested a man who fired multiple rounds into a crowd of people attending a pool party, leaving one dead and two others injured.]]>
927 </description>
928 <content:encoded>
929 <![CDATA[<p>Maryland police arrested a man who fired multiple rounds into a crowd of people attending a pool party, leaving one dead and two others injured.</p><p>News outlets report 21-year-old Jacovi Devaughn was charged with murder, assault and other crimes Tuesday.</p><p>An Anne Arundel County Police news release says officers responded to the shooting Friday and found 29-year-old James Antonio Diggs IV suffering from multiple gun wounds. He died in the hospital. Two other partygoers suffered injuries.</p><p>A bystander saw two men exit a vehicle with one of them putting something in the bushes. The witness went to check the area and discovered the gun.</p><p>Police say the man with the gun was 20-year-old Dion Isom Sanders, who was arrested Saturday.</p><p>It's unclear whether either man has an attorney.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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934 <title>If experience matters, Williams has a big edge at Wimbledon</title>
935 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:34:05 +0000</pubDate>
936 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/sports/sns-bc-ten--wimbledon-women-20190710-story.html</link>
937 <description>
938 <![CDATA[One of the Wimbledon semifinalists has won 23 major titles. The other three women playing Thursday have combined to win one.]]>
939 </description>
940 <content:encoded>
941 <![CDATA[<p>One of the
942
943 Wimbledon
944 semifinalists has won 23 major titles. The other three women playing Thursday have combined to win one.
945<br/><br/> If experience and accomplishments count for anything,
946
947 Serena Williams
948 has the clear advantage.
949<br/><br/> "I definitely feel a lot more pressure as I got older," Williams said after beating Alison Riske in three sets in the quarterfinals, then clarifying just how much experience she actually has. "Now that I am past older, I feel a little bit less pressure."
950<br/><br/> The 37-year-old Williams, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, will be playing in the semifinals at the All England Club for the 12th time. Overall, she has reached the last four at 37 major tournaments, putting her in a tie with Steffi Graf for third most in the professional era.
951<br/><br/> Contrast that with her three remaining rivals. Barbora Strycova, Williams' opponent on Thursday, will be playing in first major semifinal in her 53rd Grand Slam tournament, while Elina Svitolina will also be making her debut at this stage. Only former No. 1 Simona Halep has been a Grand Slam champion, winning last year's
952
953 French Open
954, and will be playing in her seventh major semifinal.
955<br/><br/> "It was always my dream. Always, to play good at this tournament was my dream," said the 33-year-old Strycova, a Czech player who has been talking about retiring this year. "It's happening at this age right now. It's incredible."
956<br/><br/> Despite her less-illustrious list of achievements, Strycova is ready for the challenge of playing one of the greatest tennis players in history.
957<br/><br/> "I don't have fear. I just will go there Thursday and I will try to play my game," Strycova said. "Of course, I don't have such a power like Serena, but I have (other) weapons. I will try to use them as much as I can. I will enjoy. I have really at this point nothing to lose."
958<br/><br/> Williams doesn't really have anything to lose, either, but she has plenty to gain. The American superstar has been trying to equal the all-time record of Grand Slam singles titles of 24, but twice lost in finals last year.
959<br/><br/> One of those losses came at Wimbledon. The other, at the
960
961 U.S. Open
962, was accompanied by a dramatic final set in which Williams was given three code violations. The second cost her a point, and the third cost her a game.
963<br/><br/> Naomi Osaka went on to the win that title in New York, and Williams had an article published in Harper's Bazaar magazine on Tuesday saying she has apologized to Osaka for her actions on the court — in part to find a way to move on from the episode and get back to tennis.
964<br/><br/> "I've had a lot of things happen to me at that particular tournament in general," Williams said. "It was just important to always try to better yourself in any way that you can."
965<br/><br/> ___
966<br/><br/> More AP tennis coverage: https://www.apnews.com/apf-Tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
967<br/><br/> Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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972 <title>Police: 4-year-old dies after being pulled from Indiana lake</title>
973 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:02:12 +0000</pubDate>
974 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-in--lake-death-indiana-20190710-story.html</link>
975 <description>
976 <![CDATA[Police say a 4-year-old boy has died after being pulled unconscious from a lake in northwestern Indiana.]]>
977 </description>
978 <content:encoded>
979 <![CDATA[<p>Police say a 4-year-old boy has died after being pulled unconscious from a lake in northwestern Indiana.</p><p>The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports Hobart police and firefighters responded Tuesday evening to a report of a possible drowning at Robinson Lake.</p><p>Detective Sgt. Nicholas Wardrip says the boy was listed in critical condition when taken to a hospital in Hobart, where he was later pronounced dead.</p><p>The child was identified as being from Gary, but Wardrip says his name and cause of death would be released following an investigation by the Lake County coroner's office.</p><p>Additional details about the circumstances of the child's death weren't immediately released.</p><p>___</p><p>Information from: The Times, http://www.nwitimes.com</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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984 <title>Police appear to pray with anti-abortion group near clinic</title>
985 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:01:53 +0000</pubDate>
986 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-wv--anti-abortion-prayer-police-20190710-story.html</link>
987 <description>
988 <![CDATA[A video appears to show on-duty police officers praying with anti-abortion protesters outside West Virginia's last abortion services provider.]]>
989 </description>
990 <content:encoded>
991 <![CDATA[<p>A video appears to show on-duty police officers praying with anti-abortion protesters outside West Virginia's last abortion services provider.</p><p>The three officers were responding to reports that protesters were in a roadway and parked in a no-parking zone. The video shows them blocking a door to the Women's Health Clinic, weeks after the city passed an ordinance prohibiting protesters from blocking health centers.</p><p>The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that the video was streamed on Facebook last month by the group "Speak Life WV." It shows Charleston officers bowing their heads as the group prays and lays hands on them. A woman can be heard saying the prayer is to protect the police. A city statement Tuesday says an internal investigation found the officers remained neutral.</p><p>___</p><p>Information from: The Charleston Gazette-Mail, http://wvgazettemail.com.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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996 <title>Sistine Chapel Choir director quits after funding scandal</title>
997 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:01:49 +0000</pubDate>
998 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-bc-eu--rel--vatican-choir-reform-20190710-story.html</link>
999 <description>
1000 <![CDATA[Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of the Sistine Chapel Choir director in the wake of a funding scandal.]]>
1001 </description>
1002 <content:encoded>
1003 <![CDATA[<p>Pope Francis
1004 has accepted the resignation of the Sistine Chapel Choir director in the wake of a funding scandal.</p><p>The Vatican said Wednesday that Monsignor Massimo Palombella will be temporarily replaced by Monsignor Marcos Pavan, currently in charge of the boys' division of what's believed to be the world's oldest choir.</p><p>Earlier this year, Francis put a close aide in overall charge of the choir amid reform efforts. He also exhorted church choirs to perform at liturgical services with "sincere piety."</p><p>In 2018, the Vatican began a probe of alleged diversion of funds by choir directors.</p><p>That same year saw the choir perform for celebrities in New York at a VIP-studded Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The choir's much-touted summer tour of the United States was canceled without explanation.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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1009 <title>AngioDynamics: Fiscal 4Q Earnings Snapshot</title>
1010 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:01:35 +0000</pubDate>
1011 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-us--earns-angiodynamics-20190710-story.html</link>
1012 <description>
1013 <![CDATA[LATHAM, N.Y. (AP) _ AngioDynamics Inc. (ANGO) on Wednesday reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $58.9 million.]]>
1014 </description>
1015 <content:encoded>
1016 <![CDATA[<p>LATHAM, N.Y. (AP) _ AngioDynamics Inc. (ANGO) on Wednesday reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $58.9 million.</p><p>On a per-share basis, the Latham, New York-based company said it had profit of $1.54. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 25 cents per share.</p><p>The medical device maker posted revenue of $96.3 million in the period.</p><p>For the year, the company reported profit of $61.3 million, or $1.61 per share. Revenue was reported as $359.5 million.</p><p>AngioDynamics expects full-year earnings in the range of 25 cents to 30 cents per share, with revenue in the range of $280 million to $286 million.</p><p>AngioDynamics shares have increased almost 2% since the beginning of the year. The stock has decreased 11% in the last 12 months.</p><p>_____</p><p>This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ANGO at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ANGO</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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1021 <title>Driver charged in hit-and-run crash that killed man</title>
1022 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:33:43 +0000</pubDate>
1023 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-nj--hit-and-run-man-killed-20190710-story.html</link>
1024 <description>
1025 <![CDATA[Authorities say a hit-and-run driver who struck and killed a man in southern New Jersey has turned himself in to authorities.]]>
1026 </description>
1027 <content:encoded>
1028 <![CDATA[<p>Authorities say a hit-and-run driver who struck and killed a man in southern New Jersey has turned himself in to authorities.</p><p>Gloucester Township police say Bruce Bennett is charged with leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in death. It wasn't known if the 66-year-old Franklinville man has retained an attorney.</p><p>The accident happened around 8:15 p.m. Tuesday on Sicklerville Road. Officers found the 18-year-old male victim and took him to hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.</p><p>Authorities say Bennett fled the scene but surrendered later Tuesday. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.</p><p>The victim's name has not been released.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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1033 <title>North Carolina officers remove hundreds of pets from home</title>
1034 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:33:25 +0000</pubDate>
1035 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-nc--animal-cruelty-probe-20190710-story.html</link>
1036 <description>
1037 <![CDATA[North Carolina animal control has opened an animal cruelty investigation after officers found more than 200 rats, dogs, cats and other pets inside a home.]]>
1038 </description>
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1040 <![CDATA[<p>North Carolina animal control has opened an animal cruelty investigation after officers found more than 200 rats, dogs, cats and other pets inside a home.</p><p>News outlets report the officers were asked to perform a welfare check on the home.</p><p>Town of Cary Public Safety Director Allan Cain said they decided to remove most of the pets, based on the large number and the unsanitary environment they found. The seized animals also included turtles and guinea pigs.</p><p>Town of Cary Spokeswoman Deanna D. Hawkes said in an email sent to the News and Observer Tuesday that 242 animals were removed but the investigation is ongoing and more could be taken.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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1045 <title>China's June auto sales fall, extending year-old decline</title>
1046 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:33:22 +0000</pubDate>
1047 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/business/nationworld/sns-bc-as--china-auto-sales-20190710-story.html</link>
1048 <description>
1049 <![CDATA[China says auto sales fell 7.8% in June amid a trade fight with Washington and slower economic growth, extending a year-old contraction that is squeezing]]>
1050 </description>
1051 <content:encoded>
1052 <![CDATA[<p>China's auto sales fell 7.8% in June amid a trade fight with Washington and slower economic growth, extending an unexpectedly painful downturn for automakers that are spending heavily to develop electric cars.</p><p>Drivers in the global industry's biggest market bought 1.7 million SUVs, sedans and minivans, according to an industry group, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.</p><p>Total purchases in the first six months of 2019 fell 14% from a year earlier to 10.1 million vehicles, CAAM said. That was below industry forecasts of flat to slightly lower growth this year.</p><p>Sales growth turned negative last June as jittery consumers put off big purchases amid unease about China's economic outlook and tensions with President Donald Trump over Beijing's technology ambitions. Growth in the second-largest global economy held steady in the latest quarter but that was supported by government spending and higher bank lending.</p><p>The past year is "a sobering lesson for anyone who believed that growth in autos could happen in straight lines," Bernstein analysts Robin Zhu and Luke Hong said in a report this week. "As it turned out, autos is cyclical, even in China."</p><p>That is squeezing global and Chinese automakers that are racing to meet government sales targets for electric cars.</p><p>Last year's auto sales suffered their first decline in nearly three decades, falling 4.1% from 2017 to 23.7 million.</p><p>In June, total vehicle purchases, including trucks buses, declined 9.6% from a year earlier to 2 million.</p><p>June sales by Chinese brands declined 12.2% to 664,000. Their market share lost 3.9 percentage points to 39.5%.</p><p>Purchases of pure-electric and gasoline-electric hybrid SUVs, sedans and minivans rose 80% to 152,000.</p><p>Beijing has promoted electrics with billions of dollars in research grants and buyer subsidies. But subsidies are due to end next year and regulators are shifting the burden to automakers by imposing mandatory sales targets for electrics.</p><p>That requires automakers to pour money into developing electrics that can compete with gasoline-powered vehicles on price, performance and style.</p><p>One of China's most ambitious domestic brands, Geely Auto, reported this week its June sales were down 29%. It warned its first-half profit would fall by 40%.</p><p>Volkswagen AG said June sales of VW-brand cars by the company and its Chinese partners rose 14.2% to 261,100. First-half sales were off 3.6% at 1.4 million.</p><p>GM, which competes with VW for the status of China's most popular brand, announced no June figures but said second sales totaled 753,926.</p><p>Nissan Motor Co. said sales were level with a year earlier at 131,071 vehicles. First-half sales were off 0.3% at 718,268.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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1057 <title>UK ambassador to US quits days after leaked cables on Trump</title>
1058 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:33:10 +0000</pubDate>
1059 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-bc-eu--britain-trump-20190710-story.html</link>
1060 <description>
1061 <![CDATA[The U.K. Foreign Office says Britain's ambassador to the United States has resigned just days after diplomatic cables criticizing President Donald Trump were]]>
1062 </description>
1063 <content:encoded>
1064 <![CDATA[<p>Britain's ambassador to the United States resigned Wednesday after being made a diplomatic nobody by President Donald Trump following the leak of the envoy's unflattering opinions about the U.S. administration.
1065<br/><br/> Veteran diplomat Kim Darroch said he could no longer do his job in Washington after Trump branded him a fool and cut off all contact with the representative of one of the U.S.'s closest allies.
1066<br/><br/> The break in relations followed a British newspaper's publication Sunday of leaked documents that revealed the ambassador's dim view of Trump's administration, which Darroch described as dysfunctional, inept and chaotic.
1067<br/><br/> "The current situation is making it impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like," Darroch said in his resignation letter.
1068<br/><br/> In the leaked documents, he called the Trump administration's policy toward Iran "incoherent," said the president might be indebted to "dodgy Russians" and raised doubts about whether the White House "will ever look competent."
1069<br/><br/> "We don't really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept," one missive said.
1070<br/><br/> Prime Minister
1071
1072 Theresa May
1073 and other British politicians have praised Darroch and condemned the leak in recent days. Some also accused Boris Johnson, who is likely to be picked as Britain's next prime minister later this month, of failing to stand up for the U.K.'s envoy in Washington because he wanted to curry favor with Trump.
1074<br/><br/> "The fact that Sir Kim has been bullied out of his job, because of Donald Trump's tantrums and Boris Johnson's pathetic lick-spittle response, is something that shames our country," said Emily Thornberry, the spokeswoman on foreign affairs issues for the main opposition
1075
1076 Labour Party
1077.
1078<br/><br/> Darroch had been set to retire at the end of the year. It's unclear whether May will have time to name a replacement before she leaves office later this month.
1079<br/><br/> Appointing ambassadors usually involves a formal civil service process with advertisements, applications and interviews, though Simon McDonald, head of Britain's diplomatic service, said the post of ambassador to the U.S. wasn't always chosen that way.
1080<br/><br/> "History shows that there are often bespoke procedures for filling the embassy in Washington, DC," he said.
1081<br/><br/> Darroch announced his decision the morning after a debate between the two contenders to replace May as party leader and prime minister, Johnson and Jeremy Hunt.
1082<br/><br/> Hunt, who is Britain's foreign secretary, vowed to keep Darroch in the post, but Johnson pointedly did not.
1083<br/><br/> "I think it's very important we should have a close partnership, a close friendship with the United States," Johnson said.
1084<br/><br/> Darroch's forthright, unfiltered views on the U.S. administration — meant for a limited audience and discreet review — appeared in the leaked documents published by Britain's Mail on Sunday newspaper.
1085<br/><br/> Darroch had served as Britain's envoy to Washington since 2016; the leaked cables covered a period from 2017 to recent weeks.
1086<br/><br/> British officials are hunting for the culprit behind the leak, which was both an embarrassment to May's government and a major breach of diplomatic security.
1087<br/><br/> "We will pursue the culprit with all the means at our disposal," Foreign Office chief Simon McDonald told a committee of lawmakers.
1088<br/><br/> McDonald said it was "vitally important" that ambassadors were able to speak candidly in private and that it was the first time in his career that a head of state has dismissed working with a British ambassador.
1089<br/><br/> He told the Foreign Affairs Committee that even hostile states had not taken such action in his nearly 37 years in the department.
1090<br/><br/> "This is not the first time a British ambassador has left post or resigned because of actions against the host government, but usually they are governments with whom we have problematic relations rather than friendly relations," McDonald said.
1091<br/><br/> But he said the trans-Atlantic relationship was "so deep and so wide that it will withstand any individual squall."
1092<br/><br/> He also said he feared there might be more leaks of sensitive government documents.
1093<br/><br/> Like his predecessors, Darroch was a prominent figure in Washington, meeting frequently with high-level U.S. officials and hosting parties at the stately British Embassy.
1094<br/><br/> Gatherings were frequently bipartisan, drawing guests from the Trump and Obama administrations, who mingled with journalists and members of prominent think tanks.
1095<br/><br/> Darroch often addressed the attendees at such gatherings, making sure to single out high-level administration officials.
1096<br/><br/> Trump's tweets created fury among many British politicians and officials, who found themselves insulted by the president's decision to have the administration cut off contact with their ambassador.
1097<br/><br/> It underscored that the close relationship between the two countries has become increasingly lopsided — a severe problem as the U.K. prepares to set a new path with its departure from the
1098
1099 European Union
1100.
1101<br/><br/> "It is shameful that Kim Darroch has effectively been forced out for doing the job that diplomats are appointed to do," Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted. "Boris Johnson's failure last night to stand up for him — and stand up to the behavior of Donald Trump — spoke volumes."
1102<br/><br/> Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan went further, accusing Johnson of having "thrown our top diplomat under a bus" for his own personal interests.
1103<br/><br/> But Trump supporter and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage described the resignation as, "the right decision."
1104<br/><br/> He tweeted: "Time (to) put in a non-Remainer who wants a trade deal with America."
1105<br/><br/> __
1106<br/><br/> Julie Pace contributed from Washington.
1107<br/><br/> Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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1112 <title>Powell signals that rate cut could be coming soon</title>
1113 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:31:35 +0000</pubDate>
1114 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/business/nationworld/sns-bc-us--federal-reserve-powell-20190710-story.html</link>
1115 <description>
1116 <![CDATA[Every sentence Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks to Congress this week is sure to be parsed by investors who expect — and hope — the Fed will cut]]>
1117 </description>
1118 <content:encoded>
1119 <![CDATA[<p>Chairman Jerome Powell signaled Wednesday that the
1120
1121 Federal Reserve
1122 is likely to cut interest rates late this month for the first time in a decade in light of a weakening global economy and rising trade tensions.
1123<br/><br/> Delivering the central bank's semiannual report to Congress, Powell said that since Fed officials met last month, "uncertainties around trade tensions and concerns about the strength of the global economy continue to weigh on the U.S. economic outlook." In addition, annual inflation has dipped further below the Fed's annual target level.
1124<br/><br/> Powell's remarks triggered a stock market rally, with the Dow Jones industrial average up nearly 100 points in late-morning trading.
1125<br/><br/> Economists suggested that Powell's message made a quarter-point rate cut a virtual certainty at the Fed's meeting this month, with many forecasting further rate cuts to come.
1126<br/><br/> Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said he thinks economic growth will slow below a 1% annual rate in the second half of this year, which he thinks will lead to additional quarter-point cuts in December and then March.
1127<br/><br/> Ashworth said a July rate cut would be "insurance against the downside risk that Fed officials believe have mounted in recent months."
1128<br/><br/> Many investors have put the odds of a rate cut this month at 100%. The Fed's benchmark rate stands in a range of 2.25% to 2.5% after the central bank raised rates four times last year — action that incited public attacks on the Powell Fed from President
1129
1130 Donald Trump
1131.
1132<br/><br/> Trump, who is counting on a strong economy for his re-election campaign, has called the Fed his biggest threat. He contends that the central bank made a huge mistake by tightening credit last year and should be cutting rates now. Trump has argued that last year's rate hikes have held back economic growth and the stock market.
1133<br/><br/> In his prepared remarks, Powell made no mention of the president's criticism. He did thank Congress for the "independence" it has given the Fed to operate free of political intrusion. But later, in the question-and-answer period, Democratic members of the House Financial Services Committee, made clear their discontent with Trump's attacks.
1134<br/><br/> Rep.
1135
1136 Maxine Waters
1137, who leads the committee, declared that "this president has made it clear that he has no understanding or respect for the independence of the Federal Reserve." She also referred to published reports that Trump had discussed firing Powell.
1138<br/><br/> Asked by Waters what he would do if Trump said he wanted to fire him, Powell replied, as he has in the past, that he intends to serve his full four-year term.
1139<br/><br/> Powell's remarks Wednesday began two days of his testimony on Capitol Hill. On Thursday, he will address the Senate Banking Committee.
1140<br/><br/> At the moment, the U.S. economic landscape is a mixed one: The job market appears resilient, but economic growth is slowing. Many forecasters predict that growth has slowed to an annual rate of around 2% in the just completed April-June quarter.
1141<br/><br/> In his testimony, Powell said the economy has fared reasonably well over the first half of the year. But he noted that "crosscurrents, such as trade tensions and concerns about global growth, have been weighing on economic activity and the outlook."
1142<br/><br/> He said that growth in business investment "seems to have slowed notably," possibly because of concerns over slowing global growth and the trade battle between the Trump administration and China.
1143<br/><br/> Powell repeated a pledge the Fed made in its June policy statement that officials would "act as appropriate to sustain the expansion." But notably, he added that "many" Fed official saw that the case for a looser monetary policy "had strengthened."
1144<br/><br/> The Fed hasn't cut rates since 2008 at the height of the financial crisis.
1145<br/><br/> Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping declared a truce last month in what had threatened to become an escalating U.S.-China trade war and agreed to resume talks toward a deal that would meet the administration's demands to better protect U.S. technology. That step eased fears that Trump would extend punitive tariffs to an additional $300 billion in Chinese goods, in the process inviting retaliation from Beijing on American exports and likely weakening both nations' economies.
1146<br/><br/> And last week the government reported that after a tepid job gain in May, U.S. employers sharply stepped up their hiring in June, an indication of the economy's durability.
1147<br/><br/> A wild card in the Fed's decision-making has been Trump's highly unusual public pressure on the central bank to cut rates sharply. Trump's attacks have raised alarms that he is undermining the Fed's long-recognized independence from political pressure.
1148<br/><br/> For insight into the president's thinking about the Fed, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway urged reporters to focus on his announcement last week of his two latest candidates for seats on the seven-member Fed board: Judy Shelton, an outspoken conservative economist, and Christopher Waller, research director at the Fed's St. Louis regional bank. Both are regarded as highly likely to support Trump's drive to lower rates.
1149<br/><br/> ___
1150<br/><br/> AP White House reporter Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
1151<br/><br/> Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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1156 <title>Lawyer: Judge sorry for telling woman to 'close your legs'</title>
1157 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:04:13 +0000</pubDate>
1158 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-nj--sex-assault-victim-judges-comments-20190710-story.html</link>
1159 <description>
1160 <![CDATA[His lawyer says a New Jersey judge who told a woman she could "close your legs" to prevent a sexual assault is "remorseful."]]>
1161 </description>
1162 <content:encoded>
1163 <![CDATA[<p>His lawyer says a New Jersey judge who told a woman she could "close your legs" to prevent a sexual assault is "remorseful."</p><p>Judge John Russo Jr. did not speak Tuesday during a disciplinary hearing before the state Supreme Court. But his lawyer, Amelia Carolla, told the justices Russo has "learned his lesson" and he "will not do this again."</p><p>The woman appeared before Russo in 2016 seeking a restraining order against a man she said sexually assaulted her. Russo responded with the comment about closing her legs.</p><p>Russo previously said he was seeking more information and wasn't trying to humiliate the woman.</p><p>Chief Justice Stuart Rabner questioned how a sex assault victim could have confidence in the judicial process if Russo remains on the bench.</p><p>The justices are deciding how to discipline the judge.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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1168 <title>MSC Industrial: Fiscal 3Q Earnings Snapshot</title>
1169 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:04:00 +0000</pubDate>
1170 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-us--earns-msc-industrial-20190710-story.html</link>
1171 <description>
1172 <![CDATA[MELVILLE, N.Y. (AP) _ MSC Industrial Direct Co. (MSM) on Wednesday reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of $79.6 million.]]>
1173 </description>
1174 <content:encoded>
1175 <![CDATA[<p>MELVILLE, N.Y. (AP) _ MSC Industrial Direct Co. (MSM) on Wednesday reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of $79.6 million.</p><p>The Melville, New York-based company said it had profit of $1.44 per share. Earnings, adjusted for costs related to mergers and acquisitions, came to $1.45 per share.</p><p>The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.50 per share.</p><p>The distributor of industrial tools and supplies posted revenue of $866.5 million in the period, which also missed Street forecasts. Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $881.8 million.</p><p>For the current quarter ending in August, MSC Industrial said it expects revenue in the range of $835 million to $851 million. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $881.6 million.</p><p>MSC Industrial shares have declined 6% since the beginning of the year. The stock has dropped 15% in the last 12 months.</p><p>_____</p><p>This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MSM at https://www.zacks.com/ap/MSM</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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1180 <title>Indiana trooper stops 105 mph truck, gives lifesaving aid</title>
1181 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:03:47 +0000</pubDate>
1182 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-in--lifesaving-traffic-stop-20190710-story.html</link>
1183 <description>
1184 <![CDATA[A state trooper who stopped a truck going 105 mph (169 kph) in central Indiana is credited with giving lifesaving first aid to the passenger, who was bleeding]]>
1185 </description>
1186 <content:encoded>
1187 <![CDATA[<p>A state trooper who stopped a truck going 105 mph (169 kph) in central Indiana is credited with giving lifesaving first aid to the passenger, who was bleeding from a gash in his neck.</p><p>State police say Trooper Ron Huff was driving last Thursday in Madison County when the truck sped past.</p><p>Huff stopped the truck and the driver ran to him, yelling that his friend was dying. Huff found a man in his 20s holding a towel to his neck to cover the 4-inch (10.2-centimeter) gash. Huff used gauze treated with a clotting agent and direct pressure to stop the bleeding before an ambulance arrived.</p><p>The man had been helping renovate an unoccupied school when wall mirror broke, cutting his neck. He was released from a hospital Friday.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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1192 <title>Wi-Fi helped ID teens who drew racist, anti-Semitic graffiti</title>
1193 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:03:34 +0000</pubDate>
1194 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-us--hate-crimes-students-20190710-story.html</link>
1195 <description>
1196 <![CDATA[Four Maryland teenagers sneaked onto their school's property the night before graduation last year and covered it in racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic]]>
1197 </description>
1198 <content:encoded>
1199 <![CDATA[<p>Four Maryland teenagers sneaked onto their school's property the night before graduation last year and covered it in racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic graffiti.</p><p>The Washington Post described how they got caught in a Tuesday story . It says they covered their faces during the hate crime, but didn't realize their cellphones automatically connected to Glenelg High School's Wi-Fi under their individual student IDs. Seth Taylor, Tyler Curtiss, Joshua Shaffer and Matthew Lipp were soon arrested.</p><p>Taylor said the teens meant to spray paint "Class of 2018" on the sidewalk as a senior prank, but things got out of hand. Sentences for the four teens ranged from eight to 18 weekends behind bars.</p><p>___</p><p>Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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1204 <title>German leader Merkel seen shaking for 3rd time in a month</title>
1205 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:02:41 +0000</pubDate>
1206 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-bc-eu--germany-merkel-20190710-story.html</link>
1207 <description>
1208 <![CDATA[German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been seen shaking at a public event for the third time in less than a month.]]>
1209 </description>
1210 <content:encoded>
1211 <![CDATA[<p>German Chancellor
1212
1213 Angela Merkel
1214's body shook visibly at a public event for the third time in less than a month on Wednesday, but the longtime leader insisted that there's nothing to worry about.
1215<br/><br/> Merkel shook as she stood at a military honors ceremony alongside Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne outside the chancellery in Berlin, listening to the two countries' national anthems.
1216<br/><br/> It followed similar episodes on June 18 and June 27. As in both those cases, the incident started as she stood still without talking, and the 64-year-old recovered quickly as she started walking.
1217<br/><br/> The first incident happened in near-identical circumstances as she stood alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at a military honors ceremony. The weather that day was hot, and Merkel said afterward that she was fine after drinking three glasses of water.
1218<br/><br/> The second incident happened at the German president's palace as she listened to his comments on the swearing-in of a new justice minister. Temperatures were much cooler that day, as they were on Wednesday.
1219<br/><br/> Merkel, who has been German leader since 2005, turns 65 on July 17. She suggested that the psychological impact of the first incident was responsible for the subsequent episodes.
1220<br/><br/> "I am fine," she told reporters after her meeting with Rinne. "I said recently that I am in a phase of processing the last military honors with President Zelenskiy. That is clearly not entirely complete, but there is progress."
1221<br/><br/> "I will have to live with it for a while now, but I am very well and people don't have to be worried," she added.
1222<br/><br/> Public figures' health is generally regarded as a private matter in Germany and the country's privacy laws are very strict on that type of information. It is not publicly known if Merkel has any health problems.
1223<br/><br/> The chancellor has a reputation for stamina garnered in years of late-night domestic and European negotiating marathons. She has rarely had to cut back her work schedule significantly, though she did so for a few weeks in 2014 when she cracked her pelvis while cross-country skiing in Switzerland during a winter vacation.
1224<br/><br/> Merkel demurred when asked at Wednesday's news conference whether, given recent concern about her health, she should now take a more head-on approach to the issue.
1225<br/><br/> "My comments on this are done today, and I think my statement that I am fine can find acceptance," she said. "I said that I have to process this event and that I am in this process, and I think that just as it came, it will go away one day."
1226<br/><br/> "I am very firmly convinced that I am entirely capable of performing," she added.
1227<br/><br/> A spokeswoman for Merkel, Ulrike Demmer, declined to comment on whether there had been any other shaking episodes beyond the three publicly known ones.
1228<br/><br/> Merkel said last year that she won't seek a fifth term as chancellor and won't seek any other political job after her current term ends in 2021.
1229<br/><br/> She gave up the leadership of her center-right party after a pair of poor state election performances that followed a rocky start to her fourth-term government. She has shown no sign since of wanting to give up the chancellorship before her term is up.
1230<br/><br/> Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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1235 <title>New Greek PM Mitsotakis says tax cuts to be legislated</title>
1236 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:02:34 +0000</pubDate>
1237 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-bc-eu--greece-new-government-20190710-story.html</link>
1238 <description>
1239 <![CDATA[Greece's new prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has chaired his Cabinet's first meeting, vowing to make the government more efficient.]]>
1240 </description>
1241 <content:encoded>
1242 <![CDATA[<p>Greece's new prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, vowed Wednesday to make government more efficient and to legislate for tax cuts later this month despite concerns raised by the country's creditors over economic promises made during the election campaign.
1243<br/><br/> Although Greece no longer relies on funds from international bailouts, its economy is still under strict supervision and its partners in the 19-country eurozone have made clear that the fiscal goals agreed to by the previous government must be adhered to.
1244<br/><br/> The country emerged from its third and final international
1245
1246 bailout
1247 last year, but has committed to meeting stringent targets for years to come, including producing an annual 3.5% annual primary surplus — the budget without interest on debt — until 2022.
1248<br/><br/> The first legislation to be submitted to parliament will be a bill concerning how the government functions and a tax bill "with the first tax reductions we promised citizens," Mitsotakis said at the start of his government's first Cabinet meeting.
1249<br/><br/> On Tuesday, new Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said the government would move ahead with providing tax relief for households and businesses, as well as boosting productivity and competitiveness.
1250<br/><br/> Greece is slowly emerging from a nearly decade-long financial crisis that saw a quarter of its economy wiped out and poverty and unemployment levels soar. It was dependent for years on rescue loans from other the eurozone and the
1251
1252 International Monetary Fund
1253, and had to impose steep spending cuts and tax hikes to qualify for the funds.
1254<br/><br/> Mitsotakis, who won Sunday's election with a comfortable majority, ousting Alexis Tsipras and his left-wing Syriza party, said the way the government functions would also change.
1255<br/><br/> "From today we are called on to win a difficult and asymmetrical war from which, let's not kid ourselves, nearly all governments have emerged defeated," Mitsotakis said. "That of changing the model of governance, with one single goal: the production of an immediate and visible result to improve citizens' daily lives."
1256<br/><br/> He said ministers had been set targets for each portfolio and a government action plan through December.
1257<br/><br/> "I never hid before the election my ambition for this government to function as a well-tuned machine with targets, a timeframe and constant evaluation," Mitsotakis said.
1258<br/><br/> The prime minister said his government's main targets include strong economic growth with investments and an improved job market, improving security, boosting Greeks' available income and helping the middle class, which critics of the previous government said was massively over-taxed.
1259<br/><br/> Mitsotakis is to make his first foreign trip to Cyprus toward the end of the month, and will be visiting Germany in late August following an invitation by German Chancellor
1260
1261 Angela Merkel
1262, government officials have said.
1263<br/><br/> ___
1264<br/><br/> ____
1265<br/><br/> Follow Becatoros at https://twitter.com/ElenaBec
1266<br/><br/> ____
1267<br/><br/> AP's full coverage on Greece: https://www.apnews.com/Greece
1268<br/><br/> Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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1273 <title>Memorial to marathon bombing victims takes shape in Boston</title>
1274 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 10:34:01 +0000</pubDate>
1275 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-us--boston-marathon-bombing-memorial-20190710-story.html</link>
1276 <description>
1277 <![CDATA[A memorial to victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings is taking shape.]]>
1278 </description>
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1280 <![CDATA[<p>A memorial to victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings is taking shape.</p><p>Light pillars that form the nucleus of the memorial are being installed Wednesday morning near the finish line on Boylston Street.</p><p>The monument also will incorporate decorative bronze-cast light poles and a bronze spire.</p><p>Planning began four years ago for the $2 million memorial, which has undergone substantial redesign to satisfy the hopes and expectations of families who lost loved ones.</p><p>Three spectators were killed and more than 260 others were wounded in the April 15, 2013, attacks, and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer later was fatally shot by the bombers as they tried to steal his gun.</p><p>Boston officials also envision a larger monument that will involve input from bombing survivors.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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1285 <title>West Virginia chapel says it christened new school bus</title>
1286 <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jul 2019 10:33:42 +0000</pubDate>
1287 <link>https://tronc-ct-staging.cdn.arcpublishing.com/news/sns-bc-wv--bus-christening-20190710-story.html</link>
1288 <description>
1289 <![CDATA[A West Virginia chapel has turned its new school bus into a holy roller.]]>
1290 </description>
1291 <content:encoded>
1292 <![CDATA[<p>A West Virginia chapel has turned its new school bus into a holy roller.</p><p>The Intelligencer reports Tuesday that the Laughlin Memorial Chapel in Wheeling has christened its new bus with baptismal water and some prayers.</p><p>The christening ceremony had two students climb up a step ladder to pour the water on the front of the bus.</p><p>The chapel's Executive Director Dr. Georgia Kurko says the bus will takes kids to and from after-school programs and other events. She offered a prayer for the bus during the ceremony.</p><p>Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>]]>
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