Article:

James Debney, boss of former Smith & Wesson, offers remarks as he blames ‘challenging market conditions’ for nosedive in profits

 James Debney, the British-born chief executive of the company that made the rifle used by the gunman in the school shooting in Florida last month, on Thursday said he “shared the nation’s grief” over the massacre.

 Announcing American Outdoor Brands’ (AOB) latest results, Debney called the shooting, which killed 17 at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, an “incomprehensible loss of life” but said the company would continue to support the right of Americans to carry firearms.

 “We share the nation’s grief over this incomprehensible and senseless loss of life, and we share the desire to make our community safer,” said Debney, adding the company would “continue to support the development of effective solutions that accomplish that objective, while protecting the rights of the law-abiding firearm owner.”

 Meet the British CEO of the firm behind the gun that brought tragedy to Florida Read more

 His comments came as Debney blamed “challenging market conditions” for a dramatic slump in the company’s profits and sales.

 AOB, formerly known as Smith & Wesson, saw its share price collapse as it reported a $4.7m profit over the quarter compared with $37.6m a year earlier. Sales revenue fell close to a third, down to $157.4m compared with $233.5m for the same period the previous year.

 “Our results for the third quarter reflected a continuation of challenging market conditions in the consumer market for firearms,” said Debney.

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest James Debney. Photograph: Boston Globe/Boston Globe via Getty Images

 Like its rivals, AOB has experienced a sharp drop in sales since Donald Trump was elected president. One gun manufacturer, the 200-year-old Remington, has filed for bankruptcy. The so-called “Trump slump” comes after a gun-buying bonanza during the Obama presidency, when buyers feared legislation would curtail their gun-buying activity.

 Last month, a 19-year-old former student at the high school in Florida used a legally bought Smith & Wesson M&P 15 .223 semi-automatic rifle to kill 17 students and teachers.

 The killing has led to furious calls for gun reform from students at the school, some politicians, and the public. Major gun retailers including Dick’s Sporting Goods and Walmart have changed their gun sales policies, with Dick’s no longer stocking assault-style rifles and both companies raising the age for buying guns to 21.

 'The Trump slump': Remington files for bankruptcy as gun sales tumble Read more

 Debney, a University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology graduate who formerly ran Presto, a company making garbage bin liners and plastic wrap, is a major supporter of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the gun lobby group.

 Although he has admitted never having fired a gun before he took the job, Debney was awarded the NRA’s Golden Ring of Freedom, a badge of honor that comes with a yellow blazer and is given only to those who have raised over a million dollars for the organization. ||||| SHARE THIS ARTICLE Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

 Age limits and bans on assault-style rifles are in vogue now, but the biggest threat to gun sales may still be President Donald Trump.

 Consumer demand is falling to “new, lower levels,” according to the 166-year-old maker of Smith & Wesson firearms. The company, American Outdoor Brands Corp., is bracing for the downturn by cutting jobs and repaying debt. Rivals, including one plunging into bankruptcy, are contending with the same slowdown.

 Gun Slump Firearm sales drop during Trump's first year in office after steady gains

 Call it the Trump slump. The gun industry thrived under President Barack Obama, as firearms enthusiasts expected crackdowns and rushed to stockpile weapons. Those fears have eased -- and sales have fallen -- since Trump won the White House in November 2016. Gunmaker stocks, already on the ropes, took a further hit after the shooting last month at a Florida High School that killed 17 people.

 “We will operate our business under the assumption that the next 12 to 18 months could deliver flattish revenues,” American Outdoor Chief Executive Officer James Debney said Thursday on a conference call to discuss earnings.

 The gun industry has come under greater scrutiny since last month’s shooting in Parkland, Florida, even if the potential for tighter restrictions on firearms seems lower than when Obama was president.

 A social-media movement against the National Rifle Association led to numerous companies cutting ties with the gun-rights group, including Symantec Corp., Hertz Global Holdings Inc., Avis Budget Group Inc. and MetLife Inc.

 Sales Policies

 Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc., Walmart Inc. and Kroger Co. said this week they would no longer sell assault-style rifles such as the AR-15, the weapon used in the Florida shooting and made by American Outdoor. The retailers also said they would increase the purchasing age for firearms and ammunition to 21 in their stores.

 Despite Trump’s support for gun rights under the Second Amendment, he tweeted this week about potential restrictions. In a meeting with lawmakers late Wednesday, he said some politicians were “petrified” of the NRA. Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, called on Trump to support tougher curbs Thursday, saying the gun-rights group has had Republicans in a “headlock for decades.”

 By Thursday, the president had tweeted about a “Good (Great) meeting in the Oval Office tonight with the NRA!” The discussion with the NRA’s chief lobbyist suggested that Trump could be shifting position again in a gun-safety debate that has been deadlocked for years.

 Read more: Trump meets with NRA a day after urging gun curbs

 “Given the more fluid political environment, it’s hard to read demand going forward, particularly given growing grass-roots push for controls on sales” of assault rifles, Cai von Rumohr, an analyst at Cowen & Co., said in a note to investors Friday.

 The politics whiplashed the stock Friday. After plunging as much as 12 percent early in the day, shares rebounded and posted gains. A lobbyist for the NRA said the president retreated from some of the gun-control measures he had been speaking about favorably. American Outdoor rose 3.1 percent to $9.70 at 2:26 p.m. in New York. The company fell 27 percent this year through the close on Thursday.

 Rival Sturm Ruger & Co. rose as much as 5.6 percent to $47.75, also reversing an earlier drop. Remington Outdoor Co., the iconic gunmaker controlled for years by Stephen Feinberg’s Cerberus Capital Management, announced bankruptcy plans last month.

 Lower Profits

 Some forms of gun control, including magazine restrictions and strengthened background checks, are unlikely to have much impact on the manufacturer, James Hardiman, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in a Feb. 27 report. Still, the buying sprees seen in past years, when gun rights were perceived to be threatened under Obama, haven’t materialized under Trump.

 The larger problem is flagging demand. It’s not just politics. There’s also fewer hunters and a diminished sense of urgency around personal protection in an era of declining crime rates.

 American Outdoor chopped its profit forecast for the third straight quarter. The company projected earnings of 31 cents to 33 cents a share for the current fiscal year, which ends April 30. That trailed the lowest of six analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Wall Street had been expecting 60 cents a share.

 The gunmaker also lowered its sales target for the year to a midpoint of $599 million from a December projection of $662.5 million. Analysts had predicted $655.6 million.

 Gun Discounts

 “We’ve been adjusting in this challenging market environment and obviously, working really hard internally to get aligned with this market demand,” CEO Debney said.

 Debney warned about the sales slump in December, saying the fear-based buying of years past was no longer happening. Slack demand and a glut of inventory were forcing firearm manufacturers to discount heavily, Debney said.

 Firearm background checks compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a proxy for gun sales, fell 8.4 percent last year after increasing in 13 out of the last 14 years. The checks in January were the lowest in six years on an adjusted basis, Debney said.

 American Outdoor, preparing for an extended slowdown, has repaid $75 million in recent months and extended the due date on $75 million of notes to August 2020. |||||
What is a summary?

– The CEO of the company that made the rifle used in the Parkland mass shooting says the firm "shares the nation's grief"—but it hasn't changed its mind about gun laws. "We share the nation’s grief over this incomprehensible and senseless loss of life, and we share the desire to make our community safer,” James Debney, CEO of American Outdoor Brands, said when announcing the firm's latest results Thursday, per the Guardian. He said the company, formerly known as Smith & Wesson, would seek "effective solutions" to safety issues, while still "protecting the rights of the law-abiding firearm owner." Debney is a strong supporter of the NRA, though he has said he never fired a gun before becoming CEO of a gun-maker. Debney blamed "challenging market conditions" for falling sales and a collapse in profits, Bloomberg reports. He added, however, that after the Parkland shooting, there had been "increased foot traffic" to gun stores, leading to "some increased sales," Reuters reports. "We will operate our business under the assumption that the next 12 to 18 months could deliver flattish revenues," said Debney, announcing that the company had cut its profits forecast and sales targets. In after-hours trading, the company's stock, already down more than 50% over the last 12 months, fell 12%. (The GOP is "flummoxed" by President Trump's push for gun control.)


News article:

NEW YORK (AP) — Oliver Stone will write and direct a film about Edward Snowden, one of two high-profile films in the works about the National Security Agency leaker.

 FILE - This April 16, 2014 file photo shows U.S director Oliver Stone at the 4th Beijing International Film Festival held in Beijing, China. Stone will write and direct a film about Edward Snowden, one... (Associated Press)

 Stone announced Monday that he plans to adapt "The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man," a book by Guardian journalist Luke Harding. The project pairs one of cinema's most controversial directors with one of the most explosive news events in recent years — one that is ongoing.

 "This is one of the greatest stories of our time," Stone said in a statement. He added that making such a film is "a real challenge."

 He will have some deep-pocketed competition. Sony Pictures last month purchased the big-screen rights to Glenn Greenwald's "No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the U.S. Surveillance State." The film is being produced by James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson.

 Stone has advocated for the former NSA contract systems analyst, who is living in Russia on a temporary grant of asylum after leaking massive amounts of NSA documents to the media.

 "To me, Snowden is a hero because he revealed secrets that we should all know, that the United States has repeatedly violated the Fourth Amendment," Stone said in a press conference at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic.

 ___

 Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle ||||| LONDON — Oliver Stone and long-time producing partner Moritz Borman have nabbed the rights to “The Snowden Files, The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man,” written by journalist Luke Harding.

 Stone will pen and helm the film, drawing from Harding’s account of events surrounding the Guardian newspaper’s reporting of the disclosures provided by Edward Snowden.

 Stone has started to write the screenplay and Borman is fast-tracking it as a European co-production to start filming before the end of the year.

 The book was described by the New York Times as “a fast-paced, almost novelistic narrative that is part bildungsroman and part cinematic thriller.”

 Stone said: “This is one of the greatest stories of our time. A real challenge. I’m glad to have the Guardian working with us.”

 Guardian editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, said: “The story of Edward Snowden is truly extraordinary, and the unprecedented revelations he brought to light have forever transformed our understanding of, and relationship with, government and technology. We’re delighted to be working with Oliver Stone and Moritz Borman on the film.” |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– After tackling issues including the Vietnam War, the assassination of JFK, and the presidency of George W. Bush, Oliver Stone says he's taking on another of the "greatest stories of our time": Edward Snowden's National Security Agency whistleblowing. Stone will write and direct an adaptation of Guardian journalist Luke Harding's The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man, with Harding and other journalists working as production and story consultants. Stone, who has previously described Snowden as a hero, says making the film is a "real challenge." The New York Times described Harding's book as "a fast-paced, almost novelistic narrative that is part bildungsroman and part cinematic thriller," and filming is likely to begin before the end of the year, reports Variety. But Stone's film will have some serious competition, the AP notes. Sony Pictures has bought the rights to former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald's No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the US Surveillance State and signed up James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson for the project.


News article:

Only now, nearly 50 years after the Josephs competed in the Winter Games and after The New York Times began inquiring about the story, is the I.O.C. moving to clarify its public records.

 The tangled tale begins in 1964, with the West German pair of Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler arriving in Innsbruck as the heavy favorites. Attractive skaters who carried an aura of glamour, Kilius and Bäumler had earned the Olympic silver medal in 1960 and were the 1963 world champions. They brought Hollywood flair to their sport.

 Skating upsets were rare then, but the Soviet team of Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov beat the West Germans by the narrowest of decisions, a 5-4 split.

 Photo

 Wilkes and Revell of Canada won bronze and were more than elated with the result considering Wilkes had fractured her skull in a fall during a photo shoot the previous year. The Josephs, who entered the Innsbruck Olympics as the second-ranked American pairs team and did not expect to come close to the medal podium, were happy to finish fourth.

 But there was plenty of buzz among the skaters and coaches about whether the West Germans had signed a contract with a professional ice show before the Games. Some were reluctant to speak up for fear that complaining would affect them in judging later. But others, including Peter Dunfield, who coached the Josephs at the time, were upset enough to alert the I.O.C.

 “I kept writing to people, so many people, and never got any answers,” Dunfield said.

 Eventually an I.O.C. investigation determined that during the Games, the West Germans had signed a contract to perform in Holiday on Ice, a professional ice show. Avery Brundage, then the I.O.C. president, was strictly against athletes being paid. In January 1966, the West Germans returned their medals. Willi Daume, a longtime German sports official later said that had the pair not returned their medals it might have jeopardized Munich’s eventually successful bid for the 1972 Summer Games.

 The Canadians were elevated from third place to second, and the Josephs were awarded the bronze medal. Each pair received new medals.

 Advertisement Continue reading the main story

 Ronald Joseph, who was in the midst of medical school when he got the bronze medal, said: “It was all very bizarre, but it was good. I thought, ‘There is a God.’ ”

 Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters.

 The Josephs recall a subdued medal presentation at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago. Wilkes and Revell were given their silver medals at the 1967 Canadian national championships. And the two pairs assumed that the matter was settled.

 But it was not. Prodded by two German members, the I.O.C. quietly re-awarded the West Germans their silver medals in 1987, 23 years after the Innsbruck Games, at an executive board meeting in Istanbul. The couple was deemed “rehabilitated.”

 “It was known that many other athletes had similar contracts,” said Dick Pound, a Canadian representative on the I.O.C. executive board who attended that meeting, “so they asked for a return of the medals.” The West Germans were given new silver medals on a sports television show.

 Photo

 But Pound said the I.O.C. did not notify representatives from Canada or the United States. David Dore, at the time the director general of the Canadian Figure Skating Association, and Dr. Hugh C. Graham Jr., who was president of the U.S. Figure Skating Association, said they received no word from the I.O.C. And no one from the I.O.C. ever asked for medals to be returned from the Canadians or the Americans.

 Confusing matters further, various skating record books reported different information. Skate Canada’s media guide lists the Canadians as silver medalists with no mention of sharing. The U.S. Figure Skating media guide lists the original finishing order but with an asterisk explaining the disqualification and reversal. But editions before 2002-3 did not mention the reversal.

 The skaters themselves were among the last to learn what happened.

 Had it not been for that party in Chicago, Vivian Joseph, who lives in nearby Highland Park, might never have had an inkling that she was no longer an undisputed bronze medalist.

 The past years have been trying, as the Josephs and Wilkes have been unsure how to explain their Olympic moment in time.

 “I have an 8-year-old daughter, and I take her skating, but I don’t talk about my own skating,” said Ronald Joseph, who lives near Tampa, Fla. “What am I supposed to say? What am I supposed to tell people?”

 Advertisement Continue reading the main story

 Wilkes feels similarly.

 “I do stumble over it,” she said. “I have a silver medal, so I feel I am allowed to say that I won one, but I feel like a bit of an impostor.”

 On Friday, the I.O.C. may finally have put the matter to rest by confirming that the Soviet Union remains the gold medal winner, Canada and West Germany share the silver, and the Josephs own the bronze. Despite the information on its website over the years, the I.O.C. said in an email that since 1987 this was always intended to be the official result.

 “I’m more excited than I even sound at the moment,” Ronald Joseph said Friday. “One always has to feel vindicated when it’s in the records.”

 Vivian Joseph said Friday: “This is great. But this is how many years later, and after how many books have been printed? How many years do you not have to cringe over this?” ||||| International Olympic Committee records now officially list Vivian and Ron Joseph as Olympic bronze medalists — 50 years after they finished fourth in pairs figure skating at the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Games.

 And, yes, this is confusing as it seems.

 It seems finally to have been straightened out with a recent letter confirming the Josephs as bronze medalists from the IOC to U.S. Figure Skating.

 "You think?" Ron Joseph said Tuesday with a laugh. "It's difficult to be as enthusiastic as you might be, but I'm thrilled the record has been set right."

 The one thing never in dispute — beyond the usual questions about judging — is Soviets Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopov won the event.

 From 1966 until a few years ago, the Joseph siblings, who grew up in Highland Park, thought they had become bronze medalists because the West German team that finished second, Marika Kilius and Hans-Jurgen Baumler, were disqualified for having violated rules about amateurism in place at the time.

 And the Josephs had the medals to prove it.

 But, according to a 2013 New York Times story that catalyzed efforts by U.S. Figure Skating to correct the error, Vivian Joseph learned about seven years ago from someone who had met her at a party that IOC and USFS records did not show her and her brother as bronze medalists.

 "After that, I never talked about that Olympic medal for fear someone would say it wasn't true," Vivian Joseph, 66, who still lives in Highland Park, said Tuesday.

 What the records also did not show was the subtext behind the confusion.

 "It's very strange, isn't it," said Ron Joseph, 70, an orthopedic surgeon in Tampa, Fla. "This is typical of the politics of sport."

 When the West German Olympic Committee learned Kilius and Baumler had signed a professional contract before the Innsbruck Games, they got the skaters to return the medals, an act designed to curry favor for an eventual and successful Munich bid for the 1972 Summer Games.

 After that, the president emeritus of the U.S. Olympic Committee, Kenneth Wilson, presented the Josephs with bronze medals during a USFS executive board meeting Oct. 22, 1966, in Chicago.

 In 1987, the West German Olympic Committee had the IOC reinstate its pair's medals, successfully arguing other skaters at the time had signed professional contracts that never were discovered.

 From then on, some record books would list the Germans as sole silver medalists, with Canadians Debbi Wilkes and Guy Revell as bronze medalists.

 Other listings had the Germans and Canadians as co-silver medalists, with the Josephs in bronze position. From now on, that is to be the official version.

 "I'm ecstatic it has been changed, but to tell you the truth, that Olympic medal is not our proudest achievement, because we were just handed it," Vivian Joseph said. "I am prouder of the world silver medal and the U.S. title we won in 1965."

 phersh@tribpub.com

 Twitter @olyphil |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– There's no Olympics this winter, but the US still managed to claim two bronze medals in figure skating yesterday—from the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics. Siblings Vivian and Ronald Joseph came in fourth place in pairs figure skating but were given bronze medals a couple of years later after the West German pair who won silver were disqualified for signing a professional contract before the Games, violating then-strict rules about amateurism, the Chicago Tribune reports. The Canadian pair who had won bronze were awarded silver—but the German pair were reawarded their silvers by the International Olympic Committee in 1987, and it later emerged that the Americans had never made it into the official record books as medalists. US Figure Skating—along with US and Canadian Olympic associations—urged the IOC to clear up the confusion after it was highlighted by a New York Times story last year, and the records were finally changed yesterday to show that the Josephs were bronze medalists and the Canadians and Germans both won the silver; a Soviet pair won gold. "I am ecstatic," says Vivian Joseph, who's now 66. "I am sorry it wasn't done sooner, but I am happy it is finally done." She says that after somebody she met at a party years ago looked at the records and disputed her claim to be an Olympic medalist, she stopped talking about the medal in case she was accused of lying. "It's very strange, isn't it," says her 70-year-old brother, now an orthopedic surgeon. "This is typical of the politics of sport."


Write a summary based on this article:

Web wide crawl with initial seedlist and crawler configuration from March 2011. This uses the new HQ software for distributed crawling by Kenji Nagahashi.

 What’s in the data set:

 Crawl start date: 09 March, 2011

 Crawl end date: 23 December, 2011

 Number of captures: 2,713,676,341

 Number of unique URLs: 2,273,840,159

 Number of hosts: 29,032,069

 The seed list for this crawl was a list of Alexa’s top 1 million web sites, retrieved close to the crawl start date. We used Heritrix (3.1.1-SNAPSHOT) crawler software and respected robots.txt directives. The scope of the crawl was not limited except for a few manually excluded sites.

 However this was a somewhat experimental crawl for us, as we were using newly minted software to feed URLs to the crawlers, and we know there were some operational issues with it. For example, in many cases we may not have crawled all of the embedded and linked objects in a page since the URLs for these resources were added into queues that quickly grew bigger than the intended size of the crawl (and therefore we never got to them). We also included repeated crawls of some Argentinian government sites, so looking at results by country will be somewhat skewed.

 We have made many changes to how we do these wide crawls since this particular example, but we wanted to make the data available “warts and all” for people to experiment with. We have also done some further analysis of the content.

 If you would like access to this set of crawl data, please contact us at info at archive dot org and let us know who you are and what you’re hoping to do with it. We may not be able to say “yes” to all requests, since we’re just figuring out whether this is a good idea, but everyone will be considered. ||||| Tammar wallaby young spend nine months in their mother's pouch

 Researchers have laid bare the DNA of a kangaroo species for the first time.

 An international team of scientists, writing in the Biomed Central journal, Genome Biology, say they have even indentified a gene responsible for the kangaroo's hop.

 The group focussed on a small species of kangaroo that inhabits islands off Australia's south and western coasts.

 The tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii) is only the third marsupial to have its genome sequenced.

 Making up the trio are the Tasmanian devil and the South American opossum.

 The team says the first kangaroo genome is a milestone in the study of mammalian evolution. The ancestors of kangaroos and other marsupials diverged from other mammals at least 130 million years ago.

 Professor Marilyn Renfree of the University of Melbourne, a lead researcher on the project, said: "The tammar wallaby sequencing project has provided us with many possibilities for understanding how marsupials are different from us."

 Key marsupial traits

 Dr Elizabeth Murchison, a marsupial specialist at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK, described the study as "a wonderful tool for studying the evolution of marsupials, and mammals in general, and an impressive piece of work looking at one of Australia's iconic species."

 Aside from identifying the "hop" gene, the researchers pinpointed the genes responsible for other key marsupial traits.

 For example, tammar wallaby young are only the size of a grain of rice when born. They spend the next stage of their development in their mother's pouch, feeding on her milk.

 The pouch is external to the mother's body and therefore the developing animal comes under attack from many pathogens. Antibiotics in the mother's milk are key to the survival of the offspring.

 This is only the third marsupial genome to be sequenced

 Dr Murchison told BBC News: "It's always really valuable to look at an organism that is a bit different to understand how humans and other mammals have evolved.

 "It gives you a perspective on mammalian evolution by looking at mammals that have diverged fairly early on, like the kangaroo.

 The researchers also studied the way tammar wallaby genes are turned "on" or "off" at different stages of the animal's life cycle and in different parts of the body.

 They hope their work may help produce future treatments for human disease.

 "This is the first genome project to be led by Australian scientists," commented Dr Murchison.

 "It's been a huge project. It's been going on for almost my entire career. I'm from Australia and it was going on when I was an undergraduate there 10 years ago.

 "It was a very early conceived genome project and it has evolved through various different stages as genome sequencing technologies have changed a lot. The team has adapted and kept up and so they have a huge amount of data." e. |||||

– What makes the kangaroo hop? That’s just one of the questions answered by international researchers who’ve decoded the genome of a kangaroo species, the BBC reports. The genome research team—the first to be led by Australian scientists—sequenced the genome in 2008 but finally completed its analysis of it and published those findings last week. "It's been a huge project," says one scientist. "I'm from Australia and it was going on when I was an undergraduate there 10 years ago." The decoding gives scientists a clearer picture of mammalian evolution and could help cure diseases, both in humans and other mammals. Kangaroo milk has antibiotic properties, and researchers have copied it to synthesize a protein that kills bacteria already resistant to antibiotics, the Australian reports. The findings could lead to a vaccine to fend off a facial tumor that has ravaged Tasmanian devil populations—though such a medication could be a decade away.


Summarize this article:

Published on Jun 27, 2017

 Some modern Contra guy means serious business. Translation below. Apparently pilot of attack helicopter that attacked Venezuelan Supreme Court on June 27 2017.

 Accorging to _ju1_ : https://mobile.twitter.com/_ju1_/stat...

 El helicóptero que atacó y disparó contra el TSJ de Caracas estaba pilotado por un tal Oscar Pérez.

 pictures https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDXvgDgWs...

 source: https://mobile.twitter.com/_ju1_/stat...

 In their own words "Institutionalists" attacking the supreme court. Sure.

 translation thanks to Kalmahavak:

 Venezuelans. Dear brothers, we are speaking on behalf of the state.

 We are a coalition of soldiers, policemen and civilians, searching for balance and against this transitional criminal government. We do not belong to a political party. We are nationalists, patriots, and institutionalists.

 This fight, isn't against the rest of the state security force. It's against the impunity imposed by this government. Against tyranny. Against the young men and women who died fighting for their legitimate rights. Against hunger. Against poor healthcare. Against fanaticism. This fight is for life. This fight is for the hope we construct.

 This is not revenge. It is justice and conscience that leads us to look for change. We wear this armband with the color of truth and Jesus Christ, who is with us.

 It's because of this that we are calling all Venezuelans from the east to the west, from north to south, to accompany us in this struggle, let's go out into the streets, from Caracas to Fuerte Tiuna. And in the center of the country to every military base. So that we may reunite as brothers with our national armed forces.

 And together, we retake our beautiful Venezuela.

 In this day, we are making an aerial and land deployment with the sole purpose of giving back democratic power to the people. And in this, comply and enforce the laws to reestablish the constitutional order.

 It's because of this that we adhere to Articles 305 and 333 of our Magna Carta. It is our duties as state security officials to we disarm this gang of thugs to restore peace to the people of Bolivar. President Maduro, we demand your immediate resignation along with all your ministers and that general elections be called immediately.

 Brother in arms, we have two choices: to be judged tomorrow by our consciousness and the people, or to free the people from this corrupt government.

 We are warriors of god and our mission is to serve the people. Long Live Venezuela! ||||| FILE - In this June 22, 2017 file photo, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro gives a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela. Maduro said a helicopter fired on Venezuela's Supreme Court in a confusing... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this June 22, 2017 file photo, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro gives a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela. Maduro said a helicopter fired on Venezuela's Supreme Court in a confusing... (Associated Press)

 CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A police helicopter fired on Venezuela's Supreme Court and Interior Ministry in what President Nicolas Maduro said was a thwarted "terrorist attack" aimed at ousting him from power.

 The confusing exchange, which is bound to ratchet up tensions in a country already paralyzed by months of deadly anti-government protests, took place as Maduro was speaking live on state television Tuesday. He later said the helicopter had fired on the pro-government court with grenades, one of which didn't go off, helping avoid any loss of life.

 Adding to the intrigue, pictures of a blue police helicopter carrying an anti-government banner appeared on social media around the same time as a video in which an alleged police pilot, identified as Oscar Perez, called for a rebellion against Maduro's "tyranny" as part of a coalition of members of the country's security forces. Authorities said they were still searching for the man.

 "We have two choices: be judged tomorrow by our conscience and the people or begin today to free ourselves from this corrupt government," the man said while reading from a statement with four people dressed in military fatigues, ski masks and carrying what looked like assault rifles standing behind him.

 Many of Maduro's opponents took to social media to accuse the president of orchestrating an elaborate ruse to justify a crackdown against Venezuelans seeking to block his plans to rewrite the constitution. Venezuela has been roiled by anti-government protests the past three months that have left at least 75 people dead and hundreds injured.

 After the incident, Maduro sounded alternately calm and angry as he told the audience about what had happened in the airspace just beyond the presidential palace.

 "It could've caused a tragedy with several dozen dead and injured," he said, calling it a "terrorist attack."

 Later, Information Minister Ernesto Villegas read a statement from the government accusing the helicopter of firing 15 shots against the Interior Ministry as a reception was taking place for 80 people celebrating national journalist's day. It then flew a short distance to the court, which was in session, and launched what he said were four Israeli-made grenades of "Colombian origin," two of them against national guardsmen protecting the building.

 The pro-government president of the high court said there were no injuries from the attack and that the area was still being surveyed for damages.

 Villegas said security forces were being deployed to apprehend Perez as well as recover the heisted German-built Bolkow helicopter. Photos of the pilot standing in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter were displayed on state television to further bolster the government's case that he was taking instructions from the CIA and the U.S. Embassy.

 Maduro said one of the pilots involved in the alleged attack used to fly for his former interior minister, Miguel Rodriguez Torres, who he accused of working for the CIA. Rodriguez Torres, who has been leading a campaign against Maduro made up of leftist supporters of the late Hugo Chavez, immediately dismissed the accusation as baseless.

 As the drama was unfolding outside the court, inside magistrates were busy issuing a number of rulings further hemming in the opposition. One dismissed a challenge against Maduro's plans for a constitutional assembly by chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz, a longtime loyalist who broke with the government over the issue.

 The helicopter incident capped a volatile 24 hours that began with widespread looting in the coastal city of Maracay on Monday night and continued Tuesday when opposition lawmakers got into a heated scuffle with security forces assigned to protect the National Assembly.

 At least 68 supermarkets, pharmacies and liquor stores were looted and several government offices burned following anti-government protests in Maracay, which is about a 90 minute drive from Caracas.

 Maduro condemned the violence but with a stern warning to his opponents that's likely to only further inflame an already tense situation.

 "We will never surrender. And what we couldn't accomplish through votes we will with weapons," he said.

 On Tuesday, opposition lawmakers got into fisticuffs with national guardsmen as they tried to enter the National Assembly. In a video circulating on social media, the commander of a national guard unit protecting the legislature aggressively shoved National Assembly President Julio Borges as he's walking away from a heated discussion.

 At nightfall, a few dozen people were still gathered inside the neoclassical building as pro-government supporters stood outside threatening violence.

 --

 Follow Goodman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APjoshgoodman ||||| CARACAS (Reuters) - The Venezuelan government hunted on Wednesday for rogue policemen who attacked key installations by helicopter, but critics of President Nicolas Maduro suspected the raid may have been staged to justify repression.

 In extraordinary scenes over Caracas around sunset on Tuesday, the stolen helicopter fired shots at the Interior Ministry and dropped grenades on the Supreme Court, both viewed by Venezuela’s opposition as bastions of support for a dictator.

 Nobody was injured.

 Officials said special forces were seeking Oscar Perez, 36, a police pilot named as the mastermind of the raid by the helicopter that carried a banner saying “Freedom!”

 In 2015, Perez co-produced and starred in “Death Suspended,” an action film in which he played the lead role as a government agent rescuing a kidnapped businessman.

 There was no sign on Wednesday of Perez, whom officials condemned as a “psychopath”, but the helicopter was found on Venezuela’s northern Caribbean coastline.

 “We ask for maximum support to find this fanatic, extremist terrorist,” vice president Tareck El Aissami said.

 The attack exacerbated an already full-blown political crisis in Venezuela after three months of opposition protests demanding general elections and fixes for the sinking economy.

 At least 76 people have died in the unrest since April, the latest a 25-year-old man shot in the head near a protest in the Petare slum of Caracas, authorities said on Wednesday.

 Hundreds more people have been injured and arrested in what Maduro terms an ongoing coup attempt with U.S. encouragement.

 The attack fed a conspiracy theory by opposition supporters that it may have been a government setup and overshadowed other drama on Tuesday, including the besieging of opposition legislators by gangs in the National Assembly.

 The helicopter raid also coincided with a judicial measure weakening the powers of dissident chief state prosecutor Luisa Ortega, who has emerged as a major challenger to Maduro.

 “It seems like a movie,” said Julio Borges, leader of the opposition-controlled legislature, of the helicopter raid.

 “Some people say it is a set-up, some that it is real ... Yesterday was full of contradictions ... A thousand things are happening, but I summarize it like this: a government is decaying and rotting, while a nation is fighting for dignity.”

 Though Perez posted a video on social media showing himself in front of four hooded armed men and claiming to represent a coalition of security and civilian officials rising up against “tyranny,” there was no evidence of deeper support.

 “CHEAP SHOW”

 The government, however, accused the policemen of links to the CIA and to Miguel Rodriguez, a former interior minister and intelligence chief under Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez, who recently broke with the government.

 “I’m not at all convinced by the helicopter incident,” Rodriguez told Reuters on Wednesday, saying the figures behind Perez in the video looked like dummies and expressing surprise the helicopter could fly freely and also not injure anyone.

 FILE PHOTO: Police official Oscar Perez poses for photographs during an event of the Body of Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigation (CICPC) in Caracas, Venezuela March 1, 2015. REUTERS/Christian Veron

 “Conclusion: a cheap show. Who gains from this? Only Nicolas for two reasons: to give credibility to his coup d’etat talk, and to blame Rodriguez,” he added, referring to himself.

 Around the time of the attack, the pro-government Supreme Court expanded the role of the state ombudsman, a human rights guarantor who is closely allied with Maduro, by giving him powers previously held only by the state prosecutor’s office.

 Opposition leaders described that as an attempt to supplant chief prosecutor Ortega, who has confronted both Maduro and the Supreme Court this year after splitting ranks.

 The Supreme Court on Wednesday evening said it approved a measure blocking Ortega from leaving the country, freezing her bank accounts, and summoning her to a July 4 hearing to discuss whether she has committed “serious offenses.”

 Adding to Venezuela’s tinder-box atmosphere, opposition supporters again took to the streets nationwide on Wednesday to barricade roads.

 One opposition lawmaker, Juan Guaido, filmed himself bleeding from wounds he said were inflicted by rubber bullets.

 Opposition supporters hope that cracks within government may swing the crisis their way, and have been delighted to see heavyweights like Ortega and Rodriguez oppose Maduro.

 Their main focus is to stop a July 30 vote called by Maduro to form a super-body known as a Constituent Assembly, with powers to rewrite the constitution and supersede other institutions. Maduro says the assembly is the only way to bring peace to Venezuela, but opponents say it is a sham vote intended solely to keep an unpopular government in power.

 “We can’t let July 30 happen, we mustn’t,” said children’s health worker Rosa Toro, 52, blocking a road with friends. “We’re being governed by criminals, traffickers and thieves,” added lawyer Matias Perez, 40, protesting with a plastic trumpet.

 Government officials lined up on Wednesday to condemn the helicopter attack, insisting it was the work of a few individuals and not representative of wider dissent.

 Slideshow (16 Images)

 Foreign Minister Samuel Moncada complained about the lack of international condemnation of the attack, saying it contrasted with the barrage of foreign criticism of the government.

 “In Europe it’s now eight at night, but we’ve not had any reaction from European Union countries,” he said of a bloc that has been strongly critical of Maduro in recent months.

 The minister rejected accusations that the attack was carried out by the government for its own purposes.

 “Who can believe we are that sophisticated? Sending someone to throw grenades, who can believe that?” he asked. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The helicopter circles buildings before gunshots and a bang are heard

 A helicopter has attacked Venezuela's Supreme Court in what President Nicolás Maduro called a "terrorist" incident.

 Four grenades were dropped on the court and 15 shots fired at the interior ministry on Tuesday, officials said.

 Rogue policeman Oscar Pérez said he had piloted the stolen helicopter to attack what he called a "criminal government". His whereabouts are unknown.

 Venezuela is in the midst of a political and economic crisis that has sparked mass protests.

 Many of those opposed to Mr Maduro see the Supreme Court as one of his main supporters.

 What happened in the attack?

 A blue police helicopter was seen flying over central Caracas carrying a banner reading "350 Freedom" - a reference to a clause in the constitution cited by opponents of Mr Maduro to claim his government is illegitimate.

 Images on social media showed two occupants, one masked.

 The government said 15 shots were fired at a social event at the interior ministry. The helicopter then flew to the court and dropped four Israeli-made grenades of "Colombian origin". One failed to detonate.

 No-one was injured.

 How has the government responded?

 President Maduro appeared on state television to denounce the attack.

 He said: "I have activated the entire armed forces to defend the peace. And you can be assured that sooner or later, we are going to capture that helicopter and those that carried out this terror attack against the institutions of the country."

 Image copyright EPA Image caption President Maduro is facing regular protests against his government

 Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said the military had been deployed to apprehend the pilot and recover the German-built Bolkow helicopter.

 State TV showed images of the pilot in front of the US Capitol building in Washington.

 Mr Maduro has long claimed the US government is attempting to have him overthrown.

 The government has urged calm but called for its supporters to rally outside the presidential palace on Wednesday morning.

 And the opposition?

 Freddy Guevara, of the opposition MUD alliance, said there was not yet enough information to comment on the attack.

 But he posted a tweet on Wednesday calling on people to continue to oppose the Maduro government.

 He said: "Maduro knows that nobody supports him, so today more than ever we must continue in the street, generating pressure to overcome this dictatorship!"

 Some of the president's opponents took to social media to suggest he was responsible for staging the helicopter attack in order to justify a further crackdown on dissent.

 Who flew the helicopter?

 The police officer identified himself as Oscar Pérez in video statements posted on the social media platform Instagram.

 Appearing in military fatigues and flanked by armed, masked men in uniform, he appealed to Venezuelans to oppose "tyranny".

 Image copyright Instagram Image caption A police officer identifying himself as Oscar Pérez made a statement on Instagram

 "We are a coalition of military employees, policemen and civilians who are looking for balance and are against this criminal government," he said.

 "We don't belong to any political tendency or party. We are nationalists, patriots and institutionalists."

 He said the "fight" was not against the security forces but "against the impunity of this government. It is against tyranny".

 It is not clear how much support, if any, the officer has.

 Mr Maduro said the pilot had previously worked for former Interior and Justice Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres, who the president has accused of links to the CIA.

 Mr Rodriguez Torres quickly denied any involvement.

 Analysis: Will Grant, BBC News, in Mexico

 The sight of an apparently disaffected member of the security forces dropping grenades on the Supreme Court and allegedly firing on government buildings is extreme, even by Venezuela's standards.

 Whether "Oscar Pérez" is indeed part of a coalition of like-minded "military employees, policemen and civilians" or just a rogue policeman is hard to say.

 Certainly President Maduro was quick to dub the incident "a terrorist attack" and used it as a reason to "activate" the armed forces to keep the peace.

 However, earlier in the day he, too, had thrown down the gauntlet to his opponents. "If the Bolivarian Revolution were to be destroyed," he said, "what couldn't be done with votes, we would do with arms." The opposition in Venezuela took that as an overt threat.

 The security situation in Venezuela could hardly be worse ahead of a highly controversial election next month over the government's plans for a new constituent assembly.

 Why now?

 There have been almost daily anti-government protests in Venezuela for over two months as the country's economic and political crisis worsens.

 Image copyright Reuters Image caption The Supreme Court in Caracas was the target of the attack

 Those opposed to the government say they are determined to keep protests going until fresh elections are called and the government is ousted.

 More than 70 people have been killed in protest-related violence since 1 April, according to the chief prosecutor's office.

 Could this have been a coup attempt?

 President Maduro was quick to suggest it was a coup attempt, but it is unclear how much support the police officer has.

 Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Maduro reiterated his allegations that the US was supporting coup attempts against his government.

 On Monday, he announced that five people had been arrested, accused of plotting against him and preparing for a US invasion.

 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Hugo Chávez is still a popular figure among supporters of Nicolas Maduro

 However, Venezuela certainly has a history of coup attempts:

 In 1992, the late Hugo Chávez tried to overthrow the government of President Carlos Andres Pérez. The attempt failed and Chávez was arrested and imprisoned. He would eventually be elected president in 1998

 In 2002, Chávez himself survived an attempted coup by rebel military officers |||||

– In what Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called a "terrorist attack" by people seeking to overthrow his government, a police helicopter attacked government buildings in Caracas on Tuesday with bullets and grenades. Officials say the stolen helicopter fired 15 shots at the Interior Ministry before launching four grenades at the Supreme Court building, Reuters reports. There were no reports of deaths or injuries. In a statement posted online, the police officer believed to have piloted the helicopter, flanked by armed men, said he was part of "a coalition of military employees, policemen, and civilians who are looking for balance and are against this criminal government," the BBC reports. The officer, who identified himself as police pilot Oscar Perez, called for new elections to be held and said the coalition was fighting "tyranny," not security forces. Maduro, whose government has been targeted by violent protests that have left at least 75 people dead over the last three months, said the attack could have "caused a tragedy with several dozen dead and injured," the AP reports. He said the armed forces had been placed on alert. "I have activated the entire armed forces to defend the peace," Maduro said. "Sooner or later, we are going to capture that helicopter and those who carried out this terror attack."


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Image copyright AFP Image caption Police have appealed for any witnesses to come forward

 Concern is growing over the fate of a nine-year-old girl who vanished while attending a wedding in eastern France.

 The girl, Maëlys De Araujo, was last seen in a children's room at about 03:00 on Sunday (01:00 GMT).

 Extensive searches of the area around the wedding hall using a helicopter and police dogs have thus far failed to find a trace of the girl.

 A kidnapping investigation has opened and police have issued an appeal for witnesses.

 Police have already interviewed most of the 180 attendees at the wedding, which took place in a hall in Pont-de-Beauvoisin, Isère.

 But the local prosecutor says they are also trying to speak to an additional 70 people who were attending two other social events at a community hall and bar nearby.

 Maëlys was at the wedding along with her mother - cousin of the bride - father, and older sister. They are said to live in the nearby department of Jura.

 A guest, Grégoire, told Le Parisien news site what had happened when guests realised the girl was missing.

 Image copyright AFP Image caption The Guiers river, a short distance from the wedding venue, was searched by police divers for a second time on Tuesday

 Image copyright AFP Image caption There are so far few clues as to why and how Maëlys disappeared from the hall where the wedding was held

 "The DJ for the evening announced on the microphone that a child had disappeared. Suddenly, everyone started searching, in the main hall and outside.

 "It was anguish. To see the disappearance of a nine-year-old, that's not nothing. We initially thought she must be asleep in a corner after a game of hide-and-seek. After an hour, as we'd found nothing, the police were alerted."

 Grégoire said he believed that a kidnapping had taken place. Reports also say police dogs failed to find any scent of the girl beyond the car park of the wedding hall, suggesting the girl did not run away.

 Police, firefighters and volunteer firefighters have searched dense vegetation around the wedding hall, the nearby river Guiers and even sewers. The search continued on Tuesday and divers could be seen once again searching the river, about 500m (one-third of a mile) away.

 The local prosecutor, Dietlind Baudoin, said she did not want to make hasty assumptions about what had happened, but a criminal explanation could not be ruled out.

 Police have appealed for witnesses to come forward to help find Maëlys, who they say is 130cm tall (4'3"), weighs 28kg (4st 6lb), has dark skin, brown eyes and hair, and was wearing a white sleeveless dress. ||||| A kidnapping investigation has been opened into the disappearance of the girl, Maëlys De Araujo, who has not been seen since the early hours of Sunday morning.

 Police have carried out searches of the area using a helicopter, divers, cavers, and police dogs, and have also interviewed all 180 of the wedding guests.

 The dogs reportedly lost the girl's scent in the car park, leading police to the hypothesis of abduction, though prosecutors said they had not excluded any possible explanations for the girl's disappearance, "accidental or criminal".

 "Obviously, we are exploring all leads," local prosecutor Dietlind Baudoin told a news conference more than 48 hours after de Araujo disappeared.

 The wedding took place at a hall in Le Pont-de-Beauvoisin, Isère in southeastern France, which the child attended with her parents, older sister, and relatives.

 Police have searched the hall's caretaker's house and car, according to a report in France Bleu, but neither that man nor anyone else has yet been placed in custody.

 The hall used for the wedding. Photo: AFP

 Now, police are checking the criminal records of the girl's relatives and other attendees at the wedding, as well as reviewing photos and videos taken at the party. Divers were also searching the nearby Guiers river on Tuesday.

 "Given the time that has elapsed since the disappearance of the young Maelys and given the resources that have sadly been deployed in vain to find her, the criminal possibility can no longer be ruled out," Baudoin said.\

 A source close to the investigation said "each passing hour" makes kidnapping more likely than the possibility that Maelys was involved in an accident or ran away.

 "It's likely she got into a car," the source told AFP.

 They have also appealed for any witnesses to get in touch, and have issued the following description of Maëlys: "She is nine years old; she measures 1.3 metres and weighs 28 kilos; she has tanned skin, dark eyes, and chestnut hair." ||||| This article is over 1 year old

 Maëlys de Araujo not seen since about 3am on Sunday when she was at party with parents in town of Pont-de-Beauvoisin in the Alps

 Divers, police dogs and a helicopter have taken part in a massive search for a missing nine-year-old girl in the French Alps after she vanished during a family wedding at the weekend.

 “Obviously we are exploring all leads,” the local prosecutor, Dietlind Baudoin, told a news conference more than 48 hours after the disappearance of the girl, Maëlys de Araujo.

 The girl has not been seen since about 3am local time on Sunday when she was at the wedding with her parents and other family members in the town of Pont-de-Beauvoisin in the French Alps near the town of Chambéry.

 The party ended with guests searching for Maëlys after the DJ announced that she had disappeared, local reports said.

 The regional police chief, Yves Marzin, said three sniffer dogs had all lost the scent from Maëlys’s cuddly toy at “the same spot” in the car park outside the venue.

 “One of the possible theories is that little Maëlys left in a car, one way or another,” Marzin said.

 A source close to the investigation said “each passing hour” made kidnapping more likely than the possibility that Maëlys was involved in an accident or ran away.

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest French gendarmes stand over the Guiers river as they search for evidence following the disappearance of Maëlys. Photograph: Philippe Desmazes/AFP/Getty Images

 Posters of the brown-haired girl with brown eyes have gone up throughout the town and surrounding area, and an investigation has been opened into a possible kidnapping.

 Around 100 police, including divers, cavers and dog handlers, have joined in the search. Divers could be seen searching for her in the nearby Guiers river on Tuesday.

 The surrounding area is heavily wooded with “very dense vegetation”, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

 “Given the time that has elapsed since the disappearance of the young Maëlys and given the resources that have been sadly deployed in vain to find her, the criminal possibility can no longer be ruled out,” Baudoin said at the courthouse in nearby Bourgoin-Jallieu.

 But she warned against “making hasty conclusions”.

 Wedding guests searched for the girl for about an hour before alerting the police, Baudoin said.

 Police are questioning the 180 people who attended the wedding as well as people at two other parties held in the town on Saturday night.

 So far, 140 people out of a total of 250 have been questioned, according to Didier Plunian, who heads the region’s search and rescue unit.

 The other parties took place in a parish hall and a bar, both near the wedding venue, Baudoin said.

 The child’s mother and other relatives were receiving psychological counselling, the RTL broadcaster reported. |||||

– Police have opened a kidnapping investigation as searches continue for a 9-year-old girl who vanished from a family wedding in the French Alps Sunday. The Local reports that authorities have scoured the area, using helicopters, police dogs, divers, and cavers around France’s southeastern Isère region to track down any trace of Maelys De Araujo. After canines lost the girl’s scent in the venue’s parking lot, police believe kidnapping is a possibility, though they are not ruling out other explanations, “accidental or criminal,” for her disappearance. "Given the time that has elapsed since the disappearance of the young Maelys and given the resources that have sadly been deployed in vain to find her, the criminal possibility can no longer be ruled out," local prosecutor Dietlind Baudoin said during a news conference. Maelys, who attended the wedding with her parents, older sister, and other relatives, was last seen in what the BBC describes as "a children’s room" around 3am local time Sunday morning. "The DJ for the evening announced on the microphone that a child had disappeared,” a wedding guest told Le Parisien. “Suddenly, everyone started searching, in the main hall and outside.” He added, “We initially thought she must be asleep in a corner after a game of hide-and-seek.” Police were contacted an hour later when the search yielded no results, the Guardian reports. All of the 180 wedding guests were interviewed by police, who are now reviewing photos and videos from the celebration and conducting 70 additional interviews of people who attended outside social events at a local bar and community hall around the same time.


Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| A Tempe mom was arrested after police say her child ate mac and cheese made with THC butter. THC is a chemical in cannabis that gets you high.

 Alaina Marie Limpert, 25, was booked on one count of child abuse.

 The Department of Child Safety was notified by someone in Limpert's home that her almost-two-year-old daughter had ingested THC butter while eating macaroni and cheese with her father.

 "During that time, neither parent took the child to immediate emergency care," according to the police report.

 Instead, "It was witnessed inside of the residence that [they] both laughed about the side effects the child experienced during that time and then proceeded to place her into their backyard pool to use the cold water to 'shock' her," the police report continued.

 It wasn't until two days later the Department of Child Safety was notified and arrived to take custody of all three kids living at the home.

 Hospital officials later confirmed that they found THC in the infant's system.

 Limpert later admitted making the mac and cheese with THC for her husband, but did not know her daughter ingested it.

 Limpert is due back in court April 19.

 At the home, police report they found two marijuana grow tents in the garage.

 They also found mushrooms, bongs and pipes, containers of hash oil and other drug paraphernalia.

 In the home's refrigerator, "on the top shelf were three large tubs of THC butter."

 To read the full police report, click HERE.

 Click/tap here to download the free azfamily mobile app.

 Copyright 2018 KPHO/KTVK (KPHO Broadcasting Corporation). All rights reserved. |||||

Write a summary.

– An Arizona mother has been arrested after authorities allege her nearly 2-year-old daughter ate mac and cheese that was prepared with THC butter. According to police, 25-year-old Alaina Limpert was taken into custody Wednesday after someone in her home alerted authorities that the girl had eaten the marijuana-laced food. Per KTVK, cops say Limpert did not take her daughter in for medical treatment when she realized what had happened. Instead, the police report says Limpert "laughed about the side effects the child experienced during that time and then proceeded to place her into their backyard pool to use the cold water to 'shock' her." Two days later, a call to the Department of Child Safety led to all three children being taken away from Limpert and her husband's home. Healthcare officials would reportedly later confirm the girl had THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in her system. Police say Limpert admitted she made the mac and cheese for her husband, but that he did not know her daughter had ingested it. Per the police report, cops found marijuana grow tents in the home's garage as well as mushrooms, hash oil, and drug paraphernalia. Limpert was arrested on charges of child abuse, marijuana possession and cultivation, and other charges. She is due in court April 19.


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– How does one truly understand David Bowie? Only by becoming him, of course. That's just what Will Brooker is in the midst of doing. The film and cultural studies professor from Kingston University in England says he'll dress like Bowie, eat like Bowie, watch the same movies and read the same books as Bowie, and act like Bowie's various personas over the course of a year, all in the name of research for a book he's writing on the pop icon, reports the Guardian. "The idea is to inhabit Bowie's headspace at points in his life and career to understand his work from an original angle, while retaining a critical and objective perspective at the same time," Brooker says. He last month told Australia's ABC News in a video interview he started the project as "1965 Bowie"; he has lately emulated Bowie's 1974 Philadelphia soul period. He'll suffer from a lack of sleep but avoid cocaine. "The levels of cocaine Bowie was consuming is not just illegal for a professor like myself, but it's much too expensive—as well as unhealthy," Brooker says. "I had a six-pack of energy drinks to try and simulate the experience," he adds. "It made me very jumpy." He'll also likely avoid "a fling with Mick Jagger," he says, per Rolling Stone. But he consumed only red peppers and milk for a time and has visited cities linked to the singer. The project is likely to be anything but boring, but a year as the icon will be more than enough. Bowie's head can be a "strange" and "dangerous" place, "a place you wouldn't want to live too long," Brooker says. Next up: 1983. "I think I'll get a tan, get fit, get my hair changed again, get my teeth whitened," he says. There's a bright yellow suit waiting in his closet. (Perhaps he'll visit this dying Bowie-linked town.)

Published on Jul 16, 2015

 http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/p... So, you think you're a David Bowie fan. Meet Professor Will Brooker. He's researching Bowie via 'The Method'; a process of transformative immersion in his experiences.

 He listens only to music Bowie listened to. His hair, outfits, even eyebrows, are modelled after Bowie. He watches movies that influenced Bowie and is taking singing lessons to learn and study key songs. He's even eating red peppers and drinking milk as Bowie did.

 Will Brooker - Professor of Film and Cultural Studies at Kingston University ||||| David Bowie Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes: academic to spend year as David Bowie's many personas Professor Will Brooker will spend months at a time experiencing the star’s life at different points through his 40-year career – from Ziggy Stardust to Let’s Dance Professor Will Brooker, and David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust. Photograph: Twitter/Rex

 From Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane to the Thin White Duke, a professor in London is living his life as David Bowie for a year to gain a better understanding of the pop icon’s mind and work.

 Will Brooker, who teaches film and cultural studies at Kingston University, is spending a few months at a time experiencing specific moments of the star’s five-decade career – from adopting Bowie’s eating habits and poring over the literature he read, to visiting the same places as the English singer-songwriter.

 Brooker – who has transitioned away from Bowie’s 1974 Philadelphia soul period, and from wearing thick blue eye shadow with shock of orange hair – has already been to Brixton, Bromley and Beckenham, and plans to go to Berlin next month.

 will brooker (@willbrooker) This has been one of the more unusual days in my academic life pic.twitter.com/e70n3ksRQm

 “The idea is to inhabit Bowie’s head space at points in his life and career to understand his work from an original angle, while retaining a critical and objective perspective at the same time – a kind of split persona perhaps,” Brooker said.

 The academic, who has been commissioned to write a monograph about the singer called Forever Stardust, said his starting point as Bowie was the late 1960s.

 A bright yellow suit, marking Bowie’s 1983 comeback tour, black waistcoats and large collared white shirts have also been lined up in the academic’s wardrobe. “These things are quite hard to source and I had to go to a tailor,” he said, adding that most of his secondhand Bowie-like outfits were pulled together from online marketplaces.

 Brooker is also preparing for the 80s bleached perm, which he said Bowie himself described as a scrambled egg sitting on his head.

 will brooker (@willbrooker) I think my immersion has confirmed the reason for Bowie's supposedly boring "Heroes" album hair. He wanted to become more anonymous

 He plans to watch the same films Bowie would have done, and claims he has submitted himself to sleep deprivation and, some weekends, eaten only red peppers and drunk only milk. The project also involves listening only to songs Bowie would have heard.

 He has read works by William Burroughs, the postmodernist writer of the Beat generation; Aleister Crowley, the English occultist; Michael Moorcock, the science fiction author, and ideas about the death of God and existentialism by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

 “If you’re reading some strange science fiction and books about magic you can kind of get into Bowie’s head and see it’s sometimes quite a strange place. A dangerous place, a place you wouldn’t want to live too long.”

 “The levels of cocaine Bowie was consuming is not just illegal for a professor like myself, but it’s much too expensive – as well as unhealthy,” Brooker said. “So at the weekend I had a six-pack of energy drinks to try and simulate the experience of illegal substances,” he told the Guardian. “It made me very jumpy.”

 Brooker added: “The thought that kept returning to me was: how did Bowie survive the 70s? He really made himself very ill. So it’s wonderful that we had him through the 70s.”

 Although a few makeup artists have helped Brooker with some of Bowie’s more elaborate looks, the culture professor said he did most of it himself, with “quite a collection of makeup”, and that the pigment of the strong 70s makeup is still in place when he wakes up in the morning.

 For replicating Bowie’s Thin White Duke era, Brooker lit black candles in his room and painted expressionist pictures while listening to German music. “I just wanted to have that immersion,” he said.

 “No one could be Bowie again, and I’m thinking no one would want to go through everything he went through, not really. But I want to get some taste of it.”

 will brooker (@willbrooker) Unbelievable - I just dreamed a whole new Bowie song in my sleep and now I can't remember how it went #bowiesymposium

 He added: “It’s fortunate that I’m going through his career chronologically. Because I think by ’83 he was pretty clean. I think I’ll get a tan, get fit, get my hair changed again, get my teeth whitened.”

 During his teenage years when Brooker first came across Bowie, he repeatedly listened to a cassette of the Let’s Dance album on his Walkman.

 He said he felt an affinity with Bowie, who had achieved a “balance between success and strangeness, between a necessary commercial pragmatism and a core of personal authenticity”.

 His undergraduate students have not seen Brooker teach since he began his project, and he said he could assure them he would not be lecturing while in fully Ziggy regalia.

 Brooker said he was not sure how Bowie would feel about his latest project: “I hope he would be interested in and amused by my research. I do feel, though, that everything he says and does in public is performance, so if he did hear about it, we would be unlikely to know what he genuinely thought.”

 On Tuesday – as a picture disk was released commemorating the 40th anniversary of Bowie’s first No 1, Space Oddity – a spokesman for the singer said he had no comment on the transformation of the professor into the pop icon. |||||


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– After expanding the search to Vermont, authorities hunting escaped prisoners Richard Matt and David Sweat have descended on a village just a few miles from the prison. Police have closed a stretch of State Route 374 and ordered residents of Cadyville, NY, to stay inside and keep their exterior lights on, residents tell WPTZ. In other developments: Timothy Vail was the last man to escape from a New York prison, according to the New York Daily News, and he says he hopes Matt and Sweat can avoid capture. He tells the Daily News that he hopes they "stay out of sight and don't commit any new crimes." Vail, who raped and murdered a pregnant woman in 1988, injured himself while escaping from the Elmira Correctional Facility in 2003 and was recaptured within two days after he and a fellow fugitive stole a van. Police officers who've dealt with Matt say he is the most evil criminal they've encountered, and he was trouble from a very early age, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports. The former chief of police in North Tonawanda, near where Matt grew up, says he's around the same age as the 48-year-old and that long before Matt's first arrest, he had a "fearsome" reputation and was known for terrorizing other kids on the school bus. An officer in Tonawanda tells the paper that in 1986—11 years before his arrest for a gruesome local murder—Matt broke out of a correctional facility and was recaptured a few days later. Early reports described the pair as among the first to escape in the Clinton Correctional Facility's long history, but dozens of men have made it out in various ways since the forbidding Dannemora, NY, institution opened in 1845, the New York Times reports. In 1860, a fraudster known as the "Gay Deceiver" put on civilian clothes, strolled out the gate, and wasn't recaptured for a year. A history professor tells the Times that the first escapes happened just weeks after the prison opened. The reform-minded warden decided not to punish the two men after they were recaptured, the professor says, but it wasn't long before a new warden installed a dungeon for solitary confinement, where punishments included waterboarding.

Investigators were reviewing surveillance video from a gas station near the Clinton Correctional Facility on Thursday night after the escape of two convicted killers over the weekend, Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said in an interview with CNN.

 Real-time updates from reporters at the scene

 Wylie said K-9 units picked up on the scents of David Sweat, 34, and Richard Matt, 48, at the gas station and followed them east toward Cadyville.

 A Subway restaurant is located at the gas station, and Wylie said he believes the pair may have been trying to find food in a trash bin.

 Video: Roads closed as search intensifies

 The search effort intensified in Cadyville on Thursday night as officials decided to use infrared technology to help them locate the escapees.

 Cringle Road was closed to traffic Wednesday night because of the search effort. Trudeau Road and Route 374 were open.

 See images of suspects

 Investigators said they've also found an imprint either from a shoe or boot, as well as a food wrapper in the area, one of the two sources said. They are trying to determine if this is an area where the escapees bedded down and how long ago they were there.

 Residents in Cadyville and surrounding communities were urged to stay in their homes and lock their doors. Saranac Central School shut down for the day.

 New York State Police closed State Route 374 east of the village of Dannemora to West Plattsburgh as they investigate what they called a "lead involving the escapees from the Clinton Correctional Facility."

 Latest on search from outside prison

 Matt and Sweat escaped from the prison sometime early Saturday morning. Police sources classified the tip to the Press-Republican as their best lead by far. "We are close. This could be it," police sources said.

 While the focus appears to be in Dannemora and nearby Cadyville, those aren't the only places authorities are looking.

 Hundreds of officers have scoured neighboring woods, looking "behind every tree, under every rock and inside every structure" for Matt and Sweat, New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico said.

 "It's a bit more unnerving," homeowner near search area says

 They've searched farms, fields and woods in Willsboro after a driver saw two "suspicious" men run off during a late-night driving rainstorm. Then there was a turn toward Vermont because of "information that would suggest (that state) was discussed as a possible location," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. Vermont state police vessels and troopers looked for the fugitives on Lake Champlain, which straddles the two states, as well as in nearby campsites.

 Prison escape timeline

 That said, authorities don't have any hard information that Matt and Sweat have left New York. Nor can they discount the possibility they have left the area, perhaps heading to Canada -- which is just 20 miles north of the prison -- or most anywhere in the United States or beyond. To this point, 50 digital billboards with the fugitives' photos have gone up in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

 "(Authorities) are not just staying local," Lenny DePaul, a former regional task force commander for the U.S. Marshals Service, told CNN on Thursday. "(People should) not think that they're cornered somewhere in New York. So they have to keep their eyes open and be vigilant." ||||| In summer 1903, a former bank burglar serving a life sentence removed the last bit of earth from a tunnel that had taken him four years to complete and escaped with three other inmates under the walls of Clinton prison in far northern New York State. Almost three decades later, it was a diminutive prisoner that some newspapers called the “midget bandit” who fled the prison in a similar way.

 Each broke out by digging into the sewer system underneath what is now called the Clinton Correctional Facility, in Dannemora, much as two convicted murderers did when they cut and shimmied their way to freedom last weekend. Over the years, other inmates have tried different methods, scaling gates, donning disguises or simply walking away when guards were not looking.

 Since Clinton opened in 1845, dozens of inmates have escaped over, under or through the prison’s thick walls, their exploits detailed in breathless, often sensationalistic, newspaper reports of earlier eras.

 Among the earliest escapes from Clinton occurred in 1860, when James F. Whiting, known as “The Gay Deceiver,” donned a suit of civilian clothes and walked out, according to an article in The New York Times. He was arrested a year later for defrauding a Philadelphia jeweler of $670. When he was having his police photo taken, the report said, a detective recognized him as an escaped convict.

 Inmates at Clinton can be locked away for years, for decades, sometimes their whole lives in a prison that is among the oldest and most remote in the state. They are battered by extremes of heat and cold and worn down by boredom. For many, the idea of escape can offer a semblance of hope.

 “Escape. Making a beat. That was all I thought of,” John Resko, an inmate at Clinton in the 1920s and ’30s, wrote in “Reprieve,” his best-selling memoir. “That was all any of the cons thought of, spoke of, dreamed of.

 “Escape to the man in prison presents a soluble problem. He is interested solely in transferring his physical self from one side of the wall to its other side. He wants to escape to his home, his family, and he devotes all his time and all his energies to attaining that goal.”

 Luis Garrastegue, who was incarcerated at Clinton in the 1980s and ’90s for a robbery conviction, said he had talked about escape with other inmates “all the time.”

 “We talked about how tall the wall was,” he said. “Whether we could climb the wall.” He said there was a hollow noise when he banged on the walls and that he could hear officers moving through walkways behind the cells, another possible escape route.

 In the end, Mr. Garrastegue, 47, decided to just do his time. He was released from another prison in 2003 and now works at the Fortune Society, an advocacy group that helps former inmates.

 The escape in 1903 by Peter James, the former bank burglar, was perhaps the most meticulous in the prison’s history. Mr. James had killed a man in a robbery several years earlier. An account of the escape in New York City’s Police Gazette described him toiling for four years in a prison cellar, where he had a job maintaining an engine used by the tin shop. For a few minutes each day, the report said, he chipped away at mortar and stone with pieces of smuggled tin, wearing a pair of homemade overalls over his prison uniform to protect it from the telltale dirt.

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 In the later stages, when he was digging deep underground, other inmates used a bell at the end of a piece of twine to alert him to the guards’ movements.

 Mr. James eventually dug a tunnel that extended 20 feet and connected to the sewer system. On an appointed day, he and three other inmates gathered food, water and clothing that they had been collecting, crawled into the tunnel, then into the sewer and out a manhole in a field near the prison.

 Doing all this undetected was no easy feat. As The Police Gazette wrote: “The discipline at Clinton is iron. It is never relaxed.”

 The men, though, were not free for long. They were captured five days later, within four miles of the Canadian border.

 Photo

 Jeff Hall, a history professor at Queensborough Community College, said Clinton’s history of escapes was fairly ordinary among state prisons. “Escapes aren’t common, but they’re not uncommon,” said Professor Hall, whose doctoral dissertation was about prisons in the North Country region of New York, where Clinton is. He said that, typically, the prisoners were not found by police activity like helicopter flyovers, roadblocks or bloodhounds.

 Instead, he said, “it’s usually the public spotting someone unfamiliar.”

 Professor Hall said the first recorded escape at Clinton occurred just weeks after the prison opened.

 He said two inmates, who had been convicted of burglary, ate their lunches and then jumped the stockade wall. They fled into the woods, running north toward Canada. Unfortunately for them, he said, they became disoriented and wound up back within 800 feet of the prison. Within two days they were both captured.

 But the warden at the time was a reformer, and told them that if they did not misbehave, he would not punish them.

 “That reform impulse didn’t last long,” Professor Hall said.

 Within a decade, a new warden had dug a dungeon for putting inmates into solitary confinement. The guards would strap prisoners to a chair, and pour water over their faces to simulate drowning, Professor Hall said. “Basically, it was waterboarding,” he said.

 Few escapees, it seems, eluded capture forever. An exception perhaps was John Filkins, who escaped on Sept. 15, 1874, by dressing in civilian clothes and walking out the prison’s main gate, according to The Times.

 A year later, a skeleton that was found in a sewer under Clinton was rumored to be his, but the authorities dismissed the idea. Other rumors put him north of the border. The Albany Times on July 12, 1875, reported that “a certain gentleman will take his oath that he saw and conversed with Filkins in Canada.” ||||| The last man to escape from a New York prison is rooting for the two murderers who broke out of an upstate penitentiary.

 "I hope they stay out of sight and don't commit any new crimes," Timothy Vail, 47, told the Daily News inside Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Wallkill.

 "When you commit crimes, the cops are all over you. That's the mistake we made."

 In a remarkably candid 90-minute interview, Vail described in detail his botched bid for freedom and expressed admiration for escapees Richard Matt and David Sweat.

 Vail said he believes the pair can elude the police indefinitely if they remain "patient" and can "outlast all the news coverage."

 EX-HUSBAND: SUSPECTED ACCOMPLICE IN PRISON BREAK IS CHEATER

 But the biggest enemy is your own mind, he said.

 "You're in a cell 24/7 but the minute you get out, you can't stay still," said Vail, speaking behind plexiglass and wearing a forest green uniform and black-rimmed glasses.

 New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Vermont Governor Peter Shumlinduring a news conference in front of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y. (Seth Wenig/AP)

 "The adrenaline is unbelievable."

 Vail has been closely following the case on NPR and suggested Matt and Sweat used techniques they learned from him. "There are so many similarities," said Vail, who was serving 49 years to life for the 1988 rape and murder of a pregnant secretary in Binghamton.

 "I wonder if they saw that show about us on Nat Geo."

 Vail and fellow inmate Timothy Morgan were captured two days after their July 2003 escape from Elmira Correctional Facility.

 They had spent four months chipping away at the steel-reinforced concrete ceiling using screws, a sledgehammer and other tools they smuggled out of a prison carpentry shop.

 HOW IT HAPPENED: EXCLUSIVE DETAILS ON NY PRISON ESCAPE ROUTE

 They concealed the hole with a piece of cardboard painted black and stuck to the ceiling with toothpaste. On the night of their escape, they left behind life-like dummies in their beds.

 Timothy Vail, one of two inmates who took part in the last prison escape in New York, in 2003. Vail and Timothy Morgan busted out of Elmira Correctional Facility and were captured two days later. Vail is now incarcerated in Shawangunk Correctional Facility. One of two dummies used by Elmira prison inmates Timothy Vail and Timothy Morgan as viewed through the hole in the ceiling the two convicted murderers dug out then climbed through to escape on July 7, 2003. (HO/AP) A rope made of bed sheets tied together hangs down a wall of the Elmira Correctional Facility in Elmira, N.Y (JEFF RICHARDS/AP) Vail fell and fractured his shoulder while shimmying down the prison wall. (JEFF RICHARDS/AP)

 An "associate" had stashed a bag full of "survival gear" in the woods a fair distance from the prison, Vail said.

 But the painstakingly planned escape went awry when Vail fell while shimmying down the prison walls using sheets tied together.

 He fractured his shoulder and ankle. They spent a day hiding out in the woods surrounding the prison. "We should have just stayed there," Vail said.

 But with Vail injured, the pair decided to tempt fate and head into a town five miles north of the prison.

 They were caught after Morgan stole a van.

 Vail regrets the escape try — he was hit with an additional sentence of 3 ½ to seven years and has been stuck in solitary ever since.

 But he believes it easily could have turned out differently. "If I didn't get hurt, I would've never been seen again," Vail said. |||||


Summarize this article:

The sister of the Redding-area woman who vanished three weeks ago only to be found early Thanksgiving morning on the side of a road in Yolo County says the family is elated and relieved that Sherri Papini has been reunited with them.

 “This has been the most amazing Thanksgiving that our family could ever ask for,” Sheila Koester said Friday in a phone interview with The Sacramento Bee. “We’re all very, very, very excited, very, very relieved and just very thankful for getting our Sherri back.”

 Koester declined to say whether Sherri Papini, 34, has seen her two young children or if she’s made it back the rural home she shares with her husband, Keith, in Mountain Gate, Shasta County, a mile from where she disappeared after going for a jog on Nov. 2.

 “What I can say is that her and Keith have been reunited,” Koester said. “And that they are very happy to be together and they're very thankful for everyone for allowing them to have their privacy and allowing them to recover from their situation that all of us have been in.”

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 Papini was found around 4:30 a.m. Thursday after she flagged down a driver on Interstate 5 in Yolo County, Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said Thursday in a news conference.

 Investigators say Papini was bound with restraints when she was let out of a sport-utility vehicle near a freeway interchange in the town of Yolo. They say she was able to flag down a motorist on the freeway near County Road 17.

 “CHP is on scene and advised that she is chained to something,” a radio dispatcher told a responding officer Thursday in an audio clip obtained by The Sacramento Bee. “CHP is advising that she is heavily battered.”

 Authorities are searching for two women armed with a handgun.

 SHARE COPY LINK Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko says he is "ecstatic" to report that Sherri Papini has been located and reunited with her husband and family on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 24, 2016. "Sherri is now safe," he said, after being taken capti Randall BentonThe Sacramento Bee

 Papini’s husband, Keith, reported Sherri Papini missing on Nov. 2 after she didn’t pick up her two young children from day care that afternoon, something her family members say was completely out of character for the devoted mom.

 Bosenko said at a Thursday news conference that Papini was injured during her abduction, but did not provide details on the extent of her injuries. She was treated at a hospital in the Sacramento area and released. Koester said she’s met with her sister, but she declined to provide details about her condition.

 The sheriff said police are looking for two Hispanic women driving a dark-colored SUV in connection with the abduction, based on Papini’s description. Authorities have no other information about the captors, including other details of their appearance or clothing.

 On Friday, Koester expressed gratitude to investigators, search teams and media outlets for keeping Papini’s story alive. Koester said she’s hopeful her sister’s abductors will be found.

 She also thanked the motorist, who hasn’t yet been identified by detectives, who stopped for Papini on the side of the road.

 “We appreciate that person stopping and helping her,” she said.

 One woman posted on social media after Papini was found to say she saw her on the side of the road and called 911, but didn’t stop.

 “I couldn’t stop in time to help you this morning but I did pull over and report to police that I saw you by the road and was certain you needed help,” said Alison Sutton, who posted on a Facebook page dedicated to finding Papini. “I am thankful that someone else was able to pull over safely to help you and that you are safe. God bless you and your family.”

 “Thank you very much for alerting the police,” replied Rod Rodriguez III, who says he’s Sherri’s father-in-law. “We greatly appreciate your assistance.”

 “I don’t know that my call helped her,” she wrote in a follow-up post. “I am very thankful she is safe and back with her family. This is truly a Thanksgiving to remember.”

 Rodriguez didn’t returned a phone message left Friday at his home near Redding. Sutton couldn’t be reached for comment.

 The Sacramento Bee on Friday morning requested 911 tapes and dispatch logs from the California Highway Patrol and the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office, but the agencies haven’t provided them.

 Bosenko, meanwhile, appeared Friday on “Good Morning America,” but he didn’t offer new details about the case. Like Koester, he said Papini was overjoyed to be reunited with her family. “Of course, she was very emotional to be released and hear her husband’s voice and then a few hours later to be reunited with him,” he told the news program.

 With little new information being released Friday, various online sleuths have been trying to find out what might have motivated two women to abduct Papini and then let her go.

 Before Papini reappeared, investigators said they had spoken with her friends and acquaintances, as well as “people Sherri has had past relationships with” to try to find her. Investigators said they had gone out of state tracking down leads.

 Detectives have authored close to 20 search warrants – some of which are sealed – and they said they’re examining cellphone records, bank accounts, email and social media profiles. Investigators have declined to discuss what prompted them to file the search warrants or why detectives have traveled out of state. Bosenko said Friday he had no new information to release. ||||| The sister of a Northern California mother who was held captive for three weeks spoke to the media Friday, but gave very little information as to what happened to her sister or how she was doing.

 Sheila Koester opened the news conference by telling reporters that she was six months pregnant and asked them to be aware of her emotions. She went on to thank many organizations who helped in the search for her sister, Sherri Papini.

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 "We are overwhelmed with joy over how supportive everyone has been to bring us together as a family again," Koester said. "Everyone's tireless efforts has made our family whole this Thanksgiving. We cannot thank you enough."

 After Koester made her statement, she opened it up for reporter questions, which included asking about her 34-year-old sister's physical and emotional state, as well as details about the case.

 Koester gave very little information about what Papini went through since she went missing on Nov. 2 or how she is doing.

 "She has been through a very traumatic event and needs time with her family," Koester said. "I don't have any details into the case, I just know that getting her face out there was the best thing we could do."

 When asked about the sisters' reunion, Koester only said, "It was a very joyous reunion, and we were just very, very excited to see each other."

 Koester was asked how she and the family handled Papini going missing for three weeks, but gave very little insight into how the family coped with her disappearance.

 "It's been a range of emotions -- sadness, anger," Koester said. "Right now, it's just joy, lots and lots of joy."

 --

 WHAT HAPPENED TO SHERRI PAPINI?

 Sherri Papini, who was found alive Thanksgiving morning near Interstate 5 in Yolo County, was "very emotional" after a passing driver came upon her, Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said Friday.

 Investigators are searching for two armed Hispanic women driving a dark-colored SUV whom detectives believe abducted Papini on Nov. 2 while she was out for a jog near her home the Shasta County town of Mountain Gate, Bosenko said.

 In an interview Friday on "Good Morning America," Bosenko called it very rare for her to be released.

 Papini was found Thursday bound by restraints near I-5 and County Road 17 but was able to flag down a driver, who called authorities and connected the mother of two with her husband, Keith, by cellphone, Bosenko said.

 "She was very emotional to be released and hear her husband's voice and then a few hours later to be reunited with him," Bosenko said.

 Papini was treated at a hospital for unspecified injuries and released. Officials said they were not aware of a motive for the kidnapping.

 Investigators have spoken with Papini but hoped to get more information soon in the effort to uncover what happened over the last three weeks, Bosenko said. It was not clear if she knew the women she said abducted her, police said.

 "Obviously she was emotional and quite upset, but elated to be freed, and so we were able to get some information from her," Bosenko said. "Then, in the days following this, we will be following up with her."

 Family members previously called her a "super mom" who would never abandon her family. Her husband reported her missing when she failed to pick up their two young children from day care.

 Her cellphone and headphones were found near where she was last seen.

 "She could drop her phone, but she would never in a million years not pick up our children at the time that she normally would have," Keith Papini told "Good Morning America" before his wife was found.

 Her husband was cleared as a suspect after passing a polygraph test. Before she was found, he said he was "getting very angry and frustrated" and "scared for my wife."

 Police had received more than 400 tips in the case, but Papini's release was not the result of a $100,000 reward that was offered, Bosenko said.

 "It shows what a community can do when it works together to get the word out," he said.

 Phone numbers for Papini and some of her family rang through Friday, and the Shasta County sheriff's office did not immediately respond to calls, messages and emails seeking comment.

 The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 AlertMe |||||

– The family of the missing California woman found alive on Thanksgiving has a lot of thanks to give. "We are overwhelmed with joy over how supportive everyone has been to bring us together as a family again," Sherri Papini's sister told reporters Friday, per KCRA. "Everyone's tireless efforts has made our family whole this Thanksgiving. We cannot thank you enough." Papini, a mother of two young children, disappeared after going for a jog Nov. 2. Police say she was kidnapped and was reunited with her family Thursday after her captors dumped her near Interstate 5 in Yolo County, where she was able to flag down a passing car. Papini had been chained and beaten by her captors, according to police audio obtained by the Sacramento Bee. The California Highway Patrol "is on scene and advised that she is chained to something," a radio dispatcher told a responding officer. "CHP is advising that she is heavily battered." Police say they are searching for two armed Hispanic woman in a dark-colored SUV. A motorist who called police after seeing Papini by the roadside tells the New York Daily News that the woman she glimpsed in the dark appeared terrified and was waving a piece of fabric up and down. "I realized if she was that close to getting hit—willing to be that close to freeway traffic—she must really need help," the driver says.