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WASHINGTON -- Justice Clarence Thomas stunned lawyers, reporters and others at the Supreme Court on Monday when he posed questions during an oral argument for the first time in 10 years.

 It was the second week the court has heard arguments since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, Thomas' friend and fellow conservative. Thomas for years sat directly to Scalia's right. Scalia's chair is now draped in black in a tribute to his death on Feb. 13.

 Thomas' questions came in case in which the court is considering placing new limits on the reach of a federal law that bans people convicted of domestic violence from owning guns.

 With about 10 minutes left in the hourlong session, Justice Department lawyer Ilana Eisenstein was about to sit down after answering a barrage of questions from other justices. Thomas then caught her by surprise, asking whether the violation of any other law "suspends a constitutional right."

 Thomas's unusual silence over the years has become a curiosity over the years. Thomas has previously said he relies on the written briefs and doesn't need to ask questions of the lawyers appearing in court.

 Thomas last asked a question in court on Feb. 22, 2006. He has come under criticism for his silence from some who say he is neglecting his duties as a justice. The 10-year milestone of his courtroom silence came just days after Scalia's death. Thomas was one of only two people invited by Scalia's family to recite a prayer during the funeral Mass on Feb. 20.

 In 2013, Thomas did speak briefly in court, when he interrupted Scalia, inquiring about whether Ivy League lawyers had properly represented a client.

 The official court transcript only picked up four words of Thomas' remarks -- "well he did not" -- and according to CBS News' Jan Crawford, Thomas appeared to be suggesting that an Ivy League degree did not necessarily mean the lawyer was qualified.

 Thomas' public silence dates back to long before his days on the court. In his memoir, he wrote that he did not like speaking up in college because he was self-conscious about his unusual southern Georgia dialect.

 But in 2007, Thomas defended his choice to remain mum behind the bench on "60 Minutes," telling Steve Kroft that his silence was not due to insecurity or fear.

 "Justice Marshall rarely asked questions. Justice Powell rarely asked questions. That's a personal preference. I certainly wouldn't do it to provide histrionics for the media gallery or for other people or for critics," Justice Thomas insisted. "Critics will always be critics," he added.

 Few reporters showed up Monday for arguments in the first case, in which the justices considered appeals from two Maine men who say their guilty pleas for hitting their partners should not disqualify them from gun ownership. The men say the law should only cover intentional acts of abuse and not those committed in the heat of an argument.

 During the first 45 minutes of the argument, most of the justices appeared to favor the government's position that even reckless acts of domestic assault fall under the law. Thomas did not pose questions to Virginia Villa, the lawyer arguing on behalf of the two men.

 But Thomas peppered Eisenstein with several questions about Second Amendment gun rights, a topic no other justice had asked about. He noted that the law allows someone convicted of a misdemeanor assault charge to get a lifetime ban on possessing a gun "which at least as of now results in suspension of a constitutional right."

 "The suspension is not directly related to the use of a weapon?" Thomas asked.

 Eisenstein said he was correct, but that Congress passed the law to prevent people accused of domestic violence from later using weapons against a family member. She noted that violating other laws can in some cases limit a person's free speech rights. Thomas then asked how long the suspension of the right to own a firearm lasts.

 Eisenstein said it was indefinite.

 In one of the cases, Stephen Voisine pleaded guilty in 2003 to simple assault after slapping his girlfriend in the face while he was intoxicated. In 2009, an anonymous caller reported that Voisine had shot a bald eagle with a rifle. He was then convicted under the gun law.

 The other case involves William Armstrong III, who pleaded guilty to simple assault in 2002 after pushing his wife during an argument and leaving a "red mark." Eight years later, police searching Armstrong's home discovered six firearms and ammunition. ||||| Clarence Thomas Breaks 10 Years of High Court Silence WASHINGTON (CN) - The death of Justice Antonin Scalia promises to change the way the Supreme Court operates in many potentially momentous ways, but Monday's arguments presented a more minor if equally noticeable shift on the nation's highest court.

 For the first time in 10 years, Justice Clarence Thomas asked a question from the bench.

 The query happened during remarks by Justice Department attorney Ilana Eisenstein in the case Voisine v. U.S., a challenge to the federal ban against firearm ownership by convicted domestic abusers.

 Having spent the last 15 minutes defending the ban against people convicted of "reckless" misdemeanor charges, Eisenstein asked whether there were any more questions, and Thomas unexpectedly raised his voice.

 "Ms. Eisenstein, one question," Thomas said.

 There was an audible shift in the packed courtroom as the audience sat up in their chairs and members of the press scrambled for their notebooks and pens to capture what occasioned the conservative justice to break his 10-year streak not asking questions from the bench.

 "Can you give me - this is a misdemeanor violation," Thomas said. "It suspends a constitutional right. Can you give me another area where a misdemeanor violation suspends a constitutional right?"

 Following up with nine more questions, Thomas pushed Eisenstein to come up with another scenario in which such a suspension would be warranted.

 Though Thomas has not asked a question from the bench since Feb. 22, 2006, his fellow justices seemed unfazed by the change Monday. All either looked ahead as usual or turned to look as Thomas rolled through his questions.

 He asked whether the government could shut down a publisher who was reckless in displaying children in compromising circumstances, suspending its First Amendment rights.

 Eisenstein prompted another question by saying there could be some measured restrictions on the publisher.

 "So how is that different from suspending your Second Amendment right?" he asked.

 The justice finally asked Eisenstein if the case would be better if the two petitioners had used guns in their acts of domestic violence, a point with which Eisenstein agreed.

 Congress enacted a law in 1996 that prevents people convicted on misdemeanor domestic violence charges from owning guns.

 In the case at hand, challengers Stephen Voisine and William Armstrong broke domestic-violence laws in Maine.

 While Voisine assaulted a girlfriend in 2004, Armstrong pleaded guilty for doing the same to his wife in 2008. Both were charged with "intentionally, knowingly or recklessly caus[ing] bodily injury or offensive physical contact."

 Armstrong ran afoul of the federal law in 2010 when investigators found guns and ammunition in his house during a search in an unrelated drug case. He was soon charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by one previously convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

 Voisine, on the other hand, can point to the rumor of a dead bald eagle for his case's day in the Supreme Court. In 2009, with investigators homed in on him after receiving an anonymous tip claiming he had shot a bald eagle, Voisine turned over a gun, triggering his violation of the federal law.

 Both men moved to dismiss their indictments, claiming the state-law assault and domestic-assault statutes were not enough to trigger the federal ban on owning guns. Federal judges denied the motions, and Voisine and Armstrong entered conditional pleas reserving the right to appeal their motions to dismiss.

 The two men claim "reckless" is not a high enough standard to qualify as battery. The common law definition of battery requires the violence in question to be intentional, Voisine and Armstrong contend, meaning reckless conduct should not be covered under the federal weapons restriction.

 Arguing for Voisine and Armstrong at the hearing Monday, Virginia Villa said the law considers intentionally offensive action, rather than the recklessness, because the statute contains the word "use."

 Overall the justices did not seem to buy Villa's point.

 Justice Sonia Sotomayor pointed out that if a husband threw a bottle toward his wife, the bottle smashed against the wall and the pieces embedded themselves in her face, he would still be liable under domestic-violence statutes, even if he didn't mean to hit his wife with the bottle.

 "Intentionality, in my mind, is misperceived, because you think - you're talking about intentionality as the act of causing the injury," Sotomayor said before delving into this hypothetical.

 Villa offered another example: this time of a person she represented who slammed a door while running from a person trying to beat him up. Just because the pursuer got his fingers caught in the door does not mean Villa's client battered him, because his intent was to close the door, not to hurt the person he was fleeing from, Villa said.

 But Justice Elena Kagan disagreed, arguing the act of slamming the door constituted a use of force.

 "Doing something like driving a car 200 miles an hour, or throwing a plate, or slamming a door when somebody's hand is in the vicinity, all of those things involve the requisite risk and all of those things involve the use of physical force," Kagan said.

 Villa's argument took up the majority of the hearing, lasting about half an hour before she sat down.

 The justices allowed Eisenstein to speak uninterrupted for considerably longer than Villa, at least at the outset of her arguments.

 Eisenstein said that states "overwhelmingly" include recklessness in battery statutes. Limiting misdemeanor crimes to those involving intentional conduce, she said, would force prosecutors to prove an abuser intended to cause injury in order to apply the federal weapons ban.

 This prompted Chief Justice John Roberts to speak up.

 "What's so bad about that?" He asked. "I mean, given her door example, for example, why would the accidental or perhaps you would say she - you know - he or she knew the person was close, why would that constitute misdemeanor crime of domestic violence?"

 Eisenstein then contended Congress meant to cover recklessness in its weapons-ban law, even if it didn't explicitly do so. Dismissing Villa's door example, the attorney said it would be nothing more than negligence.

 Roberts then asked if a man who speeds through a stop sign could prosecuted under her definition of battery if his wife is injured in the resulting accident. Eisenstein argued such prosecution could be possible, but that it would be a very narrow circumstance.

 "My argument is the opposite, which is that this court should effectuate Congress's purpose by giving [the federal weapons ban] the meaning that Congress intended, which is to cover generally applicable assault and battery statutes regardless of whether, on a rare instance, they may end up covering an individual who was recklessly driving and injured a family member," Eisenstein said.

 While this point caused some back and forth among the justices, Eisenstein summed up her argument by suggesting the government's interpretation of the law would primarily only effect people who committed clear domestic violence.

 "In the face of petitioner's hypothetical's, petitioner struggles to even conceive of a hypothetical example of where there is a reckless battery that would - against a family member that would not constitute a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence," Eisenstein said.

 As is its custom, the court made a transcript of the groundbreaking hearing available this afternoon. ||||| (CNN) For the first time in a decade, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke during oral arguments.

 Just last week, CNN wrote about the 10 years since Thomas' last question at oral arguments. That anniversary, February 22, came on the same day the Supreme Court first heard oral arguments after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, who was Thomas' ideological soul mate and who had defended his lack of questions over the years.

 "No one was more ideologically aligned with Justice Scalia than Justice Thomas, who has historically been reluctant to ask questions at oral argument because he believes his colleagues already do more than enough talking," said CNN contributor Stephen I. Vladeck. "That he's now asking questions -- for the first time in over a decade -- is as powerful evidence of the impact of Justice Scalia's absence as anything we've seen from the justices thus far," he said.

 The comments from Thomas were directed at a government attorney Ilana H. Eisenstein in a case called Voisine v. United States. The case concerns whether a prior domestic assault conviction based on reckless conduct qualifies as a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence that would block the plaintiffs from possessing a firearm.

 "Everyone leaned in disbelieving," said Slate's Dahlia Lithwick, who was in the courtroom. "The colloquy went back and forth several times with Thomas pressing the assistant solicitor general," Lithwick said.

 "This is a misdemeanor violation," Thomas said at one point to Eisenstein. "It suspends a constitutional right. Can you give me another area where a misdemeanor violation suspends a constitutional right?" he asked.

 JUST WATCHED A 2014 report: Why is Justice Thomas 'supremely' silent? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH A 2014 report: Why is Justice Thomas 'supremely' silent? 06:39

 Thomas has offered a variety of reasons for his silence from the bench.

 "We have a lifetime to go back in chambers and to argue with each other," Thomas said in 2013, according to The Associated Press. He noted that the lawyers only have about 30 minutes to present their side of the case. "They should argue. That's a part of the process." Thomas said and added that he doesn't like to "badger people."

 Although Scalia and Thomas disagreed on some cases, they agreed on many and were close friends. Thomas was a lector at Scalia's funeral and released a statement after his death saying, "It is hard to imagine the court without my friend. I will miss him beyond all measure."

 Thomas spoke at Scalia's funer on February 20.

 The two men had radically different styles from the bench, however. Scalia often peppered advocates with questions while Thomas silently listened.

 Scalia defended his colleague's silence, and asked enough questions for the both of them.

 In 2012, he told CNN's Piers Morgan that when he was a young lawyer he appeared before the justices as an advocate and was only asked two questions.

 "It was not at all unusual for justices not to ask questions," Scalia said.

 "Thurgood Marshall rarely asked a question. Bill Brennan rarely asked questions," he said, referring to retired iconic justices.

 "Leave Clarence alone!" Scalia joked.

 Carrie Severino, a former clerk for Thomas, said she was surprised Thomas decided to break his silence, because of his long-held belief that the number of questions during oral argument had become excessive.

 "It is possible that Thomas was asking a question that he thought Scalia might have brought up," said Severino, "or, maybe he thought of a question that no one else was asking," she said. ||||| FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2012 file photo, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaks at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. Thomas has asked questions during Supreme Court arguments for the... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2012 file photo, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaks at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. Thomas has asked questions during Supreme Court arguments for the... (Associated Press)

 WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Clarence Thomas has asked questions during a Supreme Court argument for the first time in 10 years.

 Thomas' questions came Monday in case in which the court is considering placing new limits on the reach of a federal law that bans people convicted of domestic violence from owning guns.

 Thomas asked the Justice Department lawyer defending the government's prosecution whether the violation of any other law suspends a person's constitutional rights.

 It was the second week the court has heard arguments since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, Thomas' friend and fellow conservative.

 Thomas' unusual silence over the years has become a curiosity. Thomas has said previously he relies on the written briefs and doesn't need to ask questions of the lawyers appearing in court. |||||

– Clarence Thomas jolted a courtroom awake Monday during Supreme Court proceedings when he did something he hasn't done in more than 10 years: He asked a question, the AP reports. The usually reserved justice—whose long silence has been dubbed a "curiosity" and raised accusations of neglecting his duties, per CBS News—had court reporters sitting up straight and caused what Courthouse News Service calls an "audible shift" in the room when he suddenly started making inquiries. His questions came during a case in which the court weighs whether to walk back a federal ban on gun ownership for those convicted of domestic violence. "Can you give me another area where a misdemeanor violation suspends a constitutional right?" was Thomas' initial question, posed to a Justice Department lawyer after she presented arguments for the ban. Thomas didn't quit there, also throwing out a question about whether the feds could shutter a publisher if it recklessly displayed kids in "compromising circumstances," per Courthouse News. It was his first question from the bench since Feb. 22, 2006—a silence Thomas has explained before by noting he's good to go with just written legal briefs and that he doesn't like to "badger" lawyers who only have a short time to present their arguments, CNN notes. "Everyone leaned in disbelieving," a Slate reporter in the courtroom tells CNN, which adds this was one of the first oral arguments the court has heard since Antonin Scalia—who had defended Thomas' reticence—died. "That he's now asking questions—for the first time in over a decade—is as powerful evidence of the impact of Justice Scalia's absence as anything we've seen from the justices thus far," an American University law professor says.


A student walks past the media at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018. Students returned to class for the first time since a former student opened fire there... (Associated Press)

 PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on the return of students and teachers to classes following the killings of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School(all times local):

 9:20 a.m.

 Students are returning to the Florida high school where 17 were killed in a shooting two weeks ago, but they've been told to leave their backpacks at home.

 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School principal Ty Thomas said in a tweet that "our focus is on emotional readiness and comfort not curriculum: so there is no need for backpacks."

 About 50 armed officers were on hand as students returned to the school Wednesday morning.

 ___

 8:30 a.m.

 Dick's Sporting Goods will immediately end sales of assault-style rifles in its stores and won't sell guns to anyone under 21 years old following the school massacre in Parkland, Florida.

 Dick's Chairman and CEO Edward Stack said on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday that after the shooting the company "felt it needed to do something."

 Stack says that the accused gunman, 19-year-old Nickolas Cruz, had purchased a gun at a Dick's store, but not the one used at the school shooting, even though all existing rules were followed. Stack says the system that's in place won't stop sales to dangerous people and said lawmakers must do something.

 Stack said Dick's is prepared for any potential backlash, but won't change its policies on gun sales.

 ____

 7:40 a.m.

 One of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students who has become a leader in the anti-assault weapon campaign says he felt scared when he saw a photo of a police officer armed with a rifle outside his school.

 David Hogg said it was a picture of education in fear in this country. Hogg has been calling for an assault weapon ban since the Valentine's Day massacre killed 17 people at his school.

 Hogg has spent the last two weeks making the rounds on network talk shows and speaking with legislators in Tallahassee, seeking gun legislation.

 Students returned to the school Wednesday for the first time since the deadly shooting.

 ___

 7:15 a.m.

 Members of the Broward County Police Benevolent Association handed carnations out to students as they entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School two weeks after a former student gunned down 17 people inside the freshman building.

 For Madison Geller, Wednesday offered an opportunity to get back into a routine, in spite of her fears.

 "When I walk in there, I'm going to replay the whole thing in my head. But we have to come here and try to learn," the high school junior said. "This week we will try to be comfortable and get back into the same routine."

 Angelyse Perez, a senior, said returning offers a chance for everyone to "get through this and be together."

 "But I'm graduating," she said. "I just want to get out of here."

 ___

 6:30 a.m.

 Teachers and students are arriving early at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, their first day back after an expelled classmate with an AR-15 killed 17 people in a Valentine's Day massacre that has profoundly altered the lives of survivors.

 A long line of cars bringing people back to the school in Parkland, Florida is being guided by police as dozens of television trucks and vehicles camp out nearby.

 Only students, parents and staff are being allowed through a security cordon. The main entrance is covered with a sign saying "Welcome Back Eagles."

 ___

 2 a.m.

 The walkway leading onto the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is lined with flowers and photographs, memorials to the 17 students and teachers killed in a Valentine's Day massacre that forever altered their lives and thrust them into the center of the nation's gun debate.

 Alexis Grogan, a 15-year-old sophomore, was among those planning to wear maroon, a Stoneman Douglas color, among other things honoring those who died. She said she's nervous after losing her friend Luke Hoyer, who sat two seats behind her in Spanish. Still, she says support from her fellow students and their fight to strengthen gun control laws is keeping her strong.

 Relatives of the victims kept up pressure Tuesday in Florida's capital with emotional testimony during a legislative hearing to discuss raising the age limit to buy long guns from 18 to 21.

 The bill also would create a program that allows teachers who receive law-enforcement training and are deputized by the local sheriff's office to carry concealed weapons in the classroom, if also approved by the school district. The school's superintendent has spoken out firmly against that measure. ||||| Looking forward to tomorrow Eagles! Remember our focus is on emotional readiness and comfort not curriculum: so there is no need for backpacks. Come ready to start the healing process and # RECLAIMTHENEST |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Members of the Broward County Police Benevolent Association handed carnations out to students as they entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School two weeks after a former student gunned down 17 people inside the freshman building. A long line of cars bringing people back to the school in Parkland, Fla., was guided by police as dozens of television trucks and vehicles camped out nearby. About 50 armed officers were on hand, and only students, parents, and staff were allowed through a security cordon. The main entrance is covered with a sign saying "Welcome Back Eagles." Students were told to leave their backpacks at home. Principal Ty Thomas said in a tweet Tuesday that "our focus is on emotional readiness and comfort not curriculum: so there is no need for backpacks. Come ready to start the healing process and #RECLAIMTHENEST." For Madison Geller, Wednesday offered an opportunity to get back into a routine, in spite of her fears, reports the AP. "When I walk in there, I'm going to replay the whole thing in my head. But we have to come here and try to learn," the high school junior said. "This week we will try to be comfortable and get back into the same routine." Angelyse Perez, a senior, said returning offers a chance for everyone to "get through this and be together. But I'm graduating," she said. "I just want to get out of here."


Summarize this article:

Character Limits:

 Remember, spaces count towards the character limit.

 Small Sign: You can have up to a 2 "page" message. Each page is limited to 3 lines of 8 or less characters per line.

 Large Sign: One page message with 3 lines of 16 or less characters per line.

 Safety Message Theme

 Below are some suggested safety themes:

 Distracted Driving

 Impaired Driving

 (i.e. drugs, alcohol, drowsy driving)

 (i.e. drugs, alcohol, drowsy driving) Seatbelts

 Speeding General Safety

 (i.e. secure your load & other misc. items)

 (i.e. secure your load & other misc. items) Wildlife

 Winter Driving

 Events

 (i.e. holidays, sporting events, movies)

 Winner Selection

 MaineDOT will select finalists for each changeable message sign size.

 All finalists will receive their choice of one of the following prizes: A Ride to the top of Penobscot Narrows Bridge & Observatory Tickets from the Maine State Ferry Service A vehicle pass to one of the Maine State Parks

 Grand Prize

 The finalists will then be put out to a public vote, with one grand prize winner from each group (small signs & large signs). The grand prize winners will receive a Personalized Street Sign from our official sign shop!

  ||||| Maine Department of Transportation | BDN Maine Department of Transportation | BDN

 Maine Department of Transportation | BDN Maine Department of Transportation | BDN

 By Callie Ferguson , BDN Staff • March 23, 2018 9:55 am

 Updated: March 23, 2018 12:59 pm

 State officials are combing through 2,000 contest entries vying to be the next cautionary pun to blink across the humorous highway safety signs that line the Maine interstate.

 Voting will begin in early April on finalists’ submissions to the statewide contest “My Maine Sign,” in which the public submitted their ideas to the Department of Transportation.

 Since the winter of 2016, the signs have entertained drivers with clever warnings and safety humor. They’ve always been written by DOT officials, who change them every two weeks or so, often with a nod to the nearest holiday (“Santa sees you when you’re speeding”) or major drinking event, like the Superbowl (“87 is Gronk’s number — not the speed limit”).

 The submission period closed March 18. To enter, contest hopefuls had to squeeze their funny messages into a few, short sentences that discouraged unsafe behavior, such as distracted or impaired driving, speeding or texting behind the wheel.

 After DOT officials pick finalists — likely by the end of the month — the public will vote using the department’s website, DOT spokesman Ted Talbot said.

 The winner not only gets his or her suggestion in neon lights but also a custom street sign from the state’s sign shop.

 Finalists will also win a number of transportation-related prizes, including a ride to the top of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge & Observatory, tickets on the Maine State Ferry and a state park vehicle pass.

 But anyone’s submission may someday get its time to shine — or blink, actually — as the DOT intends to archive the best ideas for future use, Talbot said.

 Follow the Bangor Daily News on Facebook for the latest Maine news. ||||| Courtesy Maine Department of Transportation | BDN Courtesy Maine Department of Transportation | BDN

 By Callie Ferguson , BDN Staff • May 25, 2018 4:05 pm

 Updated: May 26, 2018 8:12 am

 Here they are: the winning submissions to the state Department of Transportation’s “My Maine Sign” contest, where contest hopefuls vied to get their safety-themed message on one of the flashing highway signs that line Maine’s interstates.

 The six winners — which reflect a combination of cleverness and classic Maine wit – beat out more than 2,000 other entries submitted before the contest period closed in mid-March.

 Entries were split into two categories based on sign size.

 To appear on the smaller-sized road signs:

 — “Put Down UR Cell — Or You May End Up In One,” by Katie Landry.

 — “Spend Money On Lobstahs — Not Speeding Tickets,” by Dan Zarin.

 — “Little Known Fact — Snow Is Really Slippery,” by Tim Fahey.

 And on the larger road signs:

 — “A Cold Suppah Is Bettah Thana Hot Ticket,” by Craig Carver.

 — “Be Protected — Not Projected – Buckle Up,” by Laura Giuliano.

 — “Keep In Mind — Moose Eyes Don’t Shine,” by Terry White.

 Drivers can expect to see these clever cautions posted along the highway in the coming year. Officials said they change up sign messages every two weeks or so.

 Follow the Bangor Daily News on Facebook for the latest Maine news. |||||

– It's springtime in Vacationland, and Mainers are celebrating the return of sunshine with a dose of their acerbic wit. As the Bangor Daily News reports, MaineDOT is rolling out a new round of highway signs promoting safety—and they are the work of the people of Maine who entered a contest. While MaineDOT noted in the contest page that while, "(Hey – we’re state government, we don’t have a lot of prize money hanging around," winners "will have the GLORY of having your words in neon lights (Well...LED lights actually)!" Without ado, the winners, picked from some 2,000 entries: Put Down UR Cell—Or You May End Up In One, by Katie Landry Spend Money On Lobstahs—Not Speeding Tickets, by Dan Zarin Little Known Fact—Snow Is Really Slippery, by Tim Fahey A Cold Suppah Is Bettah Thana Hot Ticket, by Craig Carver Be Protected—Not Projected—Buckle Up, by Laura Giuliano Keep In Mind—Moose Eyes Don’t Shine, by Terry White MaineDOT has been playing with funny road signs since winter 2016, notes the Daily News, with officials writing their own seasonally appropriate puns. Past examples include, "Santa sees you when you’re speeding" and Super Bowl-themed "87 is Gronk’s number—not the speed limit."


Here is a news article: Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes, the wife of Interior Minister Silvan Shalom, was berated on social media for racism Sunday after tweeting a joke about US President Barack Obama.

 Hundreds of the former UNICEF Israel chief and popular radio show host’s 75,000 followers expressed outrage when Nir-Mozes posted: “Do u know what Obama coffee is? Black and weak.”

 Within minutes, the post garnered hundreds of comments, some of them calling Nir-Mozes “arrogant,” a “disgrace” and “explicitly racist.”

 One user wrote Nir-Mozes’s tweet was even more offensive in light of the racially motivated massacre of nine African American parishioners in a South Carolina church last week.

 If the wife of a senior U.S. official Tweeted this, there'd be a storm coming #Israel https://t.co/c0ZtP8M17l pic.twitter.com/Y8qe50suPM — Holly Dagres (@hdagres) June 21, 2015

 Nir-Mozes swiftly removed the tweet and issued a number of apologies. “I apologize, that was a stupid joke somebody told me,” she wrote.

 Later, she apologized to the US president directly and tried to offer reassurances that she was not racist.

 President Obama I shouldnt have written the inappropriate joke I heard. I like people no matter about their race and religion. — Judy Mozes (@JudyMozes) June 21, 2015

 Adopting a more lighthearted tone as she continued her online damage control, in another tweet Nir-Mozes wrote that she hoped her husband wouldn’t divorce her over the social media uproar.

 Sorry if I caused any offence to anyone. I hope I will stay married when my husband will land and hear what I did. — Judy Mozes (@JudyMozes) June 21, 2015

 Last month, Silvan Shalom was appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lead negotiations with the Palestinians and to oversee strategic dialogue with the United States.

 In a separate incident last month, Nir-Mozes was accused of trolling Obama soon after the president launched his personal Twitter account.

 In that tweet, the MK’s wife wrote “@POTUS well come, I hope u ‘ll write from The hurt of barack, and not from the head of Rrsedent Obama. Kisses from israel.”

 That tweet was also deleted shortly after, and Nir-Mozes later denied having written it. However, journalist Tal Schneider took a screenshot of the tweet and noted that it came from her account.

 Schneider also pointed out one of the typos — that Nir-Mozes likely meant to write “heart” and not “hurt.” ||||| The wife of a senior Israeli minister sparked outrage on Sunday by posting a racist joke about President Barack Obama on Twitter.

 Judy Shalom Nir Mozes, a well-known face on Israeli TV and the wife of the country’s interior minister Silvan Shalom, quickly deleted the offending tweet – but it was too late to avoid mounting criticism.

 The post that set off a wave of international public anger was short and to the point.

 “Do you know what Obama coffee is? Black and weak”, Mozes tweeted in English.

 Protests on Twitter came swiftly in English and Hebrew, including messages such as “Have you gone mad?” and “You’d better erase this … frighteningly racist”.

 After deleting the tweet, Mozes posted: “I apologise, that was a stupid joke somebody told me.”

 But Twitter users had already taken screen shots of the offensive message.

 One user posted: “How human garbage works … Delete plus fake apology. Clearly found the racist joke funny enough to share. Trash”.

 Mozes has been involved in social-media controversy before.

 In 2012 she was nominated to represent Unicef, the United Nations body dealing with children’s rights and emergency needs, in Israel, and was set to join a sparkling list of royal and celebrity ambassadors that has included David Beckham, Sarah Jessica Parker, William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Queen Rania of Jordan, Shakira and Sir Roger Moore.

 But according to the Jerusalem Post, she resigned after whipping up a political storm when she posted messages to Facebook vociferously supporting Israel’s military bombardment of Gaza and referring to Palestinians there simply as “people whose children are fed hate towards Israel ... who have it in their DNA to hate us”.

 In the US, Mozes’ Tweet hit raw nerves. On Sunday, the subject of race was once again leading every news outlet, days after a 21-year-old white man shot dead nine black worshippers in a church in Charleston, South Carolina.

 One Twitter user wrote: “Wife of Israeli interior minister @JudyMozes tweeted racist slur [about] POTUS (President of the United States) while we mourn loss of 9 [because] of racism.”

 Mozes appeared to compound her predicament, posting another joking statement, which began “Sorry if I caused offense to anyone” and added that she hoped she would still be married when her husband heard about the row.

 A minute later she addressed a Tweet to “President Obama” and referred to her joke as inappropriate, saying she liked people “no matter about their race or religion”. |||||
A summary of this is?

– As a well-known media personality in Israel and the wife of one of the country's most powerful politicians, Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes has a lot of Twitter followers—and a lot of people to offend when she does something like tweet a racist joke about another country's leader. "Do you know what Obama coffee is? Black and weak," she tweeted yesterday, quickly drawing responses like, "Have you gone mad?" reports the Guardian. She quickly deleted the offending post, tweeting "I shouldnt have written the inappropriate joke I heard. I like people no matter about their race and religion." Nir-Mozes, whose husband is Interior Minister Silvan Shalom, apologized for repeating the joke and quipped that her husband might leave her, the Guardian reports. Last month, Nir-Mozes deleted another tweet sent soon after President Obama launched his Twitter account, the Times of Israel reports. "@POTUS well come, I hope u 'll write from The hurt of barack, and not from the head of Rrsedent Obama. Kisses from israel," she wrote, apparently meaning "heart" instead of "hurt."


Summarize this article:

Officer Lameen Barnes prepared the official incident report that night on what happened to Mr. Dixon, writing that he had tried to throw an “unknown liquid substance” at the officers, and in response, they had searched his cell for contraband. When they entered, the report said, Mr. Dixon refused to come out, insulted them and would not follow their orders. He was restrained and handcuffed to a gurney.

 “Once on his feet, inmate Dixon was eventually escorted to the main clinic for medical examination without any further incident of force used,” Mr. Barnes wrote.

 That is nothing like what actually happened, according to accounts from three people who were there. Two requested anonymity because they said they feared retaliation from officers as well as their employer, Corizon, which has a contract with the city to provide health care at the jail. For the third witness, The Times was provided a copy of the clinician’s email to superiors about the incident, on the condition that the sender’s name be withheld.

 According to their accounts, a group of correction officers wheeled Mr. Dixon into an examination area without a security camera. “Don’t leave me,” he kept yelling to the medics and social workers. “They’re going to kill me.”

 About a half-dozen guards were crowded around the gurney, and one kept punching Mr. Dixon in the head.

 Next, the correction officers brought in Mr. Lane, who had also splashed guards with a liquid. Mr. Lane was known as a disruptive inmate. He had been in and out of Rikers, and much of his most recent stint had been spent in solitary confinement. Born to a mother who was a crack addict, he spent most of his time growing up in foster homes and had a lengthy history of mental health problems, with diagnoses for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and attention deficit disorder.

 “They punched me in the face and they kept punching me and punching me and punching me,” Mr. Lane recalled in an interview at Elmira Correctional Facility, where he recently completed a two-year sentence for a credit card theft conviction. ||||| NEW YORK (AP) — The newly appointed commissioner of New York City's jail system violated city law by sending as many as 47 mentally ill inmates into 23-hour confinement without first getting approval from mental health clinicians, a city oversight board said Tuesday.

 Commissioner Joseph Ponte, who took the helm of the country's second-largest jail system in March, insisted at a meeting of the New York City Board of Correction he was trying to quell rising levels of violence.

 Ponte, who had reduced the use of solitary confinement by two thirds in Maine's state prisons, said the June 13 move on Rikers Island was aimed at volatile inmates who have broken jailhouse rules and owe days in solitary.

 But board members rejected the argument, noting the move jeopardized the health of some inmates, particularly those on psychotropic medications who were taken from air-conditioned mental observation units and put into uncooled solitary cells. A federal judge has ordered that such inmates, deemed heat-sensitive because the exposure to heat while on such drugs can be fatal, shouldn't be placed in uncooled cells.

 Other inmates who were moved were denied medication and had seizure disorders, they said. At least one inmate suffered a seizure, Ponte said.

 "I would just hope that you would review these issues and in the future instruct your staff to be consistent with the board standards and not to violate these rules which are not just rules but designed for the safety of the prisoners," said board member Dr. Robert Cohen.

 Nearly 40 percent of the roughly 11,500 daily inmates in city jails have a mental health diagnosis, according to the Department of Correction and about a third of them suffer from serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The Associated Press has previously disclosed the deaths of two mentally ill inmates — one who essentially baked to death in a 101-degree cell in February — that have prompted calls for reform.

 During a City Council oversight hearing on violence and mental illness at Rikers the day before the inmate moves, Ponte was repeatedly asked about a list of hundreds of inmates who owe time in solitary confinement but are in general population because there's not enough space. Correction officials argue that those inmates, many of whom they say are gang members, drive the violence on Rikers.

 On Tuesday, Ponte told board members that figure is closer to 1,000 inmates. A number of them are high-risk for harming themselves and others and needed to be separated to stem surging violence, he said.

 "What we don't have, and have not had for probably more than five years now, is a plan that's impacted the level of violence on Rikers Island," he told the board.

 There were 21 slashings in one recent six-week period and a total of 87 during fiscal year 2014, according to a letter sent by Ponte to board members Monday night and obtained by the AP. There were a total of 68 total such slashing the previous fiscal year and 55 in fiscal 2012, the letter said.

 "Under such circumstances, I felt that it was imperative to take prompt action to prevent further violence," he wrote. |||||

– Guards at Rikers Island don't just neglect the mentally ill or let them bake to death, they also routinely brutally beat them, often without suffering any repercussions, a New York Times investigation has discovered. The Times uncovered a secret report compiled by a city department this year that found that 129 Rikers inmates suffered "serious injuries" in altercations with staff members over an 11-month span last year; 77% of those inmates had a mental health diagnosis. In most cases, the inmates were beaten while handcuffed. The Times investigated the incidents individually, and offer some disturbing details: When guards found Jose Bautista trying to hang himself, they saved him, but then allegedly threw him to the ground and punched him with such force that they perforated his bowel. It was one of five beatings noted in the report that followed a suicide attempt. Bautista needed emergency surgery, but guards took nine hours to drive him to the hospital—which is only 15 minutes away. When Andre Lane threw water or urine at guards, they allegedly handcuffed him to a gurney, wheeled him to a clinic that wasn't monitored by security cameras, and beat him so violently that the walls and cabinets were covered with his blood. After Brian Mack complained that guards were stealing inmates' food, a guard captain allegedly hit him in the eye with his radio, while another officer punched him in the jaw. He came away with a broken eye socket and jaw. Correction officials said he'd been in a fight with another inmate, but investigators noted no such fight was logged in prison records. None of the guards involved in any of the cases have faced criminal charges—or even administrative ones. Rikers has been under pressure to reform its treatment of mentally ill inmates—in January, for example, it announced it would stop putting the "seriously mentally ill" in solitary, though the Times notes that classification applies to a small segment of the population. Last week an oversight board said the newly-appointed city jail commissioner had in June illegally sent as many as 47 mentally ill Rikers inmates to solitary without consulting clinicians, the AP reports.


Article:

Could Hawaii Become A Same-Sex Wedding Destination?

 Enlarge this image toggle caption iStockphoto iStockphoto

 Starting Monday, same-sex marriage is legal in Hawaii. The state has long been a destination for weddings and honeymoons. And now state officials, as well as hotels and restaurants, are hoping the latest marriage-equality law will spur a new market for wedding tourism.

 Wedding planner Keane Akao is showing off a secluded beach wedding site, one of several on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

 "You can use the beach for pictures," he tells a couple, "and this is actually called Secret Beach."

 His company, Perfectly Planned Hawaii, offers wedding planning for same-sex couples. Swaying palm trees and clear blue water make for a dream ceremony.

 Akao started his company with his business partner less than six months ago, just before Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie called for a special session to debate same-sex marriage.

 "People now can look at Hawaii as a destination to have their marriage done legally," says Akao, "and for it to be recognized by the federal government, no matter what state they may live in."

 He has received more than two-dozen confirmations since the bill passed last month.

 One couple planning to marry in the islands is Cira Abiseid and Cyrilla Owle. Last month, they celebrated their union in a ceremony with family and friends at home in Conway, Ark. But their home state doesn't recognize same-sex marriage, so Owle says they're going to Hawaii to make it official.

 "I think there's two things that came in effect when planning where we wanted to be married," says Owle. "First, like any couple, we wanted to see where we wanted to go for our honeymoon. So who doesn't want to go to Hawaii for their honeymoon, right? And the second reason was, where could we get a license?"

 "Same-sex couples will be attracted to Hawaii for the same reasons that opposite-sex couples are attracted to Hawaii," says Sumner La Croix, an economist at the University of Hawaii. "It's the great weather, it's the warm water, it's the beautiful scenery. And it's also the aloha spirit."

 La Croix estimates that over the next three years, gay marriage will boost tourism in Hawaii by $217 million. Unlike some other states with marriage equality laws, Hawaii already has a booming tourism industry. La Croix believes that gives Hawaii an advantage.

 "The machinery of marriage is already in place here. There are hotels that are in the marriage business," he says. "They're used to catering to couples who are honeymooning or want to get married or are celebrating a marriage. There are wedding photographers. There are caterers. There's a large number of firms that are specialized in the marriage business."

 In Hawaii, tourism is a $14 billion industry. Now, the island chain is positioning itself for a spike in visitors — among them, Honolulu-based hotel chain Aqua Hospitality. It already offers LGBT travel deals, including the "out and proud" package and the "civil unions romance special."

 Bigger beachfront resorts are also getting in on the action. The Sheraton Waikiki is the only hotel on Oahu providing on-site marriage licenses. General Manager Kelly Sanders says now the hotel is running a new ad campaign in mainland LGBT publications.

 "Yes, there's a revenue opportunity," says Sanders. "There's an opportunity for all of us to really have that great success, but in my mind it's something that should have happened already. And so it's just now being able to really open all of our arms as wide as they can be and say welcome."

 It was Hawaii that back in 1991 touched off the national conversation about same-sex marriage. Then, three couples sued to force the state to issue them marriage licenses. Now, more than two decades later, Hawaii is the latest state to recognize marriage equality. ||||| Six couples tied the knot early Monday, shortly after midnight, when a new law allowing same-sex couples to marry took effect.

 A Waikiki resort was hosting mass ceremonies for anyone wanting to sign up, while a group of clergy who pushed for the new law planned to host a wedding for an openly gay Unitarian minister at a church near downtown Honolulu.

 Hawaii's marriage laws allow couples to register for a license and be married the same day, a process conducive for tourists only in the state a short time.

 Couples can sign up for a license online, then be verified by any license agent throughout the state.

 THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

 The first couples are starting to take advantage of Hawaii's newfound aloha for gay weddings.

 Dozens of couples were expected to start tying the knot early Monday, moments after midnight, when a new law allowing same couples to marry takes effect in the state.

 Couples at the Sheraton Waikiki began filling out license applications a few minutes after midnight, as license agents huddled around four laptops in a conference room adjacent to a 30th floor lounge where the ceremonies were set to take place.

 Guests sipped champagne, dined on appetizers, listened to piano music and took pictures with each of seven cakes on display for the occasion, one for each of the first six couples getting married and a three-tiered centerpiece cake adorned with pink and white roses.

 "Next," exclaimed Ethan Wung after being the first of the group to complete the license application with his groom, Keola Akana.

 Wung said he and Akana were getting married after entering into a civil union last year so they could receive federal benefits.

 Organizers were waiting for each of the first six couples to finish their paperwork before starting the ceremony.

 The resort was hosting mass ceremonies for anyone wanting to sign up, while a group of clergy who pushed for the new law planned to host a wedding for an openly gay Unitarian minister at a church near downtown Honolulu.

 "It's just exciting and historic and we wanted to be a part of it," Maria Gallo, a Honolulu resident who planned to marry her partner, Beth Creary, said earlier.

 "This is like a confirmation with a group of people here who are sharing our joy," she said.

 Hawaii's marriage laws allow couples to register for a license and be married the same day, a process conducive for tourists to hold ceremonies here.

 Couples can sign up for a license online, then be verified by any license agent throughout the state. Agents have set up shop throughout the islands, from resorts on Maui and the Big Island to hard-to-reach places on Kauai.

 For those wanting to get licenses in person, Hawaii's Health Department planned to open its doors at 8 a.m. local time Monday morning.

 "We started this battle 23 years ago and we get to finish it tonight," said Michael Golojuch Jr., chairman on Honolulu Pride and one of the organizers of the midnight weddings at the Sheraton.

 Hawaii is often credited with starting the national gay marriage discussion, when couples applying for a marriage license led to a court fight the eventually helped prompt Congress to pass the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. Part of the law was struck down earlier this year by the U.S. Supreme Court.

 Golojuch said the weddings will touch Hawaii in a good way and that businesses have begun to think about how to embrace the gay community.

 "They opened up their doors to us, their hearts to us," Golojuch said. "That's what we're seeing with a lot of the business community that understands that $217 million is what our economy needs to keep on going."

 An estimate from a University of Hawaii researcher says Hawaii will get a $217 million tourism boost over the next three years as a result of gay marriage.

 Hawaii's Legislature _ overwhelmingly comprised of Democrats _ passed the law last month during a special session. Gov. Neil Abercrombie called for the special session after the U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

 ___

 Oskar Garcia can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/oskargarcia |||||
What is a summary?

– After lawmakers approved gay marriage in Hawaii last month, the ceremonies have officially begun. The law went into effect last night at midnight, and six couples were quick to get hitched, the AP reports. At a Sheraton in Waikiki, those looking to tie the knot could join in a giant ceremony. "We started this battle 23 years ago and we get to finish it tonight," says an activist at the hotel. Indeed, Hawaii played a key role in the early gay marriage debate: When same-sex Hawaiian couples sought marriage licenses in the 1990s, a court battle ensued, resulting in the Defense of Marriage Act. In the state, couples can apply for a marriage license and get married in the same day. That could be a boon for destination weddings in a state already well-equipped for tourist ceremonies. A University of Hawaii researcher says the state could see a $217 million increase in tourism thanks to the process. NPR speaks with an Arkansas couple already planning a wedding trip. "There's two things that came in effect when planning where we wanted to be married," says Cyrilla Owle. "First, like any couple, we wanted to see where we wanted to go for our honeymoon. So who doesn't want to go to Hawaii for their honeymoon, right? And the second reason was, where could we get a license?"


– The Texas Board of Education issued a warning to textbook publishers today: It wants future social studies books to fix what it sees as a pro-Islam and anti-Christian bias, reports the Dallas Morning News. "What we're trying to do is prohibit and send a clear message to the publishers that (the bias) should not happen in the future," said one board member who voted with the majority in the 7-6 decision. Proponents say current books whitewash negative aspects of Muslim culture, and they say it's because "Middle Easterners" have big investments in the publishing industry. As for opponents: “This makes us look cuckoo,” said a board member on the losing side. "It's crazy. We are allowing ourselves to be distracted by this narrow-minded resolution, which is itself biased. We should have taken the higher ground on this.” More details at AOL News.

Expand this summary.

(Sept. 24) -- The Texas State Board of Education approved a resolution today that requires publishers to correct a " pro-Islamic/anti-Christian bias " in future world history textbooks.The resolution , which narrowly passed 7-6, cites instances of an alleged emphasis on unfavorable events in Christian history as told in school textbooks, while claiming that the same textbooks gloss over similar events in Islamic history."What we're trying to do is prohibit and send a clear message to the publishers that [the bias] should not happen in the future," board member Terri Leo said.The Lone Star State has a reputation for dictating what publishers, which must abide by state policy or probably forfeit significant sales, can include in textbooks. Nevertheless, because all of the textbooks cited in the resolution have not been used in Texas schools since 2003, it is unclear what immediate effect the policy will have on publishers."This is a cosmetic exercise," board member Mavis Knight told the Austin American-Statesman Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network , a liberal organization opposed to the potential policy, said afterward that the resolution was politically motivated."Board members rejected numerous opportunities today to pass a resolution that called on publishers to treat all religions with balance and accuracy in their textbooks," Miller said in a statement . "It is hard not to conclude that the members who voted for this resolution were solely interested in playing on fear and bigotry in order to pit Christians against Muslims." ||||| AUSTIN — The State Board of Education today instructed publishers to curtail positive coverage of Islam and include more favorable treatment of Christianity in future world history textbooks.

 Social conservatives on the board joined to pass a resolution saying that pro-Islamic, anti-Christian bias will not be tolerated in new social studies books, which are now scheduled for approval in two years. The resolution, adopoted on a 7-6 vote, said those future textbooks must devote more coverage to Christianity and other non-Muslim faiths.

 The resolution said increased investment by "Middle Easterners" in the textbook publishing industry could encourage biased treatment of religion in the texts used in Texas schools. An attachment to the resolution cited a past investment by the Dubai royal family in a major U.S. textbook publisher.

 Three Democrats and three moderate Republicans voted against the resolution.

 Two Democratic board members were absent.

 “This resolution will ensure upfront that potential biases are taken care of before these books reach the board,” said Chairwoman Gail Lowe, R-Lampasas, who supported the resolution.

 She noted that the resolution is not legally binding on publishers, but does state the will of board members to have more balanced social studies books.

 Opponents, who tried to derail the resolution with a series of parliamentary maneuvers, called the proposal a waste of time that will further undermine the reputation of the board.

 “This makes us look cuckoo. It’s crazy,” said board member Rick Agosto, D-San Antonio. “We are allowing ourselves to be distracted by this narrow-minded resolution, which is itself biased. We should have taken the higher ground on this.”

 Board member Lawrence Allen, D-Houston, who practices Islam, called the language in the resolution “offensive.” He said supporters of the resolution were making accusations about pro-Muslim bias without any proof.

 “These are baseless accusations, and this resolution is unfair,” he said.

 But Terri Leo, R-Spring, said the measure was necessary to send a “clear message” to publishers that past bias against Christianity and other religions “should not happen in the future.”

 While some books have credited Islam for treating women better than other religions, Leo said, there have been instances of Muslim woman getting fingers chopped off for using fingernail polish and being threatened with violence for not wear burkas in public.

 The resolution states that “diverse reviewers have repeatedly documented gross pro-Islamic, anti-Christian distortions in social studies texts” across the United States, and that past social studies textbooks in Texas have been “tainted” with pro-Islamic, anti-Christian views.

 It also notes that past world history books - no longer used in Texas schools - devoted far more lines of text to Islamic beliefs and practices than to Christian beliefs and practices.

 The resolution concludes with a warning to publishers that the “State Board of Education will look to reject future prejudicial social studies submissions that continue to offend Texas law with respect to treatment of the world’s major religious groups by significant inequalities of coverage space-wise and by demonizing or lionizing one or more of them over others.”

 Members of the board's social conservative bloc asked for the resolution after an unsuccessful candidate for a board seat called on the panel to head off any bias against Christians in new social studies books. |||||


News article:

The John Waters universe is overrun with garbage, outrageous icons and campy delights, so who wouldn’t want to make smores, hike and play dress up with the Pope of Trash at his own summer camp?

 Slated for September 2017, (adult) fans of the cult filmmaker behind Pink Flamingos and Polyester can make their way to Kent, Connecticut for a weekend of debauchery at Camp John Waters. There are the usual camp activities like ziplining and canoeing, alongside screenings of his films, ‘Blood Mary Bingo’, Hairspray karaoke, burlesque lessons, a ‘Scotch and Cigars’ session and a costume contest judged by the Prince of Puke. Waters will also perform a one-man show, read from his new book Make Trouble, and hang around for a Q+A.

 Up to 300 campers can sign-up for the three days of filthy fun across September 22-24 2017 at Connecticut’s Camp Getaway. Alcohol’s available for an additional fee, and everyone will get an autographed copy of Make Trouble. Find more details about cabin availability and prices here.

 Last one in is a rotten egg! ||||| “Make Trouble, adapted from his speech to the Rhode Island School of Design class of 2015, is a commencement address I consumed with joy, will likely read again and would be happy to give to young people — especially brooding, complicated young people. (Yes, you.) Its pleasures are enhanced by playful typography and droll, sketchy illustrations by Eric Hanson, including several delightful ones of Waters, a pencil-thin man with a pencil-thin mustache. Like "Hairspray," "Make Trouble" fulfills its genre expectations while also gloriously subverting them. Waters gives inspiring advice…”

 ─ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

 “…simultaneously witty and inspirational, has the potential to top the best commencement speeches of all time. … a great read. With simple, imaginative illustrations, it inspires all outsiders who strive to change society one brushstroke, word or shot at a time.”

 ─The Tufts Daily

 “John Waters is the master of screwing things up beautifully, particularly alongside introspective doodles by Eric Hanson that accompany most of the book’s pages.. It’s thoughtfully considered, yet maintains some of Waters’ signature well-intentioned belligerence. Some of the pages are shocking or thought-provoking in their layout; Some of the accompanying images are contemplative while others are hilarious. Ultimately, Make Trouble leaves me wondering what to expect next from Waters. He is the modern day Oscar Wilde, but this book is by no means his De Profundis. It’s more of a reminder that he’s still out there, still thinking and creating, ready to — as he calls it — prepare a sneak attack on society. In a lot of ways, the book feels like his most intensely personal work yet. It’s nice to think that these words are aimed at students graduating college, but really they reflect Waters’ manifesto. The speech is timeless and could be taken from any point in his career, but it’s a reminder that he’s not done with us. With the massive social changes going on today, his words are poignant now more than ever.”

 ─ Johns Hopkins News-Letter

 “…as funny as it is inspiring. Make Trouble is an injection of weirdness, joy, and provocation right into your brain.”

 ─ San Francisco Book Review

  ||||| The Premier Sports, Fun & Adventure Destination in the Northeast |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Baby boomers with cash and a campy bucket list take note: Movie director John Waters is hosting a summer camp for grown-ups in Connecticut. While the first iteration, slated for the third weekend in September, is already marked "sold out" (there were 300 slots) on the Camp John Waters page, dreamers of a follow-up will note that the $499 price of admission grants attendees access to a one-man show by Waters, a Q&A, a marathon viewing of his films, Bloody Mary Bingo, Hairspray Karaoke, and more, reports Dazed. Guests also receive an autographed copy of his book Make Trouble, which costs less than $10 on Amazon and may be some consolation for the fact that alcohol is not included. Waters, who just turned 71, is known for such cult classics as Pink Flamingos, Cecil B. Demented, and Polyester. His camp marries what Art News calls "two of the more absurd developments in contemporary leisure"—celebrity-based getaways and "a sort of developmental purgatory" that finds adults signing up for nostalgic recreation such as kickball leagues. Even so, there are at least 300 adults who thought this was a great idea. (Millennials can also sign up for adulting classes.)


Write a summary based on this article:

The Army staff sergeant charged with slaughtering 16 villagers in one of the worst atrocities of the Afghanistan war will plead guilty to avoid the death penalty in a deal that requires him to recount the horrific attack for the first time, his attorney told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

 FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2011, file photo provided by the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System, Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales participates in an exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin,... (Associated Press)

 Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was "crazed" and "broken" when he slipped away from his remote southern Afghanistan outpost and attacked mud-walled compounds in two slumbering villages nearby, lawyer John Henry Browne said.

 But his client's mental state didn't rise to the level of a legal insanity defense, Browne said, and Bales will plead guilty next week.

 The outcome of the case carries high stakes. The Army had been trying to have Bales executed, and Afghan villagers have demanded it. In interviews with the AP in Kandahar last month, relatives of the victims became outraged at the notion Bales might escape the death penalty.

 "For this one thing, we would kill 100 American soldiers," vowed Mohammed Wazir, who had 11 family members killed that night, including his mother and 2-year-old daughter.

 "A prison sentence doesn't mean anything," said Said Jan, whose wife and three other relatives died. "I know we have no power now. But I will become stronger, and if he does not hang, I will have my revenge."

 Any plea deal must be approved by the judge as well as the commanding general at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where Bales is being held. A plea hearing is set for June 5, said Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield, an Army spokesman. He said he could not immediately provide other details.

 "The judge will be asking questions of Sgt. Bales about what he did, what he remembers and his state of mind," said Browne, who told the AP the commanding general has already approved the deal. "The deal that has been worked out ... is they take the death penalty off the table, and he pleads as charged, pretty much."

 A sentencing-phase trial set for September will determine whether Bales is sentenced to life in prison with or without the possibility of parole.

 Browne previously indicated Bales remembered little from the night of the massacre, and he said that was true in the early days after the attack. But as further details and records emerged, Bales began to remember what he did, the lawyer said, and he will admit to "very specific facts" about the shootings.

 Browne would not elaborate on what his client will tell the judge.

 Bales, an Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., had been drinking contraband alcohol, snorting Valium that was provided to him by another soldier, and had been taking steroids before the attack. He slipped away from his remote southern Afghanistan outpost at Camp Belambay early on March 11, 2012, and attacked compounds.

 Testimony at a hearing last fall established that Bales returned to his base between attacking the villages, woke up a fellow soldier and confessed. The soldier didn't believe him and went back to sleep, and Bales left again to continue the slaughter.

 Most of the victims were women and children, and some of the bodies were piled and burned. The slayings drew such angry protests that the U.S. temporarily halted combat operations in Afghanistan. It was three weeks before American investigators could reach the crime scenes.

 Browne said his client, who was on his fourth combat deployment, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury. He continued to blame the Army for sending him back to war in the first place.

 "He's broken, and we broke him," Browne said.

 The massacre raised questions about the toll multiple deployments were taking on American troops. For that reason, many legal experts believed it that it was unlikely that he would receive the death penalty, as Army prosecutors were seeking. The military justice system hasn't executed anyone since 1961.

 The defense team, including military lawyers assigned to Bales as well as Browne's co-counsel, Emma Scanlan, eventually determined after having Bales examined by psychiatrists that he would not be able to prove any claim of insanity or diminished capacity at the time of the attack, Browne said.

 "His mental state does not rise to the level of a legal insanity defense," Browne said. "But his state of mind will be very important at the trial in September. We'll talk about his mental capacities or lack thereof, and other factors that were important to his state of mind."

 Browne acknowledged the plea deal could inflame tensions in Afghanistan and said he was disappointed the case has not done more to focus public opinion on the war.

 "It's a very delicate situation. I am concerned there could be a backlash," he said. "My personal goal is to save Bob from the death penalty. Getting the public to pay more attention to the war is secondary to what I have to do."

 ___

 Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

 ___

 AP's special regional correspondent for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Kathy Gannon, contributed from Kandahar. ||||| Story highlights Shooting spree strained already tense U.S.-Afghan relations

 Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales hopes to avoid the death penalty

 He is accused of killing 16 and wounding six Afghans

 Attorneys have said he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder

 In order to avoid the death penalty , U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales intends to plead guilty in the killing of 16 Afghan villagers, his lawyer said Wednesday.

 A plea deal -- which Bales' lawyer John Henry Browne told CNN about by text message, as he was meeting with his client -- must be approved by a judge and a commanding general.

 In addition to those killed, six Afghans were wounded in the March 2012 attack near a small U.S. base in Afghanistan's Kandahar province.

 The shooting spree strained already tense U.S.-Afghan relations and intensified a debate about whether to pull out American troops ahead of their planned 2014 withdrawal.

 The Army would not comment on any potential deal Wednesday. A hearing in the case is scheduled for June 5.

 JUST WATCHED 2012: Soldier could get death penalty Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH 2012: Soldier could get death penalty 03:11

 JUST WATCHED 2012: Sgt. Bales' wife speaks out Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH 2012: Sgt. Bales' wife speaks out 05:52

 Bales' attorneys have said that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and sustained a traumatic brain injury during a prior deployment to Iraq.

 "We think the Army is attempting to escape responsibility for the decision to send Sgt. Bales to Afghanistan for his fourth deployment, knowing that he had (post-traumatic stress disorder) and a concussive head injury," Browne said last year.

 "I think that the person who made the decision to send Sgt. Bales to the most dangerous area in Afghanistan in a small outpost is responsible for Sgt. Bales being in Afghanistan, and he should have never been there."

 Afghan authorities have called for swift action in the case.

 "He committed a mass killing crime, and we would like the court in the United States to implement justice and punish him according to the crime," said Ahmad Zia Syamak, spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai. |||||

– Staff Sgt. Robert Bales will plead guilty to the murder of 16 Afghan villagers, his lawyer tells CNN, in a move to dodge the death penalty. Lawyer John Henry Browne says military prosecutors have approved the plea, but a rep for Joint Base Lewis-McChord wouldn't say whether the matter was settled, the New York Times reports. A plea hearing is set for Wednesday, the rep said. Browne says Bales was "crazed" and "broken" at the time of the attack, but he didn't qualify for a legal insanity defense, per the AP. Afghan villagers are furious at the possibility Bales might not face capital punishment. "A prison sentence doesn't mean anything," says a relative of several victims. "I know we have no power now. But I will become stronger, and if he does not hang, I will have my revenge." Added a man who had 11 relatives killed in the attack: "For this one thing, we would kill 100 American soldiers."


Summarize this article:

At least 16 Americans have been affected by "incidents" appearing to target U.S. staff and government officials in Cuba, according to U.S. officials.

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 State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert provided the new number -- the highest figure yet -- in a briefing Thursday, noting that that number could change in what's described as an "unprecedented" situation. It's unclear if it includes government employees or their families as well.

 "We have not seen this type of activity take place before," Nauert said Wednesday. "Those incidents have caused a variety of physical symptoms. ... We are working and have been working to provide our staff and U.S. government employees with the best medical attention that we can provide to them."

 Officials said the U.S. could not say for sure who or what may be behind the incidents, but that they had stopped in the spring. No device or piece of equipment has been discovered yet, according to Nauert, but medical professionals and staff on the ground report that the harmful activity has ceased.

 "We have not heard of any incidents" since the spring, an official told ABC News, although "some people may be experiencing symptoms ... because the symptoms are experienced at different times, because the symptoms are different in various people."

 The Cuban government, which denies any involvement, is said to be cooperating with the ongoing U.S. investigation, but the two governments are not working together on the matter.

 "The investigation is ongoing, and we will continue to try to find the source of these incidents and the perpetrator," Nauert added Thursday.

 Mystery shrouds 'incidents' in Cuba involving US embassy personnel

 Canadian diplomat in Cuba also suffered hearing loss

 Hearing loss of US diplomats in Cuba blamed on covert device

 Tillerson says diplomats in Havana suffered 'health attacks'

 Nauert said the "first reported activity" had taken place in late December 2016.

 "It took some time for people to be able to determine that, 'Yes, there is a pattern taking place here. Yes, there is something going on,'" she said Wednesday.

 Sources told ABC News that some U.S. officials were exposed to a sonic device in Havana that caused serious health problems and physical symptoms. One State Department official said that some of those employees affected were aware that the incident was happening while it was happening, but others were not.

 Experts told ABC News that sound waves above and below the range of human hearing could potentially cause permanent damage.

 According to ABC affiliate WPLG in Miami, sources said the variety of symptoms suffered by those affected included headaches, vision issues, balance and walking issues, and memory loss.

 Nauert said Wednesday officials had not all experienced the same symptoms and while some had been asked by the department to leave Cuba because "their condition necessitated that," others had chosen to stay.

 "We have had our U.S. government employees go to Miami. ... Some of them had been medically evacuated in order to receive medical treatment and testing," she said. "We have brought medical professionals to our staff in Cuba to be able to treat them, to be able to test them."

 The University of Miami told ABC News Wednesday that it had been contacted by the State Department and that it was looking into the situation.

 "Like any top-notch academic medical center in the nation, the University of Miami is often consulted regarding complex health care issues or emerging diseases. In the case of U.S. diplomats, our physicians were consulted by the State Department," the university said in a statement.

 U.S. officials told ABC News that the FBI is among those investigating on the ground in Havana, with the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security taking the lead.

 In May 2017, the State Department asked two Cuban officials working at the embassy in the United States to depart the country. The State Department said that the move was not a form of retaliation or a sign that the U.S. believes Cuba is behind the attack, but to punish Cuba for its failure to keep American diplomats safe -- something it is obligated to do under an international treaty known as the Vienna Convention.

 Earlier in August, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, "We hold the Cuban authorities responsible for finding out who is carrying out these health attacks on not just our diplomats, but as you've seen now there are other cases with other diplomats as well."

 While Tillerson used the term "attacks," Nauert continues to refer to the issue as a series of "incidents," citing the ongoing investigation.

 "What has happened there is of great concern to the U.S. government," Nauert said Wednesday. "Let me just reassure you that this is a matter that we take very seriously. ... It is a huge priority for us and we're trying to get them all the care that they need."

 There have been no reports of other embassies experiencing this, a senior State Department official said.

 ABC News' Serena Marshall, Josh Margolin, Mike Levine, Victor Oquendo, Seni Tienabeso and Kirit Radia contributed to this story. ||||| According to medical records reviewed exclusively by CBS News, a U.S. doctor who evaluated American and Canadian diplomats working in Havana diagnosed them with conditions as serious as mild traumatic brain injury, and with likely damage to the central nervous system.

 The diplomats complained about symptoms ranging from hearing loss and nausea to headaches and balance disorders after the State Department said "incidents" began affecting them beginning in late 2016. A source familiar with these incidents says officials are investigating whether the diplomats were targets of a type of sonic attack directed at their homes, which were provided by the Cuban government. The source says reports of more attacks affecting U.S. embassy workers on the island continue.

 The doctor, one of several who reviewed their cases, included a warning in the medical records about the health risks of future exposures. The diplomats underwent comprehensive audiological evaluations and a battery of other tests.

 In a statement received by CBS News from the University of Miami Health System, they confirmed its physicians were "consulted" by State on its diplomats in Cuba.

 "Like any top-notch academic medical center in the nation, the University of Miami is often consulted regarding complex health care issues or emerging diseases. In the case of U.S. diplomats, our physicians were consulted by the State Department," read the statement from the university.

 "The expertise of our physicians and researchers across a variety of fields naturally positions us to assist in these matters, and we consider it our obligation and responsibility to share that knowledge as needed. Regardless of the circumstances of providing medical care, maintaining patient privacy stands as a top priority for the University."

 An American doctor also visited Havana in the spring to assess U.S. embassy workers, according to the source.

 A number of diplomats have cut short their assignments in Cuba because of the attacks.

 The source says American diplomats have also been subjected other types of harassment including vehicle vandalization, constant surveillance, and home break-ins.

 Ailments in Cuba could be result of intel operation gone wrong, expert says

 Although the State Department says it hasn't identified a definitive source of the attacks, it has reminded Cuban authorities of their international obligations to protect diplomats. The U.S. also expelled two Cuban embassy officials in Washington May 23.

 "We hold the Cuban authorities responsible for finding out who is carrying out these health attacks on not just our diplomats but, as you've seen now, there are other cases with other diplomats involved," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters earlier this month.

 Cuba has denied any involvement in the attacks.

 "We remain in regular contact with the Cuban government to emphasize that we take these incidents very seriously and to resolve this matter in a satisfactory manner," a State Department spokesperson for Western Hemisphere Affairs tells CBS News.

 But as the U.S. pledges publicly to hold Cuba accountable for the protection of its diplomats, there are signs the U.S. may be privately moving forward with plans to make it easier for Americans to visit and do business with the country.

 On Tuesday, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control removed hundreds of internet domain names primarily focused on travel to Cuba from its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list. The people, groups and entities on this list are restricted from doing business in the U.S.

 "While there may be a legal basis for the removal of the domain names from the SDN/BP list, to remove so many at one moment has optical significance," says John Kavulich, president of the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council. It "is demonstrative of the distance between political rhetoric and practical implementation of policy."

 But a Treasury Department official explained to CBS News that OFAC's removal of the domain names may be misconstrued as more significant than it actually is. A single company was delisted Tuesday, and that company had 60 websites with "countless domain names," the official said. Delisting that one company meant including all of the websites and domains associated with the company. |||||

– American diplomats treated after a series of unexplained incidents in Havana had health problems including mild traumatic brain injury and central nervous system damage, according to medical records seen by CBS News. The diplomats, some of whom ended up having to leave Cuba, were treated by an American doctor after complaining of symptoms including hearing loss, headaches, and loss of balance. Sources say the diplomats, who lived in homes provided by the Cuban government, began experiencing symptoms in the fall of 2016 after their residences were targeted with what American officials believe was some kind of advanced sonic weapon. Officials say at least 10 diplomats and embassy employees were affected. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Wednesday that the "unprecedented" incidents "caused a variety of physical symptoms." She said some diplomats were treated in Miami and others were treated by American medical personnel who traveled to Cuba. "What has happened there is of great concern to the US government," she said. "Let me just reassure you that this is a matter that we take very seriously." Officials tell ABC News that the FBI and the State Department are investigating in Cuba. Cuban authorities are assisting the investigation, the officials say. (At least one Canadian diplomat was also targeted.)


Summarize this article:

PHNOM PENH |

 PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The French architect linked to China's biggest political scandal in two decades and detained in Cambodia will not be extradited to any country, a minister said, adding another twist to a high-profile case already shrouded in mystery.

 Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong gave no details on what grounds China had requested the arrest of Patrick Henri Devillers, whose whereabouts is unknown, but said he would remain in custody pending further investigation.

 Devillers, 52, has lived in Cambodia for at least five years, according to friends. He had close business ties with the family of deposed Chinese politician Bo Xilai, but China's reason for seeking his arrest has not been made public.

 "The Royal Government of Cambodia has already made decision to keep this French national in Cambodia, the decision was already made. Neither sending to France or China," Hor Namhong told reporters.

 Asked why Devillers was detained, he said: "We don't know the reason, we are waiting for further investigation."

 A spokeswoman for the French embassy in Phnom Penh declined to say whether France was seeking his extradition, or give any details on the status of Devillers.

 Cambodia has kept an unusually tight lid on all information about his detention in a case that has highlighted the tight diplomatic relationship with China.

 China is Cambodia's biggest political and economic ally and Beijing has boosted its influence in the impoverished country in recent years, pumping in hundreds of millions of dollars of aid, loans and investment.

 Devillers is known to have been close to Bo's glamorous wife, Gu Kailai, who has been named as a suspect in last November's murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. The police case against Gu has not been made public.

 Last week, the head of the discipline apparatus of China's Communist Party, He Guoqiang, visited Cambodia for three days. His position makes him one of the senior officials overseeing Bo's case.

 Apart from the foreign minister, Cambodian officials, police and a government spokesman have refused comment or provided no details on Devillers since his arrest was confirmed on Tuesday. Several have referred journalists to other ministries and agencies, which have each denied responsibility for the case.

 "HE LOOKED VERY SAD"

 Cambodia has an extradition treaty with China and police said on Wednesday that arrangement permitted the authorities to detain the Frenchman for up to 60 days while China gathered evidence to support its request for him to be handed over.

 The status of the Frenchman is shrouded in mystery. The French embassy and several friends of Devillers have given no comment in the past two days and Cambodian authorities have not said where Devillers was being held.

 Police had initially said he was being kept at an immigration detention facility, but officials there told Reuters no foreigners were being held. Reuters reporters also visited an Interior Ministry detention facility, where officials also denied holding him.

 The events leading up to his arrest are also unclear. A friend of Devillers, Pierre Yves Clais, told Reuters on Wednesday that he was told by a friend that the Frenchman had gone for lunch on June 13 with two Chinese-speaking Cambodians, which he described as a "set-up".

 However, Clais on Friday denied making the comment and said it was a misunderstanding.

 Two security guards working close to Devillers in Phnom Penh witnessed his arrest, which they said took place about two weeks ago. A police van and a private car carrying two European men pulled up outside his house before taking him away.

 "I saw five policemen arrest him. He was cooperative, but he looked very sad," Rith Makara, a security guard at the furniture store opposite the Frenchman's home, said on Thursday.

 He and a next-door neighbor said Devillers lived alone and had not been seen since.

 Sources familiar with Devillers when he lived in China last month said he entered Bo's inner circle while living in Dalian in the 1990s and the Frenchman received help from then-mayor Bo in chasing up an unpaid debt for architectural work.

 Devillers and Gu gave the same residential address when they set up a British company in 2000 in the resort town of Bournemouth and an investment firm registered by Devillers in 2006 in Luxembourg listed the Beijing address of the Ang Dao Law Firm - a firm affiliated with Gu.

 (Editing by Nick Macfie) ||||| Gu Kailai, who has not been seen in public since March, is “highly suspected” of the 41-year-old Mr Heywood’s murder, according to the Chinese state media.

 But according to the Asahi Shimbun, she has now admitted her guilt, telling investigators that Mr Heywood was poised to reveal that she was funnelling “billions of dollars” overseas.

 The newspaper suggested that Mrs Gu’s financial affairs were already under the subject of an investigation by last November, when Mr Heywood travelled to Chongqing, the central Chinese city she ruled over with her husband.

 The report allegedly states that Mrs Gu had killed Mr Heywood after feeling “driven into a corner” by the investigation. It also said that Mrs Gu had provided a precise confession as to how she had killed the British businessman, who had been a close friend of her family for several years.

 According to the Asahi, Communist party officials have now “decided to indict Gu following her confession”. They are also allegedly investigating whether Mr Bo, 62, was aware of his wife’s actions, have interviewed hundreds and detained “dozens of people” associated with him “including his chauffeurs, close aides and secretaries”.

 The investigators believe that Mrs Gu was receiving undeclared income from the early 1990s and may have transferred as much as $6 billion (£3.84 billion) overseas. Mr Heywood has been accused of helping her to move some of that money.

 “Gu has also begun admitting to allegations of bribe-taking and the cross-border remittances, according to the sources. They said she has told investigators she received cash from a number of companies on the back of her husband’s power,” reported the Asahi.

 Meanwhile, Cambodia said yesterday (FRI) it would not extradite Patrick Devillers, a French architect who had also been one of Mrs Gu’s inner circle. Mr Devillers is also suspected by the Chinese of involvement in moving Mrs Gu’s money overseas but the Cambodian government said it would investigate him in Phnom Penh. |||||

– Two twists in the China scandal involving ousted political leader Bo Xilai and wife Gu Kailai: Confession? A Japanese newspaper reports that Gu has confessed to killing British businessman Neil Heywood, apparently because she was worried he knew too much about her illegal financial dealings. The report quotes anonymous Chinese sources as saying an indictment is near, notes the Telegraph. The sources also say that Gu smuggled somewhere around $6 billion overseas. Cambodia arrest: A Cambodian official says a French architect with strong business ties to Bo and Gu will not be extradited to China or anywhere else, at least for now, reports Reuters. Police in Phnom Penh arrested Patrick Devillers earlier this month at Beijing's request but haven't disclosed much else, including why he got detained in the first place. "We don't know the reason," said the minister. "We are waiting for further investigation."