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 Three years ago this week, an intoxicated Christine O'Donnell showed up at the apartment of a 25-year-old Philadelphian and ended up spending the night in his bed. Here's his story—and photos—of his escapade with the would-be Delaware senator.

 I barely knew Christine when she turned up at my door at around eight o'clock on the night of Halloween. We'd met for the first and only time three months earlier when my two roommates and I signed the lease on our apartment: Christine's aunt owned the place we were moving into, and she happened to be up from Delaware visiting at the time. But we'd only spent about five minutes together that day and we hadn't spoken much, and I hadn't thought of her since.

 Yet here she was standing outside my door with a friend. And both of them were pretty tipsy.

 She asked if she and her friend could come inside our apartment to change into their costumes. She couldn't change at her aunt's place, she said, because she was sleeping and she didn't want to wake her up. Would we mind if she used our bathroom instead?

 It was a pretty strange request. Sure, weird stuff happens on Halloween, but I barely knew her, and it isn't every day that someone shows up at your front door and asks to change into their ladybug costume. But I told her it was fine and she was welcome to use our place to get ready.

 It didn't take long before the two women—who'd clearly been drinking—were sitting on my couch, beers in hand, trying to convince my roommate and me to join them for a night on the town. Christine was in the holiday spirit dressed in her ladybug outfit. Her friend, who had a female pirate costume on, was much more quiet and reserved. She barely spoke all night.

 It was a Wednesday evening, and my roommate and I hadn't been planning to go out. We both had to get up pretty early the next morning for work. But Christine was insistent that we join them, and she wasn't taking no for an answer. "Come on, guys! Let's go! Just throw something on!" she said.

 The costume that I wore for the Halloween a year before—a boy scout's uniform that belonged to a friend—was still sitting in my closet. So that made it easy. But my roommate had no idea what to put on.

 Christine immediately came up with an idea. She pointed to a cardboard box in the kitchen—the kind that 12-packs of Coca-Cola come in—and told him to cut a hole in the middle and put it on top of his head. We weren't sure what she was suggesting.

 "You can go as a cokehead!" she said, bursting into laughter.

 With our costume situation sorted out, we headed to South Street, where lots of bars in Philadelphia are located. Half an hour later, the four of us were seated at a table and knocking back beers.

 It really didn't take very long for Christine to make her move. She'd grabbed my hand on the way from the apartment to South Street, so I can't say I was totally surprised when she leaned in to kiss me soon after we arrived at the bar.

 I could tell when we first met that Christine was older than me. I was 25, and although I never asked her age, I'd have guessed she was in her early 30s. It was only recently that I found out her real age and learned she was in her late 30s when we hooked up. There's a 14-year gap between us, but she looks good for her age. I don't think I'd heard the word "cougar" yet at that point, but that's probably what I'd call her.

 Aggressive is another word I'd use to describe her. At the bar, she confessed to me that her aunt really hadn't been sleeping. She hadn't even gone to her apartment to check, she said. She had remembered me from our five-minute meeting the previous summer, and used the story about her aunt as an excuse to knock on my door. She'd set her sights on me from the beginning.

 Christine was pretty intense, and she was pretty outspoken that night, but we didn't talk politics much. Her aunt had told me that Christine ran for Senate a year earlier and had lost, so I knew a bit about her background. But the most political she got that night was when she said she attended lots of events in Washington that attracted congressmen and senators. "It would be nice to have a good-looking young man to attend those with me," she added.

 We'd probably knocked back five Heinekens when Christine leaned over and whispered in my ear that she wanted to go back to my place. Before we could go, though, she told me to ask her friend if she'd mind if I drove Christine home later that evening. That was odd. I guess Christine didn't want to come across as a slut in her friend's eyes for going home with me, so she wanted me to bring it up her friend first.

 I did what I was told and asked her friend if she had any objection to me hanging out with Christine a little longer provided I took her home later on in the evening. She didn't, and a few minutes after that, we were all headed back to my apartment. Christine's friend got in her car and went home. My roommate went to his bedroom and went to sleep. And Christine and I got cozy on the couch and popped open another beer.

 Things got physical on the couch pretty quickly. It wasn't long before we'd moved from the living room to my bed.

 I won't get into the nitty gritty details of what happened between the sheets that evening. But I will say that it wasn't half as exciting as I'd been hoping it would be. Christine was a decent kisser, but as soon as soon as her clothes came off and she was naked in my bed, Christine informed me that she was a virgin.

 "You've got to be kidding," I said. She didn't explain at the time that she was a "born-again virgin." She made it seem like she'd never had sex in her life, which seemed pretty improbable for a woman her age. And she made it clear that she was planning on staying a virgin that night. But there were signs that she wasn't very experienced sexually. When her underwear came off, I immediately noticed that the waxing trend had completely passed her by.

 Obviously, that was a big turnoff, and I quickly lost interest. I said goodnight, rolled over, and went to sleep. It was almost four o'clock in the morning. I had to get up at 6:30 to go to work.

 Christine wasn't in the best of shape when my alarm clock went off three hours later. I was hungover and exhausted and we'd both had about the same amount to drink, so I'm guessing she was feeling even worse. I got up and started to get dressed and told Christine she'd need to get up, too. But she clearly didn't want to budge, and even after I'd reminded her a few times, she was still under the covers. Did she think I was going to leave for work and let her sleep in my bed?

 When she finally did get up and dressed and we got in the car, Christine couldn't remember exactly where her friend lived. We circled around for about 20 minutes before we found it, and I dropped her off in the parking lot next to her car, as she asked me to. We said goodbye and exchanged phone numbers and email addresses. But there wasn't a whole lot of back and forth. I didn't even try to give her a kiss goodbye.

 I wasn't planning on contacting Christine after our night together. Things hadn't gone so great—especially the part that took place in my bedroom—and I didn't see any reason to try and see her again. But two or three days later, she emailed me to ask me if I wanted to hang out again. I made an excuse. But she didn't take a hint and emailed or called a few more times over the next couple of weeks before I was forced to make it clear to her that I wasn't interested.

 Things worked out for the best, though. A few weeks later, Christine started dating my roommate. They went out for over a year, and it was a little awkward the first few times Christine came over to visit him at our apartment and we all had to make conversation in the living room. But that passed pretty quickly. And in case you're wondering, he never had sex with her either, as far as I know.

 When I heard several months ago that Christine had decided to run again, I didn't take it very seriously. And I never expected in a million years that she'd end up winning the primary. But she did, and the morning after the election, I sat in disbelief as I watched the news on TV. For a second, I thought I might be hearing things and I went over to my computer and pulled up CNN.com to check if it was true. It was.

 God, I hope the same thing doesn't happen next week.

 Update:

 O'Donnell has responded to this story. The official statement by O'Donnell's communications director is here. ||||| Gawker was convicted Thursday in the court of Twitter opinion. The charges: misogyny and reckless link-baiting.

 "Today, we are all Christine O'Donnell," wrote Salon's Justin Elliott.

 He was one of several journalists and bloggers to criticize Gawker for posting an anonymous account by a Philadelphia man claiming to have gone home with Delaware Senate candidate on Halloween night three years ago, following a night of drinking.

 But editor Remy Stern told The Upshot that Gawker ran the item because it's "a great story" and pushed back against the misogyny charge, arguing that the alleged incident was worth noting because O'Donnell's private actions -- according to the anonymous writer -- run counter to her public persona as an advocate of Christian conservative values.

 "If it was any politician whose private life diverged from his public life in such an interesting way, we'd be interested in that," Stern said. "It had nothing to do with her being a woman."

 Despite the sensational headline -- "I Had a One-Night Stand With Christine O'Donnell" -- the two never actually had sex. However, the anonymous writer describes O'Donnell's anatomy in detail, which led to some of the backlash.

 "Hey Gawker, I hope a one-day SEO term victory is worth the sleaziest piece of s--- story in memory," wrote Slate's Dave Weigel. "Regardless, that vile anonymous dudebro is an awful person and an awful writer to boot," wrote Mediagazer's Megan McCarthy. "Why protect his identity? (Oh, yeah, pageviews.)" And Mother Jones magazine simply responded with a new tag: #GawkerFail.

 Gawker Media sites have been known to pay to get exclusives, such as Gizmodo's scoop on Apple's new iPhone and Deadspin getting a hold of NFL star Brett Favre's voice mail messages to a sideline reporter and (alleged) photographs of his genitalia. Stern said Gawker paid in the "low four figures" for the O'Donnell story, but also did its due diligence in checking the accuracy of the man's claims.

 Stern said that the man approached Gawker about 10 days ago. He had shopped it elsewhere but wanted it to be told correctly, and Gawker allowed him to do it first-person.

 "From an editorial standpoint, it was compelling to hear it from his own words," Stern said, adding that "it's a good story and that's why we did it."

 Gawker Media chief Nick Denton, in a staff memo, described the O'Donnell post as "an example of brilliant packaging," with a good composite image on the front and compelling writing.

 "And this points to a general rule on the Web," Denton said. "Writers are successful to the extent that they can sublimate their egotism and get out of the way of the story." ||||| Twitter is abuzz with reactions to a tell-all posted anonymously today by a man claiming to have had a one-night stand with Christine O'Donnell three years ago.

 In one of the most-retweeted reactions, journalist Dave Weigel called the account the "sleaziest... story in memory."

 Blogger Meghan McCain took particular umbrage in a series of posts:

 Wow gawker, just wow. This is the exact reason why women don't want to run for office in this country. Posting that is vile and disgusting.

 I am no fan of O'Donnell but what gawker has done is disgusting and vile and once again not showcasing the real issues in this election.

 anybody that says there isn't a double standard for how the media treats women versus men running for office isn't living in reality.

 Over at The Upshot, Michael Calderone spoke with Gawker editor Remy Stern, who defended the piece as "a great story" that had "nothing to do with her being a woman."

 Check below for more Twitter reactions! |||||

– Gawker has stirred up a furor by posting an anonymous guy's claim of a having a "one-night stand" (which involved the same bed, but no sex) with a drunk Christine O'Donnell a few years ago. On Twitter and all over blog land, the story about the story has now eclipsed the actual story (as evidenced by this summary). The Huffington Post's roundup of reaction includes Meghan McCain tweeting, "Wow gawker, just wow. This is the exact reason why women don't want to run for office in this country. Posting that is vile and disgusting." At Yahoo's Upshot blog, Michael Calderone talks to Gawker editor Remy Stern, who defends it as a "great story" and rejects the various charges of misogyny being leveled. "If it was any politician whose private life diverged from his public life in such an interesting way, we'd be interested in that. It had nothing to do with her being a woman." Calderone also quotes a tweet from Slate's Dave Weigel: "Hey Gawker, I hope a one-day SEO term victory is worth the sleaziest piece of s--- story in memory." Michelle Malkin, meanwhile, is calling out Gawker's advertisers over the "smear."


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– The ex-professional wrestler known to his fans as "The Hitman" has just taken a hit of his own. Bret Hart has prostate cancer, he told fans in an Instagram post Monday, and he says he'll be having surgery within days, ESPN reports. "Mark Helprin wrote: 'We are all perfect clocks that Divinity has set to ticking when, even before birth, the heart explodes into a lifelong dance.' I've had a great lifelong dance and I'm a survivor of many hard battles. I now face my toughest battle," the 58-year-old Canadian wrote. Hart, who suffered a stroke in 2002 and says he hopes to raise cancer awareness, notes in the Instagram post, "I openly declare myself in my fight against prostate cancer. In the next few days, I will undergo surgery with the hope of defeating this nemesis once and for all. … I will wage my fearsome fight against cancer with one shield and one sword carrying my determination and my fury for life, emboldened by all the love that's kept me going this long already." (The pro wrestling world lost both Dusty Rhodes and Roddy Piper last year.)

Former professional wrestler Bret "The Hitman" Hart revealed Monday that he's fighting prostate cancer.

 "I've had a great lifelong dance and I'm a survivor of many hard battles," the 58-year-old Hart said in an Instagram post. "I now face my toughest battle. With hesitation and fear, I openly declare myself in my fight against prostate cancer."

 The WWE Hall of Famer, who suffered a stroke in 2002, said he'll undergo surgery in the next few days.

 "I make a solemn vow to all of those that once believed in me, the dead and the living, that I will wage my fearsome fight against cancer with one shield and one sword carrying my determination and my fury for life, emboldened by all the love that's kept me going this long already," Hart wrote.

 Bret Hart won world heavyweight titles with both the WWF/WWE and WCW during his pro wrestling career. Courtesy WWE

 Hart won the world heavyweight championship on five occasions in the WWF and twice with WCW. In addition, he won the WWE U.S. heavyweight title five times.

 Hart, who retired after suffering a concussion in 1999, is a member of the famed wrestling Hart family from Canada. His father, Stu Hart, wrestled professionally before gaining acclaim as a trainer. Brother Owen Hart wrestled professionally until he died in 1999 after falling from an apparatus as he was being lowered into the ring from the ceiling of Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. |||||


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 / Updated By Tom Winter, Andrew Blankstein, Elisha Fieldstadt and The Associated Press

 Bill Cosby’s wife underwent questioning that was at times contentious during a deposition in February involving a defamation case involving her husband.

 But Camille Cosby gave few answers in the six-hour-long deposition, often invoking spousal privilege and at times refusing to answer questions altogether, according to a transcript released Friday.

 "I’m done,” Camille Cosby said at one point in reply to a question. At another time, she left the room where the Feb. 22 deposition was taking place.

 The deposition was conducted as part of a defamation suit filed against Bill Cosby by seven women who say they were portrayed as liars after accusing the comedian of sexual assault. Camille Cosby is not named in the suit. Bill Cosby has counter-sued the seven women who filed suit, also alleging defamation.

 Camille Cosby was read sections of her husband's 2005 deposition where he said he "had sex and we had dinners and sex and rendezvous" with Beth Farrier in the 1970s.

 However, when asked repeatedly if she thought her husband was being deceitful, or whether or not she had an opinion on whether Bill Cosby deceived her, Camille Cosby invoked marital privilege or said she had no opinion.

 When asked about honesty and what it means, Camille Cosby answered: "I'm not going to expound on this." When she was told she had to, she answered: "I do not have to. I'm done."

 Camille Cosby also refused to answer in the deposition whether or not it is a dishonest act or whether or not it is deceitful to give Quaaludes to someone for the purposes of sex.

 Related: Bill Cosby Said He Gave Quaaludes to Woman Before Sex, Court Documents Show

 Dr. Bill Cosby and Dr. Camille Cosby, right, are photographed at the 50th Anniversary Gala of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art on Friday, Nov. 7, in Washington. AP

 About 50 women have publicly accused Bill Cosby of sexual misconduct going back decades. Cosby and his representatives have repeatedly denied the allegations.

 Bill Cosby faces a criminal case in Pennsylvania for allegedly drugging and molesting a former Temple University employee in 2004. Bill Cosby has not yet entered a plea in that case, but his attorneys have said he is innocent of the charges. The woman in that case is not part of the defamation suit.

 Camille Cosby invoked spousal privilege in the February deposition when asked whether or not her husband has been truthful with her.

 She did say she never obtained Quaaludes for her own use or someone else's use.

 She was asked by an opposing attorney, "now, can we agree that throughout your marriage, Mr. Cosby acted with a lack of integrity?"

 Camille's attorney, Monique Pressley, interjected immediately and instructed Camille Cosby that she did not have to answer that question or any others related to conversations with her husband. Camille Cosby replied: "And I won't."

 Related: Women Suing Bill Cosby for Defamation Win Key Ruling

 When asked if she had an opinion on whether Bill Cosby acted with a lack of integrity, Camille Cosby said she wouldn’t answer.

 Camille said she rarely watched television or read newspapers and when asked if "all of the information that you have regarding the sexual allegations against your husband came from conversation — whether conversations with your husband or conversations with counsel,” Camille said, "That is correct. That's my answer."

 Camille also said that she has no understanding and is unaware of what her husband said in the 2005 deposition where Bill Cosby said he obtained Quaaludes to give to women he wanted to have sex with.

 The lawyer for the seven women suing Cosby for defamation, Joseph Cammarata, asked her about Shawn Thompson, a woman who said Bill Cosby fathered her daughter, Autumn Jackson, in the 1970s.

 Jackson was convicted in 1997 of attempting to extort money from Bill Cosby to prevent her from telling a tabloid she's his daughter. He acknowledged he had an affair with her mother and had given her money.

 Camille Cosby said that Autumn Jackson is not Bill Cosby's daughter and that she is confident about that "because there was a test, a DNA test."

 Related: Bill Cosby Wants Another Chance to Throw Out Sexual-Assault Case

 Camille said, "I do not have an opinion." However, later she said, "it was a big deal then, yes" when it was revealed that in the 1970s Bill Cosby had extramarital affairs.

 Camille Cosby was also questioned on April 19, but that transcript has not been released. Her lawyers argued unsuccessfully to stop the deposition, which a judge ruled she would have to givebut said she could refuse to answer questions about private communications between her and her husband.

 An attorney handling a separate lawsuit against Bill Cosby revealed Friday that Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner provided sworn testimony Wednesday.

 In the sexual battery lawsuit filed in Los Angeles, Judy Huth says Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him at the Playboy Mansion around 1974, when she was 15.

 Bill Cosby's former lawyers have accused Huth of attempting to extort him before filing the case and have tried unsuccessfully to have it dismissed. Huth's attorney, Gloria Allred, said Hefner's testimony will remain under seal for now.

 Hefner also was named as a defendant in a case filed Monday by former model Chloe Goins, who accuses Bill Cosby of drugging and sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion in 2008. ||||| Camille Cosby’s February deposition in a defamation case brought by several women who have previously accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault was combative.

 A transcript of the deposition, made public today, shows that, from the start, Camille Cosby refused to answer a number of questions she deemed personal and off-limits.

 In total, the deposition lasted about eight hours, but included frequent breaks and interruptions. Joseph Cammarata, a lawyer for the women, previously said that her testimony lasted two-and-a-half hours.

 “That’s communication between my husband and me and that is it," she told lawyers at one point.

 Prior to Camille Cosby's deposition, a judge ruled that she did not have to answer questions protected by the marital disqualification rule. According to Cammarata, Camille Cosby evoked the marital disqualification rule more than a dozen times.

 The transcript reveals that the questions she faced were intense.

 At one point she was asked “Now, can we agree that throughout your marriage that your husband betrayed the sanctity of your marital home?” A moment later, she faced this question: “Would you agree that throughout your marriage Mr. Cosby used his position, power to manipulate young women?”

 In that instance, Camille Cosby was instructed by her lawyer not to answer.

 Two months after that first deposition, Camille Cosby was deposed a second time, according to attorneys for her and her husband.

 In a statement obtained by ABC News at the time, lawyers Dan Small and Monique Pressley, who represent Camille and Bill Cosby respectively, said that the comedian's wife had "no relevant non-privileged information to offer in this case."

 "Mrs. Cosby was able to persevere and cooperate in today's proceedings to the best of her abilities," they continued. "We are thankful for this distraction to now be over."

 Bill Cosby's legal team has repeatedly denied the allegations. ||||| Bill Cosby in February 2016 in Norristown, Pa. (Photo: Clem Murray, AP)

 A few days before a second pre-trial hearing in Bill Cosby's sexual-assault case, he was reminded of his many accusers pursuing him in civil court thanks to developments Friday.

 In Massachusetts, a newly released transcript shows that Cosby's wife Camille refused to answer dozens of questions during a combative February deposition in connection with a defamation lawsuit filed by seven of her husband's accusers in federal court in Springfield, near where the Cosbys have a home.

 In Los Angeles, Gloria Allred, who represents an accuser suing Cosby for sexual battery, said Friday she took a deposition from Hugh Hefner on Wednesday at the Playboy Mansion, but the contents of the testimony were sealed. Hefner gave the deposition in a case filed by Judy Huth, who alleges Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him around 1974 at Hefner's mansion.

 And on Monday in Los Angeles, yet another accuser, who also claims she was sexually assaulted by Cosby at the Playboy Mansion in 2008, sued Cosby and Hefner, asserting that Hefner was an enabler who knew what his friend Cosby was doing to women at the mansion or should have known it.

 Hugh Hefner in October 2011. (Photo: Matt Sayles, AP)

 In Massachusetts, Camille Cosby testified that she had no knowledge that her husband allegedly gave women drugs and had sex with them, according to a transcript of her deposition released Friday.

 Camille Cosby strongly resisted being deposed and her husband's legal team tried to stop it. But she was compelled by a federal judge anyway, although he confirmed her right to not answer any questions that violated her marital privilege.

 The deposition took place over two days in Boston; the transcript released Friday covers only the first day.

 It was clear in February that Camille Cosby's deposition had been strained, in part because the lawyers acknowledged it after the first day ended and a second day had to be scheduled.

 She refused to answer many times and the judge had to be called to rule on whether she had to. The transcript shows the back-and-forth between her and her lawyers and the accusers' lawyer, Joe Cammarata.

 Joseph Cammarata, right, in Springfield, Mass., after a deposition of Camille Cosby. (Photo: Elise Amendola, AP)

 She was subjected to intense questioning by Cammarata, who represents seven women who claim the comedian, through his lawyers, branded them as liars after they came forward in late 2014 with accusations that he drugged and/or raped them in episodes dating back decades.

 Among other questions, Cammarata asked her whether her husband "acted with a lack of integrity" during their 52-year marriage. She also was asked if her husband used his position and power "to manipulate young women."

 She refused to answer those questions after her lawyer cited marital privilege, the legal rule that communications between spouses are private.

 Camille and Bill Cosby in October 2009. (Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP)

 Although discovery and depositions are continuing in the various civil suits against him, none of it involves Cosby himself yet. Legal motions involving him have been put on temporary hold until the resolution of the sole criminal case against him, in Montgomery County, Pa., outside Philadelphia, where the Cosbys also have a home.

 On Tuesday, Cosby is scheduled to appear for a second pre-trial hearing on felony sexual assault charges stemming from an encounter at his home with ex-Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004. Constand said Cosby drugged and raped her; Cosby said the encounter was consensual.

 Cosby's legal team is trying to get the criminal charges thrown out on the grounds that he was promised immunity in the case from a former district attorney. So far, his lawyers have failed to persuade the Pennsylvania judge.

 Nearly 60 women have accused Cosby of forcing unwanted sexual contact on them in encounters dating back to the mid-1960s. Cosby has denied the allegations.

 Contributing: The Associated Press

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1Tsuxlo |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Camille Cosby refused to answer dozens of questions about her famous husband during two days of deposition back in February, USA Today reports. According to ABC News, a transcript of the deposition released Friday shows Camille cited "spousal privilege" in her refusal to answer questions more than a dozen times alone. Other times she refused without giving a reason or just left the room, NBC News reports. The deposition was part of a defamation suit against Bill Cosby brought by seven women who accused him of sexual assault and say they were branded liars in response. Bill has countersued them for defamation, as well. The Cosbys' legal team had tried to get Camille out of the deposition, but a federal judge insisted. Among the questions Camille refused to answer: what honesty means, if Bill "acted with a lack of integrity," if it is "dishonest" or "deceitful" to give Quaaludes to someone in order to have sex with them, if Bill used his status to "manipulate young women, and if Bill "betrayed the sanctity of [her] marital home." She did say she had no idea Bill allegedly gave drugs to women and had sex with them throughout their 52 years of marriage. ABC describes the eights hours total of deposition—during which Camille was read parts of a 2005 deposition in which Bill talked about having sex with one of his accusers in the 1970s—as "combative."


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 WASHINGTON — Americans overwhelmingly favor installing video surveillance cameras in public places, judging the infringement on their privacy as an acceptable trade-off for greater security from terrorist attacks, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

 A week after the Boston Marathon attack, which was unraveled after the release of video footage of the two suspects flushed them out of hiding, 78 percent of people said surveillance cameras were a good idea, the poll found.

 The receptiveness to cameras on street corners reflects a public that regards terrorism as a fact of life in the United States — 9 out of 10 people polled said Americans would always have to live with the risk — but also a threat that many believe the government can combat effectively through rigorous law enforcement and proper regulation.

 For all that confidence, there are lingering questions about the role of the nation’s intelligence agencies before the attacks, with people divided about whether they had collected information that could have prevented them (41 percent said they had; 45 percent said they had not).

 The murkiness of the case — the Tsarnaev brothers’ ties to the Caucasus; the warnings from Russian intelligence about potential extremist sympathies — has clearly left an impression on the public. A majority, 53 percent, said the suspects had links to a larger terrorist group, while 32 percent said they had acted alone.

 President Obama, in a White House news conference on Tuesday, defended the performance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security, saying the agencies had done their job, while acknowledging, “This is hard stuff.”

 The poll suggested that Americans are willing to tolerate further tough measures to foil future attacks. Sixty-six percent said information about how to make explosives should not be allowed on the Internet, where it would be available to aspiring terrorists, even if some would view that as a form of censorship. Thirty percent said it should be permitted in the interest of free expression.

 More broadly, only 20 percent of people said they believed the government had gone too far in restricting civil liberties in the fight against terrorism, while 26 percent said it had not gone far enough and 49 percent said the balance was about right. In 2011, the share of those worried about losing civil liberties (25 percent) was larger than that favoring more intrusive government approach (17 percent).

 “I know some people are paranoid about the government intruding on their privacy,” Judith Richards, a retired teacher from New Paltz, N.Y., said in a follow-up interview. “But with all the horrible things that have been happening, I think you have to trust this as a way to protect our well-being.”

 Jennifer Lopez, 26, a saleswoman in Pembroke Pines, Fla., said: “There are cameras in stores and supermarkets. Our families would be safer and surveillance cameras would provide evidence to help agencies pursue people, like they just did in Boston.”

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 The nationwide poll of 965 adults was conducted on landlines and cellular phones from April 24 to April 28, five days after the manhunt for the surviving suspect in the Boston bombings, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, ended with his capture in a backyard in Watertown, Mass. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

 Polls taken in the aftermath of terrorist attacks often show spikes in the public’s fears of another attack. In a CBS News poll a year ago, just 10 percent of people said another attack in the United States in the next few months was “very likely,” while 27 percent said it was “somewhat likely.” In the most recent survey, 24 percent said it was very likely and 42 percent somewhat likely.

 There is also evidence that fears about immigrants have increased modestly. Forty-nine percent said the risk of terrorism had risen in the United States because of legal immigration. The last time that question was asked, in 2007, the percentage was 42 percent.

 Still, other responses were unchanged since the Boston bombings: Twenty-three percent said they were very concerned about a terrorist attack in the area in which they live, about the same as said so in 2010. Fifty-six percent said they approved of Mr. Obama’s handling of terrorism, essentially unchanged from a CBS News poll in February.

 Mr. Obama said the law enforcement system had functioned as it should in the days after the bombings. He also said the F.B.I. had properly handled the information it received from Russian intelligence agencies about the older of the two suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, even as Mr. Obama conceded the difficulty of preventing attacks. “People, I think, understand that we’ve got to do everything we can to prevent these kinds of attacks from taking place,” Mr. Obama said. But he added, “We’re not going to stop living our lives because warped, twisted individuals try to intimidate us.”

 Underscoring the president’s point, a large majority of those polled, 72 percent, said they did not plan to avoid large public events to reduce their exposure to potential terrorist attacks. That confidence came even as people were divided about whether their state and local authorities were prepared to deal with such an attack (48 percent said they were prepared; 41 percent said they were not).

 Federal and local law enforcement agencies won high praise in the poll for their handling of the bombings — 84 percent approved — and some people in follow-up interviews seemed to regard the way the F.B.I. worked with the Boston and other police forces as a template for the future.

 “If we’re going to have to live with the threat of terrorism, I think it is incredibly important that it be controlled at the local level,” said Lynn Francis, 52, a retired insurance agent in Rowlett, Tex. “If there is national intelligence, it needs to be shared with local government as quickly as possible and followed up on. National and local authorities should work together.”

 Kath Buffington, a retired teacher from Rochester, N.Y., said she was rattled by the images of a locked-down Boston, even if it was warranted in this case. But she said that in a country dealing with the threat of terrorism since the September 2001 attacks, the fight against it should not be a pretext for more pervasive forms of surveillance.

 “I don’t have a problem with cameras as long as they are public,” Ms. Buffington said. “But wiretapping without a warrant goes too far, now that the immediate 9/11 crisis is over.” ||||| Poll analysis by Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Anthony Salvanto and Fred Backus

 In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, 66 percent of Americans now think another terrorist attack in the U.S. is at least somewhat likely in the next few months, according to a new CBS News/ New York Times poll, up from 37 percent last year.

 Before the April 15 attack, nearly 12 years had passed without a major terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Americans are split over whether the bombings could have been prevented, according to the poll, conducted April 24-28. At the same time, they give the president and law enforcement high marks for their response to the attack.

 As many as 68 percent of Americans approve of Mr. Obama's response to the bombings, and 56 percent approve of his handling of terrorism generally. However, his overall job approval is lower, at 47 percent -- similar to last month.

 Many Republicans give the president credit for his handling of the Boston attacks (47 percent approve), but just 12 percent approve of the overall job Mr. Obama is doing as president.

 Obama: U.S. officials did their jobs investigating Boston bombing suspect

 Mr. Obama said Tuesday that law enforcement did an "exemplary job responding to the bombings, and Americans seem to agree: 84 percent said they approve of the way federal and local law enforcement handled the attack.

 On the other hand, some think more could have been done to prevent it: 41 percent of Americans think U.S. intelligence agencies had information that could have prevented the bombings at the Boston Marathon, but 45 percent do not. Republicans and independents are more likely than Democrats to say U.S. intelligence could have prevented the attacks.

 While investigations into the Boston bombings are ongoing, more Americans (53 percent) think the suspects in the attacks were connected to a larger terrorist group than think they acted alone (32 percent). Americans across the political spectrum are inclined to hold this view.

 Most Americans are following news about the Boston bombings, including 45 percent who are following it very closely.

 More attacks?

 Americans continue to see terrorism as part of life in the U.S. Nine in 10 agree with the statement: "Americans will always have to live with the risk of terrorism."

 At the same time, just a quarter are very concerned about an attack in their own area. That number was higher in the years following the 9/11 attacks. Northeasterners are more concerned than those living in other regions about an attack where they live.

 And while 25 percent of Americans say they are less likely to attend large public events because of terrorism, most (72 percent) are not less likely to do that.

 A majority of the public, 70 percent, has at least a fair amount of confidence in the federal government's ability to protect its citizens from terrorism. Confidence has dipped slightly since November 2010. Most Americans think the U.S. is prepared to deal with another terrorist attack, but they are less confident in their state and local governments.

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What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Public opinion is firmly behind having more surveillance cameras in public places in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, according to a new CBS/New York Times poll. Some 78% of people called the cameras—which helped identify the suspects—a good idea, and only 20% said the government had gone too far in restricting civil liberties to fight terrorism, the poll found. "There are cameras in stores and supermarkets," one respondent, a saleswoman in Florida, said in a follow-up interview. "Our families would be safer and surveillance cameras would provide evidence to help agencies pursue people, like they just did in Boston." The poll found that 66% of Americans believe another terrorist attack is at least somewhat likely in the next few months, up from just 37% at this time last year, according to the poll, which also found that the public gave law enforcement agencies high marks for their handling of the bombings. Some 84% approved of how law enforcement dealt with the attacks, and 68%—including 47% of Republicans—approved of President Obama's response.


The House passed legislation on Friday that allows insurance companies to offer health plans that were cancelled for not meeting new requirements under ObamaCare.

 Thirty-nine Democrats broke with their party's leaders and backed the bill despite a veto threat by the White House, highlighting the political problem the issue has come for President Obama’s party. Only four Republicans opposed it.

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 The House approved the "Keep Your Health Plan Act" in a 261-157 vote.

 Obama on Thursday announced he would take executive action that would allow insurance companies to offer the old plans for an additional year.

 That likely prevented a larger wave of Democratic votes in favor of the bill sponsored by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.).

 The vote is a further blow to Obama, who was forced on Thursday to admit that new standards under the healthcare law are forcing millions of people into new and often more expensive health insurance plans. Obama repeatedly said that under ObamaCare people could keep their plans if they liked them.

 Most of the Democrats who defected from their party face tough reelection campaigns next year. Republicans have promised the 2014 midterm elections will be all about the healthcare law, which polls show is unpopular.

 The House vote also puts immediate pressure on Senate Democratic leaders to take action. Seven Senate Democrats have backed a bill that would require insurers to offer the cancelled plans.

 During debate on the House bill, Upton accused Obama of knowing that his signature law would force millions of people out of plans they liked. He said Obama's promise that “if you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it” would go down in history as a line people forever associate with Obama.

 “For last three years, the president repeated this promise in selling his signature law, and he did so with the knowledge it would not be met,” Upton said.

 Upton and other Republicans also accused Obama of once again using administrative procedures to fix ObamaCare, when he should be working with Congress.

 “For the last six weeks, the White House stood idly by, ignore the pleas of millions,” he said. “But as the administration's allies in Congress panicked, the White House went from attacking our thoughtful bill to making an end-run around Congress with a universal fix."”

 Others noted that Obama continues to refuse legislative fixes to the law, even as he makes administrative fixes. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) said Congress has no reason to trust that Obama will put the change into effect.

 “Can we really trust the administration that wrote this disastrous missive in the first place, and so mishandled the implementation, do we trust them to now fix it?” he asked. “Do we trust them not to change their minds in two or three weeks time, when perhaps winds are blowing from a different direction?”

 House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) agreed that Obama’s promise is now “a promise he has broken,” and said Obama's plan raises too many questions.

 “The White House doesn't even know how they're going to implement the plan they announced yesterday,” Cantor said. “This proposal that we're talking about here… aims to help Americans keep their health insurance and give their neighbors a chance to buy the same plans, rather than forcing them onto a faulty website to buy new coverage they may not like or cannot afford.”

 Obama's proposal was to allow state insurance commissioners to allow soon-to-be canceled health plans to be sold for another year, or possibly longer. Upton's bill would allow people to have permanent access to these plans.

 That prompted Democrats to argue that Upton's bill would drastically undermine ObamaCare, since it would let people keep what they say are substandard plans, and let them avoid buying new plans under the ObamaCare exchanges.

 “This one on the floor today really takes the cake, because it [would], essentially, pull the plug on the Affordable Care Act,” said Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

 Rep. Rob Andrews (D-N.J.) explained the problem by equating the canceled plans to old cars without modern safety features, and said allowing these plans to exist would make ObamaCare unworkable.

 “If anyone who wants to can buy one of these cars without an air bag, or cars without seat belts — and that's what these plans are — then you will find that the new marketplaces don't have enough people in them,” he said. “And when they don't have enough people in them, the rates will rise.”

 House Energy & Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said this would allow a “shadow market” of old plans to undermine ObamaCare plans.

 But Republicans said that “shadow market” is just another term for the market that sells more affordable plans that people want.

 “It's forcing people to choose healthcare they do not want, cannot afford, and isn't right for themselves and their families,” said House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

 Just before the final vote, Democrats tried to substitute Upton's bill with a Democratic alternative that would extend canceled plans for just a year, similar to Obama's time-limited administrative fix. But the GOP-led House was able to kill that proposal by raising a point of order against it, which argued the Democratic alternative was not germane.

 That was upheld in a 229-191 vote to turn away the Democratic appeal of that ruling.

 With their first attempt ruled out of order, Democrats tried again with an amended proposal, but this was also turned away in a 187-230 vote. ||||| Four Republicans voted no on the bill. The 39 Democratic votes in favor represent the largest defection by far on a major or closely-watched piece of legislation this year, signaling the political difficulty that dozens of congressional Democrats face in reelection contests next year.

 The proposal goes further than the administrative fix announced by President Obama Thursday, which would only allow insurers and state insurance commissioners to extend those policies through most of 2014. It faces an uphill climb in the Senate and Obama has said he would veto the bill.

 But both efforts, as well as another crafted by Democrats in the Senate, are aimed at addressing the same issue: The political backlash over letters received by millions of Americans whose private health insurance policies are being canceled because of the health-care law.

 Republicans have seized on the letters, as well as promises by President Obama that “if you like your health plan, you can keep it,” as evidence that the health-care law is flawed and that the president has not been honest about its downsides.

 “We knew this was a promise [Obama] could not keep, and now it is a promise he has broken,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said in floor remarks.

 But the remarkable support from Democrats underscored the widespread political ramifications of Obama’s broken promise.

 The bill’s co-sponsors included more than 80 Republicans and three swing-district Democrats facing tough reelection contests next year: Reps. John Barrow (Ga.), Mike McIntyre (N.C.) and Patrick Murphy (Fla.).

 Nervous about other potential defections, Democratic leaders dispatched several senior aides in the hours before the vote, and were seen and heard at one point talking about the vote in the hallways outside the House Chamber with Reps. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) and Dan Maffiei (D-N.Y.), two freshmen who won tight races last year. Both ended up voted in favor of the legislation.

 In another sign of the anger and frustration exhibited among Democrats this week, even Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.), a passionate defender of the new law, suggested Friday that the Obama administration waited too long to address administrative fixes to the law and put too many Democrats at political risk.

 “[The White House] knew very well that they had to give us something different to support because simply stone-walling about the president’s promise and why it wasn’t kept was not going to be an option,” he said.

 But like others in his party, he concluded that Obama’s fix “has given us something else to get behind. It’s not perfect, but it’s something, and more than anything it’s an acknowledgment that a promise was made and we like to honor our promises.”

 Most Democrats believe that the Upton bill fundamentally guts the health law. Among its provisions is a rule that insurance plans starting next year must cover a set of 10 so-called “essential” health benefits, such as maternity care and mental health services. The House bill would allow insurers to continue to sell plans that do not meet those basic standards.

 In the past 24 hours, they rallied behind Obama’s plan, which only lets people renew current plans through October of next year and requires insurers to explain ways in which the old plans do not meet the law’s stricter requirements.

 “This bill is not a bill to let people keep their health insurance plans. The president took care of that issue yesterday,” Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said in floor remarks Friday. “What this bill is, is another vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act.”

 A majority of Democrats also supported a House bill that mirrors a measure introduced by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of several moderate Democrats facing difficult reelection contests next year. But the bill failed to advance to final passage.

 Jeff Simon contributed to this report ||||| WASHINGTON — Defying a veto threat from President Obama, the House approved legislation on Friday that would allow insurance companies to renew individual health insurance policies and sell similar ones to new customers next year even if the coverage does not provide all the benefits and consumer protections required by the new health care law.

 The vote was 261 to 157, with 39 Democrats bucking their party leadership and the White House to vote in favor of the bill. Hours after the vote, Mr. Obama and top aides met for over an hour with insurance executives after industry leaders complained Thursday that they had been blindsided by a White House reversal on canceled policies. The president described the meeting as a “brainstorming” session about how to ensure changes to the health care law go smoothly.

 The insurance representatives, from more than a dozen companies, said they would work with the administration to protect the financial viability of the new marketplaces, but did not say how. Afterward, Karen Ignagni, the president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group, said it was a “very productive” meeting, but would not go into detail.

 The legislation approved by the House would go further than the fix announced on Thursday by Mr. Obama, who said he would temporarily waive some requirements of the law and allow insurers to renew “current policies for current enrollees” for a year.

 Many of the Democrats who supported the bill are facing tough re-election fights back home, and expressed deep frustration with how the administration had handled the early carrying out of Mr. Obama’s signature health care law. Representative Nick J. Rahall II, Democrat of West Virginia, who voted for the legislation, said that the White House deserved an “F-minus” for its botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act.

 “I’m disgusted about it,” Mr. Rahall said. “I think heads should roll downtown. Whoever was responsible or may have known that this was going to occur should no longer be employed.”

 Representative Ron Barber, Democrat of Arizona, who also joined Republicans in voting for the bill, was equally scathing, calling the rollout “a disaster.”

 “My constituents are pretty upset,” he said, “and so am I.”

 Representative Fred Upton, Republican of Michigan and the chief sponsor of the House bill, said it would fulfill a promise that Mr. Obama had made to the American people and then broken.

 “In the last three years,” Mr. Upton said, “the president personally promised that if people liked their current health care plan, they could keep it ‘no matter what.’ But cancellation notices are now arriving in millions of mailboxes across the country. It’s cancellation today, sticker shock tomorrow.”

 Mr. Upton, the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, belittled Mr. Obama’s proposal, saying it was offered at the last minute, “as the administration’s allies in Congress panicked.”

 Senior Democrats criticized the Upton legislation as a ploy that could unravel the entire health care law.

 “Don’t pretend you care about the American people’s health care here,” said Representative Mike Doyle, Democrat of Pennsylvania. “You just want to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Democrats are not going to let you do that.”

 And Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, said insurers, in discussing the bill, had had “significant concerns on how it would work operationally.”

 The outlook for the legislation is unclear in the Senate, where Democrats running for re-election in 2014 are looking for a way to help consumers facing the loss of insurance policies that do not meet requirements of the 2010 law.

 Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, was one of the first Democrats to break with the White House and offer her own proposal, which would allow people to keep their current plans indefinitely.

 However, after the president’s turnabout on Thursday, many Senate Democrats said they were waiting to see if additional legislation was necessary, and quick action in the Senate is not expected.

 House Democrats on Friday used a procedural maneuver to offer a plan of their own called “Landrieu lite.” It was similar to the president’s proposal in its approach, and it gave Democrats some political cover in that it showed them taking action on the issue.

 The Democratic proposal, which was rejected by Republicans, would have allowed people who like their current plans to retain them for a year. Under the Democratic proposal, unlike with Mr. Upton’s bill, insurers would not be allowed to sell plans that previously faced cancellation to new customers. ||||| Thirty-nine House Democrats on Friday broke ranks to support a Republican bill that would allow health insurers to continue selling plans canceled under Obamacare through 2014, the first test of support on Capitol Hill since the law’s disastrous rollout.

 The House voted, 261-157, to pass the bill by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.). It’s a significant show of disloyalty to the White House, but House Democrats had expected the defections to be far higher before the Obama administration said Thursday that it would pursue an administrative fix to the cancellation problem.

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 reset Top lines from Obama’s mea culpa

 Obama’s White House vowed to veto the bill, saying it “threatens the health security of hard working, middle class families.” The bill is headed nowhere in the Democratic-led Senate, where a number of Senate Democrats have also proposed their own changes to the health care law.

 (IN 90 SECONDS: Obamacare puts Democrats’ credibility on the line)

 Four Republicans opposed the bill — Reps. Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma, Paul Broun of Georgia, Ralph Hall of Texas and Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Some conservatives had feared the bill could be viewed as making Obamacare “better.”

 The Democratic defections largely came from members from the most moderate districts, including Reps. Bruce Braley of Iowa, Ron Kind of Wisconsin, Ami Bera of California, Nick Rahall of West Virginia. Also voting in support was Rep. Patrick Murphy of Florida, where the local Blue Cross plan got significant attention for sending out 300,000 cancellation notices.

 But other Democrats voted for the bill, too, including Reps. Peter DeFazio of Oregon and John Garamendi of California.

 Democrats had feared mass defections earlier in the week, but Obama’s mea culpa speech on Thursday — along with persuasion from White House officials who came to the Hill to meet with House and Senate Democrats — stanched the blow somewhat.

 (Also on POLITICO: The Obamacare fumble)

 In a further attempt to limit the Democratic support for a Republican bill, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) held two meetings with her caucus in recent days with top administration officials, including the president’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough.

 Still, the vote lured several politically vulnerable House Democrats over to the Republican side, as the health care law became a major focal point in their reelection campaigns next year. Rep. Ron Barber (D-Ariz.), a top target of House Republicans, said he supported the Upton bill because this part of the health law didn’t “work.”

 “It’s a huge bill, over 2,000 pages, there are going to be unintended consequences, there are going to be things that don’t work,” Barber said Friday of the health care law. “And I’m about fixing things that don’t work. I don’t want to see us throw the baby out with the bathwater, which is what some people recommend.”

 (PHOTOS: Obamacare online glitches: 25 great quotes)

 Before the administrative repair was announced, upwards of 100 House Democrats had threatened to support the Upton bill because they were worried about campaign ads against them on the president’s broken promise that consumers would be able to keep their insurance plans under Obamacare.

 Upton, speaking on CNN Friday, said the thinks his bill — and the potential for Democratic support — spurred the White House’s administrative fix.

 “Until they saw that we were going to have some 300 votes a couple days ago, they were just going to sit on their hands,” Upton told CNN on Friday. “That finally prompted the White House yesterday afternoon to announce this administrative change that they’re trying to do.”

 “But until then, they were willing, ready and willing to let literally millions of folks who were going the lose their individual policies … go over the edge,” he added. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– More bad news for President Obama on ObamaCare today: The House passed legislation widely seen as undermining the health-care law, and 39 Democrats joined Republicans in favor, reports the Washington Post. The bill from Michigan Republican Fed Upton would guarantee that people whose policies got canceled under ObamaCare would be able to keep them. President Obama addressed the problem yesterday with an administrative fix, but Upton's bill goes further. While the president's fix says the plans can remain available for only another year, Upton's measure seeks to keep them around permanently, reports the Hill. (The White House has promised a veto if the bill gets through the Senate, where its prospects are uncertain.) Some dueling quotes, as noted by the New York Times: Upton: "Cancellation notices are now arriving in millions of mailboxes across the country. It’s cancellation today, sticker shock tomorrow.” Democrat Mike Doyle: “Don’t pretend you care about the American people’s health care here. You just want to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Democrats are not going to let you do that.” Most of the Democrats who voted with Republicans face tough re-election fights in which ObamaCare is expected to play a big role. Politico sees their votes as a "major show of disloyalty," though it says the number of defections surely would have been higher had Obama not acted yesterday.


Article:

An Arkansas high school teacher has been accused of making racist remarks about President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on Facebook.

 Trent Bennett, a science teacher at Malvern High School, allegedly called Obama a “spider monkey,” and referred to Michelle Obama as the “first chimp,” according to KATV, an ABC affiliate that cited screen shots of the Facebook posts.

 “Michelle Obummer … America’s First Chimp,” Bennett allegedly wrote in a post that is no longer visible.

 The Malvern School District said it was investigating Bennett regarding the posts.

 “Over the Holiday weekend the District became aware of what appears to be a social media post by a district employee on his personal account that was inappropriate, insensitive, and used racially charged rhetoric,” the district said in a Facebook statement. “In no way are these posts reflective of the District. The District is currently investigating the matter and due to privacy laws and regulations are not able to comment specifically on any details related to the investigation. The District takes this kind of activity very seriously and the appropriate measures will be taken once the investigation is complete.”

 Obama has repeatedly faced racist remarks during her time as first lady. A West Virginia nonprofit director who compared her to an ape in a Facebook post last month lost her job over the comment. ||||| Focused crawls are collections of frequently-updated webcrawl data from narrow (as opposed to broad or wide) web crawls, often focused on a single domain or subdomain. ||||| UPDATE: Malvern School District said teacher Trent Bennett, accused of referring to President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys, has resigned.

 According to the school's Facebook page, the board called a special board meeting Thursday. At the meeting, board members voted 6-0 to accept Trent Bennett's resignation, which became effective immediately.

 Bennett sent the following apology letter to news outlets:

 I would like to issue an apology for the outrage and hurt feelings caused by these comments. I acknowledge that they were disrespectful and offensive. I am aware of the impact this has had, and though I negate that I have ever conducted myself in a less than professional manner in regard to my students, I have resigned my teaching position at Malvern High School. I have also removed my social media presence to prevent any future issues. I am unavailable for further statements or interviews, and humbly ask for everyone to respect the privacy of my family, friends, and former colleagues.

 Sincerely,

 Trent Bennett

 MALVERN, Ark -- Racist comments on social media have some calling for the resignation of a Central Arkansas teacher..

 The Facebook posts were allegedly written by Malvern High School teacher, Trent Bennett. The comments target President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama and have Tabitha Hughes upset.

 "We've never had this problem before," said Hughes."I guess that's why it's disturbing to us."

 She graduated from the MHS in 1991 and said she cannot recall anything like this ever happening during her time there.

 "We want something done about it," said Hughes.

 The post calls the First Lady 'Michelle Obummer ... America's First Chimp.'

 "When he put that on Facebook, boldly, that was very disturbing," said Hughes.

 When called out about his comments, Bennett referred to Mrs. Obama as 'a nasty chimp' and to President Obama as a 'spider monkey.'

 "Honestly, I don't think he needs to be teaching," said Hughes.

 We went by Bennett's house Tuesday, but only a barking dog responded.

 The Malvern School District posted on its Facebook page ... calling the comments 'inappropriate,' 'insensitive' and 'in now way are the posts reflective of the district.' Adding, the district is investigating.

 "January 9th when they open back up, he don't need to be in class," said Hughes.

 Hughes said her thoughts are now on her niece and nephew, who have Bennett as a teacher.

 "A lot of kids read that. It's very heartbreaking that they are having to go into that school and feel a certain type of way now," said Hughes.

 The President of the Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP sent Bennett an email:

 Dear Mr. Bennett:

 I'm Rizelle Aaron, President of the Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP. This email is in reference to you(r) alleged racially charged comments directed to our President Barack Obama and our First Lady Michelle Obama. As a disabled Marine Corps and Army Veteran I find it very disheartening that an educator such as yourself that is charged with molding the minds of our future leaders of this great country of different ethnicities, backgrounds and cultures would make such racially charged comments about our Commander in Chief and his wife.

 There is no place in an educational system for someone in a public position of authority that is willing to publicly make the comments that you are alleged to have made. If In fact you have made these racially charged comments, I respectfully request your immediate resignation from the Malvern Public School District. If you're not responsible for the racially charged comments you may disregard this message and accept my humble apology.

 As in the Blevins Public School District we will do everything legally possible with all available resources to see that you are terminated or at the least resign due to you(r) actions, including rally and protest at School Board Meetings and other areas in your community.

 Sincerely,

 Rizelle Aaron

 President

 AR State Conference of the NAACP |||||
What is a summary?

– An Arkansas high school teacher has resigned as parents and students were planning to boycott school events in response to his references to Barack and Michelle Obama as "spider monkey" and "first chimp." The online posts attributed to Trent Bennett of Malvern High School have since been deleted, though a KATV reporter has posted screenshots to Twitter, per Time. After the Malvern School District announced Monday that it was investigating "inappropriate" comments using "racially charged rhetoric" posted to an employee's personal Facebook page, a special meeting was held Thursday, during which the school board unanimously voted to accept Bennett's resignation. The Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP had promised to hold protests if Bennett did not resign, per Arkansas Matters. Students and parents had also vowed to boycott school sporting events, reports the New York Daily News. "I am aware of the impact this has had, and though I negate that I have ever conducted myself in a less than professional manner in regard to my students, I have resigned my teaching position," Bennett says in a statement. "I would like to issue an apology for the outrage and hurt feelings caused by these comments. I acknowledge that they were disrespectful and offensive." He also says he's deleted his social media accounts to avoid "future issues." (A West Virginia nonprofit director was fired for a similar post, and a Buffalo school board member may be ousted for his Obama slurs.)


Article:
Relations between the White House and the press corps that covers it are arguably at an all-time low under the Trump administration, but Samantha Bee intends to offer a solution. She will host a gala dinner in Washington, D.C. that could serve as an alternative to the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.

 Bee and producers from her TBS satirical-comedy program, “Full Frontal,” will take over Washington’s Willard Hotel on April 29 at the same time the WHCA dinner is slated to take place, and invite journalists and celebrities to attend. During a conference call with reporters Monday, Bee said she expected the Time Warner-owned cable network to broadcast the event, but indicated details were still being worked out.

 The idea originated after Election Day said Bee and Jo Miller, the show’s executive producer. Bee and others were trying to come up with something they thought would be fun. “We are trying to have some joy, trying to capture something for ourselves,” said Bee. “We never intended for this to take away from the other event,” she said.

 With the Trump administration venting regularly about how the press treats it, there has been rising concern about whether the WHCA dinner might actually take place this year. In past years, the event has been criticized as one that renders the media too chummy with a subject of a good part of its coverage. A representative for the WHCA could not be reached for immediate comment.

 At the same time, the event regularly generates headlines. Comedians including Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert have held forth in what is usually a very tough room. In 2016, Larry Wilmore, then host of Comedy Central’s “The Nightly Show,” raised eyebrows with a monologue that poked fun at CNN correspondents Wolf Blitzer and Don Lemon and made use of a racial epithet.

 Bee’s move is novel, to be sure, but by making it, the comedienne is joining a number of late-night hosts who are expanding their role with creative outreach. With TV viewers growing ever more fragmented thanks to the rise of streaming video and mobile devices, hosts like Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers are devising new methods to stay relevant. Others have mounted similar efforts in the past. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in 2010 organized “The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear,” a Washington, D.C. event meant to spoof a Glenn Beck rally, that lured fans of both his “Daily Show” and Colbert’s “Colbert Report.”

 The pressure to stand out has only grown since that time. In the last few years, late-night comedy has seen the rise of what might be called Johnny Carson’s grandchildren: a wave of successors to Jay Leno and David Letterman who must contend with smaller audiences and the relentless pressure to cultivate a growing legion of fans who watch the programs not when they are on TV, but through clips passed around on YouTube or other sites.

 These days, the late-night hosts do things Steve Allen could only consider in a fever dream. Stephen Colbert has inserted new introduction segments into repeats, and his staff recently started a new Twitter feed purporting to be written by disaffected members of his program. Seth Meyers’ “Late Night” will make available the show’s signature segment, “A Closer Look,” on social media hours before a new episode that contains it debuts at 12:30 a.m. Jimmy Fallon has given the nod to having an amusement-park ride inspired by his “Tonight Show” launch at NBCUniversal-owned Universal Orlando.

 These business aspects had no role in the decision to try to hold the event, Bee said. But producers will try to use the soiree to call attention to journalism, and may invite what Bee said were “unsung journalists” to take part, as well as “super fans” of the program. All proceeds for the gala, which is being called “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” will go to the Committee to Protect Journalists. “Obviously, the press is under attack” under the Trump administration, said Bee.

 Bee’s staff has tested several intriguing ideas since TBS launched the show last February. “Full Frontal” occasionally publishes humorous bits on Medium; passes around extra segments that never made it to air via social media; and occasionally offers previews of the pre-show process via Facebook Live.

 The segment seems tailored to Bee, who offers a take-no-prisoners brand of humor and has not been shy about disagreeing with President Trump’s attitudes and policies. TBS recently renewed the program to run for a second season through 2017.

 “We’re really doing this,” said Bee. “This is not a joke.” ||||| During Barack Obama’s time as President of the United States, eight White House Correspondents’ dinner were held, each featuring famous celebrities both onstage and in the crowd.

 Notably, in 2011, Seth Meyers hosted the event, poking fun at Donald Trump’s role in the birther controversy that falsely accused Obama of not being born in the United States.

 Come 2017’s event and Trump will once again be mocked, but not as an audience member, instead as President himself. An odd turn of events, that’s for sure.

 Whether Trump will go forward with the White House Correspondents’ dinner - which has taken place every year since 1983 - remains unknown, his relationship with the press being strained at best.

 Samantha Bee won’t be waiting around to find out what Trump plans to do, deciding to host her own counter-event in Washington on the 29 April - the same day the dinner is currently booked for.

 'Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner' will take place at the Willard Hotel and will see Bee roast the current President.

 “We’re not trying to supersede it,” she told the New York Times. “We just want to be there in case something happens - or doesn’t happen - and ensure that we get to properly roast the president.”

 The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued

 9 show all The controversial orders Donald Trump has already issued

 1/9 Trump and the media White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer takes questions during the daily press briefing Getty Images

 2/9 Trump and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Union leaders applaud US President Donald Trump for signing an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington DC. Mr Trump issued a presidential memorandum in January announcing that the US would withdraw from the trade deal Getty

 3/9 Trump and the Mexico wall A US Border Patrol vehicle sits waiting for illegal immigrants at a fence opening near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. The number of incoming immigrants has surged ahead of the upcoming Presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, who has pledged to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. A signature campaign promise, Mr Trump outlined his intention to build a border wall on the US-Mexico border days after taking office Getty Images

 4/9 Trump and abortion US President Donald Trump signs an executive order as Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks on in the Oval Office of the White House. Mr Trump reinstated a ban on American financial aide being granted to non-governmental organizations that provide abortion counseling, provide abortion referrals, or advocate for abortion access outside of the United States Getty Images

 5/9 Trump and the Dakota Access pipeline Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction, at Columbus Circle in New York. US President Donald Trump signed executive orders reviving the construction of two controversial oil pipelines, but said the projects would be subject to renegotiation Getty Images

 6/9 Trump and 'Obamacare' Nancy Pelosi who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives speaks beside House Democrats at an event to protect the Affordable Care Act in Los Angeles, California. US President Donald Trump's effort to make good on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the healthcare law failed when Republicans failed to get enough votes. Mr Trump has promised to revisit the matter Getty Images

 7/9 Donald Trump and 'sanctuary cities' US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January threatening to pull funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" if they do not comply with federal immigration law AP

 8/9 Trump and the travel ban US President Donald Trump has attempted twice to restrict travel into the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries. The first attempt, in February, was met with swift opposition from protesters who flocked to airports around the country. That travel ban was later blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The second ban was blocked by a federal judge a day before it was scheduled to be implemented in mid-March SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images

 9/9 Trump and climate change US President Donald Trump sought to dismantle several of his predecessor's actions on climate change in March. His order instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to reevaluate the Clean Power Plan, which would cap power plant emissions Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

 Bee, who currently hosts topical TBS comedy “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,” said the show’s producers and herself came up with the idea back in November when the election results were announced.

 “We were talking out loud about whether we thought the White House Correspondents’ dinner would change during a Trump presidency, or if it would even exist,” she said.

 “And then we thought, Why don’t we just do one, just to do it in the way that we would want it done if we were hosting it?”

 She added that there are “binders full of people” who may perform at the event, but was unable to give any specifics.

 While Trump’s dinner may take place, the President may find it difficult finding comedians to take part seeing as many celebrities pulled out of his inauguration ceremony. ||||| The annual custom of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner suddenly seems uncomfortable if not untenable: Journalists mingling with Trump administration aides who loathe them, celebrities decrying Trump White House policies, and an entertainment headliner grappling with the tone and boldness of jokes about President Trump himself.

 But Samantha Bee is not waiting to see how this year’s soiree unfolds or if those involved decide to hold it at all.

 Instead, Ms. Bee, host of the topical TBS comedy show “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee,” and her colleagues are planning a counter-event that will take place in Washington on April 29, the same night as the Correspondents’ Association dinner.

 This alternative gala, which is being called “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner” and was announced on Monday, will be at the Willard Hotel. Ms. Bee said that it was not an attempt to comment on or compete with that other, better-known banquet, but a night to include jokes about Mr. Trump that she and like-minded comedians want to make. |||||Summary:

– If Donald Trump chooses to roast journalists, celebrities, and politicians at the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, DC, this year, it'll be with the knowledge that he's being brutally mocked not too far away. Samantha Bee of TBS' Full Frontal says she'll host celebrities, journalists, and comedians at a Trump roast at the Willard Hotel in Washington on April 29. Bee tells the New York Times that the goal of the event, dubbed "Not the White House Correspondents' Dinner," is not to "supersede" the official dinner scheduled for the same night, but simply to "ensure that we get to properly roast the president." She promises "plenty of surprises," per Variety. "If you're not careful you just might learn something. Specifically, you'll learn how screwed we'd be without a free press," she adds. It's not yet clear when or how the event will be broadcast, or even who will attend, but Bee says proceeds will go to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Whether the official Correspondents' dinner will happen is also unclear given Trump's tumultuous relationship with the press, his history with the dinner, and "his oft-demonstrated thin skin," reports the Times. The Independent notes the dinner has been an annual occurrence since 1983.


Summarize this article:

EAST HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Authorities are making plans to demolish the two East Haven houses struck by an airplane Friday in a crash that claimed four lives.

 The Connecticut Post reports the demolition will take place this week.

 The houses were badly damaged when the 10-seat propeller-driven plane crashed on its approach to Tweed New Haven Airport.

 Thirteen-year-old-old Sade Brantley and 1-year-old Madisyn Mitchell were killed when the plane hit their home, setting it on fire.

 Also killed were the pilot, 54-year-old former Microsoft executive Bill Henningsgaard, and his 17-year-old son, Maxwell.

 Officials have said emergency repairs were done after the crash to make the homes safe for the crews that recovered the bodies.

 On Saturday night, dozens of people turned out for a vigil at Margaret Tucker Park to honor those who died in the crash.

 Among those in attendance was 39-year-old Joann Mitchell, the mother of the 13-year-old and the 1-year-old. Mitchell, who did not speak at the vigil, was home at the time of the crash, but managed to escape.

 The Hartford Courant reported that Mitchell posted the following message on her Facebook page: ""My heart is at a standstill. The feeling of emptiness engulfs me. Mommy will always love you … R.I.P. my sweet angels."

 East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo told the crowd at the vigil that the show of support was a great tribute.

 "I think this is a great tribute to a great town," the mayor said, "a caring town, a loving town. A town that comes out when things are down and people need you."

 Gov. Dannel Malloy said in a statement that the vigil was a "profound statement of the ties that bind East Haven and our entire state together as one community."

 "When a family suffers an unimaginable tragedy, we come together and pray that they have the strength they need to carry on," Malloy said.

 "Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families tonight who are suffering from grief and loss." ||||| The Change-Maker

 Bill Henningsgaard

 Executive director, Eastside Pathways

 Bill Henningsgaard, like the coastal Oregon town of Astoria where he grew up, has a pronounced strength of character as well as charm. He lights up as he talks about Eastside Pathways, a partnership of organizations and individuals sharing a commitment to the idea that each and every child should have the chance to make the most of their lives.

 Influenced by his civically engaged parents, Henningsgaard understood at a young age that being part of a community means helping to define and create the community’s life forces that affect so many.

 His path to a high level of civic responsibility was not a linear one. “To be honest, I didn’t think much about public service as an undergraduate at Harvard, overseas in Norway or Scotland post-graduation or even at business school at Stanford,” he says.

 But caring about his community was in Henningsgaard’s DNA. After years at Microsoft and traveling worldwide, he longed for a deeper connection with his town. Microsoft co-worker Paul Shoemaker had recently launched Social Venture Partners (SVP) and suggested that Henningsgaard join the board of one of SVP’s first investees, Youth Eastside Services.

 After attending a Bellevue Schools Foundation coffee at Lake Hills Elementary School in January 2011, he “was stunned” to learn of the numbers of kids who were struggling to succeed in many of Bellevue’s elementary schools.

 “They were facing hurdles connected to poverty, language and mobility, and our schools weren’t able to close the resulting gaps,” he says. “After that coffee, Roxanne Shepherd from Bellevue Schools Foundation and John Stokes [a Bellevue City Council member] and I had coffee; they were immediately taken with the collective impact potential. The conversation extended to the district, the city, key social service agencies and the college.”

 By March 2011, Henningsgaard and his team had gathered 30 key community leaders for a discussion, and by June, they launched the organization with a 90-person kickoff. Today, Eastside Pathways has 40 partner organizations.

 Eastside Pathways’ goal through collective action is to mobilize the entire community of Bellevue to support every child, step by step, from cradle to career.

 “Our efforts to ‘connect the dots’ between all parts of our community enables us to help make the most of existing resources and make sure kids don’t fall through the cracks,” Henningsgaard says.

 —AS

 What most motivates you to give back to the community?

 I enjoy this work. The people I’ve met and the sense of community and purpose are really gratifying. The closer I get to the schools and the community organizations that support kids and families, the more evident it is that they’re filled with dedicated and passionate people trying to change lives one kid at a time. It’s a privilege to get to know and work with them.

 What qualities do you most admire in others?

 I’m attracted to people who can see possibilities in the world around us. This community is full of those folks, which is the only explanation I can give why so many people and organizations have supported Eastside Pathways from the very beginning

 Best recent read?

 How Children Succeed by Paul Tough. Also, I like crime thrillers by James Lee Burke or Norway’s Jo Nesbø.

 How do you take your coffee?

 Drip, black. Plain Jane all the way.

  ||||| Pilot Bill Henningsgaard survived a plane crash over the Washington coast three years before Friday's tragedy. Jonathan Vigliotti reports (Published Saturday, Aug. 10, 2013)

 The plane accident that killed four people in a Connecticut neighborhood was not the first crash for the pilot, a former Microsoft executive who was taking his teenage son on a tour of East Coast colleges.

 The pilot, Bill Henningsgaard, was killed along with his son, Maxwell, and two children who were in a house struck by the small propeller-driven plane on Friday. Their bodies were all recovered from the crash scene.

 Pilot In Deadly Conn. Wreck Did Not Declare Emergency: NTSB

 The pilot in an accident that killed four people in East Haven, Connecticut, did not declare emergency before the crash, NTSB officials said Saturday afternoon. Brian Thompson reports. (Published Sunday, Aug. 11, 2013)

 East Haven police on Saturday released the names of the crash victims, including Henningsgaard, 54, of Medina, Wash.; his 17-year-old son; 13-year-old Sade Brantley and 1-year-old Madisyn Mitchell, who lived in the East Haven home hit by the plane.

 National Transportation Safety Board investigator Patrick Murray said Saturday the plane was upside down when it struck a house at about a 60 degree angle. He said the pilot was making his first approach to the airport and did not declare an emergency before the crash.

 Kids Killed in Plane Crash Mourned at Vigil

 A Connecticut community came together to remember the two youngest victims of a plane crash in East Haven. A 13-year-old girl and her 1-year-old sister died when a plane crashed into their home Friday. Brian Thompson reports. (Published Monday, Aug. 12, 2013)

 After removing the wreckage and before analyzing any data, he said at a news conference in New Haven, "We don't have any indication there was anything wrong with the plane."

 A preliminary NTSB report on the crash is expected within 10 business days. A more in-depth report could take up to nine months.

 On Saturday night, dozens of people turned out for a vigil at Margaret Tucker Park to honor those who died in the crash. Among those in attendance was the woman who lost two children when the plane struck their house.

 Mayor Joseph Maturo told the crowd at the vigil that the show of support was a great tribute.

 "I think this is a great tribute to a great town," the mayor said, "a caring town, a loving town. A town that comes out when things are down and people need you."

 Gov. Dannel Malloy said in a statement that the vigil was a "profound statement of the ties that bind East Haven and our entire state together as one community."

 "When a family suffers an unimaginable tragedy, we come together and pray that they have the strength they need to carry on," Malloy said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families tonight who are suffering from grief and loss."

 Henningsgaard, a highly regarded philanthropist, was flying a small plane to Seattle in 2009 with his mother when the engine quit. He crash-landed on Washington's Columbia River.

 "I forced myself to confront that fact that the situation any pilot fears — a mid-air emergency, was happening right then, with my mother in the plane," he wrote in a blog post days later.

 In the Connecticut crash, Henningsgaard was bringing the 10-seater plane, a Rockwell International Turbo Commander 690B, in for a landing at Tweed New Haven Airport in rainy weather just before noon when the plane struck two small homes, engulfing them in flames. The aircraft's left wing lodged in one house and its right wing in the other.

 As the children's mother yelled for help from the front lawn, several people in the working-class neighborhood raced to rescue the children, but they were forced to turn back by the fire.

 A neighbor, David Esposito, was among those who raced to help the children's mother. He said he ran into the upstairs of the house, where the woman believed her children were, but he couldn't find them after frantically searching a crib and closets. He returned downstairs to search some more, but he dragged the woman out when the flames became too strong.

 The pilot's family had learned it was Bill Henningsgaard's plane through the tail number, said his brother, Blair Henninsgaard, the city attorney in Astoria, Ore.

 In 2009, Bill Henningsgaard was flying from Astoria, Ore. with his 84-year-old mother to watch his daughter in a high school play when he crashed into the river as he tried to glide back to the airport. He and his mother, a former Astoria mayor, climbed out on a wing and were rescued.

 Henningsgaard was a member of Seattle-based Social Venture Partners, a foundation that helps build up communities. The foundation extended its condolences to his wife and two daughters.

 "There are hundreds of people that have a story about Bill — when he went the extra mile, when he knew just the right thing to say, how he would never give up. He was truly all-in for this community, heart, mind and soul," the foundation wrote Friday in a post on its website.

 Paul Shoemaker of Social Venture Partners told The Seattle Times that Henningsgaard was "an incredibly good, real, honest man, for the community, for his family, for this world."

 "The guy has already done so much for the world. And he was going to do so much more," he said.

 Henningsgaard spent 14 years at Microsoft in various marketing and sales positions, according to his biography on Social Venture Partners website. He was a longtime board member at Youth Eastside Services, a Bellevue, Wash.-based agency that provides counseling and substance-abuse treatment, and led the organization's $10.7 million fundraising campaign for its new headquarters, which opened in 2008.

 ___

 Associated Press writers Steven DuBois in Portland, Ore., Gene Johnson in Seattle and John Christoffersen in East Haven, Conn., contributed to this report.

 Copyright Associated Press |||||

– It could be months before a full investigation of Friday's propeller plane crash in East Haven, Conn., is completed. In the meantime, the identities of the victims have been officially confirmed as Bill Henningsgaard, 54, a former Microsoft VP; his 17-year-old son, Maxwell; and two children in the house the plane hit, Sade Brantley, 13, and Madisyn Mitchell, 1. The town held a vigil for the victims on Saturday, NBC New York reports. Pilot Henningsgaard didn't declare an emergency prior to the crash, says a National Transportation Safety Board investigator; there is no evidence thus far that there was "anything wrong with the plane," he notes. It was Heningsgaard's first approach to Tweed-New Haven Airport, the investigator says, though other reports have described it as his second approach. Henningsgaard was a noted philanthropist, NBC adds; he was named as one of 2013's Superheroes for Washington Families by parenting organization ParentMap, the Daily Astorian reports. He had previously survived a 2009 plane accident.