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Saturday, June 14, 2014

National Guard Not Welcome This Time At San Francisco LGBT Pride Weekend; Chelsea Manning Is

Organizers of San Francisco’s pride weekend festivities have yanked the welcome mat away from the National Guard, voting to ban the Guard from setting up a booth at the festival.

The decision comes at the same time Pride organizers are allowing a controversial Army private who leaked military secrets to be honorary grand marshal.

The board of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee rejected a request from the Guard to set up an informational booth at Civic Center Plaza during Pride Weekend.

Last year, the National Guard had a booth at Pride Weekend for the first time – staffed by gay soldiers – following the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. The Guard was also welcomed at Pride events in Los Angeles and San Diego.

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Another white motorist beaten by black mob in Detroit

No one helped Nate Szczerbinski as large crowd watched attack

In a city consistently ranked as one of America’s most violent, a white suburban-Detroit resident is recovering in the hospital, claiming he was beaten by a black mob after a traffic accident.

The June 7 incident comes only two months after a white, 54-year-old suburban-Detroit motorist was attacked by a black mob in a similar racially motivated assault.

But don’t expect to see either story covered by the national press, Colin Flaherty, author of the book “White Girl Bleed A Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It,” told WND.

“There’s a media blackout of these types of stories out of Detroit, and frankly, every American city. The media jumps on any instance of a white individual attacking a black person, but in this case it was a white male being attacked by a large group of black people,” said Flaherty.

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Did The IRS Really Lose Lois Lerner's Emails? Let a Special Prosecutor Find Them

A sloppy mistake, the government calls it, but you couldn't blame a person for suspecting a cover-up -- the loss of an untold number of emails to and from the central figure in the IRS tea party controversy. And, because the public's trust is a fragile gift that the White House has frittered away in a series of second-term missteps, President Obama needs to act.

If the IRS can't find the emails, maybe a special prosecutor can.

The announcement came late Friday, a too-cute-by-half cliche of a PR strategy to mitigate backlash. "The IRS told Congress it cannot locate many of Lois Lerner's emails prior to 2011 because her computer crashed during the summer of that year," The Associated Press reported.

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Iraq Insurgent Advance Slows, U.S. Sends Carrier To Gulf

An offensive by insurgents that threatens to dismember Iraq seemed to slow on Saturday after days of lightning advances as government forces regained some territory in counter-attacks, easing pressure on the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad.
 

As Iraqi officials spoke of wresting back the initiative against Sunni militants, neighboring Shi'ite Iran held out the prospect of working with its longtime U.S. arch-enemy to help restore security in Iraq.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday he was reviewing military options, short of sending troops, to combat the insurgency.

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Would You Recognize a Missing Child?

Brewer to Congress: ‘Stop Obama’s manufactured crisis’

Arizona governor Tweets plea to secure border to Boehner, Reid

WASHINGTON –
After an earlier call to the White House to end its “dangerous” policy of dropping off hundreds of illegal immigrants apprehended in Texas in her own state, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer Thursday evening tweeted out a plea to congressional leadership to stop what she called a “crisis manufactured by President Obama.”

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Whooping Cough Reaches Epidemic Level In California

The number of whooping cough cases in the Los Angeles area and throughout California has reached epidemic proportions, state health officials said Friday.

The California Department of Public Health said in a statement released Friday that more than 800 cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, have been reported over the past two weeks. As of June 10, there have been 3,458 cases -- more than in all of 2013.

CBS Los Angeles and KNX 1070 news radio report health officials say more than 85 percent of those who have contracted pertussis had preventative shots.

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Interactive Maps: See Where 4 STDs Are Most Rampant

Scroll over each state to see the rates of STDs per 100k people

Earlier this year, the CDC released a report on STDs in the U.S. that showed slight increases in nearly all strains.

The yearly report provides only a snapshot of the numbers, since many cases of STDs covered in the report like chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis go unreported. Among all three STDs, only congenital syphilis (syphilis present at birth), have gone down. Research engine FindTheBest took the CDC numbers and created these interactive maps for TIME out of the data.

Scroll over your own state and check out the STD rate.

Gonorrhea

How Part-Time Jobs Became the New Normal for Millions

Marsadeise Barginere, a food service worker in Cleveland, has had her hours cut from full-time to part-time. She’s not alone. Luke Perfect “barely scrape(s) by” at his job in a Subway in Maine. Nonetheless his employer will also put him on part-time status once Obamacare takes effect.

Workers all across America have seen their hours cut. Just search for “work hours cut” on Twitter to see them sharing their frustration. Shorter workweeks and part-time jobs have become the new normal for millions of low-income Americans.

Of course, employers usually reduce work hours in times of economic distress, then increase them once the crisis passes. That’s exactly what happened in the most recent recession … for workers in the middle three income quintiles. But the recovery never happened for workers in the bottom fifth of the wage distribution. Their hours fell and did not come back.

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Brain Tumor


Border Patrol Changing Diapers, Heating Baby Formula For Surge Of Children

Gil Kerlikowske, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said Friday that many of the illegal immigrant children his agents are encountering trying to slip across the U.S.-Mexico border have never even seen a doctor before.

He described scenes of Border Patrol agents changing diapers and heating baby formula in order to care for some of the youngest children, and said agents are being asked to do things way beyond their skill set — particularly for so many of the agents who are young, single men.

“I’ve been down there, a lot, and spent a lot of time and I’ve seen these agents doing incredible things,” he said.

The commissioner was pushing back against a complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and several immigrant-rights groups this week charging that agents and officers have been neglecting or abusing many of the children, verbally or physically.

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FORMER CONGRESSMAN BARTLETT ENDORSES CRAIG!

June 11th, Republican candidate and Harford County Executive David Craig, announced that former Congressman Roscoe Bartlett endorsed his campaign for governor. "I am honored to have Congressman Bartlett's endorsement. He ably served the citizens of Western Maryland for 20 years and understands the need for smaller government that takes less from taxpayers and upholds the Constitution" said Craig.
Read more about the endorsement at www.davidcraig.com or read it from the Washington Post by clicking HERE.

Known Gang Members Among Thousands Of Illegal Immigrant Children Storming The U.S.

  • U.S. Border Patrol stations are currently overrun with thousands of children entering the country illegally and unattended
  • Some of the minors crossing the border, including teenagers, have been sporting gang tattoos
  • Officers have been told to treat these potential gang members like any other child entering the country
  • Most of these children are being reunited with their parents or other family members already in the U.S.
  • An estimated 47,000 children have crossed into the U.S. illegally since the beginning of this year
  • Border Patrol officers have been told by superior not to talk to the media about the issue
  • Democrat congressman took the images at a holding center in south Texas to highlight the terrible conditions
  • Border patrol officers tell MailOnline that they are so overwhelmed they are 'quarantining' the sick kids with police evidence tape
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Rand Paul: Secure the Border

I am for immigration reform because I am against allowing 12 million more illegal immigrants into our country. If we do nothing, 12 million more illegal immigrants will come. We must be in favor of reform—smart reform that starts with border security.

Characterizing that position as "amnesty" is simply untrue.

What we have now is a lawless border. Current policy is a beacon for more illegal immigrants. The Obama administration’s lawless executive orders legalizing people who came here illegally will only encourage more illegal immigration—unless we act now with real, strong, verifiable border security.

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Pentagon Studying Protesters To Prep For ‘Mass Civil Breakdown’

The Department of Defense has disbursed some funds to universities so that scientists might study the dynamics of civil unrest — and how the U.S. military might best respond.

It’s called the “Minerva Research Initiative,” and it’s a program that was kicked off in 2008 to “improve DoD’s basic understanding of the social, cultural, behavioral and political forces that shape regions of the world of strategic importance to the U.S.,” The Guardian reported.

More to point: the multi-million dollar research program seeks to uncover “warfighter-relevant insights” to help senior ranking officials in the “defense policy community” come up with “combatant commands” that work in civil unrest situations, The Guardian reported.

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Bank Of America: "A Slowdown In National Home Prices Is Coming"

The gain in home prices has been widespread, with prices up on an annual basis in all 20 metropolitan areas surveyed. However, the improvement has been particularly notable in certain markets, which have disproportionately pulled up the national composite. The areas with the fastest home price appreciation have generally been those that have attracted the greatest amount of investor buying. As investor demand wanes in these markets, home price appreciation slows.

Surfs up

The trend in home prices in California is particularly important when gauging the risks to national home prices.

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Acting VA Secretary Promises Protections For Agency Whistleblowers

Acting Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson issued a message Friday to all VA employees saying he will not tolerate retaliation against workers who expose misconduct and other problems within the agency.

“Protecting employees from reprisal is a moral obligation of VA leaders, a statutory obligation and a priority for this department,” Gibson said. “We will take prompt action to hold accountable those engaged in conduct identified as reprisal for whistleblowing, and that action includes disciplinary action.”

The message came roughly one week after the Office of Special Counsel, a federal investigative and prosecutorial agency that protects federal employees, said it investigating claims of retaliation against 37 whistleblowers, including workers who tried to report actions relating to the agency’s recent scheduling scandal. The complaints include allegations that managers demoted, suspended and otherwise punished employees who tried to expose inappropriate record-keeping practices at VA hospitals, OSC said.

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Ex-border agents: Immigrant flood ‘orchestrated’

'We are not gullible enough to believe thousands came without aid and assistance'

An organization of former Border Patrol agents Wednesday charged that the federal government, under the administration of President Obama, is deliberately arranging for a flood of immigrant children to arrive in America for political purposes.

“This is not a humanitarian crisis. It is a predictable, orchestrated and contrived assault on the compassionate side of Americans by her political leaders that knowingly puts minor illegal alien children at risk for purely political purposes,” said the statement released by the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers.

“Certainly, we are not gullible enough to believe that thousands of unaccompanied minor Central American children came to America without the encouragement, aid and assistance of the United States government,” the officers said.

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How Many Can You Name?


HUMPHRIES: OK. What is the tea party revolution really about?

Liberals have been trying to connect the drug-addicted, cop-killing lunatics in Las Vegas to the tea party because they threw a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag on one of their victims.

No serious and decent person has to apologize for the actions of madmen. We can’t have a discussion about anything in this country — heck, we can’t have freedom — if one side of the Great National Debate has to begin by proving they’re not unhinged Joker wannabees who are just one bad day away from going on a killing spree.

Murder, insanity and anarchy are not the same thing as rebellion. The primary in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District Tuesday night was a rebellion. A hopelessly underfunded tea party candidate named Dave Brat won the Republican nomination from Eric Cantor, a seven-term incumbent and the House majority leader, who outspent him by more than 10-to-1. Resistance to legalizing illegal aliens was a big issue in the campaign, and the wave of young illegal immigrants surging across the border is a big story in the news, but it was about more than that. Brat criticized Cantor for spending too much time on national matters and taking care of his political career instead of listening to his constituents.

It’s not just Virginia: People in every state feel like politicians just aren’t listening to them anymore.

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SPD Calls For Service 6-13-14

  • Friday June, 13 2014 @ 20:24Nature: Medical EmergencyCity:Salisbury
  • Friday June, 13 2014 @ 20:08 Nature: Smoke / Co DetectorAddress: 1304 Edgemont Ave Salisbury, MD 21801
  • Friday June, 13 2014 @ 18:56 Nature: Structure FireAddress: 8645 Juliet Ln Delmar, MD 21875
  • Friday June, 13 2014 @ 16:42Nature: Medical EmergencyCity:Salisbury
  • Friday June, 13 2014 @ 14:52Nature: Medical EmergencyCity:Salisbury
  • Friday June, 13 2014 @ 13:19Nature: Medical EmergencyCity:Salisbury
  • Friday June, 13 2014 @ 12:52Nature: Medical EmergencyCity:Salisbury
  • Friday June, 13 2014 @ 12:35Nature: Medical EmergencyCity:Salisbury
  • Friday June, 13 2014 @ 11:36Nature: Medical EmergencyCity:Salisbury
  • Friday June, 13 2014 @ 10:03Nature: Medical EmergencyCity:Salisbury
  • Friday June, 13 2014 @ 09:55Nature: Medical EmergencyCity:Salisbury
  • Friday June, 13 2014 @ 08:28Nature: Medical EmergencyCity:Salisbury
  • Friday June, 13 2014 @ 05:54Nature: Medical EmergencyCity:Salisbury

Study: Obamacare Costs Are Crippling Business

If the hope is for real, sustained recovery, the still-healing U.S. economy can't afford the Affordable Care Act, according to a new analysis.

The costs imposed by the ACA, better known as Obamacare, on small business will hurt hiring, employee compensation, and business growth, according to the report by National Center for Policy Analysis Senior Fellow Devon Herrick.

The NCPA is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization based in Dallas.

"The Affordable Care Act contains sweeping changes to the employer-sponsored health insurance market," Herrick said. "Though it was promoted as a way to lessen the problems small businesses experience in providing health coverage, many business owners report that the law is increasing their burdens."

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'Operation Hire' Looks For Good Employers

Almost 80 businesses and national, state and local agencies are participating in a statewide challenge to employ Maryland veterans.

“Operation Hire” is a 100-day campaign in which companies and agencies compete to hire the most veterans through specific initiatives, such as sharing job openings through the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs’ electronic mailing list, according to Dana Hendrickson, the department’s outreach and advocacy director.

“We don’t believe anything like this has taken place at the state level,” Hendrickson said.

As of Friday, 78 companies and agencies across the state signed up for the challenge, including Frederick’s Imagilin Technology LLC and the Maryland State Police.

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House GOP Represents More Low-Wage Workers Than Democrats

Low-income workers are more likely to be represented by a Republican in Congress than a Democrat, according to a new study that shows debates around the minimum wage and income inequality are not localized concerns.

Nearly one in five U.S. workers earns $11.50 an hour or less, according to datareleased this week by Oxfam America which supports efforts to raise the minimum wage. Of those 24 million people, about 55% live in districts represented by Republicans.

Oxfam, an anti-poverty nonprofit group, said an employee earning less than $11.50 an hour would likely receive a raise if the federal pay floor was lifted to $10.10 an hour from a $7.25 rate. More conservative economists have said minimum-wage increases could limit the ability of those making slightly more than the wage floor to receive raises.

President Barack Obama supports an increase to the $10.10 level, but efforts to pass such a law fizzed in Congress this spring.

The Oxfam study calculated the number of low-income workers in each Congressional district.

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Donald Sterling Hires Investigators

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling's team of lawyers has hired four private investigation firms to dig up dirt on the NBA's former and current commissioners and its 29 other owners, said a person familiar with Sterling's legal strategy.

Investigators were given a six-figure budget over the next 30 days to examine the league's finances, allegations of previous discriminatory conduct and compensation to past Commissioner David Stern and current Commissioner Adam Silver, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday night on condition of anonymity. The person wasn't authorized to talk publicly.

The person said the investigators also are looking into whether other owners made any off-color jokes, or racist or sexist remarks.

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Ocean City Does A Great Job Encouraging The Use Of Crosswalks

This morning I had to go into Ocean City, (something I hate to do during the summer) and was very pleased to see all the "tourons" using the Crosswalks.

Mind you, driving in and out with the Idiot drivers from Pennsylvania was stressful enough, (oh look, a chicken) but am pleased to be back in West Ocean City where Life Is Good. 

It's a perfect beach day. There's a nice breeze and O.C. doesn't seem too packed. 

Teen Unemployment In Major U.S. Cities Tops 50%

Old timers often say that the young people in the U.S. today don’t have the work ethic of their predecessors. This may be true, but is this perceived weakness a symptom of a greater problem? Has the opportunity for many young people to find employment diminished, and thus made it harder for them to learn the necessary work ethic on the job?

Before we try to answer that question, let’s examine some evidence from a new analysis by the Employment Policy Institute (EPI) that shows unemployment among teens without a high school diploma is greater than 50% in two very large cities. CNS News reports:

Using U.S. Census Bureau data from May 2013 to April 2014, the analysis reveals that in Riverside-San Bernardino area of Southern California, the unemployment rate for teenagers 16 to 19 years old who don’t have a high school diploma is 54.2 percent.

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Man Cuts Open Truck To Save Kitten

A hitchhiking feline in Florida has a 50-year-old truck owner to thank for her unusual rescue.

Errand Frazier of Vero Beach wasn't quite sure what to do at first when he heard purring coming from his Chevy pickup, parked outside his house in late May. He couldn't see anything and wasn't sure exactly where it was, or even what type of animal was in there. So, he left an open can of cat food under one of the tires and set up a camera to try to get to the bottom of it.

When he came back the next morning, the food was gone, but there was nothing on the video, he said.

Thinking he had lost his mind, he went on an impromptu fishing trip to clear his head. When he got to the canal, the purring started again.

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Clinton's Popularity Plunges As Obama 'Contagion' Spreads

In December 2012, 70% of those polled viewed Hillary Clinton favorably; in March 2014 it was down to 56%; and now, as President Obama's approval rating hits record lows, only 52% view Hillary Clinton favorably. "She is down across the board," notes the poll, "even with groups that have been her most ardent supporters." As Bloomberg reports, among likely 2016 voters,Clinton remains ahead with 47% support compared to 38% for each of her potential opponents.

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NFPA reports sharp increase in 2013 U.S. firefighter fatalities

Spike to 97 firefighter fatalities is primarily attributed to Yarnell Hill, AZ, fire and West, TX, fertilizer fire

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reported a total of 97 on-duty firefighter deaths in 2013, reflecting a sharp increase over the past few years. According to NFPA’s 2013 U.S. Firefighter Fatalities report, last year’s increase is largely attributed to the Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona and the West, Texas fertilizer fire that together claimed the lives of 28 firefighters.

The annual report was officially released today at NFPA’s 2014 Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.

Overall, firefighter death rates have declined in recent years. In fact, 2012 represented the second lowest level of firefighter deaths in 35 years,” said Dr. Rita Fahy, NFPA’s manager of fire databases and systems. “What we saw in 2013 was a spike due to two major incidents, with wildfires playing a significant role in the overall firefighter death toll.”

The Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona killed 19 firefighters making it the deadliest incident for firefighters since 9/11. The fire at a fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, claimed the lives of nine firefighters along with an EMT and five local residents, making it the fourth-highest loss-of-life incident for firefighters since 1977.

Teen Dies in Ocean City Rip Current

A 17-year-old male dies at Atlantic General Hospital after being rescued from a rip current in Ocean City.

The victim had been swimming near the 92nd Street Beach. He got caught in a rip current and had to be rescued.

His name has not been released.

Ocean City spokeswoman Jessica Waters says 30 swimmers from various agencies were involved in the rescue: the Ocean City Beach Patrol, the Ocean City Fire Department, the Coast Guard, Maryland Natural Resources Police and Maryland State Police.

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Calls For Dad

HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 6-14-14

Collecting Canning House Tokens

Most of the collectors of canning house tokens started out as coin collectors. During our quest for filling the next empty spot in the always present Whitman album, we found that the cost of that coin was prohibitive to our budget. It was at the monthly meeting of our local club and the subsequent auction that I first encountered canning house tokens. An elderly gentleman put a 2 x 2 manila envelope with 7 tokens in it on the board. I had never seen anything like them and inquired of the gentleman what they were. He informed me that they were the same as money to the workers in the various canning houses. These were some of the oldest of the tokens and were used for picking peaches in the Linkwood, Md. area. I won them in the auction for the princely sum of $1.75. That began a 35 year search for that next token. Coin dealers held them in such low esteem that frequently they just put them in a junk box and anything in it could be had for a quarter. As any collector knows, acquiring something new is thrilling, whether it is an expensive coin or a cheap token.

At the time I began, there were only about 5 canning house token collectors on the Shore and we were all from different counties. In the early days, almost everybody had a large amount of a few tokens. A swap with another collector usually entailed him showing you his doubles and you offering your doubles to him. There was never any price discussed and when we each had what we wanted from the other collector’s stash, we agreed that it was a good trade and each went our own way.

Lee Burton was working in Baltimore at the time and attending the larger coin shows. He had the opportunity to acquire some early tokens fromBaltimore at prices far more reasonable than coins. He also picked up some oyster shucking tokens. These are “go-withs” to canning house tokens because a lot of the businesses that handled tomatoes in the summer used them for oyster shucking in the winter. Since there were over a thousand canneries on the Eastern Shore over the years and about 250 at the peak of the industry, there are a lot of tokens to look for. Mr. Burton’s book has been the bible for Eastern Shore cannery token collectors. He covered many a mile compiling all the information contained in that book. The original run of 1,500 copies was reduced by 200 lost in a fire at the publisher’s. The remaining copies have become an expensive collectible in their own right.

Tokens have taken on a life of their own, with prices reflecting this. Even a common token found in an antique shop is so overpriced from what I remember in the early days of collecting canning house tokens. I still get fired up about a new acquisition even though I haven’t found a new one in three years. Collecting tokens is the same as collecting coins except for the fact that I could never get a coin of any great rarity because of the price. I have several tokens that are the only ones known and that is what it is all about.

The Maryland book doesn’t cover the Eastern Shore canneries very well, but the supplements that have come out recently list almost all the canneries not covered in the original book.

There are also brass tokens that were used instead of paper chits by more affluent growers for paying the pickers in the fields. These go nicely in any canning house token collection.

Gansler Campaign To File Complaint Against Brown-Ulman After Primary

The gubernatorial campaign for Attorney General Douglas Gansler plans to file a campaign finance violation complaint against both the Brown-Ulman campaign and a political action committee that has spent money attacking Gansler.

The complaint will be filed June 25 — the day after the primary election — and is based on recently filed campaign finance reports that show chief fundraisers for gubernatorial frontrunners Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown and running mate Ken Ulman have been consulting for a PAC that is running attack ads against Brown’s biggest rival, Gansler.

While it is not against state campaign finance law to do so, any coordination or cooperation between the two parties that is related to the ads could be. The Brown campaign denies the allegations, saying any alleged violations of election rules would be “factually inaccurate.”

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Dad's Eat Free @ The Irish Penny Pub & Grill


Markell to sign bill banning e-cigarettes for minors

Governor Jack Markell will sign legislation banning e-cigarettes for minors on Thursday.

The bi-partisan piece of legislation treats the sale and purchase of electronic cigarettes in Delaware the same as regular tobacco when it comes to minors.

E-cigarettes are not currently regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but in April the agency proposed to extend its authority to include e-cigarettes.

In Delaware, the legislation would be enforced by the state's Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement and anyone caught selling or purchasing the product would be subject to the same punishments and fines associated with the sale of normal tobacco.

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Proposed fund would give parents school cash

Parents would be able to spend the money that goes to their public school as they see fit under a new bill proposed in the legislature.

While they acknowledge it is unlikely to pass this session, the Republican leaders who proposed the bill say parents deserve more control in their children's education.

Called the "Parent Empowerment Education Savings Account Act," HB 353 would allow parents to place a percentage of the per-student funding that goes to a public school into accounts with the state treasurer's office. They could then spend the money from those accounts on whatever educational purposes they choose, as long as they do not enroll their student in a public school.

"We always talk about how, in Delaware, the money follows the child. But that's only true within the government schools," said House Minority Whip Deborah Hudson, one of the bill's sponsors. "That unnecessarily limits some kids, and we want to change that."

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DelDOT Updates I-495 Bridge Status

Wilmington -- I-495 Bridge Closure Update

The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) announces an update on the status of the bridge closure on I-495.

Work to tie the existing sets of support piers together to further stabilize the bridge continued today. Materials needed to construct the new underground support columns are also arriving at the site. The first drilling equipment is scheduled to be on site and in operation tomorrow.

DelDOT published to its I-495 project web site (I-495 Project Page) the following Frequently Asked Questions document to assist the public in understanding the reason for the closure, the plan to reopen the bridge and the traffic configurations made necessary by the closing.

Processed Meat Hikes Men's Heart Risk: Study

Hey, guys, listen up: Steaks may be a safer bet heart-wise than hot dogs and salami, a new study suggests.

Men who regularly eat processed red meats may raise their risk of developing heart failure and dying from it, Swedish researchers say.

And as consumption of processed red meats goes up, the study concluded, so does the risk for heart failure, which means the heart can't pump blood as well as it should.

Men who ate roughly 2.6 ounces a day -- the equivalent of 2 or 3 slices of ham -- of processed red meats had a 28 percent higher risk of heart failure and more than twice the risk of death from heart failure compared with men who ate less than one ounce of processed meat daily, the researchers found.

However, the study doesn't prove a steady diet of bacon or ham will cause heart failure, it can only point to an association, said one expert not involved in the research.

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Unintended Consequences Of Obama's Student Loan Policies

So this week, ...

His new policies on student loans include greater access to both payment reductions and loan forgiveness.

And, needless to say, his Rose Garden speech oozed election year politics.

As the Boston Herald put it: “This is nothing more than politics as official policy … the president’s shout-out to U.S. Rep. John Tierney, a vulnerable Democrat, at yesterday’s White House ceremony was just one of the clues.”

To be clear, student debt has become a huge problem that demands attention. Alongside other challenges, such as finding a decent job in a stagnant economy, student borrowers face daunting payment burdens that they’re failing to meet at record rates.

But the problem requires more than just a political instinct to bail out a wide swath of the voting public.

In a better world, policymakers would take a cold, hard look at the effects of federally-funded student loan programs, including the good and the bad. Here are a few such observations that you’re unlikely to hear from your president:

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There's A Lot Of Support For California Ruling Against Teacher Tenure Laws

A potentially landmark decision from a California court earlier this week has garnered significant praise after a judge ruled against the state's teacher tenure laws, stating that they violate a child's right to education as guaranteed by the state's constitution.

The contentious California laws granted teachers tenure eligibility after only 18 months on the job and tied layoffs to seniority rather than merit — a system called "Last In, First Out" or LIFO. Most states have tenure reviews for teachers after two to three years.

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Teacher delivers talk on 'toxic culture of education'

Fed up and fired up, algebra teacher Josh Katz this spring took to the stage for a 17-minute denouncement of what he called the "toxic culture of education" in Florida's public schools.

Since then, nearly 30,000 people on YouTube have viewed the University High School teacher's impassioned attack on high-stakes testing, Common Core academic standards, private education companies and the false "narrative" that "public schools are teeming with horrible teachers."

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Guy films airport video 'All By Myself'