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Friday, March 02, 2018

College dropout refuses to leave her dorm room

She loves the college life — just not the classes.

Hunter College is waging a court battle to evict a stubborn student who refuses to leave her dorm room some two years after dropping out.

Delaware native Lisa S. Palmer — who has not paid rent since 2016 — refuses to leave Room E579 at the school’s 425 E. 25th St. co-ed dormitory, according to an eviction lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.

The 32-year-old “racked up a staggering $94,000 in unpaid residence hall charges on account of her continued occupancy, all the while ignoring Hunter College’s service of additional vacate notices,” said the suit.

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American Pain Society Slams McCaskill Report on Opioids

The American Pain Society (APS) is "disappointed" with Senator Claire McCaskill's (D-MO) report on financial support for pain organizations from opioid manufacturers, charging that the report contains "simplistic, misleading and insulting conclusions regarding support that APS has received in recent years from the pharmaceutical industry."

"We are also disturbed that no one from the Senator's staff contacted APS to inquire and learn the truth about our policies and procedures governing industry grants. Had they done so, we would have explained in detail the educational and pain research initiatives APS continues to pursue to help resolve the opioid crisis," the APS said in a statement.

The McCaskill report, released February 12, found that five opioid manufacturers made contributions of nearly $9 million to 14 third-party pain advocacy groups between 2012 and 2017. The APS, the Academy of Integrative Pain Management, and the American Academy of Pain Medicine are among the groups mentioned in the report.

The report said initiatives from these groups often "echoed and amplified messages favorable to increased opioid use — and ultimately, the financial interests of opioid manufacturers."

It also charges these groups of issuing guidelines and policies "minimizing the risk of opioid addiction and promoting opioids for chronic pain, lobbied to change laws directed at curbing opioid use, and argued against accountability for physicians and industry executives responsible for overprescription and misbranding."

"The pharmaceutical industry spent a generation downplaying the risks of opioid addiction and trying to expand their customer base for these incredibly dangerous medications and this report makes clear they made investments in third-party organizations that could further those goals," McCaskill said in a statement.

"These financial relationships were insidious, lacked transparency, and are one of many factors that have resulted in arguably the most deadly drug epidemic in American history," she added.

The report also noted a lack of transparency, given that the advocacy groups are not obligated to disclose their donors publicly, an issue McCaskill said needs addressing.

"The financial relationships between these groups and opioid manufacturers should be clear to the general public," she said.
"Simplistic and Incorrect"

Woman arrested for filing false report of sex assault at Upstate frat

OCONEE COUNTY, SC (WSPA) – Oconee County Sheriff’s Office officials said a woman who reported that she was sexually assaulted at a fraternity house near Seneca has been charged with filing a false report.

According to a sheriff’s office news release, deputies were notified early Saturday morning by the Clemson University Police Department of a reported sexual assault that happened at the Delta Chi fraternity house.

Deputies spoke with the reported victim — Sarah Katherine Campbell, 18, of Herndon , Va. — and an investigation was started and turned over to the Criminal Investigations Unit.

During the investigation, it was determined that the sexual relations between Campbell and a male at the fraternity was consensual.

According to the sheriff’s office, Campbell had not been truthful when giving information to the investigator in the case.

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'Racially insensitive' gorilla statue removed from Texas park

A beloved gorilla statue in a Texas park has been removed by officials after some complained that it was 'racially insensitive'.

The caged statue had been a center piece at the park in Corsicana, south of Dallas, for two decades before it was taken away on Monday.

Corsicana Mayor Don Denbow had the 500-pound gorilla removed after receiving about 45 complaints.

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Clemson University Student Claimed Rape

Authorities arrested a Clemson University student Wednesday after they discovered she made false claims about a rape.

South Carolina’s Oconee County Sheriff’s Office arrested and charged 18-year-old Sarah Katherine Campbell for filing a false police report of a felony, the department announced in a press release.

Campbell reportedly alleged a fellow student raped her in January at the Delta Chi Fraternity House — an off-campus university frat house. The Criminal Investigations Unit of the Sheriff’s Office concluded the sexual act was consensual amid their investigation into the case.

“The investigation continued and evidence was gathered in the case; and based upon that evidence, it was determined that the sexual relations between Campbell and the male at the Fraternity House was consensual and that Campbell had not been truthful in the information that she provided to the investigator in the case,” the department noted.

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Ex-school bus driver convicted in fatal crash that killed 6 kids

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A former Tennessee school bus driver has been found guilty of six counts of criminally negligent homicide in a wreck that killed six children.

A Hamilton County Criminal Court jury returned the verdicts Thursday, convicting Johnthony Walker of lesser charges in the Nov. 21, 2016, crash in Chattanooga. He had been charged with vehicular homicide.

The Chattanooga Time Free Press reports that he also was convicted of 11 counts of reckless aggravated assault and seven counts of assault. He also was found guilty of reckless endangerment, reckless driving and using his phone.

Sentencing is scheduled for April 24.

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Uranium too: Did the Clintons finagle a twofer, including a land-grab?

Most sapient Americans—those who are skeptical of the mainstream media—know the outrageous but largely unreported story that Bill and Hillary Clinton, with the help of Obama officials and over congressional experts’ objections, allowed Russia to gain control of 20 percent of America’s uranium supplies.

What is unknown is whether the Clintons sweetened the deal for their Russian friends by engineering closure of a million federal acres of the nation’s best source of uranium. The “evidence” of such mischief is purely circumstantial, but it is disconcerting.

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WHAT''S GOING ON... Billy Graham daugthers' statement

This may have been around before but it is worth sharing with those I love again!! Sara

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?" (regarding the attacks on Sept. 11). Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?" In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school .... the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK. Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK. Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW." Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace. Are you laughing? Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they WILL think, of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

God bless you as you share it with friends. No Nation or people can ever survive or succeed without Jesus Christ.

Trump 'berated' Hope Hicks after her testimony

President Donald Trump reportedly 'berated' White House communications director Hope Hicks after she admitted telling 'white lies' for the president during her testimony to the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.

A source made the revelation to CNN's Erin Burnett just hours after it was announced that Hicks would be departing the White House in the coming weeks, leaving a giant hole in the inner circle Trump trusts most.

Burnett claims an angry Trump asked Hicks after her testimony 'how she could be so stupid.

'Apparently, that was the final straw for Hope Hicks,' Burnett claimed.

But White House spokesman Hogan Gidley called the report that Trump berated her 'false'.

Hicks spent nine hours on Tuesday testifying before the House Intelligence Committee and parrying questions about the Trump campaign's alleged contacts with Russian nationals.

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Pizza Hut replaces Papa John's as NFL Sponsor

Pizza Hut will take over the NFL pizza-sponsorship deal abandoned by Papa John’s International Inc., betting that it can revive its allure by teaming up with the increasingly controversial league.

Pizza Hut’s multiyear deal gives it collective use of all 32 teams logos, and the NFL will work closely with the chain on local team partnerships, according to a joint statement Wednesday.

Papa John’s -- unhappy over declining ratings and the handling of players’ national anthem protests -- said Tuesday it was ending its deal across the whole league that had been in place since 2010, and would focus on marketing with 22 specific teams. The opening provides an opportunity for Pizza Hut’s parent, Yum! Brands Inc., which has sought to burnish the pizza chain’s image after years of sluggish sales.

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Kentucky and Florida takes initial steps to arm teachers

An eastern Kentucky high school is working to formalize a program that will allow teachers to begin carrying guns in school.

Under the proposals teachers with the proper certifications will be entitled to carry weapons.

Florida legislators have also approved a school marshal program that will allow teachers to be armed. Both states have this year had to deal with school shootings.

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Relatives of Casey Kasem, Mickey Rooney, Glen Campbell to urge Maryland lawmakers to protect visitation rights

Kerri Kasem would like to see Marylanders spared the ordeal she went through during the final years of her famous father’s life.

Before nationally known radio host Casey Kasem died in 2014 at age 82, his daughter was locked in an emotional and legal battle with her stepmother over access to him. She claimed her stepmother, Jean Kasem, had barred her, other relatives and Kasem’s closest friends from seeing him as he was struggling with Lewy body dementia.

It turned out California law was on the stepmother’s side. Kerri Kasem said all the judge could do was to urge the family to go into the hallway and “figure it out.”

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AG Sessions Responds To Trump's Twitter Taunt

It looks like all those Saturday Night Live sketches portraying Jeff Sessions as an obsequious diminutive imp have gotten to the attorney general.

In a stiffly-worded response to President Trump - who earlier today castigated the AG for ordering the Justice Department's inspector general, an Obama-era holdover, to investigate FISA abuses - Sessions defended his handling of the FISA investigation by saying he followed the "appropriate process" by ordering the IG to investigate and that, as long as he remains attorney general, he will "continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor."


AG SESSIONS STATEMENT: “We have initiated the appropriate process that will ensure complaints against this Department will be fully and fairly acted upon if necessary...." (1/2) https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/968856971075051521 

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Trump Blasts Sessions "Disgraceful" Investigation Into FISA Abuses

After a months-long detente between President Trump and his attorney general, former Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, it appearstensions between the two men are flaring up once again.

Trump supplied one of his harshest rebukes of Sessions in a mid-morning tweet, castigating him for asking the Inspector General - an "Obama guy", according to Trump - to "investigate potentially massive FISA abuse".

Trump said the investigation will "take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn't the IG an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!"

Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!

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What Civil Unrest Is Really Like: We Survived The Ferguson Riots

When I mention the year 2014 do any events stand out in your mind? Some of you may think of births of family members or special anniversaries or incredible vacations that you took. You know the kind, the ones you wish you could take every year because they were just that amazing? Yeah, I love those too.

But when I think of 2014, two things come to mind. Let’s start with the second event.

We moved (usually a fun thing) in November of 2014.

But the reason we moved was because of another event that began in August of 2014 and continued through the end of 2014 and beyond. The first thing that I will always think of when I hear, “the year 2014” are the images of destruction from my town of Ferguson, Missouri – images of the riots that we saw and experienced first hand while driving down streets where ruin ran rampant (say that five times fast).

Businesses were destroyed. Personal property was demolished. It wasn’t even safe to leave your house depending on where in Ferguson you lived.

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Warren could easily resolve Indian mystery

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is doubling down on her claims to Native American ancestry — and on her outrage.

She recently pointed to the Oval Office portrait of President Andrew Jackson as “offensive” because it honors “a man who did his best to wipe out Native people.”

Funny: Just three years ago, Warren was the keynote speaker at a 2015 Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner, such events being commonplace for the party that Jackson founded.

The blond-haired, blue-eyed Massachusetts Democrat seems to think that going on the offensive is her best strategyfor answering President Trump’s “Pocahontas” taunts, which refer to the “Fauxcahontas” charges she’s faced since her first run for the Senate.

Her problem is that she first started publicly presenting herself as Native American back when her academic career had stalled — and seemed to benefit from the claim of minority status when she wound up becoming Harvard Law School’s first tenured “Indian” professor.

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Report: John Kelly 'Increasingly Frustrated' with Ivanka Trump, Believes She's 'Playing Government'

President Trump’s Chief of Staff, Gen. John Kelly, is becoming “increasingly frustrated” with first daughter Ivanka Trump and believes she is “playing government,” according to a source who spoke anonymously with CNN.

In a CNN report based on anonymous sources out of the Trump White House, insiders allege that Kelly is not a fan of Ivanka’s role in the administration, where she acts as first daughter and also a senior adviser to the president.

CNN reports:

Meanwhile, Kelly has grown increasingly frustrated with Ivanka Trumpsince he entered the West Wing last July, people familiar with the situation say. He often feels that she tries to have it both ways, acting as a senior adviser to the president when it suits her and then as his daughter when it doesn’t. Kelly has remarked privately that Ivanka is just “playing government,” one source said, and has largely brushed aside her agenda, once disregarding her child tax credit as “a pet project.” [Emphasis added]

Another source familiar with the President’s thinking says Ivanka’s influence on his decision making has been exaggerated. He generally doesn’t heed her advice when it comes to serious policy debates, as he didn’t when he made the decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. But she is looked at in the West Wing as one of few people who can soothe the President when he is indignant or angry. [Emphasis added]

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This K-9 can absolutely FLY!

U.S. pending home sales slide 4.7 percent in January

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Contracts to buy previously owned homes unexpectedly declined in January to their lowest level in more than three years, another sign that the housing market appears to be losing some momentum.

The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday its pending home sales index dropped to a reading of 104.6, down 4.7 percent from the prior month. December’s index was also downwardly revised to 109.8.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast pending home sales rising 0.3 percent last month.

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Delmarva Power Outage Map 3-2-18 2pm