Monday, March 30, 2015

In the news, Friday, March 20, 2015


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MAR 19      INDEX      MAR 21
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Information from some sites may not be reliable, or may not be vetted.
Some sources may require subscription.

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from Breitbart

NEW CLIMATE PAPER GIVES GLOBAL WARMING ALARMISTS ‘ONE HELLUVA BEATING’
A new scientific paper has driven yet another nail into the coffin of Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming theory.

Bill Clinton ‘Unaware’ Brother-In-Law on Board of Haitian Gold Mine that Landed Rare Permit

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from CNSNews.com (& MRC & NewsBusters)

Networks Say Nothing As Congressional Democrats Bully Climate Skeptics
Global warming alarmists have lost ground lately, but Congressional Democrats have implemented a new strategy: try to “silence” those with other views.

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from Daily Kos

from The Heritage Foundation
from National Review
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

New Jersey’s Gun Laws Are as Confusing as Its Highways

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from New York Times

Dusting Off a Police Trove of Photographs to Rival Weegee’s
Thousands of photos were taken from 1914 to 1975 by officers assigned to the New York Police Department’s photo units. Later, when the cases were closed, the photos were boxed up and stored in various places, including, most recently, a basement room at 1 Police Plaza. Many of the photos will soon be available for public viewing for the first time. On Monday, the National Endowment for the Humanities will announce a $125,000 grant it has awarded to the Department of Records and Information Services for the digitization of 30,000 of the pictures. The photographs will be scanned starting in July and will be available for online viewing sometime after that.

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from PoliticusUSA
[Information from this site may be questionable.]

Bernie Sanders Demands War Tax On Millionaires To Pay For GOP Military Spending Increase

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from The Spokesman-Review

Spokane winery’s website hacked with pro-Islamic State message
The Latah Creek Winery web site was briefly caught up in the war on terrorism Friday after it was hacked to show a pro-Islamic State message. A group called “Team System DZ” claimed credit for the hack that proclaimed the message “I am Muslim & I love jihad,” according to a screen shot of the web site captured by KHQ. The message, written in sometimes confusing English, also promised to purge the land of Muslims “from the hypocrites (sic) infidels.”

Idaho House wants judges who rule for gay marriage impeached
The Idaho House on Friday voted 44-25 in favor of a non-binding memorial to Congress calling for federal judges who rule in favor of gay marriage to be impeached.

Idaho finds consensus on teacher pay-increase bill
Something rare emerged at the Idaho Legislature on Friday - consensus on a major teacher pay bill. Teachers, school districts, lawmakers and state officials all backed the new plan, the third version proposed in the past two weeks, saying it’ll boost Idaho teacher pay and begin correcting a crisis in attracting and keeping teachers in the state.

Governor urges state auditor to explain federal investigation
A spokesman for Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee said Friday the governor is very concerned about an apparent federal investigation into the state auditor, and is encouraging him to work with authorities after federal Treasury agents searched his home and the Justice Department subpoenaed documents from his office.

Suspect sought in pot store robbery
The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office is seeking public help to identify the suspect in a March 5 knifepoint robbery at a Spokane recreational pot shop. The man entered Green Leaf, located at 9107 N. Country Homes Blvd. and demanded money before fleeing the store. He was wearing a face covering during the robbery, but held a distinctive knife which allowed him to put his finger through a hole in the blade.

County government invests in change
Spokane County government is reinventing itself in the same way the county’s signature courthouse has modernized, Commissioner Todd Mielke said in his state of the county address Friday morning.

Tekoa man, 74, accused of stealing mother’s widow benefits
A 74-year-old Tekoa man suspected of stealing his dead mother’s military widow benefits for years is in Spokane County Jail facing a federal criminal charge.

Obama administration requiring companies to disclose fracking chemicals
The Obama administration is requiring companies that drill for oil and natural gas on federal lands to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations. A final rule released Friday also updates requirements for well construction and disposal of water and other fluids used in fracking, a drilling method that has prompted an ongoing boom in natural gas production. The rule takes effect in June.

Missing woman, children found safe
Spokane police have located a missing woman and her two children after a witness spotted the woman’s boyfriend carrying her out of a home. The woman, identified as 24-year-old Lindsay Montano, was described as unresponsive by a witness. The witness saw her boyfriend, 24-year-old James Bench, carrying Montano to a car near 18th Avenue and Fiske around 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Bench then loaded the couple’s two children, ages 2 and 4, into the car and drove away. Police said Montano was transported to a hospital but is safe, and both her children were also safe.

Stabbing late Thursday leaves one man dead, another in custody
One man is dead and another is in jail following a stabbing late Thursday at an apartment complex near Seventh Avenue and Helena Street. Police arrested Arturo Rodriguez Ramos, 26, on investigation of first-degree manslaughter. They believe he stabbed the victim in the chest before fleeing the scene, according to a police department news release.

Second teenager sentenced to 16 years for role in veteran’s death
Demetruis Glenn, 17, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder earlier this month. He received a 16-year prison sentence that draws to a close a case that sparked community outrage and garnered national attention. He and friend Kenan Adams-Kinard, 17, were accused of beating Belton during a strong-arm robbery as Belton sat in his parked car at the Eagles Lodge in north Spokane in August 2013. Belton, 88, later died from his injuries. Adams-Kinard received a 20-year sentence earlier this year.

Netanyahu tries to ease tension with Obama
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began Thursday to try to gloss over the harsh campaign rhetoric that helped him win re-election but marred his relations with President Barack Obama, who made it clear that he isn’t ready to move on.

Idaho coin shop owner sentenced
Kevin E. Mitchell, 49, was sentenced to six months in jail for six counts of petty theft in a plea deal that spared him going to trial on felony charges of grand theft. He entered an Alford plea to the misdemeanors – not admitting guilt but acknowledging he could be convicted by a jury. First District Judge Fred Gibler also sentenced Mitchell to four years of supervised probation and ordered him to pay his victims what they are owed. That includes $80,952 to four victims, with the amounts still to be determined for the other two.

$1 billion plan to battle drought in California
Politicians don’t have the power to make it rain, so on Thursday they tried the next best thing – they proposed showering California’s parched landscape with money. Gov. Jerry Brown and top lawmakers from both parties unveiled a plan that would invest more than $1 billion to improve the state’s water infrastructure, provide emergency assistance to struggling communities and protect wildlife.

‘Erin Brockovich’ town shrinking
A Mojave Desert community where toxic chromium contamination was portrayed in the movie “Erin Brockovich” is set to lose its post office and its only gas station and convenience store. Postal officials say they will be looking for a new location for the Hinkley Post Office, which has been at the same location since 1958. It will close today.

Senate, House panels approve budget plans
Republicans in Congress advanced balanced-budget plans bristling with cuts in Medicaid and other benefit programs Thursday, determined to make a down payment on last fall’s campaign promise to erase deficits by the end of the decade.

Obama moves ahead on climate change
President Barack Obama ordered the federal government on Thursday to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half over the next decade, driving his climate change agenda forward despite percolating challenges from Republican-led states.

‘Crash’ inaccurate, says chief of agency
The new director of the Secret Service went on the offensive Thursday on Capitol Hill, disputing characterizations in news reports that two senior agents crashed a government vehicle into a security barrier at the White House after a night of drinking earlier this month.

In brief: IS claims responsibility for museum attack
The extremist group Islamic State claimed responsibility Thursday for an attack on a major museum in Tunisia’s capital that killed 23 people and injured scores of others, including many foreign tourists.
Arrest made in threat against U.S. base
Japanese police said they arrested a man on Thursday accused of making bomb threats against the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, and media reports said he is also a possible suspect in recent death threats against Ambassador Caroline Kennedy.
Polar bear pulls tourist from tent
Longyearbyen, Norway – A polar bear dragged a Czech tourist out of his tent as he slept on a remote Arctic island, clawing his back before being driven away by gunshots.

Draft limits Iran’s nuclear hardware
The United States and Iran are drafting elements of a nuclear deal that commits Tehran to a 40 percent cut in the number of machines it could use to make an atomic bomb, officials told the Associated Press on Thursday. In return, the Iranians would get quick relief from some crippling economic sanctions and a partial lift of a U.N. embargo on conventional arms.

Hadi’s forces defend stronghold
Forces loyal to Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is allied with the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, stormed the international airport in Aden on Thursday and sent fighter planes to bomb the palace in the southern port city where the current president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, has been based since fleeing from the rebel-held capital last month. Troops fended off the airport attack, the airstrikes missed the palace and President Hadi was in a safe place, Aden’s governor Abdel-Aziz bin Habtour said. Hadi remains Yemen’s internationally recognized president and has been a close U.S. ally in the battle against a powerful local al-Qaida affiliate.

Feds subpoena documents from state auditor’s office
The office of Washington state auditor Troy Kelley turned over documents to the federal government Thursday in response to a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice, just days after federal agents searched his home.

Cars towed in East Sprague prostitution sting
Spokane police for the first time used a new city law aimed at discouraging prostitution along East Sprague Avenue. Officers arrested three men Wednesday night suspected of attempting to patronize a prostitute and towed cars belonging to two of them.

Lakeland Village gets reprieve
Federal officials have backed away from a threat to cut funding from Lakeland Village as a result of improvements responding to numerous violations. The Washington state Department of Social and Health Services on Thursday said that the federal government will maintain Medicaid funding for 83 residents under long-term care at Lakeland Village Nursing Facility in Medical Lake.

Civic Theatre leader’s defamation suit revived
The Washington Court of Appeals on Thursday reinstated a defamation suit filed by former Spokane Civic Theatre artistic director Yvonne A.K. Johnson against the theater’s former music director. Johnson fired James P. Ryan in 2010 after revelations about his “swingers” lifestyle came to light. In early 2011 he launched a blog, Civic Doody, in which he has detailed his complaints about his termination and Johnson’s work at Civic.

TSA PreCheck popular with Spokane fliers
More than 3,700 Inland Northwest residents have been accepted for the speed lane at airport screening stations. The Transportation Security Administration has opened a new enrollment office at Spokane International Airport, making it the second in the Spokane area. The other is in Spokane Valley.

Idaho ban on ‘instant racing’ one step closer
Idaho lawmakers shot down a plan for a new state Gaming Commission on Thursday, and instead advanced to the full House a proposal to ban “instant racing” – the slot machinelike gambling terminals that have popped up at three locations around the state, including the Greyhound Park in Post Falls.

In brief: Two drivers injured in Trent head-on
Two men suffered serious injuries Thursday afternoon in a head-on crash that closed Trent Avenue near Harvard Road for about three hours. A westbound pickup driven by Gerardo Martinez Rodriguez, 37, crossed the center line and hit an eastbound dump truck head-on. The driver of the dump truck, 60-year-old Shannon Coberly of Chattaroy, drove partially off the road in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid the collision.
Young inventor to enter ‘Shark Tank’
Teenage entrepreneur Brooke Martin of Spokane will be featured on an episode of “Shark Tank” airing on KXLY at 9 p.m. Friday as she attempts to get investment funding for her invention, the iCPooch. The device Martin invented for an eighth-grade school project is a dog treat dispensing device that can be controlled by a smartphone app. A phone or tablet also can be mounted on the device so animal owners can see and speak to their pet when they are not home.
Former deputy jailed in Shoshone County
Former Shoshone County Sheriff’s Deputy Shawn A. Clark, 40, was arrested at his home in Pinehurst, Idaho, today on a charge of lewd conduct with a minor. Clark was a Shoshone County deputy from November 2002 to August 2005. One of his assignments during those years was as the Wallace School Resource Officer.
Fire truck, pickup collide on Highway 2
A Pend Oreille County fire truck with its lights and sirens on was involved in a crash Wednesday at U.S. Highway 2 and Gray Road just before 5 p.m. The fire truck also was using its air horn as it headed east on Gray Road and approached the intersection, according to the Washington State Patrol. The truck went through the stop sign at a high speed and collided with a southbound Ford F-150 pickup truck driven by Newport resident Arthur A. Alvarez, 79.
Crews pull pieces of Bertha to surface
Workers at the Seattle tunnel project have started pulling pieces of the broken tunneling machine called Bertha to the surface for repairs.
Idaho Senate OKs funding for wolf kill
The Idaho Senate has approved spending $400,000 to kill wolves. The plan passed Thursday would give the Idaho Wolf Depredation Board the same funding it had during its first year of operation last year.

Hamilton leaving CdA school board
Tom Hamilton, who led a conservative takeover of the Coeur d’Alene School Board four years ago, said Thursday he won’t seek a second term as school trustee. Hamilton, the director of quality for Ground Force Manufacturing in Post Falls, announced his intention at a midday meeting of the Reagan Republicans, a group that helped put him on the school board in 2011. Terri Seymour, who was elected along with Hamilton, said Thursday she will seek a second term as trustee, representing Zone 3. Seymour is the payroll administrator and office manager for Great Floors in Coeur d’Alene.

Man shot by border patrol
The Whatcom County, Washington, sheriff said a U.S. Border Patrol agent has fatally shot a man near Sumas, Washington, along the border with British Columbia.

State can charge tribal member
The Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that state prosecutors can charge a member of an Indian tribe who is living on another tribe’s land. The court’s ruling came in the case of a Yakama Nation man who was living on the Quinault Indian Nation’s reservation. When Howard John Evans Shale failed to register as a sex offender on the Quinault reservation, a Jefferson County prosecutor filed charges against him.

Honda expands air bag recall
Honda is adding nearly 105,000 vehicles to its growing U.S. recall of driver’s side air bag inflators that can explode with too much force. The added vehicles include nearly 89,000 Pilot SUVs from the 2008 model year, as well as about 11,000 Civics from 2004 and another 5,000 Accords from the 2001 model year.
Jobless claims hold steady
The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits basically held steady last week, as the job market continues to outpace broader economic growth.
Booze calories to be listed on label
Want to know how many calories are in your shot of Johnnie Walker or your pint of Guinness? You’re about to find out. Diageo, the global alcohol giant behind those brands, along with Smirnoff, Bailey’s, Bushmills and others, said it will put alcohol-content and nutrition information on the labels of its products. The label will include information like the drink’s alcohol by volume, fluid ounces of alcohol, calories, carbohydrates, and fat content based on a typical serving size.
Amazon cleared to test drones
The Federal Aviation Administration said it has issued online retailer Amazon a certificate to experiment with unmanned aircraft for research, development and crew training.
Tag Heuer to offer smartwatch
Watch out Apple: Swiss company Tag Heuer is developing its own smartwatch with tech rivals Google and Intel.
Lufthansa strike grounds flights
Thousands of international travelers were stranded Thursday as a strike by Lufthansa pilots was extended to long-haul flights, and Germany’s largest airline said it was preparing for even more cancellations today.
Mortgage rates fall slightly
Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates fell this week, remaining near historically low levels at the start of the spring home-buying season.

Taxis outnumbered by Uber in NYC
New York City’s storied yellow cabs are taking a back seat to black cars. Uber cars, often black sedans that can be summoned with smartphone apps, now outnumber the yellow taxis that city riders have hailed with a whistle and a wave for generations.

Proposal would allow rail yards on farmlands
A proposal that would allow construction of railroad freight stations on farmlands around Spokane County seems on the fast track for approval. But critics say the plan violates zoning laws and needlessly threatens the region’s rural landscapes, though those opponents aren’t farmers.

Target reaches data breach settlement
A Minnesota judge has endorsed a settlement in which Target Corp. will pay $10 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over a massive data breach in 2013.

Tesla updating Model S to ease anxiety over range
Tesla Motors is updating its Model S electric car to help ease drivers’ worries about running out of battery charge – and is hinting that in the future drivers can take their hands off the wheel altogether.

Alliance under stress
For years, American politicians have waxed poetic about the “shared values” of the United States and Israel – ideals that typically aren’t spelled out but usually are taken to mean the basic tenets of Western democracy.

U.N. delayed Ebola alarm
By early June of last year, the Ebola epidemic centered on Guinea was the deadliest ever recorded. Foreign workers were being evacuated. Top disease-fighters warned that the virus could soon spread across West Africa. But the World Health Organization resisted sounding the alarm until August, partly for political reasons, despite the fact that senior staff in Africa proposed doing so in June, the Associated Press has found. The two-month delay may have cost lives. More than 10,000 are believed to have been killed by the virus since WHO first announced the outbreak a year ago.

Shawn Vestal: Tiny homes might be foundation to build upon

Amy Goodman: TPP is a bad deal, made in secret

Editorial: Disclosing price tag of state initiatives good policy

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from Tea Party
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]


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from The Washington Free Beacon (DC)

Feds to Weigh Children in Daycare
Bureaucrats from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will weigh and measure children in daycare as part of a study mandated by First Lady Michelle Obama’s Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.

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from The Western Center for Journalism
(Western Journalism)

Mike Huckabee: Obama ‘Resents’ Strength of Netanyahu And Israel
On Thursday, former Republican Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas said President Obama “resents” the strength of Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud Party was victorious in Tuesday’s national elections.

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In the news, Thursday, March 19, 2015


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MAR 18      INDEX      MAR 20
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Information from some sites may not be reliable, or may not be vetted.
Some sources may require subscription.

________

from The American Conservative

Why Do We Need the Humanities?
Because we live in a dark wood, and we need to rely on the vision of those who saw deeper to lead us to the light

Fragments in the Ruins
A classics student explains why the humanities do not cohere in the university

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from The Blaze (& Glenn Beck)
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]
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from CNN

Asked how to offset the influence of big money in politics, President Barack Obama suggested it's time to make voting a requirement.

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from Money Talks News
from Nature News and Comment

UK mapped out by genetic ancestry
Finest-scale DNA survey of any country reveals historical migrations.

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from NBC News (& affiliates)
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from ScienceAlert

Here's why you're going grey, according to science
And no, it's not because you're stressed.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Police searching for missing woman, children
Spokane Police are searching for a missing woman and her two children after her boyfriend was spotted carrying her out of a home near the corner of 18th Avenue and Fiske around 7:30 p.m. The woman, identified as 24-year-old Lindsay Montano, was described as unresponsive by a witness who saw her being carried to a car by her boyfriend, 24-year-old James Bench. Bench then loaded the couple’s two children, ages 2 and 4, into the car and drove away. The car is described as a gray 2006 Ford 500 sedan with the license plate ALS-8921.

Former Shoshone County Deputy arrested on child sex charges
Former Shoshone County Sheriff’s Deputy Shawn A. Clark, 40, was arrested at his home in Pinehurst, Idaho, today on a charge of lewd conduct with a minor.

CdA School Board races: Hamilton won’t run again, Seymour will
Coeur d’Alene School Board Trustee Tom Hamilton said today he will not seek re-election. But Trustee Terri Seymour said she will seek a second term on the board.

Federal investigators subpoena Washington state auditor’s records
The office of Washington state auditor Troy Kelley was turning over documents to the federal government Thursday in response to a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice, just days after federal agents searched his home.

Trent Ave. open near Harvard Road after serious crash
A crash closed Trent Avenue in both directions near Harvard Road east of Spokane for about three hours Thursday afternoon. A pickup truck headed west crossed the center line and hit an eastbound dump truck head on. The dump truck drove partially off the road in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid the collision.

Demetruis Glenn sentenced to 16 years in beating death of Delbert Belton

Former coin shop owner gets 6 months in jail
A former Coeur d’Alene coin shop owner was sentenced to six months in jail this morning for six counts of petty theft for failing to fulfill customers’ gold and silver orders. Kevin E. Mitchell, 49, had been indicted on felony charges of grand theft by false promise for allegedly scheming to defraud customers between 2009 and 2012. He agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charges and avoid a trial.

Police impound cars of men attempting to patronize prostitutes
The Spokane Police Department arrested three men Wednesday night for attempting to patronize a prostitute and towed cars belonging to two of them. Officers conducted a sting operation along a section of East Sprague recently designated an area of high prostitution activity. The area was posted with signs warning that the cars of those caught patronizing prostitutes would be towed.

‘Instant racing’ repeal clears House committee, 15-2
Idaho lawmakers shot down a plan for a new state Gaming Commission on Thursday, and instead advanced to the full House a proposal to ban “instant racing” – the slot machine-like gambling terminals that have popped up at three locations around the state, including the Greyhound Park in Post Falls.

Spokane inmates sold girls for sex, according to court records
Spokane County inmates orchestrated sex crimes from their jail cells by arranging prostitution of underage girls, according to phone calls recorded by local and federal police. Some calls originated inside the Spokane County Juvenile Detention Center.

Spokane police disproportionately stop people of color, report says
Spokane police disproportionately stop black, Native American and Hispanic residents, but don’t display a pattern of racial bias when deciding who to search and arrest. That’s the conclusion of a report released Tuesday by Eastern Washington University professor Edward Byrnes, who collaborated with Spokane police Capt. Brad Arleth to examine five months of officer-initiated stops from 2014.

Tunisia museum attack leaves 19 dead
Gunmen stormed a museum in Tunis on Wednesday, killing at least 19 people, including 17 foreign tourists, in the worst attack in Tunisia’s capital since the overthrow of the country’s dictator in 2011.

In brief: U.S. begins destroying big cache of chemical weapons
The U.S. Army began destroying the nation’s largest remaining stockpile of chemical weapons Wednesday, using explosives to rip open a container of mustard agent inside a sealed chamber and then flooding it with another chemical to neutralize it. It was the first few pounds of 2,600 tons of mustard agent that will be destroyed at Pueblo Chemical Depot in southern Colorado.
Ex-con arrested after 1 killed, 5 hurt
A gunman killed one person and wounded five others Wednesday in a rampage that included a motel shooting, a carjacking and a home invasion and ended with his arrest at a nearby apartment in suburban Phoenix. The suspect was taken into custody after officers spotted him on an apartment balcony and shocked him with a stun gun.

DNA gives peek at Britain’s beginnings
Genetic samples collected from across the United Kingdom are shedding light on the ancient past, including Viking invasions and a mystery about the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, researchers report.
The work is presented in a paper released Wednesday by the journal Nature.

In brief: Chicago approves setting aside land for presidential library
The Chicago City Council on Wednesday took the step supporters of a Barack Obama presidential library on the South Side hope clears the way for the project to move forward, voting unanimously to turn over about 20 acres in one of two parks should the University of Chicago’s bid be chosen.
Trump forms campaign panel
Donald Trump announced plans Wednesday to form a presidential exploratory committee.
Texas Senate OKs campus gun bill
Texas would allow people to carry concealed handguns on college campuses under a measure given preliminary approval by the state Senate, just a day after it passed a proposal allowing open carry of guns almost anywhere in the state.
Records access at new low
The Obama administration set a record again for censoring government files or outright denying access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, according to a new analysis of federal data by the Associated Press.

White House: Netanyahu stance on Palestinian state may cost support at U.N.
The White House on Wednesday pointedly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s successful re-election campaign and suggested his newly declared opposition to a Palestinian state could jeopardize America’s unwavering support for Israel at the United Nations.

GOP budgets don’t agree on how to boost military, cut Medicare
Now that Republicans control Congress, they have largely agreed that they want to boost military spending at the expense of other domestic social programs. But they’re at odds over how to do it.

President Obama blasts GOP budget as old ideas that hurt middle-income families
President Barack Obama criticized the House Republican budget proposal during a visit to Cleveland on Wednesday, mocking their fiscal plans as “a path to prosperity for those who have already prospered.”

Vanuatu’s Cyclone Pam survivors desperate for food, water
Relief groups struggled to get supplies to residents living in Vanuatu’s cyclone-ravaged outer islands today, as survivors grew desperate for food and water five days after the fierce storm flattened villages across the South Pacific nation.

Putin signs treaty integrating South Ossetia into Russia
Russia tightened its control Wednesday over a second breakaway region of Georgia when Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leader of South Ossetia signed a new treaty that calls for nearly full integration. A similar treaty was signed last year with Abkhazia. Both regions depend on subsidies from Russia.

In brief: Man hospitalized after tiger shark bites his arm
A visitor from Kansas is in the hospital after a 10- to 12-foot tiger shark bit his left forearm while he was snorkeling off the Big Island of Hawaii.
Police: Woman removed expectant mother’s baby
A 34-year-old woman was accused of stabbing a pregnant woman in the stomach and removing her baby, while the expectant mother visited her home to buy baby clothes advertised on Craigslist, Colorado authorities said. The suspect was arrested at a hospital after taking the baby there, saying she had suffered a miscarriage. Officers called to the residence Wednesday afternoon found the 26-year-old victim, who was seven months pregnant, stabbed and beaten. She underwent surgery and is expected to recover, but the baby did not survive.
Former Penn president files defamation suit
Former Penn State president Graham Spanier filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday that accuses ex-FBI director Louis Freeh of scapegoating him in Freeh’s scathing report on the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Washington bill seeks to limit antler collecting
Elk antlers can bring top dollar when sold as a boost to a person’s love life, but a bill in the Washington Legislature would crack down on people who trespass onto private property to hunt them or other “wildlife parts.”

Careywood, Idaho, residents fight for local post office
Nearly 500 Careywood residents have signed a petition to save their post office, and they’ve enlisted the help of U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, whose staff met Wednesday with a Postal Service representative in Washington, D.C., to discuss the matter.

Environmental groups ask for review of Mount Spokane decision
The Lands Council and the Spokane Audubon Society, joined by former Spokane County Commissioner John Roskelley and former Nature Conservancy land steward Fayette Krause, want a judge to review the decision of the Washington Parks and Recreation Commission allowing the Mount Spokane ski area to expand into areas with old-growth forest. The commission found that the expansion area is suitable for the level of activity that expanded downhill skiing would generate.

In brief: Camp Journey fundraiser planned March 27
A fundraiser to support Camp Journey will be held March 27 at the Coeur d’Alene Resort. Called the Sweethearts Ball, the fundraiser was spearheaded by cancer survivor Brandon Bunch and two friends, Jake Bonwell and Nick Leonard. Camp Journey is held at Ross Point Camp and Conference Center in Post Falls, and is free to kids who are cancer survivors or are battling cancer.
Sales reps allege threats from man
Six vacuum sales representatives told police Saturday that a man threatened them with a gun as they sat in a van waiting for a co-worker.
Gunman robs Idaho store
A gunman robbed the Check ‘n Go at 740 N. Cecil Road in Post Falls Tuesday evening. He escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Police chase ends in crash, arrest
A driver suspected of fleeing an accident in Spokane Valley was arrested near Post Falls Wednesday morning after crashing his car.

Summer fires, dust storms expected due to low snowpack
Gov. Jay Inslee and other state officials reported last week a “snowpack drought” – a shortage of snow in some of the state’s mountain ranges that means water supplies for some rivers, streams and reservoirs will likely be low this summer. The above-average temperatures and low snowpack are expected to create dry fields and forest beds throughout the eastern two-thirds of the state.

Idaho House to hear giant salamander bill
An Idaho House committee on Wednesday abruptly reversed itself and overwhelmingly passed a bill proposed by an Idaho eighth-grader to make the Idaho giant salamander the official state amphibian.

Starbucks CEO defends ‘Race Together’ campaign
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on Wednesday defended the company’s new “Race Together” campaign that has been criticized for being naive and even using racial tensions to boost its bottom line.

In brief: Alaska Airlines to offer nonstop flights between Boise, Spokane
Alaska Airlines will begin offering daily nonstop service between Spokane and Boise starting in August, company CEO Brad Tilden announced Wednesday in Idaho.
West Coast imports drop amid labor dispute
Months of congestion at West Coast ports – the result of a labor dispute and other logistical problems – led to major shifts in U.S. trade patterns.
Microsoft plans to offer alternative Web browser
Look out, Internet Explorer. After 20 years of competing against rival Web browsers, Microsoft is gearing up to launch its own alternative to its once-dominant Internet surfing program.
Target allowing one-year returns for private brands
Target announced Wednesday that it is extending its return policy on select items to one year, effective immediately.
Herbalife pyramid scheme suit dismissed
A judge dismissed a lawsuit by Herbalife shareholders who claimed that the business structure and marketing practices of the weight loss and nutritional supplements company violated the law and that they lost money because it amounts to a pyramid scheme.

Premera warned by feds about security flaws before breach
Three weeks before hackers infiltrated Premera Blue Cross, federal auditors warned the company that its network security procedures were inadequate.

Federal Reserve to wait on rate hikes
After holding interest rates at record lows for more than six years, the Federal Reserve still isn’t ready to start raising them. The Fed signaled Wednesday that it needs the job market to improve further and inflation to rise above low levels before it begins nudging borrowing rates up. Even then, it suggested it will do so only very gradually.

Seattle supporters of higher minimum wage hail judge’s ruling
Supporters of higher pay for minimum wage workers hailed a federal judge’s decision clearing the way for Seattle’s new minimum wage law to take effect as planned next month. U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones rejected claims by franchises of big national chains that the law discriminates against them.

New overtime rules coming soon, labor secretary says
Labor Secretary Tom Perez told Congress on Wednesday that his agency is still working on President Barack Obama’s directive a year ago that the department come up with new rules to make more workers eligible for overtime pay for working beyond their scheduled hours.

Dana Milbank: House GOP budget is a gimmick

Editorial: Idaho taking local control away again

Fifty years later, hills are still alive
‘The Sound of Music’ film celebrates a golden anniversary

Ask Dr. K: Healthy Eating Plate uses latest research

Noise drives Dover petition
In the past couple of years, din and garbage have become a nuisance for residents near Badger Lake, south of the Turnbull Wildlife Refuge.

Manito Garden Apartments get needed repairs, upgrades
One of the earliest apartment projects for low-income elderly people in Spokane has been getting a facelift over the past two years to ensure that it continues to provide affordable housing for its 60 residents. The Manito Garden Apartments, 300 E. 30th Ave., have received about $150,000 in improvements in the past two years and another $150,000 in improvements in years prior to that.

Rich Landers: Wild kokanee drive the limit at Lake Roosevelt
Thanks to Idaho, Anglers have been hooking a bumper crop of kokanee in Lake Roosevelt since last year. Unfortunately, they’ve had to release most of the delicious land-locked sockeyes.

Mild winter attracts North Cascades Highway cyclists earlier than expected

Pat Munts: Old rules don’t apply to gardening season this warm

Landmarks: Dartford Cemetery reminder of bustling community
Not much is left to show that the small community of Dartford ever existed. There’s a portion of an old rock wall on Camp Fire’s Camp Dart-Lo property on the Little Spokane River, the old Ziegler family home, the barn built by original homesteader Herb Dart and a few other remnants here and there. But if it weren’t for the Dartford Cemetery a mile or so west of Wandermere Golf Course – well, no one might know that a community had ever grown up and been supported there by a flour mill, general store, sawmill, post office, schoolhouse, livery stable, briquette factory and lumberyards into the early half of the 1900s.

Randy Mann: Above-average temps to continue in March

Bank robberies and bathtub scuffles: ‘Life Behind the Badge’ chronicles Spokane law enforcement history

Safety concern at heart of matter for Millwood, railroad
Millwood is once again battling Union Pacific Railroad. The railroad won’t sign an agreement that allows parking in its right-of-way along Euclid Avenue unless the city closes Marguerite Road where it crosses the railroad tracks, or installs an active gate and lights.

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In the news, Wednesday, March 18, 2015


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MAR 17      INDEX      MAR 19
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Information from some sites may not be reliable, or may not be vetted.
Some sources may require subscription.

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from The Daily Caller

Dem Suggests Kids Should Be Drug-Tested Before They Can Inherit From Their Parents

‘I’ve Made My Decision — I’m Out.’ Glenn Beck Leaves The Republican Party

New Report Finds ‘Palatability’ Problems, Higher Prices Led To School Lunch Decline
Federally-mandated changes to school lunches backed by first lady Michelle Obama helped cause an unprecedented drop in the number of students eating lunch, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

from iFIBER ONE News (WA)

Police seek man accused of strangling girlfriend and daughter
Moses Lake police are looking for Andrew W. Thompson, a 28-year-old Moses Lake man, who allegedly strangled his 25-year-old girlfriend and 2-year-old daughter Tuesday afternoon at a home in the 800 block of East Hill Avenue.

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from The Independent (UK)
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

New genetic map of Britain shows successive waves of immigration going back 10,000 years
White indigenous English people share about 40 per cent of their DNA with the French

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from Patheos
[Information from this site may be questionable.]

When Theology Is So Pro-Israel That It Becomes Anti-Christian

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from ScienceAlert

New Alzheimer’s treatment fully restores memory function
Of the mice that received the treatment, 75 percent got their memory function back.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Reckless driver captured after crash
A driver suspected of fleeing the scene of an accident in Spokane Valley was arrested near Post Falls Wednesday morning after crashing his car.

Man robs Post Falls check cashing business
A man armed with a gun robbed the Check ‘n Go at 740 N. Cecil Road in Post Falls Tuesday evening, escaping with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Racial minorities more likely to be stopped by Spokane police
Spokane police disproportionately stop black, Native American and Hispanic residents, but don’t display a pattern of racial bias when deciding who to search and arrest. That’s the conclusion of a report released Tuesday by Eastern Washington University professor Edward Byrnes, who collaborated with Spokane police Capt. Brad Arleth to examine four months of officer-initiated stops from 2014.

Alaska Airlines announces Boise to Spokane flights
Daily service begins Aug. 24, according to a news release from the company. A flight for Boise will leave Spokane at 3:20 p.m. local time and arrive at 5:28 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time; a flight from Boise to Spokane will leave at 7:25 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time and arrive at Spokane International Airport at 7:34 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. Morning flights will leave both locations for the other at 6:20 a.m. local time.


The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved redefining marriage in the church constitution Tuesday to include a “commitment between two people,” becoming the largest Protestant group to formally recognize gay marriage as Christian and allow same-sex weddings in every congregation.

Hackers pierced the cybersecurity of Washington’s biggest health insurer last spring and got a peek at data for an estimated 11 million customers, but the company didn’t discover the breach until January.

In the summer of 2013, as Walt Worthy’s plans for a new downtown Spokane hotel were being finalized, Mayor David Condon met with Worthy and promised more than $3.3 million in city funds for the project. Last week, a bill came in from Worthy for $318,000 in soil remediation – far less than the $2 million Condon offered and less than the $500,000 contributed to the cleanup by the Spokane Public Facilities District.



California residents have to turn off their sprinklers, and restaurants won’t give customers water unless they ask under new drought regulations approved Tuesday.

A severe solar storm smacked Earth with a surprisingly big geomagnetic jolt Tuesday, potentially affecting power grids and GPS tracking while pushing the colorful northern lights farther south, federal forecasters said.

Starving sea lion pups and seabirds up and down the West Coast this year may be part of a large-scale shift of the Pacific Ocean to warmer and less productive conditions, according to a new federal fisheries report. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration presented the findings on the warming Pacific in an annual report on the state of the waters off California.

House Republicans released a 2016 spending blueprint Tuesday that seeks to fulfill the GOP goal of balancing the budget in 10 years, but does so by slashing Medicare and other safety net programs while dramatically boosting military spending.

An envelope addressed to the White House has tentatively tested positive for cyanide after two rounds of analysis, the Secret Service said Tuesday. Additional testing will be necessary to confirm the finding.
Missouri executes man for 1996 killing
Cecil Clayton, Missouri’s oldest death row inmate, was executed Tuesday for the 1996 shooting death of a sheriff’s deputy, after the U.S. Supreme Court and the governor declined to spare the 74-year-old whose attorneys said he had a diminished mental capacity because of a sawmill accident decades ago.
Two killed, five hurt in store shooting
Police in Stockton, California, say at least two people are dead and five people are wounded in a shooting at a grocery store.
New York City has longest workweek
Between commuting time and work hours, New York City residents have the longest workweeks among the country’s 30 biggest cities, city Comptroller Scott Stringer said in a report released Tuesday.

The new head of the Secret Service admitted to Congress Tuesday that he didn’t learn until days later that two senior agents were supposedly drunk when they drove into a barrier at the White House – and only then from an anonymous email.

Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock abruptly resigned Tuesday following a monthlong cascade of revelations about his business deals and lavish spending on everything from overseas travel to office decor in the style of “Downton Abbey.”

Study questions biopsy accuracy
Here’s another reason for getting a second medical opinion: Biopsy specialists frequently misdiagnose breast tissue, potentially leading to too-aggressive treatment for some women and under-treatment for others, a study suggests.

Royals arrive in U.S. for three-day visit
Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, arrived in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for a three-day visit, during which they plan to visit cultural and educational sites before heading to Kentucky. Prince Charles last visited the U.S. in 2011. As he did then, he’s scheduled to meet this week with President Barack Obama.
Prince Harry leaving armed forces
Royal officials said Tuesday that the 30-year-old prince will leave the armed forces in June. Kensington Palace said he will volunteer with a program that helps wounded service members “while actively considering other longer-term employment opportunities.”

An Air Force veteran and former mechanic for a major U.S. airline was indicted this week on charges that he traveled overseas and attempted to fight alongside Islamic State militants in the Middle East, federal investigators said Tuesday. Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh, 47, of Neptune, New Jersey, was arrested in January after Egyptian authorities deported him back to the United States, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Relief workers rushed to deliver desperately needed food and water today to survivors living on Vanuatu’s outer islands, after a monstrous cyclone wiped out entire villages and flattened vast swathes of the South Pacific nation’s landscape.

Syrian activists and the Western-backed opposition accused the government Tuesday of carrying out a chlorine gas attack against a rebel-held town that killed at least six people and left dozens, including children, choking and gasping for breath.
Syria says it shot down U.S. drone
Syrian state media said the country’s air defenses shot down a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft Tuesday in a northwestern province along the Mediterranean coast
Afghanistan says Islamic State is present
The Afghan government said Tuesday that forces belonging to the Islamic State militant organization have taken root in the country, the first official acknowledgment that the group based in Iraq and Syria had reached so far to the east.

Hillyard home to new police precinct
The new police precinct at the southeast corner of Market Street and Diamond Avenue had a grand opening celebration Tuesday afternoon.

Teresa Luna, director of the Idaho Department of Administration and a central figure in the scandal over Idaho’s failed statewide school broadband network, will resign at the end of this year’s Idaho legislative session, Gov. Butch Otter announced Tuesday. Luna has led the department since 2011, when she was named to succeed former Director Mike Gwartney, a close friend of Otter’s. Gwartney issued the $60 million Idaho Education Network contract in 2009 that a court last month declared illegal. Luna is the sister of former two-term Idaho schools Superintendent Tom Luna, who left office in December and also was a big booster of the Idaho Education Network, one of Otter’s key initiatives as governor.

Eight months after a Coeur d’Alene police officer shot and killed a dog in a parked van, sparking criticism across the nation, the city has agreed to pay the dog’s owner $80,000.

Widow’s attorney wants Pasco officers charged with murder
The attorney for the widow of a Mexican man shot to death by Pasco police wants the three officers to be charged immediately with murder. Attorney George Trejo of Yakima has sent a letter to Franklin County prosecutors calling for the cancellation of a planned coroner’s inquest and the filing of murder charges in the Feb. 10 shooting in Pasco that was captured on video. Trejo contends the officers executed Antonio Zambrano-Montes, 35, and should at minimum be charged with second-degree murder.

Human remains found in Bayview identified as Coeur d’Alene man
Human remains found by a hiker near Bayview in early February are those of Billy Vaughn Davis, a Coeur d’Alene man whose family reported him missing last fall. Davis, who was 44, was last seen by his family in July 2014. His sister in Texas reported him missing last November.

Ninth Circuit Court considers Duncan’s competency in death penalty appeal
Convicted murderer Joseph Duncan made it very clear he didn’t want to appeal his triple death sentence, U.S. Attorney for Idaho Wendy Olson told the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday. Olson noted that Duncan was ruled mentally competent to make that decision after an extensive hearing that the 9th Circuit ordered U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge to hold in 2013. Attorneys for Duncan are challenging the competency finding, and arguing that they should be able to proceed with an appeal they filed on his behalf.

In brief: Police seek Safeway credit union robber
Spokane police are looking for the man who robbed a north Spokane credit union around 9 a.m. Tuesday. The man entered the Safeway Federal Credit Union, 529 E. North Foothills Drive, dressed in dark clothing from head to toe, told a teller he had a gun and demanded cash, according to a police department news release. He also threatened a bank customer and stole his wallet.
Open valve spills sewage above lake
An estimated 900 to 2,700 gallons of raw sewage spilled last week from a sewage pump station being built above Hayden Lake.
Petition challenges Cabinet mine plan
Environmental groups have asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reassess the proposed Rock Creek Mine’s potential impacts to threatened grizzly bears and bull trout in the Cabinet Mountains.
Women sentenced for insurance fraud
A Deer Park woman recently was sentenced for insurance fraud after she pleaded guilty to filing several false medical insurance claims. Hollyanne E. Davis, 32, was ordered to pay $2,815 in restitution, perform 16 hours of community service and serve two years probation, according to a news release from the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner.

Suspect arrested in Phoenix-area shooting that killed 1
A gunman killed one person and wounded five others Wednesday in a rampage that included a motel shooting, a carjacking and a home invasion and ended with his arrest at a nearby apartment in suburban Phoenix.

Zombies show support in Olympia
Supporters of a state tax break for companies that film in Washington brought actors dressed as the undead from “Z-Nation” to Olympia on Tuesday, where they filmed a commercial on the Capitol campus, mugged for legislators and curious onlookers, and waved at children when the standard tour of the Legislative Building and Temple of Justice took youngsters past a makeshift set. Reaction from state officials was somewhat mixed to the bill the zombies are backing, which would phase in an increase for the film incentive program.

Drugmakers, U.K. launch Alzheimer’s venture fund
Major drugmakers, the British government and a top Alzheimer’s research charity are pooling more than $100 million to create a global fund to accelerate efforts to find a treatment or even a cure for the mind-robbing disease within a decade.

U.S. home construction plunges 17 percent in February
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that builders began construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 897,000 homes in February, a 17 percent plunge from January. Housing starts slid 56.5 percent in the Northeast and 37 percent in the Midwest. The brutal cold spell across the Northeast and Midwest likely caused construction activity to slow last month. Fewer would-be buyers are touring open houses, while consumers seem intent on using their savings at the gasoline pump to pay down debt instead of spending their gains on big-ticket items such as housing.
In brief: Silverwood Theme Park holding hiring fairs
Silverwood Theme Park will hold hiring fairs on Saturday and on March 28, looking to hire up to 1,400 people for seasonal jobs.
Kraft recalls mac and cheese
Kraft Foods is recalling about 6.5 million boxes of original-flavor Kraft Macaroni & Cheese because some of the boxes contain small pieces of metal. The boxes have “best when used by” dates ranging from Sept. 18, 2015, through Oct. 11, 2015, and are marked with the code “C2.” They were sold throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico, and in some countries in the Caribbean and South America. The recall covers 7.25 ounce boxes that were sold individually and in packs of three, four and five. It covers 242,000 cases of the product.
Jobless rate falls in 24 states
Unemployment rates fell in 24 states in January and rose in just eight, the latest evidence that hiring is strong across the country.
Facebook plans payment service
Facebook’s Messenger app will soon let you send your friends money, the latest in a crowded field of services aimed at an increasingly wireless and cashless generation.
Federal debt limit announced
After a year with no cap on government borrowing, the federal debt limit has come back into force.

Rivals, conservationists target Keurig coffeemakers
The controversy heated up when the company introduced its Keurig 2.0 last Christmas. Consumers complained about having to use only Keurig-affiliated brands, and environmentalists fumed about the steady stream of plastic pods to U.S. landfills.

Shawn Vestal: Gun rights advocates take risk by objecting to bill

Editorial: Alliance may protect Washington from military cuts

Trudy Rubin: GOP’s Iran letter carries with it some real risks

Small city, big food
Spokane was named one of six great small cities for food lovers by the Wall Street Journal last week. The Friday story spotlighted six local restaurants in six different categories: meat-centric gastropub Durkin’s Liquor Bar; chef-driven regional Italian restaurant Italia Trattoria; hipster Asian mash-up the Wandering Table; modern Southern, Casper Fry; old-school bistro Santé; and next-generation farm-to-table Mizuna.

Classic poule au pot helps you eat like a king
Classic French poule au pot – chicken in a pot – is made with a whole chicken, stuffed with seasoned bread and braised alongside vegetables in a Dutch oven.
Pared-Down French-Style Chicken in a Pot
Sausage Stuffing
Herb Sauce

The Seasonal Kitchen: Seeds of wisdom
Dating back to 3000 BC, caraway is one of the oldest cultivated spices. Caraway is native to Northern Africa, Western Asia and Europe. Today, it is commercially grown in Turkey, India, Egypt, Canada and several European countries, including Holland and Finland, which grows almost 30 percent of the world’s supply.
Aquavit Trout Lox & Kale Salad with Pickled Caraway Seeds, Lemon Shaved Ice “Vinaigrette” and Honey Whipped Mascarpone
Trout Grav Lox
Lemon Shaved Ice “Vinaigrette”
Pickled Mustard and Caraway Seeds
Honey Whipped Mascarpone
Rye Caraway Scones with Smoked Cheddar and Onions
Roasted Cauliflower with Caraway and Coriander
Harissa Paste
Easy Beet and Cabbage Kraut with Caraway

Quick, easy hallmarks of ‘One-Pot Dinners’
Easy Chicken with Tomatoes and Spinach
Country Chicken and Pasta Bake
Slow-Cooker Old-World Corned Beef and Vegetables

Obituary: Burnett, William D.
1 Feb 1943 - 11 Mar 2015     Republic

Obituary: Robinson, Agnes M. (McCormick)
19 Oct 1920 - 14 Mar 2015     Oakesdale, Garfield, Endicott, Palouse

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from Tea Party
[Information from this site may not be reliable.]


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from The Telegraph (UK)

Britons still live in Anglo-Saxon tribal kingdoms, Oxford University finds
A new genetic map of Britain shows that there has been little movement between areas of Britain which were former tribal kingoms in Anglo-Saxon England

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from The Western Center for Journalism
(Western Journalism)

Border Patrol Officer Tells Of Manipulation Of Border-Crossing Data By Obama Administration
A U.S. Border Patrol agent from the Rio Grande Valley Sector in Texas told lawmakers that his fellow agents are punished for reporting illegal alien groups of more than 20. “Agents who repeatedly report groups larger than 20 face retribution.

Here’s The Message A Famous Astronaut Is Sending To The Cosmos With This Epic Stonehenge Pic

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