– A 7-year-old bowler in Canada just learned a tough lesson about rules, or pants, or ... something. After Grayson Powell bowled a terrific game and prepared to collect a gold medal with two teammates, he was told he was disqualified for wearing pants that weren't black enough. So reports the CBC, which photographed Grayson's outfit and, sure enough, his black jeans are faded to a gray. "If this is what sport is about when it comes to kids ... shame on them," said his angry father, Todd Powell. This odd controversy, however, was just getting started. In a long rebuttal, Gord Davis, provincial head of Youth Bowling Canada, insisted the organization "did nothing wrong" and is "not to blame for how this went down." The black jeans dress code has been in place "for decades," he said, and rules are rules. The boy's dad smelled a rat. He accused Davis of disqualifying his son's team so the second- and third-place teams, which bowl at lanes owned by Davis, could take higher honors. Davis fired back that Powell was "full aware of the dress code" and sent his kid anyway. He pressed: "What parent would do this?" As the Guardian reports, one of Powell's complaints is that his son was disqualified only after bowling a 171-point game that propelled his Riverdale team to the title in the Newfoundland city of St. John's." After the story made headlines in Canada, an odd-sounding compromise was reached. The disqualification stands, but the kids get their gold medals. In the future, however, all rules must be followed "no matter what," wrote Davis on Facebook. (This girl's leggings and tunic got her in trouble at school.)

Expand this summary.

This is a collection of press articles about the End of Term 2016 project. End of Term is a collaborative project to preserve public United States Government web sites at the end of the current presidential administration ending January 20, 2017. ||||| This is a collection of press articles about the End of Term 2016 project. End of Term is a collaborative project to preserve public United States Government web sites at the end of the current presidential administration ending January 20, 2017. ||||| A youth bowling tournament in St. John's has caused a stir over the colour of a participant's pants.

 Seven-year-old Grayson Powell bowled the game of his life on Saturday during a non-league tournament, putting up a high round of 171 en route to a championship win for his team of three.

 Grayson was given some harsh news immediately after the provincial gathering — he was disqualified for the colour of his pants.

 "The rule is you have to wear black pants," his father, Todd Powell, explained. "The problem I have with it, they allowed him to bowl prior [to disqualification]."

 Todd Powell says his son was disqualified due to a scheme by a bowling official to help his hometown teams. (Eddy Kennedy/CBC)

 Grayson took part in a 15-minute warm-up. Nothing was said. He then bowled three games — the best three of his young life — and nothing was said.

 It wasn't until he was lined up next to his teammates, ready to accept a gold medal for winning the just-for-fun tournament, that Youth Bowl Canada provincial director Gordon Davis pulled Grayson's mother into an office.

 Her son, who was wearing faded black jeans, was disqualified.

 His pants were just not black enough to meet the tournament's dress code.

 "Parents ruin it for kids," Powell said. "If this is what sport is about when it comes to kids...shame on them."

 A pair of faded black jeans are at the centre of controversy on the Newfoundland and Labrador youth bowling scene. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

 While semantics can be argued — how black were his jeans, really? — Grayson's father has a deeper theory than the colour of his son's pants.

 Davis also coaches teams out of a bowling alley in Corner Brook. The teams finishing second and third, who were bumped up to the top spots, were both from his lanes on the island's west coast.

 "He should be ashamed of himself," the senior Powell said. "For [Davis] to go back to Corner Brook saying that, 'We won a provincial medal' — no. The three individuals that bowled on Saturday, they are the ones that won that medal."

 Davis ejected the Riverdale team to use the provincial win to bolster his own club, Powell alleged.

 These were the jeans seven year old Grayson Powell wore on Saturday when he was disqualified from a youth bowling tournament in St. John's for not wearing black pants. (Eddy Kennedy/CBC)

 "He owes these three individuals — three kids — a written apology."

 Davis did not return messages left by CBC News.

 As for Grayson, he went home feeling dejected, his father said.

 When asked by a CBC reporter how the disqualification made him feel, he had only one word.

 "Sad." ||||| In tenpin bowling, it’s usually about the bowling. But sometimes it’s about the jeans.

 Seven-year-old Grayson Powell bowled the game of his life to win his team of three a youth bowling tournament in the Newfoundland city of St John’s on Saturday. But shortly after his 171-point game propelled Riverdale to the title, Grayson was disqualified, and was unable to collect his prize.

 The reason? He wore the wrong trousers.

 “The rule is you have to wear black pants,” Todd Powell, Grayson’s father, explained to CBC. Grayson was wearing faded black jeans – which were evidently not black enough.

 So as Grayson waited in line to collect his gold medal, Gord Davis, the provincial director at Youth Bowl Canada, informed Grayson’s parents that their son was to be disqualified for his sartorial breach.

 Powell Sr said he was distinctly unimpressed with Davis’s ruling. “If this is what sport is about when it comes to kids … shame on them.”

 But Davis’s organisation insists it did nothing wrong, and said the dress code for Provincial A tournaments had been in place “for decades”. In an impassioned defence on Facebook that ran to 2,600 words and seemed to have been written by Davis, Newfoundland & Labrador YBC rejected accusations of wrongdoing and said simply: rules were rules.

 “Mr Todd Powell knew full aware of the dress code, and sent his child to Provincials knowing that it was against the rules,” the post read. “Why is NL YBC in the wrong here, when parents knowingly broke the rules, and we are the bad guys?

 “We did nothing wrong. Stop blaming NL YBC and [president] Gord Davis for something that should never have had happened. Ignorance of a rule … is not the fault of the governing body.”

 Powell Sr pointed out to CBC that his son Grayson had been allowed to bowl throughout. Why wait until he had finished to disqualify him? “The problem I have with it … they allowed him to bowl prior. He owes these three kids a written apology.”

 YL NBC said additional opinions had been needed with other executive members before a ruling could be made. “I was not going to embarrass those kids by stopping play and making a scene,” Davis wrote.

 Later, on the same Facebook page, Gord Davis said that even though the decision could not be reversed, Grayson and his team would be presented with gold medals in a special ceremony because the situation had been “blown out of proportion for simple communication problems”.

 “I informed Todd that the kids had bowled magnificently and yes they deserve to be recognized for their accomplishments,” Davis wrote.

 “We will make sure these kids are taken care of first because that is what we are all about. We apologized for what decision we had to make and the fact that they were not relayed any information during the first or third game.”

 The governing body said it wished to move on from the controversy and simply concentrate on bowling. “Any kid can play this sport,” the post read. “Lots of kids won’t play sports because they feel they don’t belong and they are bullied, or just not good enough. Well, bowling is not like that: we treat all kids equally.”

 Providing, of course, they’re wearing the right pants. |||||


It’s official — Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi is married! The Jersey Shore alum said “I do” to fiancé Jionni LaValle at The Venetian in Garfield, New Jersey, on Saturday, Nov. 29, Us Weekly confirms.

 PHOTOS: Celebs who got married this years

 The proud parents to Lorenzo, 2, and Giovanna Marie, 3 months, celebrated their love with a Great Gastby-themed wedding, complete with a cigar and scotch bar.

 Polizzi, 26, donned two dresses from Bridal Reflections for the big day: an off-white, traditional lace gown for the ceremony and a more “fun and Gatsby-themed” dress for the reception, the bride previously shared with Us. (An hour before the ceremony, she showed off her gown on her official website.)

 PHOTOS: Snooki's body evolution

 Her bridesmaids, including BFF Jenni “JWoww” Farley, wore black gowns with bows on them. After the couple exchanged vows, the bridal party and family and friends danced to 18-piece band Time Machine.

 Leading up to her big day, the former party girl kept cool.

 PHOTOS: Snooki's pregnancy

 “It’s not that hard to plan a wedding,” Polizzi told Us of her black and gold-colored fete. “For me, it’s just that I don’t let myself get stressed out. I just enjoy the moment and I try to be positive about everything.”

 Polizzi and LaValle, 27, got engaged in March 2012 after dating for over a year. At the time, the reality star told Us: "I have different priorities now. I don't care what anybody else thinks. As long as I know I'm ready and he's ready." ||||| Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Jionni LaValle!

 Here’s your first loook at Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi‘s “Great Gatsby”-themed wedding photos.

 PHOTOS: Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi and Jionni LaValle Wed In New Jersey

 As RadarOnline.com reported, the reality star tied the knot Saturday in Garfield, New Jersey.

 The Jersey Shore alum shared photos from her big day on her web site, snookinicole.com, including a snapshot of her first kiss and first dance.

 PHOTOS: The 20 Shortest Stars In Hollywood

 The bride wore two dresses, a traditional lace gown for the ceremony and a blinged out party dress by Ines DiSanto for the reception.

 Polizzi and LaVelle have two children together, Lorenzo, 2, and Giovanna Marie, 3 months.

 PHOTOS: Snooki’s Sloppy Stroll Before Her Arrest |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Gone apparently are the days of nude photo scandals and the like for Jersey Shore alum Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, who yesterday wed longtime fiance Jionni Lavalle in what Radar is calling a "Great Gatsby-themed wedding." The couple, parents to 2-year-old Lorenzo and 3-month-old Giovanna Marie, included a cigar and scotch bar in their big day, adds Us Weekly. And planning it wasn't as stressful as people usually make it out to be, says Polizzi. "It’s not that hard to plan a wedding. For me, it’s just that I don’t let myself get stressed out. I just enjoy the moment and I try to be positive about everything." She released photos on her website.


– A Pakistani court has sentenced a father, brother, and two cousins to death after they used stones and bricks to murder a pregnant relative who married without the family's consent. The decision came yesterday, months after Farzana Parveen's "honor killing" outside a Lahore courthouse in May drew international attention, the New York Times reports. Another relative was handed 10 years in prison. The BBC reports the death sentences are somewhat unusual, and some suspect the sentences will be reduced on appeal. A lawyer for the men says they will indeed appeal the "politically motivated" sentences. Prosecutors, however, say the men's guilt was proven using DNA evidence.

Expand this summary.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

 LAHORE, Pakistan — A Pakistani court sentenced four men to death on Wednesday for the murder of Farzana Parveen, a pregnant woman who was bludgeoned to death in May for marrying the man of her choice.

 The killing of Ms. Parveen, 25, generated global outrage partly because it occurred in broad daylight on a public street outside the high court in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city.

 Her father, a brother and two cousins were found guilty of the killing by the court, said Abdul Samad, a senior state prosecutor, after Wednesday’s hearing. Another cousin was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of abetting the crime.

 Ms. Parveen enraged her family in January when she married Muhammad Iqbal, a widower from a neighboring village, instead of the cousin who had been chosen by her parents.

 Months of tension came to a head in May when a mob led by her brother beat her to death outside the gates of the Lahore High Court. Her father was arrested hours later and told the police that she had been killed to preserve the family honor.

 So-called honor killings are common in parts of rural Pakistan, but the gratuitous nature of Ms. Parveen’s murder in a city considered to be the country’s cultural capital brought it to particular attention.

 Ms. Parveen had come to Lahore to testify in a lawsuit brought by her family, who claimed she had been kidnapped by Mr. Iqbal and forced to marry him.

 But their tragic relationship later took a darker twist when it came to light that Mr. Iqbal had killed his first wife years earlier in order to be with Ms. Parveen. He won his freedom through an Islamic provision of Pakistani law.

 Mansoor Afridi, a lawyer for the four condemned men, told journalists after Wednesday’s hearing that his clients had been awarded a “politically motivated” sentence as a result of intense media coverage. They will appeal the judgment.

 State prosecutors rejected that argument, insisting that the police had proven the four men’s guilt using DNA testing and other forensic techniques.

 Rights groups estimate that at least 3,000 women have died in honor killings in Pakistan since 2008.

 Although such killings mostly occur in rural areas, another case also occurred in Lahore a week ago.

 The police said that two brothers had confessed to killing their mother and two stepsisters with an ax because they suspected the women of having illicit relationships. ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption Muhammad Iqbal, husband of murdered Farzana Parveen, with her body shortly after the attack earlier this year

 A Pakistani court has given the death sentence to four people for bludgeoning to death a pregnant relative who had married without their consent.

 Farzana Parveen, 30, was beaten with bricks and sticks in May outside Lahore's high court. Police deny charges they stood by as it happened.

 Ms Parveen's father, brother, cousin and former fiancé were all found guilty of murder on Wednesday. Another brother got 10 years in jail.

 The case sparked global outrage.

 Ms Parveen had been at the high court to defend her husband in a case brought against him by her relatives. They accused Muhammad Iqbal of abducting her. Ms Parveen had already testified to police that she had married of her own free will.

 According the police, a scuffle took place between about 20 members of Ms Parveen's family and 10-15 of Mr Iqbal's, during which she was struck with a brick three times and fatally wounded. He managed to escape.

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Husband Muhammad Iqbal spoke to the BBC in May 2014 about the attack

 Police say that Ms Parveen was dead by the time officers were able to intervene.

 Court officials say the defendants will have the right to appeal in Lahore's high court.

 The BBC's Shaimaa Khalil in Islamabad says Farzana Parveen's death by stoning in broad daylight outside a court is shocking even by the standards of Pakistan, where so-called honour killings are common.

 Our correspondent says death sentences for family members in such cases are unusual, but many are saying there is a chance Farzana Parveen's relatives could walk free or have their sentences reduced on appeal.

 Pakistan 'honour killings'

 Image copyright Getty Images

 •In 2013, 869 women murdered in so-called "honour killings"

 •Campaigners say real number is likely to be much higher

 •Of these, 359 were so called "Karo Kari" cases, whereby family members consider themselves authorised to kill offending relatives to restore honour

 •Rights groups say conviction rate in cases of sexual and other violence against women is "critically low"

 Source: Human Rights Commission of Pakistan annual report 2013

 Why do families kill their daughters?

 There are hundreds of so-called "honour killings" in Pakistan each year.

 This case prompted particular outrage, with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif describing it as "totally unacceptable".

 After she was killed, it emerged that Mr Iqbal had killed his first wife six years earlier in order to marry Ms Parveen.

 Mr Iqbal's son by his first marriage, Aurangzeb, told the BBC in May that relatives had persuaded him to forgive his father, enabling his release from prison under Pakistani law.

 Correspondents say arranged marriages are the norm in Pakistan, and to marry against the wishes of the family is unthinkable in many deeply conservative communities. |||||


Summarize this article:

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 Police are warning people not to dress as clowns and scare people in the street as bizarre craze sweeps the region.

 There have been several sightings of clowns across Greater Manchester and Cheshire with reports on social media that some are scaring people in the street.

 A spokesman for GMP said the force received a call at about 8.35pm Thursday after children were scared by people with clown masks in Park Road, Stretford.

 He said: “We received a call at 8.35pm saying that somebody was pulling up to people while driving a car wearing a clown mask.”

 On Facebook, Nicola Ince said: “A white car with peeps dressed as clowns driving round Stretford have just chased my girls and left them petrified on Park Rd.

 “If anyone is out and about and knows of the same thing report it please.”

 Why are we all so afraid of clowns?

 The M.E.N. previously reported on how a ‘scary clown’ was spotted in Ashton-under-Lyne, and there were also reported sightings in Leigh.

 Officers in neighbouring Cheshire revealed they have received a small number of reports, and declared it unacceptable for people to dress up as clowns to scare others.

 A spokesman said: “We are aware of the current trend in America of people dressing up as clowns, which has reached the UK and received some publicity in the media.

 “We have received a very small number of reports relating to this phenomenon, here in Cheshire, and we’re also aware of rumours that are circulating on social media.

 “While we appreciate Halloween is just a short time away, scaring people - especially children and vulnerable people - in this way is completely unacceptable and could constitute an offence.

 “Anyone who sees any suspicious activity, or who has been intimated or upset by this behaviour, should call Cheshire police immediately on 101.”

 Parents claim children left terrified and in tears by clowns 'scaring pupils outside schools'

 Worried parents took to the M.E.N.’s Facebook page to speak out over the craze.

 Samantha Yessam said: “Why would someone buzz off scaring people. I don’t find it funny at all.”

 Elaine Bailey said: “My daughter had trouble sleeping after hearing about this yesterday!

 “She thought they make break in our house when we’re asleep!

 “I had to reassure her and say they’d have to go through me first, your totally safe sweet!”

 Kimberley Hand said: “My child was petrified to walk to school on his own today we spend all our time telling them there aren’t such things as evil clowns - so pack it in you idiots its not brave making kids feel scared.” ||||| LONDON (AP) — British police have warned about people in clown outfits acting suspiciously and sometimes wielding knives as they follow people.

 The warning Saturday follows a string of incidents in recent days in an apparent effort to copy clown-related threats in the United States.

 Police in Gloucestershire said there have been six reports of clowns acting suspiciously and sometimes in a threatening way. Police say no arrests have been made because the people dressed as clowns have left the scene before police arrived.

 The incidents in Gloucestershire followed earlier reports of disturbances in other parts of Britain.

 Police said a masked man with a knife jumped out and threatened children in Durham on Friday and that several people dressed as clowns chased a young boy the day before in Suffolk. |||||

– British police have warned about people in clown outfits acting suspiciously and sometimes wielding knives as they follow people. The warning Saturday follows a string of incidents in recent days in an apparent effort to copy clown-related threats in the United States, the AP reports. Police in Gloucestershire said there have been six reports of clowns acting suspiciously and sometimes in a threatening way. Police say no arrests have been made because the people dressed as clowns have left the scene before police arrived. The incidents in Gloucestershire followed earlier reports of clown-related disturbances in other parts of Britain. Police said a masked man with a knife jumped out and threatened children in Durham on Friday and that several people dressed as clowns chased a young boy the day before in Suffolk. "We are aware of the current trend in America of people dressing up as clowns, which has reached the UK and received some publicity in the media," a Cheshire police spokesperson tells the Manchester Evening News. "While we appreciate Halloween is just a short time away, scaring people—especially children and vulnerable people—in this way is completely unacceptable and could constitute an offense." (Police in Utah say you can't shoot clowns just for being dressed as clowns.)


Article:

Katie Couric could announce as early as Monday a move to ABC that would include a syndicated daytime talk show and contributions to ABC News, a person familiar with the negotiations tells TheWrap.

 Though the deal is not complete, it is close, and should be announced at some point next week if not Monday, the person told TheWrap. The deal is expected to bring Couric to daytime in fall 2012, at a time when daytime programming is in flux.

 Also Read: Scott Pelley Replacing Couric at CBS 'Evening News'

 Couric is wasting no time: Her current, 5-year contract with CBS ends this weekend. Scott Pelley will take her place as the anchor of "CBS Evening News" on Monday, and an announcement then could upstage his debut.

 Couric had narrowed her choices to remaining with CBS or going to ABC after talking to both networks, as well as CNN and NBC. She formerly hosted NBC's "Today," with Matt Lauer, who recently said the two were not destined to reunite on a new show.

 Also Read: Matt Lauer: Katie Couric Pairing 'Not Going to Happen'

 Oprah Winfrey's exit from the airwaves likely leaves an opening for new daytime personalities, including Anderson Cooper, whose show will debut in fall, and now Couric. The daytime shake-up also includes the cancellations of two beloved ABC soaps, "One Life to Live" and "All My Children," which ABC will replace with self-improvement-themed reality shows.

 Soap fans have expressed concerns that Couric's show could force the cancellation of "General Hospital," another much-loved soap.

 The expected announcement was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. ||||| Article Excerpt

 ABC is placing a big bet on Katie Couric to fill Oprah Winfrey's shoes.

 The Walt Disney Co. network is putting the finishing touches on a deal with the former "Today" co-anchor for a syndicated talk show that draws on the template popularized by Ms. Winfrey, and is likely to announce the new program as early as Monday, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

 Ms. Couric's new job would bring one of TV's most recognized faces to daytime-TV as big turnover—notably Ms. Winfrey's exit—is throwing audience loyalties up for grabs. It caps months of talks with multiple media companies, ... |||||
What is a summary?

– Katie Couric will have a syndicated daytime show on ABC sometime around the fall of 2012, the Wall Street Journal reports. The two sides are expected to announce the deal as early as Monday. A source tells the newspaper it will be "Oprah-esque," though the exact format is still under discussion. One sign of Couric's clout: She will reportedly own the show and thus reap bigger profits. The Wrap also has the deal close, noting that Couric's contract with CBS officially ends this weekend. Check out her CBS Evening News sign-off here.


Here is a news article: Obituary for Michael James Rogan

 Michael James Rogan, 42, died on Friday, April 17, 2015 in the Emergency Room of Ministry St. Joseph’s Hospital, Marshfield, following an auto accident.

 A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:00 am on Saturday, April 25, 2015 at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Oratory, Wausau, with Canon Aaron Huberfeld, Rector, officiating. Burial will take place in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Marathon, Wisconsin where military rites will be conducted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6352 of Stratford. The visitation will be held on Friday from 4:00 pm until 8:00 pm at Sauter / Rembs Funeral Home, Stratford and on Saturday from 9:00 am until service time at St. Mary’s Oratory, Wausau.

 Michael was born on March 20, 1973 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Ronald and Susan (Rogan) Bornbach. He was a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and after his honorable discharge he returned to Stratford. He married Nicole S. Richardson on July 11, 1998 at St. John’s Catholic Church, Marshfield.

 For the past 8 years he owned and operated Arnie’s Farm Care and he assisted organic farmers all across the state. He was a member of St. Mary’s Oratory, the church choir and The Holy Name Society. He enjoyed beer making, hunting, and spending time with his children in the woods. He was a good and loyal friend and loved his faith.

 Mike is survived by his wife, Niki and their children, Anne, Jon, Claire, Ben, Luke, Jacob, Gemma and Blaise. He is also survived by his parents, Ron and Sue Bornbach, a sister, Beth Bornbach and her daughter, Johanna, and brothers, Joseph and Gabriel Bornbach, all of Rozellville. He is further survived by his mother-in-law, Kathleen Richardson of Marshfield.

 He was predeceased by his grandparents, John and Sylvia Rogan, an aunt, Sharon Nikolai, uncles, Charles Rogan and John Rogan, Jr., a cousin, Michele LaPorte and his father-in-law, Arnold Richardson.

 A memorial will be established for the support of Michael’s widow and children.

 Condolences may be sent online to www.rembsfh.com

 Previous Events

 Visitation 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM

 Sauter/Rembs Funeral Home 901 S. Weber Ave., Stratford, WI 54484, United States

 Visitation 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

 St. Mary's Oratory 325 Grand Avenue, Wausau, Wisconsin 54403, United States

 Service 10:00 AM

 St. Mary's Oratory 325 Grand Avenue, Wausau, Wisconsin 54403, United States

 Cemetery Details ||||| MILWAUKEE (AP) — A father driving his pregnant wife and children to the hospital for the birth of the couple's eighth child was killed when a deer struck their van in central Wisconsin, according to sheriff's officials and relatives.

 Michael Rogan, 42, was killed when the deer crashed through his van's windshield on a rural highway Friday in Marathon County. His wife, Niki, and their seven children, ages 2 to 15, suffered minor injuries, according to local sheriff's officials.

 Michael Rogan was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield. His wife gave birth hours later to a healthy son named Blaise, relatives and friends said Monday.

 "His greatest love was his family," Tami Richardson said of her brother-in-law. "He was strong and patient with the children."

 Another vehicle struck the deer on Highway 97 in the Town of Cleveland, throwing the animal into the Rogans' windshield, according to sheriff's Lt. Ted Knoeck. Rogan's wife was able to steer the van to some soft soil in a shallow ditch, Richardson said.

 One of the couple's longtime friends, Dominic Gruetzmacher, said he was amazed to see Niki Rogan and the children at their Wausau church two days later. Blaise was baptized Sunday.

 Michael Rogan was active in the church, sang in the choir and helped with a boys' group, Gruetzmacher said. Rogan also served in the U.S. Marines and was a reserve member following his active duty.

 "He was a strong guy. He dove into the world head on and approached it with enthusiasm," Gruetzmacher said.

 Richardson said Rogan took over his father-in-law's organic seed and fertilizer business after her father died about eight years ago. Family and friends are stepping forward to help.

 "The seeds need to be delivered. We just have to identify who the customers are," she said. "We've been humbled by the support that has been offered."

 Gruetzmacher, who is leading a fundraising effort for the family, said Niki Rogan home-schools the children.

 ___

 Family fundraiser on gofundme.com http://bit.ly/1H8TpdS ||||| Our long-time friends from church, Mike and Niki Rogan, were driving to the hospital early this morning [4/17/2015] with their seven children, in anticipation of welcoming an eighth child into their beautiful family.On the way, an oncoming car hit a deer which was thrown into the Rogans' vehicle. Mike did not survive the accident. Niki and the children survived with only minor injuries. Niki gave birth to their son, Blaise, hours after the accident.Mike served as a corporal in the US Marine Corps and was promoted to sergeant while remaining on with the Reserves. He applied the motto, "Semper Fi" to all aspects of his life, faithfully serving God, country, and family. He was a small business owner, providing organic supplements to dairy farmers.Niki is a stay-at-home mom and homeschools her children who range in age from newborn to 15 years, and is left with providing for her family aided by only a minimal life insurance policy.Please help us reach out and support this family in this time of profound loss. Your donations will be used to buy a replacement vehicle, to pay for funeral and medical expenses, and to create a safety net for the future welfare of the family. All donations will be transferred directly to Niki.If you have any questions about the family, this campaign, or to make donations by mail, please reach out to us at roganfund@gmail.com.You may also make donations by mailing checks in the name of Niki Rogan to:Rogan FundPO Box 5132Wausau, WI 54402-5132Dominic and Cecilia GruetzmacherWausau, WIGlenn Beck coverage -- also links to similar fatality of a Michael Draper from Texas. Michael also died in a traffic accident, just two days before Mike Rogan. His wife is also named Nikki. They also have eight children. There has been some confusion between the two fundraisers, but Michael Draper's case was posted before ours, it is legitimate, and you are encouraged to support it:WSAU Radio, Wausau, WI, Chris Conley commentary:Relevant Radio 4/22/2015 primetime coverage (12-minute interview and follow-up calls begin at 0:30 and continue through 24:00 of this audio file):WSAW TV news coverage (several videos):WSAW TV news coverage (several videos):WSAW Van Donation coverage:WSAW TV original accident coverage:WAOW TV news coverage (several videos):Wausau Daily Herald news coverage: http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/story/news/local/2015/04/20/thousands-raised-for-stratford-crash-victim-michael-rogan-family/26070195/ Associated Press coverage:Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund's coverage:Accident Data Center (dashboard) coverage:HML.be German translation of story:Viva.co.id Indonesian translation of story:National CBS coverage:National ABC coverage:USA Today coverage:New York Daily News coverage:Demanjo (online national news) coverage:Daily Mail UK coverage:The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia coverage:WSBTV Atlanta, rebroadcasted on WGNTV Chicago coverage:WLUK Fox 11, Green Bay, WI coverage:WWIS Radio, Black River Falls, WI coverage:Antigo Daily Journal, front-page coverage:WMTV News, Madison, WI coverage:The Inquisitr coverage:Church Militant (Catholic media) coverage:The Remnant (Catholic magazine) coverage:Fr. Z's Blog coverage:The Badger Catholic blog coverage:Beautiful Womanhood coverage:Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, WI coverage:Channel 3000 TV 3 Madison, WI coverage: |||||
A summary of this is?

– What should have been a joyful trip turned tragic early Friday, when a central Wisconsin man died while driving his pregnant wife to the hospital to deliver their eighth child. Michael Rogan, 42, was driving a van with his wife and seven children aboard when another car hit a deer, sending the animal into the van's windshield. Wife Niki was able to steer the van into a shallow ditch, the AP reports. Rogan died of his injuries later at a Marathon County hospital; everyone else received only minor injuries, and Niki gave birth to a son named Blaise that afternoon—the new baby was baptized, as planned, Sunday at the family's church, the Wausau Daily Herald reports. A friend explains to WSAW that she doesn't think Niki has ever missed a mass due to a child's birth: "She wanted to go." "It was a very teary morning," says the reverend, who notes that about 100 people came together at a nearby home after the baptism. Faith was important to Rogan, and the former Marine could typically be found at St. Mary's Oratory in Wausau, which he had attended for at least 15 years, about three times a week, the reverend says. Friends have stepped forward to help with Rogan's organic seed and fertilizer business, and a GoFundMe campaign has so far raised more than $270,000 for the family he left behind. Niki is a stay-at-home mom and homeschools the kids—who, besides the newborn, range in age from 2 to 15—and the money raised will be used to allow her to continue to do that as well as cover the costs of a new van, medical expenses, and the funeral this weekend.


Article:

In his first interview since being accused of inappropriate behavior with women, celebrated novelist Junot Díaz adamantly denied the allegations, including a claim he once “forcibly kissed” writer Zinzi Clemmons.

 Díaz, who was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for his novel “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” said he was “distressed,” “confused,” and “panicked” by the accusations, but insisted he had not bullied the women or been sexually inappropriate.

 “I was shocked,” Díaz said during an interview at the offices of Liberty Square Group, a Boston communications firm hired to represent him. “I was, like, ‘Yo, this doesn’t sound like anything that’s in my life, anything that’s me.’ ”

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 For eight months, #MeToo stories have followed a familiar script: A prominent man is accused of impropriety. He faces immediate public shaming followed by a swift disavowal by the institution that made him famous. But the Díaz case may be rewriting that narrative. The Cambridge author is keeping his teaching job at MIT and his editing position at Boston Review after separate investigations found the accusations lacked “the kind of severity that animated the #MeToo movement,” as Boston Review’s top editors put it.

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 The author, whose fiction is full of male characters behaving badly toward women, now finds himself trying to draw distinctions between the artist and his art, between sexual misconduct and consensual relationships gone wrong.

 “There is a line between being a bad boyfriend and having a lot of regret, and predatory behavior,” Díaz said.

 The Dominican-American writer has been a literary darling since his first book, “Drown,” became a national bestseller in the mid-1990s; his Pulitzer-winning novel is often taught in schools. With stories that dwell on the legacy of trauma and characters steeped in cultural misogyny and racism, Díaz has long evoked strong feelings, but never more than in recent weeks, when the complaints of several female writers riveted — and divided — the literary establishment.

 So far, Díaz has been spared, largely because the deluge of #MeToo stories his accusers predicted hasn’t come. Also, some of the allegations have withered under scrutiny: An exchange recalled by one woman as “a blast of misogynist rage and public humiliation” sounded, to others, like an author being defensive about his work. And Clemmons, who accused Díaz of forcibly kissing her in a stairwell, has refused to say whether it was on the lips.

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 While Díaz’s allies have decried the rush to judge him, his accusers view the esteemed author as the misogynist who got away. They stand by their allegations, saying a broad array of behaviors should be addressed as part of the #MeToo movement.

 “Unfortunately, with #MeToo, the standard seems to be, ‘Well, it’s not as bad as Harvey Weinstein, so therefore it’s not something we should do anything about,’ ” said Alisa Rivera, a Los Angeles woman who wrote about an encounter with Díaz that left her in tears. “I think we should have a bigger conversation about abuse of power.”

 So does Sarah J. Jackson, a Northeastern University associate professor of communications who studies hashtag activism online. Though she says every #MeToo story deserves to be heard, she thinks this episode may prove to be a turning point in how they are evaluated.

 “Possibly what we’re seeing is we are capable as a society — our institutions, our universities are capable — of differentiating between types of bad behavior,” said Jackson. “Which doesn’t mean there are no consequences of bad behavior. There’s still reputational damage.”

 He also said, ‘MeToo’

 For Díaz, there is an irony in the accusations against him; they emerged after he raised his hand to say “MeToo.”

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 In April, The New Yorker published an essay in which Díaz revealed he was raped at age 8 and recounted the heavy toll the experience had taken on his relationships, acknowledging the many girlfriends he had betrayed and abandoned.

 Díaz defends the piece as genuine, saying he started writing it over a year ago and was further troubled while promoting his recently released children’s book, “Islandborn.”

 “I was doing events with children exactly the same age as I was when I was raped,” he said. “I was losing my [expletive] literally having to sit, to kneel with 6-, 7-, 8-year-old children.”

 But his critics viewed his confessional as a cynical attempt to preempt allegations that may have been coming his way. When he spoke at the Sydney Writers’ Festival in Australia after The New Yorker piece was published, novelist Zinzi Clemmons publicly confronted him about an encounter she said they had six years earlier.

 Nina Subin Zinzi Clemmons said Díaz tried to “forcibly kiss” her during an incident at a Columbia University workshop.

 She wasn’t specific, but elaborated later on Twitter, saying that as a Columbia University graduate student, she’d invited Díaz to speak at a workshop, and he “used it as an opportunity to corner and forcibly kiss me.” She was “far from the only one” he’d done that to, she said.

 Díaz didn’t offer an immediate denial in Sydney because, he said, “I didn’t feel like anyone would listen to me. I felt like people had already moved on to the punishment phase.”

 Instead, he hastily withdrew from the festival and returned to the United States, where he found himself in the middle of a social-media storm. His initial public statement, sent to The New York Times by his literary agent Nicole Aragi, was vaguely penitent.

 “I take responsibility for my past,” it read. “That is the reason I made the decision to tell the truth of my rape and its damaging aftermath. This conversation is important and must continue. . . . We must continue to teach all men about consent and boundaries.”

 But in the Globe interview, Díaz, with a lawyer by his side, seemed to disavow that statement and demurred when asked to describe what he meant by “consent and boundaries.”

 “I’ve written a lot of crap in my life. One does when one’s a writer,” Díaz said. “But, definitely, that statement is the worst thing I’ve written, the worst thing I’ve put my name to. Boy, I wish I’d had the presence of mind to rewrite the damn thing.”

 Díaz categorically denied Clemmons’s story.

 “I did not kiss anyone. I did not forcibly kiss Zinzi Clemmons. I did not kiss Zinzi Clemmons,” Díaz said. “It didn’t happen.”

 He also provided a cordial e-mail he received from Clemmons the day after the workshop that made no mention of a kiss. A Columbia professor also recalled encountering Clemmons after Díaz left the event and described her as delighted, not shaken.

 Contacted by the Globe, Clemmons maintains that Díaz kissed her as she walked him out of the building, positioning her against a wall in an enclosed stairwell.

 Asked to characterize the kiss, she declined to specify whether it was on the mouth.

 In the interview with the Globe, Díaz referred several times to the sexual abuse he suffered as a child, saying the experience left him “broken” but also sensitive to issues raised by the #MeToo movement.

 “For someone like me, who’s a victim and a survivor, MeToo stuff matters,” Díaz said.

 A friend’s response

 Díaz arrived at the interview with names and contact information of friends, colleagues, former students, and even ex-girlfriends who could attest to his character.

 Among them was psychologist Wendy Walsh, who dated Díaz on and off for four years and still holds him in high regard. She views Díaz as a champion of women of color and credits him with encouraging her biracial daughter to attend an Ivy League college. Walsh, who also happens to be one of the first women to allege sexual harassment by former Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly, said Díaz was never abusive, though she acknowledged flaws, likening him to the inveterate cheater in his books.

 “He’s the ultimate bad boy,” said Walsh. “He’s Yunior.”

 Interestingly, the second public complaint about Díaz arose from a conversation about Yunior, the philandering narrator of Díaz’s 2012 short-story collection, “This is How You Lose Her.” Carmen Maria Machado, who was then an unpublished writer, asked Díaz about Yunior during the author’s visit to the University of Iowa.

 “When I made the mistake of asking him a question about his protagonist’s unhealthy, pathological relationship with women, he went off for me for 20 minutes,” Machado tweeted.

 As Díaz spoke, Machado said, he became “enraged” and veered into “bullying and misogyny.” But Machado told the Globe she wasn’t claiming a #MeToo moment of her own.

 “I never characterized it as harassment,” said Machado. “The reporting that happened after I tweeted was so irresponsible, it was actually sort of astonishing to me.”

 Carmen Maria Machado tweeted that Junot Diaz became “enraged” when she questioned him about a character in his work.

 Díaz denied being verbally abusive to Machado, and said he feels vindicated by a recording of the event that has since surfaced online, revealing him to be defensive, but not raising his voice.

 Machado, a National Book Award finalist for her story collection, “Her Body and Other Parties,’’ stands by her account.

 Monica Byrne was the third writer who spoke out about Díaz, detailing a 2014 dinner party dispute she characterized on Twitter as a “verbal sexual assault.”

 In an interview, Byrne said the conversation concerned the statistical disparity between male and female authors who get published and reviewed. Byrne told Díaz that The New Yorker had rejected an excerpt of her novel and she questioned whether that was evidence of gender bias.

 Díaz, who appears regularly in The New Yorker, responded by saying something like: “I don’t know if you know how statistics work, but that’s like saying if you haven’t been raped then nobody’s been raped,” Byrne said.

 Byrne considered the comment “completely bizarre, disproportionate, and violent.”

 Díaz recalled it merely as a “messy conversation.”

 Byrne — like other accusers — contends there are additional women who have not spoken out, but she will not disclose their names. She said she’s compiling a list that includes secondhand stories and published accounts, like that of a man who tweeted about Díaz belittling his manuscript in a writing workshop.

 Asked whether such an account from a writing workshop describes a sexual abuser or a jerk, Byrne responded: “What is the difference?”

 “Me Too covers a huge spectrum of behaviors as problematic and as specifically misogynist,” said Byrne.

 Monica Byrne considered a comment by Díaz “completely bizarre, disproportionate, and violent.”

 Another Díaz accusation was posted online by Rivera, a former writer who says she and the author met for lunch, where they discussed insecurities related to cultural identity, a focus of Díaz’s work. But rather than empathizing, Rivera said, Díaz noted her fair skin and identified with those who had bullied her.

 “You have the face of the oppressor,” he told her, Rivera wrote. “You need to spend more time in the sun and darken up if you want to be a real Latina.”

 Feeling “gutted,” Rivera said, she burst into tears. Instead of apologizing, Díaz “grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me onto his lap,” she wrote.

 “In retrospect, it felt like negging — when you undermine a woman’s self-confidence in order to hit on her,” she said in an interview.

 Díaz disputed Rivera’s account.

 “I just don’t drag people onto my lap against their will,” he said.

 Employers’ reviews

 MIT, where Díaz has taught creative writing since 2003, conducted an investigation, contacting all current students who’d taken a class with Díaz and speaking to staff and faculty dating back to 2003. In addition, the university combed the comments on students’ teacher evaluations for any hint of impropriety. There were none, the school said, and on a 7-point scale, Díaz received an average overall rating of 6.82. MIT concluded the inquiry saying it had “not found or received information that would lead us to take any action to restrict Professor Díaz in his role as an MIT faculty member.”

 Boston Review, where Díaz has been fiction editor for 15 years, likewise decided to keep the author on its masthead after a “careful review of the public complaints” and interviews with “women writers of color” revealed no reason to remove him.

 An investigation by the Pulitzer Prize board, of which Díaz is a member, is still ongoing.

 The case has deeply divided writers, editors, and academics, who have sparred in thoughtful open letters published in the Chronicle of Higher Education and in a barbed back-and-forth on social media. Both sides say they have been harassed by spiteful trolls.

 “What is most chilling to me about the Junot Díaz case is how women who have objected to his criminalization on social media without any due process have been silenced,” said one Díaz defender, Elena Creef, Wellesley College professor of women’s and gender studies. “It was never my understanding that the #MeToo Movement required that all women bow down to a vocal minority and silence themselves.”

 If the allegations are true, said Stanford University English professor Paula Moya, “does that then put him in the same category with Harvey Weinstein or Bill Cosby? It doesn’t. And if you care about what happens to women then one of the things you have to care about is what real damage is and what maybe [jerky] behavior is. I’m not saying [jerky] behavior is OK. We need to be able to make distinctions.”

 Three Boston Review editors resigned in protest of the publication’s decision to keep him, and some women of color pushed back on Díaz’s defenders, saying his accusers deserve to be heard, even if their stories are not as dramatic as other #MeToo accounts.

 “It is not anybody’s job to say only certain types of stories can be told on the hashtag,” said Jackson, of Northeastern.

 “Some women have taken the position that we need to be careful to not ‘water down’ #MeToo by including things that aren’t rape or assault, physical assault,” she said. “But I think we need to be extremely cautious about that. Because often the men who do engage in egregious bad behaviors do it because they’ve gotten away with lesser bad behaviors and they escalate. At some point Harvey Weinstein wasn’t today’s Harvey Weinstein.”

 Mark Shanahan can be reached at shanahan@globe.com . Follow him on Twitter @MarkAShanahan . Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at Stephanie.Ebbert@globe.com . Follow her on Twitter @StephanieEbbert ||||| BOSTON (AP) — Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz is speaking out about the sexual misconduct allegations against him.

 The Boston Globe reports Díaz adamantly denies the accusations from women who say he behaved inappropriately.

 Díaz says it doesn't sound "like anything that's in my life, anything that's me."

 Author Zinzi Clemmons and other female writers have recently shared stories of Diaz's behavior. Clemmons said Diaz forcibly kissed her several years ago; others cited instances when they felt he had verbally attacked them. Diaz has said he takes responsibility for his past actions.

 Díaz is keeping his teaching and editing positions at the Massachusetts institute of Technology and Boston Review following separate investigations into wrongdoing. A top editor at Boston Review said the accusations lacked "the kind of severity" that animated the #MeToo movement.

 ___

 Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com |||||
What is a summary?

– Author Junot Diaz has given an interview following allegations of sexual misconduct from multiple women. In the sit-down with the Boston Globe, the Pulitzer Prize winner denied, point blank, all accusations that he behaved inappropriately. “I was shocked,” Díaz said. “I was, like, 'Yo, this doesn’t sound like anything that’s in my life, anything that’s me.'" Per the AP, Author Zinzi Clemmons and other female writers have recently shared stories of Diaz's behavior. Clemmons said Diaz forcibly kissed her several years ago. in the Globe interview, Diaz denied the allegation outright. “I did not forcibly kiss Zinzi Clemmons. I did not kiss Zinzi Clemmons,” he said. “It didn’t happen.” Others cited instances when they felt he had verbally attacked them. Diaz has said in a statement that he takes responsibility for his past actions. However, he appeared to more recently back away from that statement, telling the Globe he wishes he "had the presence of mind to rewrite the damn thing.” In separate decisions that have left people close to Díaz outraged, Díaz is keeping his teaching and editing positions at the Massachusetts institute of Technology and Boston Review following investigations into wrongdoing at the institutions. A top editor at Boston Review said the accusations lacked "the kind of severity" that animated the #MeToo movement. Three editors subsequently announced they were resigning over the political and literary magazine's decision to retain Diaz.


Article:

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. ||||| However, at Black Project, we have deep and serious issues with many of ABInBev's business strategies, mission, and overall ethics as they relate to craft beer in America. In Denver alone, we've seen several instances of highly aggressive, predatory, and what we consider to be unethical practices. We truly believe that ABInBev intends to systematically destroy American craft beer as we know it. We don't personally buy, seek, trade, or acquire any of their products for this reason, and we've been known to encourage our friends to do the same.

 As some of you may know, and something many people have asked us about today, we have two collaboration beers with Wicked Weed currently in-progress; one beer at our facility and one at theirs. We also had plans, and were looking forward to attending, the Wicked Weed Funkatorium Invitational this July. We had a decision to make - to continue a business relationship with Wicked Weed now that they will be owned by ABInBev, or to cut ties and hopefully remain friends.

 For us, the choice is clear. At this stage, we don't feel we are able to have a business relationship with Wicked Weed because that connection, ultimately, is one with ABInBev. Unfortunately, we don’t feel that having any connection with ABInBev is something we can do while still maintaining our mission, values, and core beliefs.

 What this means is that we will not be able to lend our name to the unfinished collaboration beer currently aging in Asheville, NC. Additionally, the beer we brewed with Wicked Weed here at Black Project will be blended with other existing aged beer we have on hand to make something totally different which we will not consider a Wicked Weed collaboration. Finally, we will not be attending the Wicked Weed Funkatorium Invitational in July.

 We wish the best to everyone at Wicked Weed and we are happy for their success. We know they will continue to make great beers and we hope to remain personal friends in the future.

 Sincerely,

 James Howat and Sarah Howat

 Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales ||||| Craft beer drinkers, prepare for the hair on your presumably hipster-bearded faces to stand on end. You are being mocked, yet again, during the most widely watched TV event of the year, the Super Bowl. And yet again, it’s Budweiser dishing the disses.

 The fact that you yourself probably mock the “King of Beers” and Bud drinkers on a regular basis may offer some degree of comfort. But that’s likely not enough to stop craft beer brewers and fans from being agitated by the latest craft beer-bashing Super Bowl ad from Budweiser.

 Last year, there was considerable backlash to Bud’s Super Bowl commercial, which proclaimed Bud as “proudly a macro beer” and made fun of hipster types who enjoyed fancy, “fussed over” brews. Understandably, the craft beer world was outraged, and some even created parodies of the Bud commercial.

 Even fellow beer giant MillerCoors issued a statement condemning the Budweiser Super Bowl commercial. “We believe each and every style of beer is worth fussing over,” the message from MillerCoors stated. “Quality isn’t something that belongs to a single style of beer or a single brewer.”

 Read next: Big Beer’s 5-Point Plan to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution

 A big reason people were upset with the ad is that Budweiser’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, is clearly infatuated with craft beer, and the message was hypocritical. The company has been buying up craft beer labels left and right, including brands like Breckenridge Brewery and Four Peaks very recently. What’s more, Anheuser-Busch InBev not only created one of America’s most popular faux indie “crafty” beers with the Shock Top label, but it is featuring Shock Top in a Super Bowl commercial this year for the first time ever.

 Nonetheless, the Budweiser Super Bowl ads of this year and last mock craft beer. In fact, despite the fact that Shock Top is often served with an orange wedge—and the logo and tap handles even feature an orange—the Bud commercial this year points out that Budweiser is “Not a Fruit Cup,” while showing a grizzled old-timer at the bar flicking a fruit wedge off his pint of Bud.

 This year’s Super Bowl ad features a pounding soundtrack and a series of proclamations pointing out what Budweiser isn’t. We learn in boldface CAPS that Budweiser is…

 NOT SMALL

 (Most craft brewers are small, indie operations, and presumably, small is bad?)

 NOT SIPPED

 (Sipping is for sissies who drink beer for the taste.)

 NOT SOFT

 (More subtle messaging that craft beer is for wusses.)

 NOT A FRUIT CUP

 (See above; also, if you haven’t gotten the message yet, Bud is macho, not fruity.)

 NOT IMPORTED

 (Considering that Anheuser-Busch InBev is not an U.S. company, Budweiser is not really an American brand either, but why point this out in a commercial seen by more than 100 million viewers? Side note: The 4,000 craft breweries in the U.S. aren’t imported either, and unlike Budweiser, they are, in fact, American-owned.)

 NOT FOR EVERYONE

 (Something we can all agree on!)

 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF711XAtrVg&w=640&h=390]

 If the point of such an ad is to stir up some controversy in the beer world, Bud’s ad will probably succeed. Yet there’s probably another reason the commercial was created with such an anti-craft stance. It’s not supposed to win over craft beer drinkers by insulting them. That would never work.

 Read next: Why Super Bowl Advertisers Are OK That the Commercials Don’t Boost Sales

 Instead, the goal seems to be making Budweiser drinkers feel OK, perhaps even proud, that they are Budweiser drinkers. They aren’t trendy. They aren’t soft or small, or fruity. And apparently, they feel so insecure that they need for Budweiser to point all of this out. |||||
What is a summary?

– To a craft beer aficionado, the only sin worse than drinking a Bud would be if your favorite brewery sold out to the company that owns it. That's the situation that has fans of the Wicked Weed brewery now crying "treachery," per the Washington Post, which reports on the news that the Asheville, NC, institution has teamed up with Anheuser-Busch InBev "as a strategic partner." The reason for the move by Wicked Weed—which the Citizen-Times notes was founded in 2012 by Walt and Luke Dickinson and friends Ryan, Rick, and Denise Guthy—is, as Walt Dickinson explains, to stay competitive. A fellow craft brewery owner in Oregon backs him up, noting that his own brewery's acquisition by AB InBev offered him access to better ingredients and distribution. But the buyout has craft beer fans livid, especially after Budweiser's 2015 and 2016 Super Bowl ads that mocked craft beer drinkers. Wicked Weed's Facebook announcement was met with angry and sad emoji, with "very disappointed" and "disheartened" just a sampling of the negative comments. Some of Wicked Weed's distributors and partners aren't happy, either, with Denver's Black Project brewery cutting its ties to WW—not because it doesn't love the beer, but because it believes AB InBev has "unethical practices" and "intends to systematically destroy American craft beer as we know it." Other commenters on Wicked Weed's Facebook page say they will remain loyal fans. "At the end of the day, great beer will win," Walt Dickinson tells the Citizen-Times. (Walmart recently took heat on the craft beer front.)


Here is a news article: (CNN) -- The search continued Thursday for a gay porn actor suspected of dismembering his acquaintance, posting the video of the incident online and mailing the severed limbs to different locations in Ottawa, including to a political party's headquarters, according to a source with direct knowledge of the investigation.

 Authorities are searching for Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, who they allege is responsible for a human torso discovered in Montreal, thought to be linked to a human hand and foot that were separately mailed from Montreal to Ottawa.

 Magnotta, also known as Eric Clinton Newman, is a Montreal resident who allegedly knew the victim, identified only as a white male, Montreal police spokesman Ian Lafreniere told reporters Wednesday.

 The suspect has no criminal background, and his image and information related to him were later recovered from a "very graphic" website, Lafreniere said.

 The source later confirmed that at least one of the websites examined by authorities was a pornographic site.

 It's possible the body parts all came from the same dismembered victim, Lafreniere said, but police are still awaiting the results of forensic testing for confirmation.

 "The two parts of the body that were found in Ottawa ... we've got all the reasons to believe that it's linked to our homicide," he added, referring to the human torso found in Montreal.

 Authorities said they are asking the public for help in locating Magnotta, after a "coast-to-coast" warrant was issued for his arrest. Police say they plan to charge him with murder once he's apprehended.

 Lafreniere said authorities have also found other body parts, potentially from the same attack, which is believed to have been committed in Montreal. It would be the 11th homicide there this year.

 "It wasn't a random attack," Lafreniere said. "They knew each other."

 Lafreniere added that Magnotta had been "involved in some stuff on the Web, that's for sure," though he would not elaborate.

 The human foot was sent to the Conservative Party of Canada headquarters in Ottawa, prompting a hazardous materials team to investigate. The officers who responded noticed what appeared to be bloodstains on the box, police said.

 Ottawa police Sgt. Steve Hodgson told reporters outside the office that the package had been addressed to the Conservative Party. Staffers had begun to open the package before calling police, he said.

 The hand was intercepted by workers at a Montreal postal terminal.

 Ottawa's major-crimes unit is checking with other police departments for similar cases and looking back through missing-persons files for any clues, according to Constable Marc Soucy, an Ottawa police spokesman.

 "We're going to look at every avenue," he said.

 In Montreal, the human torso was found behind an apartment building, authorities said.

 CNN's Jake Carpenter, Paula Newton and Matt Smith contributed to this report. ||||| Vic Toews, Public Safety Minister, and Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, have denounced the discovery of a severed hand at an Ottawa mail depot and delivery of foot to Tory headquarters.

 Jason Kenney and Vic Toews Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS Vic Toews, Public Safety Minister, and Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, have denounced the discovery of a severed hand at an Ottawa mail depot and delivery of foot to Tory headquarters.

 A police officer removes a package containg a human foot from the Conservative Party headquarters in Ottawa on Tuesday.

 Body parts found Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS A police officer removes a package containg a human foot from the Conservative Party headquarters in Ottawa on Tuesday.

 Police have named Magnotta a suspect in the shocking case where dismembered body parts were mailed to Ottawa, including the headquarters of the governing Conservative party.

 Luka Magnotta THE CANADIAN PRESS Police have named Magnotta a suspect in the shocking case where dismembered body parts were mailed to Ottawa, including the headquarters of the governing Conservative party.

 Police have named Magnotta a suspect in the shocking case where dismembered body parts were mailed to Ottawa, including the headquarters of the governing Conservative party.

 Luka Magnotta SUBMITTED IMAGE Police have named Magnotta a suspect in the shocking case where dismembered body parts were mailed to Ottawa, including the headquarters of the governing Conservative party.

 Andrew Chung

 Quebec Bureau

 WARNING: THIS REPORT CONTAINS GRAPHIC DETAILS

 MONTREAL—What began as a case of a severed foot sent to Canada’s ruling party headquarters has spiralled into an astonishing murder case involving a self-professed porn actor with links to Karla Homolka who’s accused of killing and dismembering a man in a Montreal apartment.

 Police have launched a Canada-wide manhunt for Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, a Toronto native who appears in several dubious places on the Internet. He’s accused, among other things, of torturing and killing kittens and being romantically linked to notorious sex killer Homolka, though in a 2007 newspaper report he denied this last allegation.

 The police hunt follows the discovery Tuesday of a headless torso inside a brown suitcase next to a pile of rubbish at a dingy Montreal apartment building. Police say a foot and hand mailed to Ottawa belonged to the body.

 Late Wednesday, CTV News was reporting there was a note in the box containing the severed foot sent to the Conservative headquarters. The note reportedly said it was the first of six body parts, and it indicated the killer would kill again, according to CTV.

 In another shocking twist, a grotesque video has emerged on the Internet that appears to show a man stabbing a naked and bound victim dozens of times with an ice pick, defiling the corpse and cutting off the head and limbs.

 Montreal police said they are investigating the video, which sources say appears to be authentic.

 Though the actual Montreal crime scene appears similar to the one shown in the murder video, police have not confirmed that the video does indeed show the murder of the man whose body parts were mailed to Ottawa.

 However, a police source said, “Everything looks like this is the person we’re talking about.”

 More: Second body part discovered in Ottawa after severed foot sent to Conservative party headquarters

 The sources added there is a “very strong possibility” that the man whose body parts were sent to Ottawa is an Asian male who was reported missing by family members several days ago.

 “The suspect and victim knew each other,” Montreal police Cmdr. Ian Lafrenière confirmed. He didn’t identify the victim.

 A source said the victim apparently attended the suspect’s apartment willingly.

 “I’ve been doing this job for close to 30 years now and I’ve never seen and never heard of something like this,” Lafrenière said. “It’s like watching a very bad movie.

 “It’s important to stay sensitive to these things. Some people might say ‘this happens’ in society. I don’t think so. It’s something very shocking.”

 The macabre discovery on Tuesday of a severed foot, delivered to the downtown Ottawa headquarters of the Conservative Party of Canada, set alight confusion and concern on Parliament Hill and made international headlines.

 Hours later, Ottawa police confirmed a hand had been found in a package at a Canada Post processing facility. It had apparently been addressed to the Liberal party headquarters.

 On Wednesday, the situation escalated as Montreal police said they believed the body parts belonged to the same victim. They asked for the public’s help in finding Magnotta.

 The suitcase was reportedly sitting in the rubbish pile since last Friday. The video was posted online on May 25.

 Videos from the Toronto Star.

 Police spent much of Tuesday combing through the grimy second-floor studio apartment where the torso was found. Its windows look on to a major Montreal expressway.

 A poster from the 1942 film Casablanca is visible from outside. The poster can also be seen in photos posted on the Internet appearing to feature Magnotta.

 Neighbours had reported a strong foul odour emanating from the studio. Inside, the bed sheets and mattress were soaked with blood.

 “There was blood all over the bed,” said building manager Eric Schorer, 59.

 There was also a pool of what appeared to be blood on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Traces were found too in the freezer.

 Inside the closet, a message scribbled in red ink reads: “If you don’t like the reflection, don’t look in the mirror. I don’t care.”

 Magnotta arrived in Montreal and rented the furnished apartment about four months ago for $490 a month, Schorer said. His rent was paid up to June 1.

 “He came from Toronto and wanted to start a job as a caregiver and to be closer to his child,” Schorer recalled.

 According to Schorer and other neighbours, Magnotta kept to himself, slept late into the day, going out in the late afternoon, perhaps to work.

 Neighbour Derek Mackinnon, 56, said Magnotta spoke to no other neighbours except himself, “maybe because I was gay too.”

 “He’s probably one of the coldest people you’ve ever met in your life,” Mackinnon said.

 Mackinnon, a former actor who starred in the 1980 horror film Terror Train, said Magnotta asked him how to make the transition from porn into legitimate acting. “He said his porn career was over.”

 He said he saw Magnotta bring home a male five nights ago, an unusual sight because he never previously saw the young man with anyone. He saw Magnotta leave the building the next morning wearing a red wig. “I thought, ‘What is going on with that?’ ”

 Mackinnon then began to cry, as he revealed that Magnotta had asked him to come to his apartment to see him, also five days ago.

 “I wonder,” he whispered, “if that could have been me.”

 The suspect legally changed his name in 2006. His birth name is Eric Clinton Newman. Police said he also goes by the pseudonym Vladimir Romanov.

 An online profile pegs him as a bisexual porn actor. He has been targeted as a cat torturer and killer by animal rights activists, who have posted horrific videos to support their accusations. In one, a cat is placed in a plastic bag and the air is sucked out with a vacuum.

 The suspect’s Facebook page lists a variety of heroes, from Madonna to Joseph Stalin.

 “There is such things as Monsters, Demons and Ghosts,” says a quote typed onto that page. “They live inside of us, and sometimes they win.”

 He also appears in an online blog posting about necrophilia. And a piece under Magnotta’s name posted in 2009 is titled, “How to Completely Disappear and Never Be Found.”

 “When making the decision to disappear, it is very important to understand that this is not a process that can be successfully accomplished overnight,” the article explains.

 Two top Conservative ministers denounced the posting of the body parts as a “criminal” act.

 “Bizarre and completely horrifying,” said Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, saying it was clearly a “completely disgusting criminal act.”

 Conservative Party spokesman Fred DeLorey said the package, when it arrived at headquarters on Tuesday, was brought to Jenni Byrne, a former senior adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the campaign manager in the 2011 election, “because it looked suspicious.”

 “It was opened. Ms. Byrne examined it, saw the blood and smelled the odour and made the decision to call police.”

 Delorey said that “staff are very upset and disturbed by what happened yesterday.”

 With files from Tonda MacCharles and Allan Woods

 ALSO FROM THE STAR:

 Who is Luka Rocco Magnotta?

 Body parts sent to Conservative party headquarters ||||| View larger image Luka Rocco Magnotta is shown in a photo from the website www.luka-magnotta.com. Magnotta is wanted in the shocking case of a dismembered body whose parts were mailed to different places including the headquarters of the Conservative Party of Canada. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-www.luka-magnotta.com) View larger image Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, is seen is this photograph provided by police in Montreal. View larger image Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, is seen is this photograph provided by police in Montreal. View larger image Luka Magnotta is shown in a photo from the website www.luka-magnotta.com. Magnotta is wanted in the shocking case of a dismembered body whose parts were mailed to different places including the headquarters of the Conservative Party of Canada. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-www.luka-magnotta.com) View larger image Police investigate after a severed human torso was found in Montreal on Tuesday, May 29, 2012.

 MONTREAL  CAUTION: GRAPHIC CONTENT MAY DISTURB SOME READERS.

 In this chain of depraved events orchestrated by a disturbed mind, it turns out that the severed human foot delivered to Tory headquarters was only the latest link.

 Before that, someone repeatedly stabbed a young man with an ice pick. While both killer and victim lay naked, he dismembered the corpse and committed sexual and cannibalistic acts on it.

 That same person apparently videotaped the gory scene and posted it on the Internet. The video is now being reviewed by Montreal police, who are investigating a case that has shocked the country.

 A man by the name of Luka Rocco Magnotta is wanted in connection with a three-step crime: a killing, a dismemberment and a mailing of body parts to Ottawa. He is believed to be from Toronto and to have repeatedly used aliases and changed his name over the years.

 His new name, Luka Rocco Magnotta, has a prolific presence in the darkest corners of the Internet. For nearly two years, it has been notorious among animal-rights activists looking for a man who tortured and killed cats and posted videos of it online.

 He is also a low-budget porn actor.

 His online presence is much vaster, however, than bisexual porn videos. Magnotta is listed as a model. He has been romantically linked to sex-killer Karla Homolka -- a rumour that he has vehemently repudiated and others have shrugged off.

 He is an avid author of online articles.

 One article written in 2009, titled "How to Completely Disappear and Never Be Found," shares a six-step process for escaping and shedding one's identity. Another offers tips on how to get into the porn business.

 A Facebook page belonging to a self-described model with the same name list a variety of personal heroes. They include pop star Madonna and two Russian leaders: Vladimir Putin and Joseph Stalin.

 "There is such things as Monsters, Demons and Ghosts," says a quote typed onto that page.

 "They live inside of us, and sometimes they win."

 Police are now on the hunt for a suspect and trying to determine what demon might possibly have possessed a man to commit the acts alleged to have been committed in Montreal.

 Their key target is 29-year-old Magnotta.

 He has also gone by the names Eric Clinton Newman and Vladimir Romanov, among others. His multiple identities were confusing enough that even police had to issue a second press release Wednesday after originally identifying him as "Rocco Luka."

 The geographic epicentre of their investigation is a grimy apartment building in Montreal's west end.

 Magnotta was renting Apartment 208 in the brick mid-rise, by the bustling Decarie Expressway. Behind that building, a man's torso was found Tuesday in a locked suitcase, buried in a pile of garbage.

 On the same day, a foot was found in a package opened at Conservative headquarters and a hand was found at an Ottawa postal warehouse -- the latter package addressed to the Liberal party.

 The building manager told The Canadian Press that Magnotta had been living there for about four months. In the manager's words, he seemed like a nice guy.

 Police in masks were combing through the blood-soaked apartment Wednesday, having zeroed in on that particular unit from which a rotten stench was drifting out, says a building resident.

 The neighbour said police were showing neighbours pictures of two men -- the suspected victim and the homicide suspect.

 The packages in Ottawa came from a common source. They carried parts from the same male victim, and they were both mailed from Montreal.

 Police shared a few new details about the case Wednesday.

 "The suspect and victim knew each other," Montreal police Cmdr. Ian Lafreniere told reporters. "It isn't linked to organized crime."

 It apparently took a few days for anyone to find a body part. A resident in the building described the scene in the trash-filled laneway behind the complex.

 "I saw the suitcase and I was tempted to go get it," said Richard Payette, 60. "It didn't look too damaged. I said, 'Maybe I'll go down and get it.' But I changed my mind."

 The grisly discovery was made later, by someone else living nearby.

 Police were milling about the second-floor apartment Wednesday, where there were still traces of blood and, reportedly, still some body parts stored. Payette said the door of Apartment 208 was left open for part of the day, and the smell of rotten meat was drifting out into the hallway.

 The building manager said Magnotta had lived there for four months but hadn't been seen around in a while. He said there were never any complaints about noise in the unit, and that Magnotta passed a credit test to rent there.

 "He seemed like a nice guy," said the manager, Eric Schorer.

 Police said Magnotta has no criminal record.

 What isn't clear is why body parts were mailed to Ottawa, including a foot received at the offices of the Conservative party and a hand found at a Canada Post warehouse.

 Finding him might not be easy.

 "When making the decision to disappear, it is very important to understand that this is not a process that can be successfully accomplished overnight," said the online disappearance tips, penned under Magnotta's name.

 "For best results under normal circumstances, a minimum of four months is really necessary to successfully carry out the heroic actions necessary to leave your old life behind.

 "This is certainly not an undertaking to be entered into lightly."

  ||||| Montreal police say Luka Rocco Magnotta is wanted in a homicide investigation in connection to the delivery of a human foot to the Conservative Party of Canada headquarters in Ottawa, and body parts discovered in both cities.

 Police said Magnotta, 29, is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant and police are asking for the public's help to find him.

 Magnotta is also known as Eric Clinton Newman and as Vladimir Romanov. Police describe him as five feet 10 inches tall and 135 pounds with black hair and blue eyes.

 Police said Magnotta knew the person whose torso was found in Montreal on Tuesday, but have yet to identify the victim.

 The epicentre of the investigation is a grimy apartment building in Montreal's west end. The torso was found behind the brick mid-rise, which is near the bustling Decarie Expressway.

 Sources have told CBC News that police believe they are in possession of evidence of the suspect filming the killing and dismembering of the victim.

 The building manager said Magnotta had lived there for four months but hadn't been seen around in a while. He said there were never any complaints about noise in the unit, and that Magnotta passed a credit test to rent there.

 Montreal police investigated the discovery of a human torso in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood. (CBC) Montreal police investigated the discovery of a human torso in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood. (CBC)

 "He seemed like a nice guy," the manager, Eric Schorer, told The Canadian Press.

 However, neighbour Richard Payette described him as "anti-social" and said Magnotta wouldn't talk to people.

 "Even when I said hello to him if I saw him, he wouldn't even respond," Payette said.

 Police in masks were combing through the blood-soaked apartment Wednesday, having zeroed in on the source of a rotten stench, says a building resident.

 The neighbour said police were showing neighbours pictures of two men — the suspected victim and the homicide suspect.

 Montreal police said Magnotta was not known to them and had no criminal record. But CBC News has learned that he was convicted on four counts of fraud in Ontario in 2005. He served 16 days pre-trial custody and was given a further nine-month conditional sentence and 12 months probation.

 The suspect's name has also come up in association with videos showing the killing of kittens. A CBC News source said police are also investigating a possible connection between the suspect and Karla Homolka.

 A website is also claiming it has posted video of a killing that is possibly linked to the suspect.

 Montreal police Cmdr. Ian Lafrenière said he would not substantiate internet rumours about the suspect.

 "We don't conduct our investigations via social media," he said.

 2nd package addressed to Liberal Party

 The discovery of the torso is believed to be linked to the foot sent to the Conservative headquarters and a hand found at a Canada Post terminal. that was addressed to the Liberal Party of Canada headquarters.

 Police removed a bag containing a human foot that was delivered to the Conservative Party of Canada's headquarters in downtown Ottawa. (CBC) Police removed a bag containing a human foot that was delivered to the Conservative Party of Canada's headquarters in downtown Ottawa. (CBC)

 Lafrenière did not deny the second package was addressed to the Liberal Party, but told Solomon on Power and Politics it would be incorrect to link the actions to a political motive.

 "I've been a police officer for more than 20 years now and I met officers that were doing an investigation for more than 30 years and they said they never saw a scene like that," said Lafrenière

 "So it would be hard for me to say there is a political reason for this," he said.

 'Horrible' crime scene

 The hand and foot mailed to Ottawa were sent from a fake Montreal address, police said. Police also said there were other body parts sent by mail that they are still investigating.

 Other body parts were also found at the same location where the torso was found. Police have not positively identified the victim.

 Lafrenière described the scene of the alleged crime as "horrible" but said investigators would be releasing few details for now.

 "The most important thing for us is to nab the suspect, and to make sure we don't jeopardize a future trial. I'd have a lot of trouble, as a father, to sleep if that happened."

 Foot sent via Canada Post

 The foot was discovered Tuesday after Ottawa police were called to the Conservative Party of Canada headquarters at 130 Albert St.

 A party spokesman told CBC News the package was brought to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's campaign manager Jenni Byrne. She examined the package after it was opened, he said, but called police when she saw the blood and smelled the odour.

 "Conservative Party staff are very upset and disturbed by what happened yesterday. It was such a horrible odour I'm sure many of us will never forget it," said Fred DeLorey, director of communications for the party.

 The hazardous materials unit was called in and the coroner soon confirmed the package contained a human foot that was partially decomposed. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Toronto police have a suspect in a gruesome case in which body parts were mailed to at least two places, reports the local Star. The suspect is 29-year-old Luka Rocco Magnotta, described by CP24 of Toronto as a low-budget porn actor who has reportedly posted a wide range of disturbing videos, including the torture of cats. So far, three body parts believed to be from the same male victim have been discovered: a torso in a suitcase behind a Montreal building where Magnotta lived; a foot mailed to Conservative Party headquarters in Ottawa; and a hand at a postal warehouse, also in Ottawa. The hand was reportedly addressed to Canada's Liberal Party, according to the CBC. Police aren't saying much about the case, other than that Magnotta and the victim knew each other. CP24 notes that among the Internet articles written by Magnotta is one titled "How to Completely Disappear and Never Be Found." Most news reports, including this one from CNN, are citing sources saying that Magnotta videotaped the dismemberment and posted it online.


Write a summary based on this article:

Recently, the Catholic Church — and even the Pope himself — have been coming under increasing criticism for failing to appropriately discipline church officials who had sexually abused thousands of children. On March 24th, the New York Times characterized “Pope Benedict XVI’s latest apology for the emerging global scandal of child abuse by predatory priests,” as inadequate, noting that Benedict “ made no mention of the need to discipline diocesan leaders most responsible for shielding hundreds of priests from criminal penalties by moving them from parish to parish to continue their crimes.”

 The Catholic League responded the op-ed by running an ad in the New York Times criticizing the paper for its editorial and blaming the scandal on homosexuality:

 The argument itself is confusing and contradictory. If “homosexuality does not cause predatory behavior” then why is is the “pedophilia crisis” a “homosexual crisis”? Most of the molesters were also over the age 30 but the Catholic League does not rename the “pedophilia crisis” an “older man crisis” or an “white older man” crisis or anything of the sort. But all this misses the point. What the Catholic League is trying to do is imply that there is a connection between homosexuality and molestation, just like segregationists once accused African Americans of raping white women, and Jews were accused of murdering Christian babies.

 In reality, pedophilia has little to do with the gender of the child or the orientation of the molester; pedophiles are attracted to youth and control. “Accessibility is more the factor in who a pedophile abuses,” psychotherapist Joe Kort writes. “This may explain the high incidence of children molested in church communities and fraternal organizations, where the pedophile may more easily have access to children.”

 Last night on Larry King Live, Catholic League President Bill Donohue tried to dismiss this argument by claiming that “it’s not a pedophilia” because “most of the victims were post pubescent,” as old as 12 or 13 years of age. Anything older than that is the fault of gays. ||||| VATICAN CITY — A top Vatican official issued a detailed defense of Pope Benedict XVI ’s handling of sexual abuse cases and extensively criticized The New York Times’s coverage, both in its news and editorial pages, as unfair to the pope and the church.

 In a rare interview and a 2,400-word statement posted Wednesday on the Vatican Web site, the official, Cardinal William J. Levada, an American who heads the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, praised Pope Benedict for vigorously investigating and prosecuting sexual abuse cases. He said The Times’s coverage had been “deficient by any reasonable standards of fairness.”

 Cardinal Levada singled out several Times reporters and columnists for criticism, focusing particularly on an article describing failed efforts by Wisconsin church officials to persuade the Vatican to defrock a priest who had abused as many as 200 deaf boys from 1950 to 1974. The pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office when the case was referred there, in 1996.

 He said the article wrongly “attributed the failure to accomplish this dismissal to Pope Benedict, instead of diocesan decisions at the time.” On Wednesday, the archbishop of Milwaukee said the pope should not be held responsible for mistakes that were made in Wisconsin, according to The Associated Press.

 The Times article drew on documents obtained from lawyers suing the church that showed that Vatican officials had at first ordered a secret canonical trial, then asked the archdiocese to suspend it after the priest pleaded for leniency to Cardinal Ratzinger. Wisconsin church officials protested the suspension, but followed it. The priest, the Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, died a few months later.

 News coverage of the abuse has clearly touched a nerve in the Vatican. As the church grapples with abuse cases that have come to light in several European countries, Benedict has come under scrutiny for how he and his subordinates handled sexual abuse allegations against priests while he served as an archbishop in Germany as well as when he was the Vatican’s top doctrinal enforcer.

 In 1980, when the pope was archbishop of Munich and Freising, he approved the transfer of a priest who had abused boys to therapy and was copied in on a memo saying that the priest had been allowed to resume pastoral duties shortly after his therapy began. The priest was later convicted of molesting other boys.

 “This is different, because it’s the pope and because it’s a pope who is most self evidently beyond accusation, particularly in this area,” said a senior Vatican official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.

 Cardinal Levada said he believed that “the evidence is clear” that Father Murphy represented an “egregious case” and deserved to be defrocked.

 But he also said he was not second-guessing the decision to suspend the trial. He said a canonical trial would be “useless if the priest were dying.” “Have you ever been to a trial? Do you know how long they take?” he said. “If the man had had a miraculous recovery and doctors said he’d live another 10 years, I’m sure a letter would say fine, ‘Start the trial.’ ”

 Sitting in a receiving room at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with a view of Saint Peter’s out the window and an oil portrait of Cardinal Ratzinger on the wall, Cardinal Levada expressed pain at the case of Father Murphy.

 “I think the evidence is clear from the documents that he was a serial abuser of children, helpless children often times, he had no respect for the sacrament of confession, even using that to accomplish his abuse,” he said. “It’s one of the saddest and the most egregious cases I’ve seen.”

 At that point a canon lawyer who sat in on the interview but declined to speak on the record intervened about the nuances of the unfinished trial, effectively deflecting questions about why it had been suspended.

 Cardinal Levada said that although Father Murphy never faced judgment in a criminal or canonical court, the priest had not evaded it altogether.

 “As a believer,” he wrote in his statement, “I have no doubt that Murphy will face the One who judges both the living and the dead.”

 Cardinal Levada said Benedict had played a “very significant role” as the “architect” of the Vatican’s 2001 norms that sent sexual abuse cases directly to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and streamlined procedures for bishops to report sexual abuse cases. Those norms ushered in a flood of abuse trials, many of which are still unresolved.

 Daniel J. Wakin contributed reporting. |||||

– The Vatican defended Pope Benedict's handling of long-ago abuse cases, lashed out at the New York Times for coverage “deficient by any reasonable standards of fairness,” and said the pontiff actually deserved praise instead of condemnation. “We owe Pope Benedict a great debt of gratitude for introducing the procedures that have helped the Church to take action in the face of the scandal of priestly sexual abuse of minors,” wrote a cardinal in a statement on the Vatican website. In Think Progress, meanwhile, Igor Volsky takes the Catholic League to task for calling the problem a "homosexual crisis" instead of a "pedophilia crisis" in a full-page ad. "What the Catholic League is trying to do is imply that there is a connection between homosexuality and molestation, just like segregationists once accused African Americans of raping white women, and Jews were accused of murdering Christian babies."


James Wesley Howell, 20, of Indiana, appears in Superior Court in Los Angeles Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Howell faces felony weapons charges after authorities say they found assault rifles and explosive... (Associated Press)

 James Wesley Howell, 20, of Indiana, appears in Superior Court in Los Angeles Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Howell faces felony weapons charges after authorities say they found assault rifles and explosive chemicals in his car in Santa Monica, Calif., on June 12, before a major Los Angeles gay pride parade.... (Associated Press)

 INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana man facing weapons and ammunitions charges in California after telling officers he was headed to a gay pride event was charged Wednesday in Indiana with child molestation — allegations that apparently spurred his cross-country journey to Los Angeles, a prosecutor said.

 James Wesley Howell, 20, faces one count of child molesting in southern Indiana's Clark County. If convicted, the Jeffersonville, Indiana, man could face up to 16 years in prison.

 Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull told The Associated Press that Howell took a 12-year-old girl to a state forestry property May 31 and had sex with her. Mull said Howell met the girl through an adult friend.

 The girl's mother reported the allegations to police June 2 after learning about them.

 A message seeking comment was left Wednesday for Howell family lawyer Bobby Boyd of Louisville, Kentucky. Telephone calls to Pamela Jones, Howell's public defender in the California weapons case, rang unanswered.

 Mull said Howell was interviewed on June 7 by a police detective in the molestation case and apparently left Indiana at some point after speaking to the officer.

 He said it's a "logical conclusion to draw" that Howell traveled to California to flee the child molestation investigation. But he said he doesn't know what Howell's intentions were in California.

 "He did flee and go to California, where he was apprehended on June 12. So there was a very short window of time between the time he became aware he was under investigation here and when he ended up in California," Mull said.

 He said he intends to have Howell extradited to Indiana to face the molestation charge.

 California authorities charged Howell on Tuesday with three felony weapons and ammunition charges after he was found in Santa Monica with a loaded assault rifle with magazines rigged to allow 60 shots to be fired in quick succession, plus 15 pounds of chemicals mixed and ready to explode.

 Howell has pleaded not guilty to those charges. A Los Angeles County judge set Howell's bail at $2 million.

 He was arrested in Santa Monica early Sunday, hours after an attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida left 49 people dead.

 Howell told police he was headed to a gay pride event in West Hollywood that attracts hundreds of thousands of people. It's unclear whether he intended any violence at the LA Pride event, but his arrest put police and event organizers on heightened alert.

 Friends in Indiana described Howell as a gun enthusiast with a short temper. In October, he twice was accused of pulling a gun and making threats, once against a boyfriend and once against a neighbor.

 Howell was convicted in April of misdemeanor intimidation for the incident with his neighbor. Under the terms of his probation, he was not allowed to have weapons or leave Indiana.

 Court documents in the Indiana molestation case state that the 12-year-old girl had "developed a crush on (Howell) and wanted to go to a car event with him." Howell, the girl's brother and the brother's girlfriend were all members of the same "car club" and periodically attended meetings where people show off their cars, documents say.

 The girl's mother gave Howell permission to attend the car event and afterward, Howell offered to take the girl to the home of a family friend she considered her grandmother, court documents say.

 According to the affidavit, he first took the girl to the state forestry property before taking her to the family friend's house.

 Federal agents searched Howell's Jeffersonville home on Monday but declined to release any details. ||||| 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. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– It still isn't clear what James Howell was doing en route to an LA Pride event with weapons and explosives in his car—police say he had no connection to the Orlando shooting—but we now know more about him: The 20-year-old Indiana man was charged with child molestation Wednesday after allegedly having sex with a 12-year-old girl on May 31. A Clark County prosecutor—who plans to have Howell extradited back to Indiana—tells the AP that Howell and the girl's brother are members of the same car club and that the girl attended a car event with Howell. Afterward, Howell offered to drive the girl to the home of a family friend but first stopped at a forested area, where Howell molested her, the prosecutor says. The girl's mom went to police two days later and Howell was interviewed on June 7. Police say he admitted to fleeing Indiana "due to his concerns over existing or pending criminal charges" after he was found early Sunday with a loaded assault rifle, Taser, hood, magazines, handcuffs, and 15 pounds of explosive chemicals that "posed a grave danger to both persons and property," per the Los Angeles Times. He faces up to 16 years if convicted of child molestation, and more than nine years if convicted of felony weapons charges, including possession of explosives on a highway, possession of an assault weapon, and possession of high-capacity magazines. Howell—who friends describe as a gun enthusiast—was convicted of misdemeanor intimidation in April after allegedly pulling a gun on a neighbor and wasn't allowed to have weapons or leave Indiana. His bail is set at $2 million.