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MCALLEN, Texas |

 MCALLEN, Texas (Reuters) - An elderly South Texas couple died and their son was injured after a swarm of bees attacked them on their remote ranch, authorities said on Wednesday.

 William Steele, 95, and his wife, Myrtle, 92, died and their son, Richard, 67, was injured after bees attacked them as they tried to clean a hunting cabin on their ranch near Hebbronville on Monday, an investigator with the Jim Hogg County Sheriff's Office said.

 "It was a terrible thing," Investigator Reyes Espinoza told Reuters. "You don't prepare for something like that."

 Richard Steele told investigators he and his parents were attacked after they moved a wood stove in the cabin and exposed a hive of bees, Espinoza said.

 The son immediately drove about 15 miles to the nearest road, where he managed to call for help on a cell phone.

 William Steele tried to escape the bees by running from the cabin, but he fell and succumbed to hundreds of bee stings, Espinoza said.

 Myrtle Steele was airlifted to a Corpus Christi hospital, where she died on Tuesday. Her son was transported to a Laredo hospital and released, Espinoza said.

 Espinoza said the bees swarmed deputies when they arrived at the scene on Monday.

 "By the grace of God, we didn't get stung," he said. "You could literally scoop them off of us."

 Espinoza said they were likely Africanized honey bees -- often called "killer bees" for their aggression -- which are common in south Texas.

 The bees are hybrids from swarms originally introduced to Brazil from Africa, which absconded in the 1950s. They spread north through South and Central America, crossing into south Texas in 1990, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

 The bees swarm more frequently than native bees, and are extremely defensive. The USDA advises untrained individuals against trying to remove swarms. If attacked, individuals should run away quickly and not stop to help others.

 Fatal attacks are rare, although the USDA gave no figures.

 (Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Greg McCune) ||||| SANTA ROSA — An elderly couple died and their son was injured in an attack of bees at their ranch outside Hebbronville, Jim Hogg County deputies said.

 William “W.T.” Steele, his wife Myrtle and their son Richard were cleaning the small house they own on ranchland near Jones Ranch, a hunting area in Jim Hogg County, their daughter-in-law Judy Steele said Tuesday.

 The Steeles had gone to the ranch, which Judy Steele described as “way out in the middle of Jones Ranch,” for the day. She expected them to return Monday afternoon.

 The elder Steele was spraying to kill bees that had built a hive in the fireplace, when the bees swarmed and attacked him, his wife and their son, she said.

 She said her father-in-law must not have realized how large the beehive was.

 W.T. Steele, 90, was pronounced dead at the scene. Myrtle Steele, 92, was airlifted to a Corpus Christi hospital, about 100 miles away, where she died Tuesday, Judy Steele said, adding her mother-in-law had been stung more than 300 times.

 Richard Steele, 67, suffered many bee stings to his head and face, she said. He was taken to Laredo Memorial Hospital, about 80 miles from the ranch, and was released Tuesday, she said.

 Judy Steele said there was no cell phone service from her in-laws’ ranch and her husband had to drive several miles to the nearest phone, where he called 9-1-1. Then he had to wait at the end of the ranch road so he could lead emergency workers to his injured parents.

 Jim Hogg sheriff’s deputies said it took about 20 minutes to reach the Steeles, and the ranch house was about 15 miles from the road.

 Reyes Espinoza and Diaz Morales of the Jim Hogg sheriff’s department responded to the scene to aid the Steele family.

 Espinoza said that they arrived without any special uniform to protect them from bee stings.

 He added that with the help of Richard Steele, they were able to locate Myrtle Steele alive inside the home.

 “We were getting stung in the process, but we were able to place a blanket over her and take her to an awaiting ambulance — we did what we could,” he said.

 Espinoza stated that he and Morales returned to the home and located W.T. Steele, who was already dead.

 He said as of Tuesday evening, the species of bees had not been identified, and that the hive had not been removed from the home.

 W.T. Steele was a farmer in Santa Rosa, growing cotton, grain and corn, Judy Steele said. When he retired about 30 years ago, and Richard took over the family farm, the Steeles bought the land in Jim Hogg County to raise a few head of cattle, and for hunting.

 Both W.T. and Myrtle were healthy and active people, she said of her in-laws.

 “My husband feels terrible,” Judy Steele said. “He feels that he didn’t do enough to help his parents.”

 She added, “We thank the Good Lord that they died together.” |||||

– An elderly couple was killed and their son injured when they messed with a swarm of bees at their Texas ranch. William Steele, 90, was spraying to kill bees that had built a hive in the fireplace of a small house he owned in a remote area of the ranch when they swarmed and attacked him, his wife, and his son, reports the Valley Morning Star. Steele tried to run from the cabin but collapsed and was stung hundreds of times. The couple's 67-year-old son was also stung but he managed to escape and get to the nearest phone to call authorities. Deputies without any protective equipment braved the swarm to rescue Myrtle Steele, 92. She had been stung some 300 times and died several days later in a nearby hospital. "It was a terrible thing," an investigator with the Jim Hogg County Sheriff's office tells Reuters. "You don't prepare for something like that. "


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– President Trump unleashed a Twitter attack on Mexico over the weekend, and he picked up right where he left off on Monday morning. In multiple tweets, Trump said Mexico must do more to stop "caravans of people" heading into the US, blasted Democrats for weak border laws, and again demanded his wall. In regard to those "caravans," a reference to reports about a large group of Central Americans working their way northward through Mexico: "They must stop them at their Northern Border, which they can do because their border laws work, not allow them to pass through into our country, which has no effective border laws," Trump wrote. The president made a point to include Democrats in the blame game. "Congress must immediately pass Border Legislation, use Nuclear Option if necessary, to stop the massive inflow of Drugs and People," he wrote. "Border Patrol Agents (and ICE) are GREAT, but the weak Dem laws don’t allow them to do their job. Act now Congress, our country is being stolen!" He again brought up the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and reiterated that he was through trying to resurrect it. "DACA is dead because the Democrats didn’t care or act, and now everyone wants to get onto the DACA bandwagon," he wrote. "No longer works. Must build Wall and secure our borders with proper Border legislation. Democrats want No Borders, hence drugs and crime!"

About 80% of them are from Honduras. Many said they are fleeing poverty, but also political unrest and violence that followed the swearing in of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández after a highly contested election last year. The group often breaks into chants of “out with JOH.” They also chant “we aren't immigrants, we're international workers” and “the people united will never be defeated.”

 The number of people who showed up to travel with the caravan caught organizers by surprise, and has overwhelmed the various towns they've stopped in to spend the night. Pueblos Sin Fronteras counted about 1,200 people on the first day.

 When they get to the US, they hope American authorities will grant them asylum or, for some, be absent when they attempt to cross the border illegally. More likely is that it will set up an enormous challenge to the Trump administration's immigration policies and its ability to deal with an organized group of migrants numbering in the hundreds.

 “If we all protect each other we'll get through this together,” Abeja yelled through a loudspeaker on the morning they left Tapachula, on Mexico's border with Guatemala, for the nearly monthlong trek.

 Organizers like Rodrigo Abeja hope that the sheer size of the crowd will give immigration authorities and criminals pause before trying to stop them.

 Organized by a group of volunteers called Pueblos Sin Fronteras, or People Without Borders, the caravan is intended to help migrants safely reach the United States, bypassing not only authorities who would seek to deport them, but gangs and cartels who are known to assault vulnerable migrants.

 For five days now hundreds of Central Americans — children, women, and men, most of them from Honduras — have boldly crossed immigration checkpoints, military bases, and police in a desperate, sometimes chaotic march toward the United States. Despite their being in Mexico without authorization, no one has made any effort to stop them.

 When the agent, who'd covered her uniform with an orange and white shawl, learned that the Central American migrants heading her way numbered more than 1,000, she took off for the restaurant across the street.

 Taking a drag from her cigarette, a Mexican immigration agent looked out toward a caravan of migrants that grew larger with each step they took on the two-lane highway.

 Migrants hitchhike along the side of the highway as they move toward the city of Mapastepec, Chiapas.

 Sweating after miles of walking in more than 90-degree heat with her two kids, Karen said conditions in Honduras were so bad she decided to take a chance with the caravan. She declined to give her full name.

 “The crime rate is horrible, you can't live there,” Karen told BuzzFeed News on the side of a highway near Huixtla, a town in Chiapas, Mexico's southernmost state. “After the president [was sworn in] it got worse. There were deaths, mobs, robbed homes, adults and kids were beaten up.”

 Before setting out on the journey, the migrants were organized into groups of 10 to 15 people, and a leader was designated for each group. Five groups were then banded together in what organizers call a sector. While there are organizers from Pueblos Sin Fronteras leading the way, much of the effort to get to the US border is in the hands of the migrants themselves.

 They've been organized into security, food, and logistics committees. Organizers say it's meant to help the migrants empower themselves.

 Sandra Perez, 40, who's also from Honduras, is one of two women who belong to the security committee. It's not her first caravan: She has traveled with a procession of Central American mothers through Mexico in search of disappeared migrants.

 “I like doing this, it makes me happy and I feel useful,” she told BuzzFeed News.

 Not everyone is planning on crossing into the United States undetected. Migrants like Yonis, an Honduran man who declined to use his full name, are hoping to get their families to other parts of Mexico. He was able to legalize his status in Mexico and is hoping to get his wife and seven month old baby to the Mexican state Nuevo León.

 "I have my life there," Yonis told BuzzFeed News. "We're all here fighting together, going to different borders, chasing an American dream that sometimes becomes a reality or doesn't for some."

 Organizers estimate that about two-thirds of people are planing on crossing into the United States undetected or asking for some type of protection like asylum.

 Twenty-nine-year-old Mateo Juan said the caravan was his third attempt at getting to the United States. Seven months ago, Mexican immigration officers pulled him off the bus. The same happened about a month ago.

 He heard about the caravan in March when he arrived in Tapachula, the caravan's starting point.

 “Going alone is risky. You're risking an accident, getting jumped by robbers, and even your life,” he told BuzzFeed News. “All of that, and then you don't get to the United States. The caravan is slower but you know you're going to get there safely.”

 Still, there are no guarantees on the route or assurances that once they reach the US border they'll be able to cross undetected or be allowed to stay under some type of protection like asylum.

 Alex Mensing, another organizer with Pueblos Sin Fronteras, made that point clear to the migrants before the group started out. He also stressed that everyone is responsible for their own food, water, and payment for vans or buses. Still, it's far cheaper than being assaulted or falling into the hands of unscrupulous smugglers.

 “I'm here to work together with the people who had to leave their countries for whatever reason,” Mensing said through a loudspeaker. “We're fighting together. We're not here to give anyone papers and we're not here to give anyone food.”

 Mensing said Pueblos Sin Fronteras isn't calling on people to make the trek, but if they're going to try to go through Mexico on the way to the United States, the group will help them.

 The caravan propels itself forward using whatever way it can. Sometimes that means packing into the back of a truck, negotiating lower rates for vans, or hitching a ride on the back of empty big rigs from whatever town they're in. The group sleeps in town plazas. Local townspeople and churches feed them.

 In the evening, when the group settles in for the night, the kids play in playgrounds or dart among the crowd, chasing one another. Teenagers and adults play soccer using rocks as goal posts.

 On Tuesday, the caravan had plans to board the freight train known as “the Beast” or sometimes “the Train of Death” in Arriaga to speed the journey north. It's a dangerous part of the journey, with death and injury only too possible from a precarious perch atop a rail car, and the group practiced boarding, one woman in a purple shirt slowly making her way up a parked train's ladder while the crowd below cheered her on. On another train car, men wearing backpacks steadily made their way up one by one. ||||| Mexico has the absolute power not to let these large “Caravans” of people enter their country. They must stop them at their Northern Border, which they can do because their border laws work, not allow them to pass through into our country, which has no effective border laws..... ||||| DACA is dead because the Democrats didn’t care or act, and now everyone wants to get onto the DACA bandwagon... No longer works. Must build Wall and secure our borders with proper Border legislation. Democrats want No Borders, hence drugs and crime! ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more |||||


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 Photographer: Rob Foldy/Getty Images Photographer: Rob Foldy/Getty Images

 A group led by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and former New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter has won the auction for the Miami Marlins baseball team with a $1.3 billion bid, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.

 The person requested anonymity because the sale contract hasn’t been signed. The person also wouldn’t name the group’s other investors, though Bush’s network of donors to his unsuccessful presidential campaign was vast.

 Wayne Katz, the Proskauer Rose attorney representing the team, and Major League Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney declined to comment. Jeter’s agent didn’t immediately return an email request for comment.

 Other bidders for the team owned by New York art dealer Jeffrey Loria were Quogue Capital LLC founder Wayne Rothbaum, and Solamere Capital co-founder Tagg Romney, whose group included former All-Star pitcher Tom Glavine. Loria had been close to a deal with the Kushner family, relatives by marriage to President Donald Trump, but no agreement was reached.

 Loria bought the team in 2002 for $158 million. Forbes said the franchise was valued at $940 million.

 Any change of ownership requires approval from MLB. It probably won’t be an issue for Bush, a former presidential candidate whose brother, former President George W. Bush, once owned the Texas Rangers, and Jeter, a future Hall-of-Famer and Florida resident who has said for years that he wanted to own a baseball team.

 Sparse Crowds

 In the Marlins, Bush and Jeter get a franchise with a relatively new ballpark, Marlins Park, which opened in 2012. The team hasn’t consistently drawn large crowds, playing before an average of 24,313 fans this season, placing the Marlins 24th out of 30 clubs.

 The money-losing Marlins can add to their bottom line in a couple of key ways. First, the team is seeking a naming rights partner for its stadium, which will host the All-Star game in July. Also, team executives have said they’re exploring a reworked local television contract. The current deal with Fox expires after the 2020 season, though it can be renegotiated. According to the Miami Herald, the team gets about $20 million a year from Fox, the lowest in MLB. ||||| Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria has reached an agreement in principle to sell the team to a group led by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and including former New York Yankees star Derek Jeter, pending Major League Baseball approval and other details still to be worked out in the drawing-up and execution of a contract, an MLB source said Tuesday.

 According to the source, Bush’s group has agreed to pay $1.3 billion for the team.

 The source said the Marlins and the Bush group are very optimistic a deal will be finalized, but the process could take months to conclude.

 Bush plans to be the Marlins’ “control person,” the individual who would have ultimate control over franchise decisions, according to the source.

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 Jeter, the former All-Star player who lives in Tampa, plans to play an active role in the franchise.

 Bush’s group includes at least five investors, and the identity of those investors and their connections to South Florida are unknown. All of Bush and Jeter’s partners would need to be vetted and approved by Major League Baseball.

 It’s also unclear which of those investors has the most money invested in the bid, but a source reiterated that Bush will be the control person, similar to a managing partner.

 Loria does not plan to retain a piece of the team that he has owned since 2002, the source said.

 Bush was informed this week that his offer was selected over bids from at least two others — New York businessman Wayne Rothbaum and a group led by Massachusetts businessman Tagg Romney, son of former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

 SHARE COPY LINK Miami Marlins coach Don Mattingly gives his thoughts about Derek Jeter, who is reportedly interested in buying the Marlins, being a MLB franchise owner before the Marlins game Wednesday, April 5, 2017, in Washington.

 The belief, according to the MLB source, is that Bush intends to retain manager Don Mattingly and president of baseball operations Mike Hill barring something unforeseen.

 It’s unclear whether Bush’s group would significantly raise the team’s $120 million payroll, which is the highest in Marlins history and ranks 20th in baseball — a dramatic increase over the team’s $74 million payroll the previous season.

 Despite opening a new stadium in 2012, the Marlins have ranked in the bottom quarter of baseball in attendance for the past several years and also generate less money from their regional cable television contract than any other team in baseball. The Marlins have tried unsuccessfully for years to renegotiate that Fox contract, which runs through 2020.

 The Marlins declined to comment on where the sales process stands.

 “I have not commented on the process and plan to keep it that way; thank you,” Marlins president David Samson said.

 Bush did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

 According to a New York-based Loria associate, Loria decided to sell the team for a variety of factors: his belief that leaving baseball and getting his estate in order was prudent at this stage of his life at 76; sadness over the death of Jose Fernandez; unhappiness with years of being criticized by fans; and prolonged losing since winning a World Series in 2003, among other factors.

 County officials think the 2009 deal requires the Marlins to pay Miami-Dade an unknown amount if a sale takes place this year. But the formula in the original agreement hinges on how much value the team has gained since the park opened, and the county’s chief financial officer, Ed Marquez, said it will take significant number-crunching and back-and-forth with the team to determine the payout. Either way, Loria is expected to depart with more than $1.2 billion.

 “I haven’t heard anything at all,” Marquez said Tuesday. “We can’t do much without any details.”

 The Marlins’ 13-year postseason drought is the second-longest in baseball, ahead of only the Seattle Mariners.

 Loria heavily backloaded the contracts of several Marlins players, including star slugger Giancarlo Stanton and pitcher Wei-Yin Chen, which will result in significantly higher payrolls for the new owner barring trades.

 Loria purchased the Marlins in 2002 as part of a three-team transaction authorized by then-MLB commissioner Bud Selig. Loria sold the Expos to “Expos Baseball LP,” a partnership of the other 29 major-league clubs, for $120 million.

 SHARE COPY LINK Marlins president David Samson talks about the discussions regarding the potential sale of the franchise before Tuesday's home opener against the Braves.

 The Expos essentially were sold to the commissioner’s office. John Henry then sold the Marlins to Loria for $158.5 million, including a $38.5 million no-interest loan from MLB and then bought the Boston Red Sox.

 This was Bush’s second bid to buy the Marlins after an unsuccessful attempt three years ago.

 Bush, 64, served as Florida’s 43rd governor from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who was born in Midland, Texas, and grew up in Houston, is the second son of former President George H.W. Bush and younger brother of former President George W. Bush, who once owned the Texas Rangers.

 Jeb Bush graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and attended the University of Texas, where he earned a degree in Latin American affairs. He moved to Florida in 1980 and pursued a career in real-estate development, then became Florida’s Secretary of Commerce until 1988.

 Bush made his first run for office in 1994, losing the gubernatorial election by less than 2 percentage points to incumbent Lawton Chiles. Bush ran again in 1998 and defeated Lt. Gov. Buddy MacKay with 55 percent of the vote, then won re-election against Bill McBride in 2002, becoming Florida’s first two-term Republican governor.

 Bush spent many years in the private sector after leaving office, then announced in June 2015 that he would run for the Republican presidential nomination. After poor results in Iowa and New Hampshire, Bush focused on the South Carolina primary but placed fourth with under 8 percent of the vote and suspended his campaign that night, ultimately ending his presidential bid, and eventually endorsing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

 Bush later joined a group of Republicans who opposed then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

 In December, Bush accepted a job as a strategic consultant to Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, a law firm with a major lobbying presence in the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee. His mission has been to generate business for the firm, particularly in South Florida, where the former governor lives and where the firm wants to expand its presence.

 Jeter, meanwhile, would give the Marlins cachet and a former player universally respected in baseball.

 Jeter, 42, played his entire 20-year career with the Yankees before retiring after the 2014 season and was one of the most celebrated, heavily marketed and distinguished players of his era.

 He was a 14-time All-Star, won five Gold Glove Awards, five Silver Slugger awards, two Hank Aaron Awards and is the Yankees’ all-time career leader in hits (3,465), doubles (544), games played (2,747), stolen bases (358), times on base (4,716) and at-bats (11,195).

 Jeter became the 28th player to reach 3,000 hits and finished his career sixth all-time in career hits and the all-time MLB leader in hits by a shortstop.

 He consistently ranked among the American League leaders in hits and runs scored for most of his career, and served as the Yankees’ team captain from 2003 until his retirement in 2014.

 Jeter won five World Series (1996, 1998 through 2000 and 2009) and holds many postseason records.

 Loria, a Yankees fan before buying the Marlins, is said to hold Jeter in high regard.

 MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said during a meeting last week with the Associated Press Sports Editors that he supported Jeter getting back into baseball as an owner.

 “I’ve talked to Derek privately about his desire to be an owner,” Manfred said. “I think the idea of a former player being an owner is an appealing one for baseball, particularly a player like Derek. It would bring some diversity to our ownership group. I think that would be a good thing.”

 Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who was a vocal critic of the 2009 stadium-financing deal as a county commissioner and waited four seasons before finally attending a game at Marlins Park, said through a spokesman on Tuesday that Jeb Bush owning the Marlins “would be good” for the county. ||||| Photo credits: Getty

 According to multiple reports, the ownership group led by Derek Jeter and Jeb Bush has submitted the winning bid to purchase the Miami Marlins from disgusting rich person Jeffrey Loria.

 Bloomberg’s Scott Soshnick was the first to report the deal, and the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson followed up with a few more details:

 If that $1.3 billion price tag is real, then it means that Loria, who bought the team for $158 million in 2002, is about to pull off one of the most lucrative franchise flips in history. There is no justice in this world. |||||Summary:

– If multiple reports are to be believed, Jeb Bush will finally be following in his brother's footsteps—as the owner of a professional baseball team. The presidential also-ran is said to be part of a group—along with former New York Yankee Derek Jeter—that will be purchasing the Miami Marlins for $1.3 billion, Bloomberg reports. Nothing is official—an anonymous source says the sale contract hasn't been signed yet—but the Miami Herald confirmed the report. Bush and Jeter, as well as at least three other investors, are said to have outbid multiple other groups, including one led by Tagg Romney and former ballplayer Tom Glavine. The Kushner family had also reportedly been close to a deal. Bush, who tried and failed to buy the Marlins three years ago, will reportedly be the "control person" in charge of franchise decisions for the Marlins. The deal would need MLB approval and could still take months to finalize. The Marlins are owned by Jeffrey Loria, who paid $158 million for the team in 2002. Despite losing money and having some of the worst attendance in the league, the Marlins are currently valued at $940 million. If the reported $1.3 billion purchase price is accurate, it would be "one of the most lucrative franchise flips" ever, Deadspin reports. Loria is apparently selling the Marlins in order to get his estate in order—and also because he's tired of the team's constant losing and the criticism that has brought on him.


From the way they describe it Kanye West had a hard time keeping it in his pants at the after-party for his LA "Watch The Throne" concert with Jay-Z on Tuesday night, instead letting his fingers do the walking – all over Kim Kardashian's person. "Kanye was eating Kim up like she was a piece of cake," said an onlooker, who has a bright future in tabloids. "He was all over her - caressing her head, touching her waist." Caressing her head? Though talk of eating things and some light head work makes it sound like he was giving her some intriguing cunnilingus in the middle of a crowd it was, unfortunately, a bit more family-friendly. "I think he was dying to kiss her, but there were too many people in the room," they added. [NYDN]

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 Kendall Jenner confirms she's the next one out of the Kardashian gate by appearing on the cover of Teen Prom – you've gotta start somewhere – and discussing how she handles the family's h8rs. "[My sisters tell me] not to listen to what other people say because people are mean," she says. "I just don't look at the Internet and what people say because it can bring you down." Oh, Kendall, we're not going to be mean to you – unless you turn out like the rest of your horrible klan. [Radar]

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 Rooney Mara bites off and ravages the hand that first fed her by shitting all over Law And Order: SVU. "It was so awful. So stupid," she said of her early stint on the show. "Me and my boyfriend - although I [didn't] look old enough to have a boyfriend - went and beat up these fat people, and at the end of the show you find out that I used to be obese and I hate fat people. It's ridiculous. Who would ever do that? Who would beat someone up because they're fat? People are obsessed with that show. I don't get it." A dagger, a dagger through my heart! [Page Six]

 From hate to love, Rooney redeems herself by talking about the finer points of merkin artistry. [SF Gate]

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 Forget your morning crossword because we've got your mind boggler right here: Taylor Armstrong – who has discussed her own domestic abuse past – has recorded footage of herself watching a Texas judge beating his cerebral palsy-stricken daughter so she can post a reaction video on her website. "She filmed it for it to be released on her website to educate women about domestic violence," said an associate. "Taylor was absolutely gutted watching the video. She cried, and she got very, very angry. She saw herself in the judge's daughter, vulnerable and unable to fight back." Um, thoughts? [Radar]

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 Handling the whole thing with amazing ease and grace, Giuliana Rancic's double mastectomy was a success and she's already on the mend. "G is doing really well. Her surgery lasted about four hours and the doctors were very pleased with the result," said her husband Bill. "She had a little bit of pain through the night but is feeling much better this morning and was cracking jokes." [SF Gate] ||||| By Radar Staff

 Kim Kardashian has always insisted that she and Kanye West are just friends, but that may not be the truth after all!

 In an exclusive interview with Star magazine, Kanye’s ex girlfriend, Amber Rose, revealed that the reason she and the singer split was because of the reality star’s devious cheating ways.

 “Kim is one of the main reasons why me and Kanye are not together,” Amber exclusively told Star. “She’s a homewrecker!”

 PHOTOS: Khloe Kardashian Hits The Gym Without Any War Paint

 According to Amber, she was dating Kanye when he and Kim first hooked up — and Kim was dating NFL star Reggie Bush!

 “They were both cheating,” Amber, 28, said. “They were both cheating on me and Reggie with each other.”

 Amber says it was Kim, 31, who instigated the whole affair by calling, texting and sending racy photos of herself to Kanye.

 PHOTOS: Kim Kardashian Is Photographed At Kris Humphries’ House In Minnesota

 “She was sending pictures, and I was like, ‘Kim, just stop. Don’t be that person,’” but apparently Kim didn’t care enough to respond when Amber emailed her for an explanation.

 “I thought at least she’d be woman enough to respond to me. She never responded.”

 Amber slammed Kim for her cheating ways. “It’s very important that us women stick together and we don’t f**k each other over like that.”

 PHOTOS: Kim Kardashian And Her Family Poses At The Annual Christmas Party

 However, Amber is current dating Wiz Khalifa, 24, and has credited Kim for helping her find true love.

 “I want to thank her,” she said about Kim. “Because if she was never a homewrecker, then I never would have met Wiz, and I wouldn’t be as happy as I am now.”

 To find out how Amber got her revenge and what she thinks about Kim and Kanye dating now, pick up the latest issue of Star magazine — on newsstands Thursday.

 RELATED STORIES:

 What Would Khloe Do? Watch The Kardashian Get Punk’d!

 Kim Kardashian Wants To Simplify Her Life

 Khloe Kardashian Wants To Go Blonde Again, But Kris Jenner Won’t Let Her! |||||

Write a summary.

– Amber Rose confirms longstanding rumors about a Kim Kardashian-Kanye West hookup, telling Star (via Radar), "Kim is one of the main reasons why me and Kanye are not together. She’s a homewrecker!" According to Rose, she was dating West while Kardashian was dating Reggie Bush. Kardashian and West "were both cheating on me and Reggie with each other," she claims, adding that Kardashian sent West racy pictures. (Apparently, the Kim-Kanye romance is back on in the wake of her divorce from Kris Humphries.) If you'd like to further ruin your day, click to read about an upcoming Kardashian magazine.


Article:

(Reuters) - Diebold Nixdorf Inc and NCR Corp, two of the world’s largest ATM makers, have warned that cyber criminals are targeting U.S. cash machines with tools that force them to spit out cash in hacking schemes known as “jackpotting.”

 The two ATM makers did not identify any victims or say how much money had been lost. Jackpotting has been rising worldwide in recent years, though it is unclear how much cash has been stolen because victims and police often do not disclose details.

 The attacks were reported earlier on Saturday by the security news website Krebs on Security, which said they had begun last year in Mexico.

 The companies confirmed to Reuters on Saturday they had sent out the alerts to clients.

 NCR said in a Friday alert that the cases were the first confirmed “jackpotting” losses in the United States. It said its equipment had not been targeted in the recent attacks, but that it was still a concern for the entire ATM industry.

 “This should be treated by all ATM deployers as a call to action to take appropriate steps to protect their ATMs against these forms of attack,” the alert said.

 Diebold Nixdorf said in a separate Friday alert that U.S. authorities had warned the company that hackers were targeting one of its ATM models, known as Opteva, which went out of production several years ago.

 A confidential U.S. Secret Service alert sent to banks said the hackers targeted stand-alone ATMs typically located in pharmacies, big box retailers and drive-thru ATMs, Krebs on Security reported.

 FILE PHOTO: A man types on a computer keyboard in front of the displayed cyber code in this illustration picture taken on March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo

 Diebold Nixdorf’s alert described steps that criminals had used to compromise ATMs. They include gaining physical access, replacing the hard drive and using an industrial endoscope to depress an internal button required to reset the device.

 Reuters was unable to obtain a copy of the Secret Service report and an agency representative declined comment. Officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation could not immediately be reached.

 Russian cyber security firm Group IB has reported that cyber criminals remotely attacked cash machines in more than a dozen countries across Europe in 2016. Similar attacks were also reported that year in Thailand and Taiwan. ||||| ATM “jackpotting” — a sophisticated crime in which thieves install malicious software and/or hardware at ATMs that forces the machines to spit out huge volumes of cash on demand — has long been a threat for banks in Europe and Asia, yet these attacks somehow have eluded U.S. ATM operators. But all that changed this week after the U.S. Secret Service quietly began warning financial institutions that jackpotting attacks have now been spotted targeting cash machines here in the United States.

 To carry out a jackpotting attack, thieves first must gain physical access to the cash machine. From there they can use malware or specialized electronics — often a combination of both — to control the operations of the ATM.

 On Jan. 21, 2018, KrebsOnSecurity began hearing rumblings about jackpotting attacks, also known as “logical attacks,” hitting U.S. ATM operators. I quickly reached out to ATM giant NCR Corp. to see if they’d heard anything. NCR said at the time it had received unconfirmed reports, but nothing solid yet.

 On Jan. 26, NCR sent an advisory to its customers saying it had received reports from the Secret Service and other sources about jackpotting attacks against ATMs in the United States.

 “While at present these appear focused on non-NCR ATMs, logical attacks are an industry-wide issue,” the NCR alert reads. “This represents the first confirmed cases of losses due to logical attacks in the US. This should be treated as a call to action to take appropriate steps to protect their ATMs against these forms of attack and mitigate any consequences.”

 The NCR memo does not mention the type of jackpotting malware used against U.S. ATMs. But a source close to the matter said the Secret Service is warning that organized criminal gangs have been attacking stand-alone ATMs in the United States using “Ploutus.D,” an advanced strain of jackpotting malware first spotted in 2013.

 According to that source — who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak on the record — the Secret Service has received credible information that crooks are activating so-called “cash out crews” to attack front-loading ATMs manufactured by ATM vendor Diebold Nixdorf.

 The source said the Secret Service is warning that thieves appear to be targeting Opteva 500 and 700 series Dielbold ATMs using the Ploutus.D malware in a series of coordinated attacks over the past 10 days, and that there is evidence that further attacks are being planned across the country.

 “The targeted stand-alone ATMs are routinely located in pharmacies, big box retailers, and drive-thru ATMs,” reads a confidential Secret Service alert sent to multiple financial institutions and obtained by KrebsOnSecurity. “During previous attacks, fraudsters dressed as ATM technicians and attached a laptop computer with a mirror image of the ATMs operating system along with a mobile device to the targeted ATM.”

 Reached for comment, Diebold shared an alert it sent to customers Friday warning of potential jackpotting attacks in the United States. Diebold’s alert confirms the attacks so far appear to be targeting front-loaded Opteva cash machines.

 “As in Mexico last year, the attack mode involves a series of different steps to overcome security mechanism and the authorization process for setting the communication with the [cash] dispenser,” the Diebold security alert reads. A copy of the entire Diebold alert, complete with advice on how to mitigate these attacks, is available here (PDF).

 The Secret Service alert explains that the attackers typically use an endoscope — a slender, flexible instrument traditionally used in medicine to give physicians a look inside the human body — to locate the internal portion of the cash machine where they can attach a cord that allows them to sync their laptop with the ATM’s computer.

 “Once this is complete, the ATM is controlled by the fraudsters and the ATM will appear Out of Service to potential customers,” reads the confidential Secret Service alert.

 At this point, the crook(s) installing the malware will contact co-conspirators who can remotely control the ATMs and force the machines to dispense cash.

 “In previous Ploutus.D attacks, the ATM continuously dispensed at a rate of 40 bills every 23 seconds,” the alert continues. Once the dispense cycle starts, the only way to stop it is to press cancel on the keypad. Otherwise, the machine is completely emptied of cash, according to the alert.

 An 2017 analysis of Ploutus.D by security firm FireEye called it “one of the most advanced ATM malware families we’ve seen in the last few years.”

 “Discovered for the first time in Mexico back in 2013, Ploutus enabled criminals to empty ATMs using either an external keyboard attached to the machine or via SMS message, a technique that had never been seen before,” FireEye’s Daniel Regalado wrote.

 According to FireEye, the Ploutus attacks seen so far require thieves to somehow gain physical access to an ATM — either by picking its locks, using a stolen master key or otherwise removing or destroying part of the machine.

 Regalado says the crime gangs typically responsible for these attacks deploy “money mules” to conduct the attacks and siphon cash from ATMs. The term refers to low-level operators within a criminal organization who are assigned high-risk jobs, such as installing ATM skimmers and otherwise physically tampering with cash machines.

 “From there, the attackers can attach a physical keyboard to connect to the machine, and [use] an activation code provided by the boss in charge of the operation in order to dispense money from the ATM,” he wrote. “Once deployed to an ATM, Ploutus makes it possible for criminals to obtain thousands of dollars in minutes. While there are some risks of the money mule being caught by cameras, the speed in which the operation is carried out minimizes the mule’s risk.”

 Indeed, the Secret Service memo shared by my source says the cash out crew/money mules typically take the dispensed cash and place it in a large bag. After the cash is taken from the ATM and the mule leaves, the phony technician(s) return to the site and remove their equipment from the compromised ATM.

 “The last thing the fraudsters do before leaving the site is to plug the Ethernet cable back in,” the alert notes.

 FireEye said all of the samples of Ploutus.D it examined targeted Diebold ATMs, but it warned that small changes to the malware’s code could enable it to be used against 40 different ATM vendors in 80 countries.

 The Secret Service alert says ATMs still running on Windows XP are particularly vulnerable, and it urged ATM operators to update to a version of Windows 7 to defeat this specific type of attack.

 This is a quickly developing story and may be updated multiple times over the next few days as more information becomes available.

 Tags: atm jackpotting, atm logical attacks, Daniel Regalado, Diebold Nixdorf, Diebold Opteva, endoscope, FireEye, NCR Corp, Ploutus.D, U.S. Secret Service, Windows 7, Windows XP |||||
What is a summary?

– With just the press of a button, "cash out crews" have been attacking ATMs around the world, and now apparently in the US. Reuters reports that two big ATM makers, Diebold Nixdorf and NCR Corp., have issued warnings about the so-called "jackpotting" scheme, which has made its way to US machines—usually stand-alone units in pharmacies, drive-thrus, or big-box stores, per a US Secret Service alert cited by Krebs on Security—for the very first time. "This is the first instance of jackpotting in the United States," site owner and security guru Brian Krebs tells the Washington Post. "It's safe to assume that these are here to stay at this point." And it's become an increasingly sophisticated money-grabbing maneuver, as he explains on his site. Per the Secret Service alert, an on-the-street crew decked out to look like ATM technicians uses an endoscope like you'd see at the doctor's office to access an ATM's innards and connect the ATM's computer with their own laptop. The ATM will then seem to be out of service when other potential customers show up to use it, and "co-conspirators" can then send an SMS or use an external keyboard to command the ATM to start spitting out cash "like slot machines" to a "money mule" lying in wait, per the Post. In past hacks, also known as "logical attacks," the ATMs would churn out the bills "at a rate of 40 bills every 23 seconds," per the Secret Service alert, cleaning out the ATM unless the "Cancel" button was pressed. The mule then leaves and the "technicians" come back to disconnect their equipment. "This should be treated by all ATM deployers as a call to action," NCR warns.


– Think moving to the 'burbs will save you money? Not in these neighborhoods. Real estate firm Engel & Völkers has identified the priciest suburb around each of America's 10 most populous urban areas, based on the median home price. The top five, per Forbes: Bel Air outside Los Angeles: $3.45 million Los Altos Hills outside San Jose: $3.45 million Bronxville outside New York City: $2.33 million Rancho Santa Fe outside San Diego: $2.12 million Westlake outside Dallas: $2 million Click for the full list or the strongest and weakest housing markets.

Expand this summary.

While it’s easy to identify the largest and most affluent metropolises in the United States, it’s far more difficult to pinpoint the priciest suburb closest to each major city. So real estate firm Engel & Völkers examined the fringes of the country’s 10 most populated urban spreads to determine just that.

 Here’s a rundown of the well-to-do towns that made the list, ordered from least to greatest in terms of the corresponding major city’s population.

 Los Altos Hills, CA

 Bordering San Jose, Los Altos Hills is one of Silicon Valley’s most esteemed residential enclaves. With rolling hills and unparalleled bay views, it’s a popular home base for tech titans—including Cisco president John Chambers—and baseball legend Barry Bonds. (To boot, among its plethora of multimillion-dollar havens is the $10,000-a-night Airbnb mansion Beyoncé rented before performing at Super Bowl 50’s halftime show.)

 Population (as of 2013): 8,334

 Median home sales price: $3.45 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A five-bedroom, 12-bath home now priced at $88 million

 Westlake, TX

 Nestled on the outskirts of Dallas, Westlake is one of Texas’ most enviable communities. A Certified Gold Scenic City, it contains the Vaquero Club (one of the most exclusive private clubs in the nation) and the prestigious Westlake Academy, along with several corporate campuses such as Deloitte University and Fidelity Investments. Noteworthy residents include Glenn Beck, who occupies a 8,000-square-foot house formerly owned by retired MLB player Jorge Piedra and his Swarovski heiress wife, Vanessa. Properties currently up for grabs (sans celebrity ties) include this $4 million Mediterranean-style home.

 Population (as of 2013): 1,096

 Median home sales price: $2 million

 Most expensive home for sale: An 11,248-square-foot mansion presently listed at $6.299 million

 Rancho Santa Fe, CA

 A stone’s throw away from San Diego, Rancho Santa Fe houses a slew of wealthy notables—from baseball bigwig Bud Black to billionaire businessman Bill Gates (who purchased his horse ranch for $18 million from weight loss guru Jenny Craig). Former denizens include singers Patti Page, Bing Crosby, Jewel, and Janet Jackson; NASA astronaut Pete Conrad (the third man to walk on the moon); golfer Phil Mickelson; and filmmaker Howard Hughes. Among the beautiful abodes now on the market in the area is this 7,400-square-foot, two-acre spread, now priced at $3.888 million.

 Population (as of 2010): 3,117

 Median home sales price: $2.119 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A 210-acre ranch with an 8,148-square-foot home now asking $85 million

 Terrell Hills, TX

 Population (as of 2013): 5,088

 Median home sales price: $1.322 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A four-bedroom, five-bath home presently priced at $2.077 million

 Five miles from downtown San Antonio, Terrell Hills is just minutes away from the vibrant city, widely regarded as one of the most culturally rich places in southwest Texas. Historic and cultural landmarks including the Riverwalk, Witte Museum, and the Alamo are at arm’s reach for inhabitants of the illustrious town, who include Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones.

 Paradise Valley, AZ

 Back in the day, Paradise Valley catered to farmers and their cattle. But today it’s regarded as Phoenix’s most coveted suburb and one of Arizona’s most popular tourist spots, touting a number of luxury resorts and must-see attractions. Framed by magnificent mountains, the desert oasis counts boxers Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, along with former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle among its past residents. Picturesque properties for sale in the area include this 6,905-square-foot, $5 million contemporary.

 Population (as of 2013): 13,387

 Median home sales price: $1.1 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A five-acre Mediterranean estate with a 25,416-square-foot main house now listed at $25 million

 Bryn Mawr, PA

 Bryn Mawr—which translates to “great hill” in Welsh—rests 10 miles outside of Philadelphia, in a moneyed region known as the Main Line. Teeming with distinguished schools, high-end boutiques, and fine-dining restaurants, the lush stretch is tied to an impressive who’s who, from Katharine Hepburn (who attended Bryan Mawr College) and former President Woodrow Wilson (who taught government at the school) to Kat Dennings (who grew up there) and Pro Football Hall of Famer Emlen Tunnell.

 Population (as of 2010): 3,779

 Median home sales price: $760,292

 Most expensive home for sale: A 6,500-square-foot haven nestled on over five acres currently asking $4.25 million

 Southside Place, TX

 Southside Place is known for its family-friendly nature and close proximity to Houston. Spanning a mere 10 blocks, the charming expanse has an abundance of pools, parks, and reputable public schools, making it a great white-picket-fence escape from the bustling city.

 Population (as of 2013): 1,784

 Median home sales price: $1.253 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A Prairie-style house with four bedrooms and four baths now priced at $2.395 million

 Glencoe, IL

 Twenty miles north of Chicago lies the Village of Glencoe—a quaint community teeming with green, bordered by Lake Michigan, the Cook County Forest preserve, and Glencoe Golf Course. TV star Fred Savage and film actors Bruce Dern and Lili Taylor all grew up in the small town, which was also once home to vacuum cleaner king Earle Hoover, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Archibald MacLeish, and Judge James Wilkerson (who put Al Capone behind bars).

 Population (as of 2013): 8,854

 Median home sales price: $1.3 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A six-bedroom, English Country-style manor presently listed at $7.5 million

 Bel Air, CA

 Ensconced beneath the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, Bel Air has served as the backdrop for innumerable film and television productions in the past and boasts countless A-list residents—among them, Tesla CEO and founder Elon Musk (whose 20,248-square-foot haven cost $17 million) and Jennifer Aniston (who spent $21 million on her 8,500-square-foot estate). Erstwhile dwellers include Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, film icon Alfred Hitchcock, British screen legend Elizabeth Taylor, and Nancy and Ronald Reagan.

 Population (as of 2013): 17,613

 Median home sales price: $3.45 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A yet-to-be-built bespoke behemoth, set to be priced at $75 million (for 23,000 square-feet) or $115 million (for 59,000 square feet)

 Bronxville, NY

 Fifteen miles north of the Big Apple, Bronxville is one of Westchester County’s most beguiling suburbs. Measuring only one square mile, the close-knit spread—styled to resemble an English village—showcases an assortment of shops and restaurants, along with two collegiate institutions (including Sarah Lawrence College). Frank Abagnale Jr.—whose life story inspired the movie Catch Me If You Can—was born in the village, where the Kennedys also once lived.

 Population (as of 2013): 6,403

 Median home sales price: $2.325 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A Classic Revival-style charmer currently listed at $7.295 million ||||| 5 Reasons To Shop For A Home In December

 While it’s easy to identify the largest and most affluent metropolises in the United States, it’s far more difficult to pinpoint the priciest suburb closest to each major city. So real estate firm Engel & Völkers examined the fringes of the country’s 10 most populated urban spreads to determine just that.

 Here’s a rundown of the well-to-do towns that made the list, ordered from least to greatest in terms of the corresponding major city’s population.

 Los Altos Hills, CA

 Bordering San Jose, Los Altos Hills is one of Silicon Valley’s most esteemed residential enclaves. With rolling hills and unparalleled bay views, it’s a popular home base for tech titans—including Cisco president John Chambers—and baseball legend Barry Bonds. (To boot, among its plethora of multimillion-dollar havens is the $10,000-a-night Airbnb mansion Beyoncé rented before performing at Super Bowl 50’s halftime show.)

 Population (as of 2013): 8,334

 Median home sales price: $3.45 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A five-bedroom, 12-bath home now priced at $88 million

 Westlake, TX

 Nestled on the outskirts of Dallas, Westlake is one of Texas’ most enviable communities. A Certified Gold Scenic City, it contains the Vaquero Club (one of the most exclusive private clubs in the nation) and the prestigious Westlake Academy, along with several corporate campuses such as Deloitte University and Fidelity Investments. Noteworthy residents include Glenn Beck, who occupies a 8,000-square-foot house formerly owned by retired MLB player Jorge Piedra and his Swarovski heiress wife, Vanessa. Properties currently up for grabs (sans celebrity ties) include this $4 million Mediterranean-style home.

 Population (as of 2013): 1,096

 Median home sales price: $2 million

 Most expensive home for sale: An 11,248-square-foot mansion presently listed at $6.299 million

 Rancho Santa Fe, CA

 A stone’s throw away from San Diego, Rancho Santa Fe houses a slew of wealthy notables—from baseball bigwig Bud Black to billionaire businessman Bill Gates (who purchased his horse ranch for $18 million from weight loss guru Jenny Craig). Former denizens include singers Patti Page, Bing Crosby, Jewel, and Janet Jackson; NASA astronaut Pete Conrad (the third man to walk on the moon); golfer Phil Mickelson; and filmmaker Howard Hughes. Among the beautiful abodes now on the market in the area is this 7,400-square-foot, two-acre spread, now priced at $3.888 million.

 Population (as of 2010): 3,117

 Median home sales price: $2.119 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A 210-acre ranch with an 8,148-square-foot home now asking $85 million

 Terrell Hills, TX

 Population (as of 2013): 5,088

 Median home sales price: $1.322 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A four-bedroom, five-bath home presently priced at $2.077 million

 Five miles from downtown San Antonio, Terrell Hills is just minutes away from the vibrant city, widely regarded as one of the most culturally rich places in southwest Texas. Historic and cultural landmarks including the Riverwalk, Witte Museum, and the Alamo are at arm’s reach for inhabitants of the illustrious town, who include Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones.

 Paradise Valley, AZ

 Back in the day, Paradise Valley catered to farmers and their cattle. But today it’s regarded as Phoenix’s most coveted suburb and one of Arizona’s most popular tourist spots, touting a number of luxury resorts and must-see attractions. Framed by magnificent mountains, the desert oasis counts boxers Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, along with former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle among its past residents. Picturesque properties for sale in the area include this 6,905-square-foot, $5 million contemporary.

 Population (as of 2013): 13,387

 Median home sales price: $1.1 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A five-acre Mediterranean estate with a 25,416-square-foot main house now listed at $25 million

 Bryn Mawr, PA

 Bryn Mawr—which translates to “great hill” in Welsh—rests 10 miles outside of Philadelphia, in a moneyed region known as the Main Line. Teeming with distinguished schools, high-end boutiques, and fine-dining restaurants, the lush stretch is tied to an impressive who’s who, from Katharine Hepburn (who attended Bryan Mawr College) and former President Woodrow Wilson (who taught government at the school) to Kat Dennings (who grew up there) and Pro Football Hall of Famer Emlen Tunnell.

 Population (as of 2010): 3,779

 Median home sales price: $760,292

 Most expensive home for sale: A 6,500-square-foot haven nestled on over five acres currently asking $4.25 million

 Southside Place, TX

 Southside Place is known for its family-friendly nature and close proximity to Houston. Spanning a mere 10 blocks, the charming expanse has an abundance of pools, parks, and reputable public schools, making it a great white-picket-fence escape from the bustling city.

 Population (as of 2013): 1,784

 Median home sales price: $1.253 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A Prairie-style house with four bedrooms and four baths now priced at $2.395 million

 Glencoe, IL

 Twenty miles north of Chicago lies the Village of Glencoe—a quaint community teeming with green, bordered by Lake Michigan, the Cook County Forest preserve, and Glencoe Golf Course. TV star Fred Savage and film actors Bruce Dern and Lili Taylor all grew up in the small town, which was also once home to vacuum cleaner king Earle Hoover, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Archibald MacLeish, and Judge James Wilkerson (who put Al Capone behind bars).

 Population (as of 2013): 8,854

 Median home sales price: $1.3 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A six-bedroom, English Country-style manor presently listed at $7.5 million

 Bel Air, CA

 Ensconced beneath the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, Bel Air has served as the backdrop for innumerable film and television productions in the past and boasts countless A-list residents—among them, Tesla CEO and founder Elon Musk (whose 20,248-square-foot haven cost $17 million) and Jennifer Aniston (who spent $21 million on her 8,500-square-foot estate). Erstwhile dwellers include Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, film icon Alfred Hitchcock, British screen legend Elizabeth Taylor, and Nancy and Ronald Reagan.

 Population (as of 2013): 17,613

 Median home sales price: $3.45 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A yet-to-be-built bespoke behemoth, set to be priced at $75 million (for 23,000 square-feet) or $115 million (for 59,000 square feet)

 Bronxville, NY

 Fifteen miles north of the Big Apple, Bronxville is one of Westchester County’s most beguiling suburbs. Measuring only one square mile, the close-knit spread—styled to resemble an English village—showcases an assortment of shops and restaurants, along with two collegiate institutions (including Sarah Lawrence College). Frank Abagnale Jr.—whose life story inspired the movie Catch Me If You Can—was born in the village, where the Kennedys also once lived.

 Population (as of 2013): 6,403

 Median home sales price: $2.325 million

 Most expensive home for sale: A Classic Revival-style charmer currently listed at $7.295 million |||||


Summarize this article:

Yahoo! Inc. agreed to sell its main web businesses to Verizon Communications Inc. for $4.8 billion, ending a two-decade run as an independent company that took it from Stanford University startup at the dawn of the internet age to also-ran behind nimbler online rivals such as Google and Facebook Inc.

 The all-cash deal includes Yahoo real estate, but excludes some intellectual property which will be sold separately. Yahoo will be left with its stakes in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Yahoo Japan Corp., with a combined market value of about $40 billion.

 Verizon will add Yahoo web services that still draw 1 billion monthly users, including mail, news and sports content and financial tools. The largest U.S. wireless carrier also gets smaller but faster-growing assets including mobile applications and advertising technology for video and handheld devices.

 Yahoo shares closed 1.4 percent higher on Friday at $39.38, giving the company a market valuation of $37 billion. Yahoo stock has risen 18.4 percent so far this year.

 Verizon on Friday ended 1.3 percent higher at $56.10. The company’s market capitalization is $229 billion. ||||| While AOL chief Tim Armstrong has been a key part of Verizon’s Yahoo pursuit, the driving force on the Verizon side is his boss, longtime Verizon executive Marni Walden.

 The career cellphone executive has been leading the company’s moves beyond telecommunications, particularly its expansion into video and advertising, and was instrumental in the acquisition of AOL.

 All the players in telecom talk about wanting to be more than just a “dumb pipe,” and Walden has been leading the charge at Verizon.

 “Making sure that you play in accessing the revenue opportunities above the connectivity is something we think a lot about,” she told Recode in an interview late last year. “We can go do other things because of our strength in mobile.”

 Walden, 49, has spent her life in the wireless industry, since the days when cellphones were things that came in a briefcase. Her move to join the nascent mobile business was a far cry from her childhood growing up on a Wyoming cattle ranch.

 “When I was growing up, I wanted to be either a cowboy or a ballet dancer,” Walden told Bloomberg earlier this year. “But neither seemed like reasonable options.’’

 Walden did show both an early knack for the cellphone business as well as significant staying power in rising to become one of the most powerful women in the industry.

 She served as both operating chief and marketing chief for Verizon Wireless after getting her start at the company as a regional executive for both it and predecessor AirTouch Cellular. She also worked earlier in her career at AT&T Wireless and McCaw Cellular, among other cellphone companies.

 These days, though, Walden is in charge of new business opportunities for Verizon. Some of those are things that involve the cellular business, such as connected cars, but much of Walden’s work has been in areas new to both her and Verizon.

 “People are surprised about Verizon getting into the content space,” Walden told Recode last year. “I think that’s really important to bring eyeballs and audience. Our media business will play a much more significant role in the Verizon of the future.”

 It hasn’t all been easy going for Verizon, particularly its efforts in video programming. The company launched a mobile video service known as Go90 last year, but it remains a relative nonentity.

 Rather than boasting well-known shows, big sports deals or original programming, Go90 has relied on short clips it hopes will appeal to the YouTube generation. In that vein, Verizon recently hired former YouTube executive Ivana Kirkbride to be Go90’s chief content officer.

 Probably the biggest thing going for Go90 is that it can undercut rivals on price. Not only is there no price for subscribing, but for Verizon Wireless customers, using the service doesn’t even count against their data cap.

 While watching a few movies on Netflix or binge-watching TV shows on Hulu can quickly eat through a customer’s plan, Verizon users are free to watch as much Go90 as they like. Verizon hasn’t said just how many people are actually taking the company up on the offer, but net neutrality advocates hate the way Verizon is prioritizing its own service.

 Walden made it clear in last year’s interview that Verizon might need to make more acquisitions — possibly including Yahoo — to reach its ambitions in the media and content realm.

 “We didn’t get into the media company business just to be a single-digit market share player,” Walden said. “We have much bigger aspirations of how we want to grow that business. Some can happen because of the scale Verizon brings, but we will continue to look at how we can scale and be a meaningful player from a double-digit market share, and by market share, I think about revenue. We definitely will look to build this business.” ||||| Verizon Communications Inc. on Monday announced plans to buy Yahoo Inc.’s Web assets for $4.83 billion in cash, ending a drawn-out auction process for the beleaguered internet company. WSJ’s Ryan Knutson joins Lunch Break with the details. Photo: AP

 Verizon Communications Inc. on Monday said it would buy Yahoo Inc.’s Web assets for $4.83 billion in cash, ending a drawn-out process for the beleaguered internet company.

 The price, which includes Yahoo’s core internet business and some real estate, caps a remarkable fall for the Silicon Valley web pioneer that had a market capitalization... ||||| Verizon announced an agreement to buy Yahoo for $4.83 billion on Monday, July 25. The agreement marks the end of an era for the company that once defined the Internet. (Reuters)

 Two years ago — an epoch in Silicon Valley time — AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong proposed a merger to Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer.

 Armstrong and Mayer are former Googlers hired to run and rescue these former marquee Internet destinations. But AOL and Yahoo were struggling in an increasingly mobile online world dominated by Google and Facebook.

 Mayer rejected Armstrong's offer.

 But now that AOL-Yahoo merger is set to take place in a wholly unexpected manner — thanks to Verizon, the largest U.S. phone carrier. On Monday, Verizon and Yahoo announced that the telecom giant agreed to buy the ailing Internet company in a $4.8 billion deal. Last year, Verizon bought AOL for $4.4 billion.

 “Just over a year ago we acquired AOL to enhance our strategy of providing a cross-screen connection for consumers, creators and advertisers. The acquisition of Yahoo will put Verizon in a highly competitive position as a top global mobile media company,” said Verizon chief executive Lowell McAdam in a statement.

 Verizon has always been considered to be one of the most likely suitors for Yahoo, which has been officially for sale since April, after several years of failed turnaround plans executed under Mayer.

 With the deal, Tim Armstrong would in many ways be getting the merger he once wanted.

 Tim Armstrong may finally be getting what he wanted. (Bloomberg News)

 "Combining Verizon, AOL and Yahoo will create a new powerful competitive rival in mobile media, and an open, scaled alternative offering for advertisers and publishers," Armstrong said in a statement.

 Armstrong, who heads Verizon's AOL unit, is expected to be a key player. A reading of his tenure at AOL offers some insight into what the future may mean for Yahoo, which would probably turn into a more focused advertising company.

 AOL is still heavily involved in media content, thanks to its ownership of the Huffington Post, but even with those businesses, it has kept a strong advertising focus.

 Many admire Armstrong for sticking with AOL, said Eric Jackson of SpringOwl — a firm invested in Yahoo that has been very critical of Mayer’s tenure at Yahoo.

 “He could have quit a couple of years into it,” Jackson said. “Many people say to me they wouldn’t do business with AOL if it was anyone but Tim Armstrong.”

 Landing Yahoo would also provide Verizon with a sizable cut of the U.S. online market. Yahoo and AOL might not be trendy names, but they ranked No. 3 and No. 6 respectively in ComScore’s list of the top digital media properties in the United States in February.

 Add AOL and Yahoo together, and their unique visitors were 50 percent greater than No. 1 Google.

 [What you need to know about Marissa Mayer's future]

 Verizon’s desire for Yahoo spotlights the grand scale of its ambitions: Not happy with just providing access to content, it wants to own a fat chunk of the online-content industry.

 Consumers are migrating from simple email and Web browsing on their smartphones to rich mobile video and online games. And these data-hog services represent a lucrative opportunity to sell ads and, in some cases, could be a source of subscription revenue.

 Analysts say the sprawling nature of Yahoo's properties led its leadership astray.

 "Yahoo has failed for the last 13 years to exploit as a unified whole what is actually an excellent set of parts," said Shar VanBoskirk, an analyst at Forrester Research. "Yahoo hasn't been able to clearly define what it is and what value it provides."

 Yahoo was a platform for content, and a failing one.

 But Verizon apparently thinks that grabbing Yahoo’s content, combined with its strength in distribution, will allow Verizon to create better, more valuable ads, VanBoskirk said.

 Verizon’s move first for AOL, and now Yahoo, signals how traditional telephone and Internet companies are worried that their businesses are being commodified. Cutthroat competition in recent years has prompted price wars. This pressure is what helped drive Comcast to snatch up NBCUniversal in 2011 and AT&T’s purchase of DirecTV in 2015.

 Meanwhile, Internet providers such as Verizon face other pressures.

 Federal data show that Americans are increasingly abandoning their home broadband connections in favor of mobile data connections. Analysts say the shift toward mobile partly explains why Verizon has been shedding some of its traditional wired operations in recent years. And it also provides insight into Verizon's pursuit of a proprietary mobile video platform Go90.

 The nearly $5 billion bid for Yahoo highlights just how mightily the Internet company has struggled. After all, Yahoo's stock market valuation alone is $38 billion. But many investors think almost all of Yahoo’s value is tied up in shares it owns in the Chinese commerce site Alibaba and Yahoo Japan. Those shares are not part of Verizon's deal.

 The sale of Yahoo comes with access to Yahoo's news operation and Yahoo Finance, a website for investors keeping tabs on Wall Street. It includes Yahoo's popular destination for fantasy sports, and its question-and-answer platform, Yahoo Answers. Plus, Yahoo owns the microblogging site Tumblr and the photo-hosting site Flickr.

 The deal may also face some potential land mines.

 Activists and regulators in Washington are increasingly examining strict new privacy rules on Internet providers, according to Craig Moffett, an industry analyst at MoffettNathanson.

 To turn content views into advertising dollars, Verizon wants to use and share the behavioral data it collects on its Internet subscribers — including records such as its customers' Web browsing and location history.

 But under the plan being weighed by federal regulators, Internet providers would be required to get their customers' explicit permission before using that data for third-party advertising.

 In other words, customers would need to opt in, explicitly agreeing that their data be used.

 The industry has fought the proposed requirement from the Federal Communications Commission, saying it would make it harder to adapt to the future.

 The rules would do more than that, Moffett said: It would also make it harder for Verizon to justify spending billions on a Web property it cannot efficiently monetize.

 "Buying Yahoo would be very much going in the direction of buying a significant amount of ad inventory," Moffett said. "And while it's likely the case that a mobile operator could increase the value of that ad inventory by overlaying better user targeting based on wireless location data, the FCC privacy regime may blow up that strategy."

 Verizon's swallowing up Yahoo, after already buying AOL, transforms the telecom “into a big data super-giant,” cautioned Jeff Chester, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Digital Democracy.

 “Yahoo is not a primary threat,” Chester said. “But when you merge Yahoo with the ability of an ISP [Internet-service provider] to monitor everything someone does, that’s a threat.”

 The deal is expected to close early next year.

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 Save ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Yahoo was once the king of the Internet, a $125 billion behemoth as big in its time as Facebook or Google are today. Now it's being sold to Verizon for comparative chump change.

 On Monday morning, Yahoo announced the end of the long process to extricate itself from a mess of its own making with a sale of its core operating business to Verizon for $4.8 billion in cash. The transaction ends the independence of one of Silicon Valley's most iconic pioneering companies. Yahoo's seventh and final CEO, Marissa Mayer, will reportedly depart upon the deal's conclusion with severence pay worth more than $50 million.

 The sale will unite Yahoo with another fallen star, AOL, the first web portal Verizon bought last year for $4.4 billion. The United States' largest wireless provider is betting nearly $10 billion that combining the two formerly dominant websites will give it an edge in mobile content and advertising technology it can leverage across its more than 140 million subscribers.

 "Today’s announcement not only brings us an important step toward separating Yahoo’s operating business from our Asian asset equity stakes, it also presents exciting opportunities to accelerate Yahoo’s transformation," Mayer wrote in a email announcing the news. "Among the many entities that showed interest in Yahoo, Verizon believed most in the immense value we’ve created, and in what a combination could bring our users, our advertisers, and our partners."

 Read more: Here Is Marissa Mayer's Final Letter To Yahoo Employees

 But the biggest story today is how Yahoo squandered its massive head start and let each wave of new technology in search, social, and mobile pass it by. Yahoo remains largely the same company it was a decade ago -- a portal that hundreds of millions of users rely on for everything from news and weather to key functions like email and games like fantasy football. As the attention of the world shifted to smartphone apps, Yahoo's last advantage in the desktop world began to fade.

 Yahoo began in 1994 as "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web," a list of websites curated by Stanford University students Jerry Yang and David Filo. It grew quickly as millions of Americans began turning on dial-up Internet connections and needed a home page that would direct them to all their essential destinations. In 1996 it went public and rode the dot-com bubble to epic heights, reaching a peak of $500 a share (or $125 a share in today's post-split calculations) in January 2000.

 Yet Yahoo missed the opportunity of a generation to convert its early lead and millions of users into more than just a portal. At the height of the bubble, it spent $4.5 billion to buy Geocities and $5.7 billion to buy Broadcast.com, but would later reportedly squander the chance to buy young versions of both Google and Facebook. Yahoo's own search offering now holds only a fraction of the market and its eventual purchase of social network Tumblr hasn't made up for the Facebook miss. (Yahoo wrote down Tumblr's value for the second time last week.)

 Over the last four years, Mayer, a former Google executive, tried to right Yahoo's ship. But her tenure was marred by confused strategy and mismanagement. Revenue peaked in 2008, the year after the iPhone came out, and traffic has continued to fall as users find their attention drawn to younger, more relevant websites and apps.

 The one thing that kept Yahoo afloat for this long is Jerry Yang's risky $1 billion bet on Alibaba in 2005. That bought 40% in what would become China's ecommerce king. Yahoo sold parts of that holding over time, but its current stake is still worth more than $30 billion at today's prices.

 However, the investment was so successful that it became worth far more than Yahoo's flagging core business. In 2015, Yahoo's management plotted a tax-free spin off of its Alibaba stake to unlock shareholder value, but scrapped the plan at the last minute when the IRS refused to grant its blessing. Since then, Yahoo has been evaluating "strategic alternatives" with a months-long auction process for its core business that has drawn constant headlines and speculation. The sale will not include the company's stakes in Alibaba or Yahoo Japan.

 Read more: How Jerry Yang Killed Yahoo, By Saving It

 Experts have long pegged Verizon as the frontrunner, but others put in bids. Billionaires Dan Gilbert and Warren Buffett backed one offer, as did the parent company of Yellow Pages, and private equity firm TPG. But in the final accounting, it would be Verizon that snagged Yahoo's technology and web properties off the bargain bin, 22 years after inception.

 It's an ironic end. While the opening of the consumer web made the portal an early online superpower, now Yahoo will be eaten by a company that enables more users to access the Internet every day, from anywhere, than Yahoo's founders ever could have dreamed when they first launched. ||||| Verizon Communications has announced it is buying Yahoo’s core businesses for $4.83 billion—a steep price to pay for internet assets that are considered “worthless” by Wall Street.

 The deal makes sense for Verizon, though.

 As one of the largest US telecom carriers, Verizon faces market saturation and limited growth prospects in its traditional business. Its purchase of Yahoo, which follows its acquisition of AOL in May 2015, provides more evidence that it sees online content and advertising as a primary way to increase growth.

 Under the deal, Verizon will get Yahoo’s online assets including search, mail, and instant messaging, along with its ad technology and various real estate holdings. The sale does not include Yahoo’s cash, nor its stakes in Alibaba Group Holdings and Yahoo Japan. These and a handful of other assets will stay with Yahoo, which plans to change its name when the Verizon transaction closes and will remain a publicly traded company.

 For Verizon, the acquisition of Yahoo’s core internet assets puts the telecom giant “in a highly competitive position as a top global mobile media company, and help accelerate our revenue stream in digital advertising,” Verizon chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam said in a press release announcing the transaction.

 In the online advertising business, Verizon faces two main competitors: Google and Facebook. By meshing together various tools from AOL, Yahoo, and its own operations, Verizon might be able to mount a credible challenge to those two giants. Verizon already has AOL’s advertising technology—and Yahoo’s has been criticized—but Yahoo’s prowess in native advertising could prove useful, especially in the mobile space. Yahoo also could help Verizon improve in the search arena, where it lags.

 Meanwhile, Yahoo will bring in hundreds of millions more viewers from sites like News, Sports, and Finance to complement Verizon’s popular properties like TechCrunch and Huffington Post. In the US, comScore puts Yahoo at No. 3 among digital properties.

 “Yahoo and AOL popularized the Internet, email, search and real-time media,” Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said in the joint announcement of the deal. “It’s poetic to be joining forces with AOL and Verizon as we enter our next chapter focused on achieving scale on mobile.”

 Of course, even with the AOL and Yahoo assets, Verizon has a long way to go (paywall) to catch up with the online advertising leaders. Verizon with AOL currently holds a mere 1.8% of the $69 billion digital ad market in the US. Yahoo has about 3.4%. Google and Facebook together claim about half of it. Looked at another way, though, there’s plenty of market share to steal, which can’t be said of its traditional business.

 This story was updated at 8:13am ET with information from Verizon and Yahoo’s official statement announcing the deal. |||||

– In its confirmation of Verizon's purchase of Yahoo's web assets, announced Monday morning, the Wall Street Journal describes it as a "remarkable fall" for Yahoo, once valued at more than $125 billion and now plucked up for less than 4% of that—$4.83 billion in cash. A rundown of the deal's specifics, and how it's being reported: Read CEO Marissa Mayer's lengthy letter to Yahooers about the "amazing opportunities [Yahoo will realize] in its next chapter" here. Bloomberg explains what Verizon is and isn't getting: yes to Yahoo's real estate, no to Yahoo's cash and its shares in Alibaba Group Holding. Business Insider reports AOL head Tim Armstrong will likely emerge as CEO of an AOL-Yahoo combo (Verizon bought AOL for $4.4 billion in 2015). It issues a warning: "The siren song of Yahoo has lured others before him. And Armstrong's desire to revive the struggling internet business may leave him blinded to the same trap as his predecessors." The Washington Post points out the Mayer turned down a deal to buy Yahoo two years ago—a deal Armstrong offered. It looks at what Armstrong, and Verizon, want with Yahoo. In her letter, Mayer writes, "For me personally, I'm planning to stay." It's unclear how long she'll stay for, or in what capacity. In a piece heralding the "saddest $5 billion deal in tech history," Forbes reports Mayer is expected to be handed a $50 million-plus severance package when she does go. Quartz looks at how the deal might allow Verizon to "mount a credible challenge to those two giants": Google and Facebook. The giants own about half the $69 billion US digital ad market. Verizon plus AOL plus Yahoo would claim about 5.2%. Recode profiles Marni Walden, the 49-year-old Verizon exec (and Armstrong boss and "rising star") who drove the deal. The New York Times uses a series of infographics to explain why Yahoo sold itself.


Summarize this article:

In recent days, Democratic strategists have all but begged President Barack Obama to take control of a deepening public relations disaster that threatens to derail his second-term agenda.

 On Wednesday evening, Obama began to do just that. The White House released 100 pages of emails and documents showing the evolution of the administration’s talking points about the Benghazi attack. Just over an hour later, Obama himself came to the podium to announce that he’d directed his treasury secretary to request the resignation of the acting IRS commissioner — and had gotten it.

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 reset POLITICO Junkies: Obama damage control continues Obama IRS latest: ‘Inexcusable’

 The president also plans to appoint a new acting IRS commissioner this week, a senior administration official told POLITICO Thursday.

 So has a string of decisive actions in the space of less than a day stopped the bleeding?

 For Republicans, the answer is clearly no. They’re going to remain on the attack — and they’re upping their demands. Moments after Obama spoke, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called on Obama to apologize to the American people. “Simply allowing the acting head of the IRS to resign is not enough,” he said in a statement.

 (PHOTOS: 10 slams on the IRS)

 And Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said on CNN that while Obama “set exactly the right tone” on Wednesday night, the president must cooperate with Congress in the days ahead.

 But after days of anxiety, Democratic operatives said the White House has found its footing. Still, happy as they were to see Obama win a news cycle, they insisted he’s far from being in the clear — Republican adversaries feel that they’re only just beginning, and they’ll have another chance to lay into the administration at Friday’s hearing on the IRS.

 Obama’s top staff spent much of early Wednesday locked behind closed doors figuring out the best way to move ahead — without causing any new headaches — on all three fronts. The main problem, Obama aides say, was getting a fast decision on declassifying many of the Benghazi emails.

 (PHOTOS: 10 slams on Obama and Benghazi)

 Though the White House didn’t buy all of the advice that came from the outside — one Obama aide called the push for an external review a “half-assed” idea — there wasn’t much doubt that they needed to respond strongly, and they needed to get rid of IRS acting Commissioner Steven Miller.

 “We needed to make sure we got it all right and could respond with as much force as possible on as many fronts as possible,” an Obama aide said.

 (Also on POLITICO: State fretted over Benghazi talking points)

 “Everyone says be fast, but fast is deadly if you are wrong. Always better to suffer through some news cycles to do it right, which is what the president did [Wednesday],” the aide added. “Our goal since Monday night when the AP revelation poured accelerant on the fire has been to tackle each of the three issues separately but forcefully and get back on offense as soon as possible. That wasn’t possible on Tuesday because we didn’t have the IG report and would not have been able to take decisive action at the IRS and we needed to get the emails declassified, which took time and pushed us into Wednesday.”

 The president instructed Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to request and receive the resignation of acting IRS commissioner Steven Miller on Wednesday in the wake of the scandal over extra tax scrutiny given to conservative political groups.

 The administration official said there is no timeline yet to appoint a permanent commissioner — which would require Senate confirmation. ||||| It says something about the kind of fortnight the president has been having that the controversies facing his administration can be divided into tiers.

 The Benghazi debacle and the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups are, as it were, “tier one” scandals: the former because it involves obfuscation and cynical political calculation in the matter of the murder of four Americans by jihadists, the latter because it comprises systematic governmental discrimination against conservatives for exercising the core right to political speech.

 The Justice Department’s seizure of phone records from the Associated Press, by contrast, is at least for now a second-tier concern. The confiscation is sure to chill the AP’s relationship with its sources, and normalizing such a practice would certainly chill the exercise of a free press. And there are questions to ask about the wisdom of the Justice Department’s specific actions, and about Attorney General Eric Holder’s odd recusal from the proceedings — a decision about which he admits making no formal record, and that he says prevents him from testifying to specifics. But so far what we have here are possible excesses in the course of a legitimate investigation. The department was looking into a leak that compromised a U.S. asset in Yemen, an asset who had disrupted a terrorist bomb plot. Such leaks are illegal. They make America less safe. And the Justice Department is right to look into them.

 But in all three cases — the first two emphatically, the third provisionally — there is a “there” there, whatever the administration, and its exhaustively circumlocuting spokesman Jay Carney, are claiming to the contrary. Congress should investigate. And though the AP story has angered some progressives, and the IRS story some vulnerable Democrats, it will fall on the Republicans to lead the way.

 We urge them to do so with vigor, but also with a keen sense of the limits of political scandal. Republicans must guard against the temptation to count on scandal to deliver election victories in 2014 and 2016.

 It is a lesson they should have learned in 1998. Republicans expected to make large gains in Congress that year but ended up losing five House seats and standing pat in the Senate. The problem was not so much that Republicans “overreached” in pursuing the impeachment of President Clinton, as the conventional wisdom has it. The Republicans that year did not really run on a promise to remove Clinton from office — or on any other agenda. Their strategy was to assume that the scandal would redound to their benefit, and that they merely had to sit back and let victory rain o’er them. It didn’t.

 The current lot should not make the same mistake. Democratic scandal does not take the place of a Republican agenda. It does not reform the tax code or reduce the debt or ease regulatory burdens on small business. It cannot substitute for a strategy to replace Obamacare. By all means, Republicans should run against the president and his party — against their refusal to take the entitlement crisis seriously, against the implementation of their “train wreck” health-care law, and even against the unusually politicized executive-branch culture that contributed to the post-Benghazi cover-up. They should at the same time understand that a purely negative message, however justified, will not produce the governing majority Republicans should be aiming for in the next two elections.

 Even worse than relying on scandal would be advertising the fact. Republicans should not indulge in public speculation about the electoral repercussions of these scandals for 2014 (much less 2016!). Doing so plays into the Democrats’ hands by making legitimate inquiries seem like opportunistic partisan exercises, and is thus likely to be a self-canceling prophecy.

 Republicans should not jump to conclusions, either, about how high up the White House chain of command these scandals are likely to creep. The facts alone will determine that. And perhaps most of all, conservatives and Republicans should not talk loosely about impeachment. The overwhelming likelihood at this point is that Barack Obama will leave office on January 20, 2017. The main task ahead for Republicans is to build a post-Obama majority so that his governing philosophy departs too. ||||| He likewise had nothing to do with the Justice Department seizure of phone records of reporters for The Associated Press, aides say. The Benghazi dispute, he complains, is brazen politics, and the White House released e-mails Wednesday meant to show that the president’s close aides had little involvement in its most hotly debated aspect. He has no way to force Congress to pass even a modest gun-control bill, aides say, while the slaughter in Syria defies American capacity to intervene.

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 All of which raises the question of how a president with grand ambitions and shrinking horizons can use his office. Mr. Obama may be right about some of the things he cannot do, but he has also struggled lately to present a vision of what he can do.

 On Wednesday, the administration appeared to take a newly aggressive tack on three current imbroglios, pushing out the head of the I.R.S., releasing the Benghazi e-mails and announcing that it would revive legislation to protect journalists from legal jeopardy. The president also said he would hold a news conference Thursday.

 The most obvious larger area for progress is immigration, where Republicans appear to want to reach a deal to improve their standing with Latino voters. Aides hold out hope for reaching a budget deal, resuscitating gun control and using executive authority to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. And Mr. Obama can shape policy by putting his health care program into effect, nominating federal judges and a Federal Reserve chairman, and withdrawing more troops from Afghanistan.

 “I still think we have a chance to do some significant things,” said David Plouffe, his longtime adviser. “If we get immigration and something on economy and deficits, that would be a pretty banner year, given a divided Congress.”

 He rejected the suggestion that Mr. Obama, who forced Republicans to accept higher taxes on the wealthy after re-election, has been too passive. “The notion that there’s some sort of easy leadership play that he hasn’t called yet that would unlock gridlock, that’s not a very sophisticated analysis,” Mr. Plouffe said.

 Second terms have long vexed presidents, whether it was the Iran-contra affair for Ronald Reagan or impeachment for Bill Clinton. Much as Mr. Obama failed to win his first big post-inaugural priority in gun control, President George W. Bush saw his effort to revamp Social Security in his fifth year go nowhere. With violence spiraling in Iraq, Mr. Bush found it hard to regain traction.

 Yet presidents have made breakthroughs in their second term amid Congressional investigations. Reagan signed a nuclear-arms treaty with the dying Soviet Union, and Mr. Clinton balanced the budget. Mr. Bush defied broad opposition to a troop surge in Iraq, fueling a turnaround there.

 For Mr. Obama, the sharp drop in the projected deficit, announced Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office, served as a reminder that if he finishes his term with a healthier economy, it may matter more to his legacy than this week’s setbacks.

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 Still, the latest furors could harden an impression of an Obama presidency that has expanded the reach of government further than many Americans would like. And they can undermine a powerful tool of the presidency, the ability to focus public attention.

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 Mr. Obama recognized the dynamic while a senator, telling aides that a president could drive just 15 to 20 percent of the public agenda; the rest of the time, he had to react. In that light, aides say, Mr. Obama maintains his famed equanimity and, free of campaign pressures, takes a longer view.

 “Being in office for nearly four and a half years gives the president some perspective — it helps separate the signal from the noise,” said Dan Pfeiffer, a White House senior adviser. “When you have dealt with real life-and-death problems, the political ones seem much smaller and affect you less.”

 Yet Mr. Obama also expresses exasperation. In private, he has talked longingly of “going Bulworth,” a reference to a little-remembered 1998 Warren Beatty movie about a senator who risked it all to say what he really thought. While Mr. Beatty’s character had neither the power nor the platform of a president, the metaphor highlights Mr. Obama’s desire to be liberated from what he sees as the hindrances on him.

 “Probably every president says that from time to time,” said David Axelrod, another longtime adviser who has heard Mr. Obama’s movie-inspired aspiration. “It’s probably cathartic just to say it. But the reality is that while you want to be truthful, you want to be straightforward, you also want to be practical about whatever you’re saying.”

 The cinematic allusion seems striking given Mr. Obama’s rejection of Hollywood’s version of the White House, what one former aide calls “the Harry Potter theory of the presidency,” which suggests that he could wave a wand and make things happen. At the White House Correspondents Association dinner last month, he bristled at the idea that he should pattern himself after Michael Douglas’s assertive character in “The American President.”

 Turning to Mr. Douglas, who was in the audience, he jokingly asked what his secret was. “Could it be that you were an actor in an Aaron Sorkin liberal fantasy?” Mr. Obama asked. He added later, “I get frustrated sometimes.”

 Mr. Obama was more scornful a few days later when a reporter skeptically asked about his prospects for further legislation. “As Mark Twain said, rumors of my demise may be a little exaggerated at this point,” he said.

 This week, as Mr. Obama confronted a scandal frenzy unlike any he has faced, he let his guard down during fund-raisers in New York. “My thinking was after we beat them in 2012, well, that might break the fever,” he told donors. “And it’s not quite broken yet.”

 He sounded almost plaintive in wishing he had more ability to advance his agenda. “I sure want to do some governing,” he told another set of contributors. “I want to get some stuff done. I don’t have a lot of time.”

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 Still, as he was traveling on Marine One on Monday, Mr. Obama took note of news reports describing last Friday as a terrible day. “You know what was actually a terrible day?” an aide recalled him saying. “The day Benghazi actually happened.” |||||

– Enter the new narrative from the DC press corps: The White House is shifting from offense to defense on scandals, or as Politico puts it, "President Obama tries to stop the bleeding." Obama fired the IRS chief yesterday, released Benghazi emails, and got a new press-shield law in the works in response to the trio of recent scandals. The upshot? "After days of anxiety, Democratic operatives said the White House has found its footing," writes Jennifer Epstein. "But happy as they were to see Obama win a news cycle, they insisted he’s far from being in the clear—Republican adversaries feel that they’re only just beginning, and they’ll have another chance to lay into the administration at Friday’s hearing on the IRS." The New York Times, meanwhile, has a front-page analysis that says a quick fix is out of the question. ("An Onset of Woes Raises Questions on Obama Vision" reads the headline.) Yes, the president got aggressive, but "at times, Mr. Obama comes across as something of a bystander occupying the most powerful office in the world, buffeted by partisanship and forces beyond his control," writes Peter Baker. The president is clearly vulnerable, and Republicans must press these investigations, writes the conservative National Review. But they shouldn't be licking their chops: "Democratic scandal does not take the place of a Republican agenda," write the editors.