Here is a news article: × Texas woman recounts her ‘unreal’ fight against flesh-eating bacteria

 AUSTIN, Texas – A Texas woman is recovering after a trip to the beach quickly turned into a life-threatening scare.

 “I feel like I’ve absolutely walked out of this like a cat that used one of their lives,” said Michelle O’Brien.

 Within hours, a seemingly small accident left Michelle’s family never wanting to return.

 Michelle and her son were looking for sea glass when she stepped on an oyster.

 “That oyster was like a razor blade, like a surgeon’s scalpel, it went straight through,” she said.

 Even though she was wearing thick sneakers, Michelle was exposed to Vibrio Vulnificus, a flesh-eating bacteria.

 “Kinda like you’re on fire from within,” she said.

 Vibrio Vulnificus is in the same family as Cholera.

 It attacks the immune system and can destroy feet, hands and anywhere there is an open wound.

 “The only reason I still have my foot attached to me is because I got those early antibiotics in,” she said.

 She was headed home to Austin with a dose of antibiotics, but they were not enough.

 Michelle spent five days in the hospital, mostly in the ICU.

 “It was unreal how quickly it came on,” O’Brien said.

 Most cases of the bacteria happen between May and October because that’s when the water is warmest.

 “People don’t realize it’s not just on oysters, this bacteria is in the water. If it were a small child or an older person or somebody that’s not in tip-top shape, it is absolutely deadly,” she said.

 She says she is thankful for the second chance she has been given and will never look at the ocean the same way again. ||||| Lenny and Joann Buck wanted to spend their 24th wedding anniversary at the beach in Baldwin County, but the Georgia couple's vacation plans now include the hospital.

 Lenny got sick after eating raw oysters at an Orange Beach restaurant. He had a fever and developed sores and blisters on one of his legs. Lenny contracted Vibrio Vulnificus, a potentially deadly, flesh eating bacteria.

 The bacteria thrives in warm, saltwater and can enter the body through open wounds or by eating contaminated shellfish. The bacteria can be particularly dangerous to people with pre-existing medical conditions or compromised immune systems.

 Lenny- who is diabetic and a cancer survivor- has been at South Baldwin Regional Medical Center in Foley for the past 13 days. He faces his 6th surgery Thursday to repair his damaged and infected leg.

 Doctors say Lenny won't be able to walk for at least four months. Lenny tells us he's never eating raw oysters again. ||||| Fall Allergies Nothing to Sneeze At

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 There's a serious danger lurking in the water off the Florida coast.

 Vibrio vulnificus may sound like a Harry Potter spell, but it's actually the scientific name for a flesh-eating bacteria that thrives in warm saltwater, according to WPTV.com. Officials issued a new warning about the bacteria Monday, telling anyone with an open cut to stay out of the water and reminding all swimmers to wash off before going home, the report added.

 The Florida Department of Health also warned that consuming raw oysters or shellfish could put people in danger for contracting the disease, so always be sure to cook seafood before consumption, says WPTV.com. Those with weaker immune systems should also stay out of the water, as they have a much higher risk of death if infected by the bacteria.

 (MORE: What Turned This River Red?)

 In all, 32 people have been sickened by the illness. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, skin lesions, fever, chills and a decline in blood pressure.

 The Broward-Palm Beach New Times mentions 10 people have died from the flesh-eating bacteria in the Sunshine State during the past few years. The paper says two of those deaths were in Broward County in 2013.

 The most recent deaths were this year in Lee and Sarasota counties. The Fort Myers News-Press reports bacteria killed two people in Lee County; One victim was a man over 65 who ate infected oysters, while the second victim was a man who got sick after exposing an open wound to bacteria in the Gulf of Mexico. A third person died in Sarasota County, according to First Coast News.

 Finding this strain of bacteria along Florida's beaches is especially disconcerting because the state thrives off its tourism industry to the tune of $76 billion annually, according to VisitFlorida.com. Many of the state's 94 million tourists make their way to the coastline and swim in saltwater that contains the dangerous bacteria.

 (MORE: Tragedy on the Beach a During Family Vacation)

 Still, health officials say you should not cancel your vacation. Vibrio vulnificus is found in many waterways where people frequently swim, and the Broward-Palm Beach New Times says you've probably gone swimming in one of these water bodies.

 Just be cautious, the health department warns, if you have a weakened immune system, because the flesh-eating bacteria becomes more dangerous for those with compromised immune systems.

 MORE ON WEATHER.COM: 13 Healthy Habits That Can Actually Hurt You |||||
A summary of this is?

– Not long after Florida warned beachgoers to be careful, new reports are emerging of tourists suffering from flesh-eating bacteria. The Weather Channel points to reports of at least three deaths in the state this year, while others have suffered from Vibrio Vulnificus in Alabama and Texas. A Georgia man ended up with sores on his leg and a fever after eating raw oysters at a restaurant in Orange Beach, Alabama; officials have warned against eating raw shellfish. Diabetic and cancer survivor Lenny Buck, who was celebrating his 24th wedding anniversary, is due for a sixth surgery on his leg this week, WKRG reports. A woman from Austin, Texas, meanwhile, has contracted the disease after cutting her foot on an oyster in Galveston. "That oyster was like a razor blade, like a surgeon’s scalpel, it went straight through," Michelle O'Brien says, per KFOR. She was hospitalized for five days and says she would have lost her foot without antibiotics. The illness can be contracted by swimming in affected areas, and it can be fatal about half the time. (Read about another "nightmare bacteria" also on the rise in the South.)


Summarize this article:

Warm Atlantic waters wage a new assault on Arctic ice from below

 A new enemy is undermining ice floating on the Arctic Ocean: heat from below.

 Sensors that have plumbed the depths of Arctic seas since 2002 have found warm currents creeping up from the Atlantic Ocean and helping drive the dramatic retreat of sea ice there over the last decade. A new study shows this “Atlantification” of the Arctic Ocean as a new, powerful driver of melting, alongside losses due to rising air temperatures.

 The paper shows “a massive shift” in the behavior of the Arctic Ocean over a short time, says Finlo Cottier, a physical oceanographer with the Scottish Association for Marine Science in Oban who was not part of the study team. “Here we’re seeing an ocean basin changing on a generational timescale—or less,” he adds.

 Deep below the Arctic sits a ridge that splits the ocean roughly in half: The Amerasian basin sits on the North American side, whereas the Eurasian basin lies north of Europe and most of Asia. Both basins are losing ice fast. Across the entirety of the Arctic Ocean, it’s disappearing at an eye-popping rate of 13% per decade since satellite data was available. It has also thinned by 1.7 meters since the 1970s.

 Warm Atlantic waters, delivered by an offshoot of the Gulf Stream, have long been known to prevent ice formation north of Scandinavia, on the western side of the Eurasian basin. Satellite data show that, in general, sea ice is much more prevalent in the eastern side of the basin, north of Siberia. But over the last decade, ice has also begun to disappear here, too. It used to persist through the sunny summers, allowing several years of ice growth to accumulate. Now, the ice melts in summer, causing the total time without floating ice in the region to jump from less than 1 month per year to more than three.

 To understand this new trend, scientists in 2002 began installing sensors on lines tethered to the floor of the Eurasian basin, called moorings. The team relied on a total of nine moorings, augmented with satellite data and sensors bolted below drifting sea ice and along ice frozen to the shore. When they retrieved data from the moorings in 2015, they found that the ocean had experienced a dramatic change over the previous decade, especially during the winter.

 Between Norway and Greenland in the western Eurasian basin, Atlantic currents flow into the Arctic at a depth of 200 to 250 meters, about 4°C warmer than the surface water. In winter, cold air cools surface waters until they fall and mix with the warm waters below. That creates an overall warmer, well-mixed ocean over the top 250 meters, and one with little sea ice.

 On the eastern side of the basin, however, the warm Atlantic waters were kept at bay—until recently. The currents lurked at a depth of about 150 meters, but they didn’t mix much with surface layers, because of a barrier called the cold halocline layer (CHL)—a boundary between salty deep waters and fresher water on top. Summer ice, as it forms, rejects salt, leading to the creation of dense, salty waters just below the ice. Those waters are heavier, and as they fall they create a highly stratified ocean. “Previously this monster, Atlantic warm water, was well covered from the surface” by the CHL, says Igor Polyakov, a physical oceanographer at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, who led the study. “The new data show this layer has disappeared in winter.”

 The result, he says, is an increased “Atlantification” of the Arctic, where the eastern side of the Eurasian basin is becoming more like the western side, the team reports today in Science . The top of the Atlantic water, according to one mooring, had risen from a depth of 140 meters in the winter of 2003–04 to a depth of 85 meters just a decade later. Without summer sea ice forming to establish the CHL, he says, the ocean mixes more—and less ice forms.

 On the eastern side of the Eurasian basin, say Polyakov and his colleagues, air temperatures were the main culprit for ice melting in the 2000s. Now, however, they believe air temperatures and warm waters share the blame about equally. Polyakov says a positive feedback loop is underway, in which less summer sea ice will lead to warmer winter waters and even less summer ice in subsequent years. One unknown is how the addition of massive flows of freshwater from Siberian rivers, bolstered by thawing permafrost, could affect the system, says study co-author Eddy Carmack, an oceanographer with Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Sidney. That new freshwater could encourage more sea ice to form on the basin, unless winds wash the new water away. ||||| Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about Science.

 NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address. ||||| Climate change is melting the sea ice so rapidly that parts of the Arctic ocean are beginning to take on characteristics of the Atlantic ocean. The change could affect everything from how freshwater is stored and delivered to how the ocean itself responds to increasing acidity, according to a study published in the journal Science on Thursday.

 When healthy, the Arctic ocean exhibits a surprisingly resolute system of stratification — thick layers of ice that provide a natural barrier to nutrient mixing, one of the hallmarks of an ocean like the Atlantic. The Atlantic’s mixing process, by which it draws heat upward from the deeper ocean and circulates nutrients, means that the base of its food web is more prolific, resulting in more alkaline water. When it comes to how an ecosystem like this will function in the Arctic, however, we’re in uncharted waters — it is, after all, a region that traditionally doesn’t see much overturn.

 “There is ongoing debate that heat release from a more open Arctic ocean will affect mid-latitude weather patterns,” co-author Eddy Carmack explains to Inverse over email. “More open water means that winds may more actively drive freshened surface waters, with regional consequences.”

 The Arctic’s eastern Eurasian Basin has been basically ice-free for nearly six years. By comparing satellite estimates from 2013 to 2015 for the thickness of what ice does remain to previously published work, the researchers found that the region is rapidly exhibiting weakened stratification, with less sea ice and more vertical mixing — i.e., more like the Atlantic.

 We know, of course, that sea ice has been melting. But this new data helps us better understand the role of the ocean beneath as the ice itself retreats and thins. The researchers found that both the ocean’s recycled heat (stored in the warmer summer months and then released in the winter) and its imported heat (pulled up from warmer subarctic seas to the south) play an increasingly large role in the sea ice’s decline.

 Original Bill Nye Predicts the Future of Bacon, the Environment, Animals, and Bacteria

 This isn’t the first time researchers have quantified the effects of global ocean warming using satellites, an increasingly handy tool in the battle against climate change. Carmack and his colleagues used satellite data to observe changes in the coverage and thickness of the sea ice, as well as the speeds and trajectories of its drift. They were also able to use satellites to determine the ice’s age — the length of time it spent in the Arctic before either melting off or being ultimately exported into the surrounding subarctic oceans. They combined that information with data gathered from local buoy systems to be able to make the comparison between the Arctic and the Atlantic, and begin to extrapolate exactly what kind of consequences we might be looking at. ||||| The Arctic is undergoing an astonishingly rapid transition as climate change overwhelms the region.

 New research sheds light on the latest example of the changes afoot, showing that parts of the Arctic Ocean are becoming more like the Atlantic. Warm waters are streaming into the ocean north of Scandinavia and Russia, altering ocean productivity and chemistry. That’s making sea ice recede and kickstarting a feedback loop that could make summer ice a thing of the past.

 “2015 was a really anomalous year when we had problems finding a suitable ice flow to launch our drifting buoys,”Igor Polyakov, an oceanographer at the University of Alaska who led the new study, said. “(There was) nothing like that in the past, and it became a motivation to our analysis: why was ice in 2015 so rotten? What drives this huge change?”

 The findings, published in Science on Thursday, show that while warming air has a role to play, processes are playing out in the ocean itself that are fundamentally altering the region.

 Those changes will have impacts on the people, plants and animals that call the Arctic home. They could also create more geopolitical tension as resources previously locked under ice become available and shipping lanes open up.

 In the east Arctic Ocean, the shift is manifesting itself in changing the layers of the ocean. There’s a cap of cold, less salty water that covers the eastern portion of the Arctic Ocean. Underneath it sits a pool of warm, salty Atlantic water that until recently hasn’t been able to find a way to surface. That stratification of layers has kept ice relatively safe from its warm grip.

 The ocean has become gradually less stratified since the 1970s. Using data from buoys and satellites, Polyakov and his colleagues have found a more marked shift over the past decade and a half. Since 2002, the difference in water temperatures between the layers has dropped by about 2°F.

 In winter from 2013-2015, the cap separating the deep water and surface water disappeared completely in some locations, allowing the warm Atlantic waters to reach the surface and cut further into sea ice pack. At the same time, warm air has further reduced sea ice, which is allowing still more mixing of the ocean layers.

 The result is a feedback loop that is essentially turning roughly a third of the eastern Arctic Ocean into something resembling the ice-free Atlantic Ocean.

 “Rapid changes in the eastern Arctic Ocean, which allow more heat from the ocean interior to reach the bottom of sea ice, are making it more sensitive to climate changes,” Polyakov said. “This is a big step toward the Arctic with seasonal sea-ice cover.”

 The changes are already apparent in the region, which has largely been ice-free during the summer since 2011. The sea ice winter maximum, which has set a record low for three years running, has been largely driven by a lack of ice in the eastern Arctic.

 Polyakov said he’s seen the rapid changes in ice firsthand. When they first put buoys in the eastern Arctic in 2002, researchers had to reach the sites on heavy icebreakers.

 “Now we can reach them using an ice class ship,” he said. Ice class ships are not necessarily as reinforced as icebreakers.

 The sea ice changes are having profound impacts outside of researchers’ ability to access more remote sites. Other research published earlier this week in Science Advances shows that thinning sea ice is allowing phytoplankton to bloom across the region.

 Phytoplankton are tiny plants, and like your average potted plant, they need sunlight to bloom. Sea ice has been thick enough to prevent that from happening until very recently. The new findings show that over the past decade, up to 30 percent of the Arctic has become primed for summer blooms.

 “Both of our results show the Arctic becoming a very different place than it has been in the past,” Christopher Hovart, an oceanographer at Harvard who led the plankton study, said. “Water pathways are changing, the ecology is changing, all driven by the declining sea ice field.”

 This article is reproduced with permission from Climate Central. The article was first published on April 6, 2017. |||||

– The "Atlantification" of the Arctic Ocean is underway. And no, that doesn't mean we're about to get the polar bear version of Outkast, but rather that the Arctic Ocean is rapidly becoming more like the Atlantic Ocean, according to new research published Thursday. The Arctic Ocean has historically been separated into two layers: a cold, less salty layer on top with a salty, warmer layer of Atlantic water underneath, Scientific American reports. The barrier between the two is called the cold halocline layer, and it's been responsible for preserving Arctic sea ice, according to Science. But the separation between the layers has been quickly breaking down over the past decade or so. The temperature difference between the two layers has lessened by 2 degrees since 2002, and the top layer of cold water has gotten thinner in the past decade—possibly by as much as 180 feet. From 2013 to 2015, the layers merged completely in some areas. The loss of the cold halocline layer means sea ice in the Arctic is getting attacked from both sides. Warming air and warming surface ocean temperatures are creating a "positive feedback loop" that is decimating the ice. Sea ice in the Arctic is decreasing by 13% every decade, and soon the Arctic Ocean could be entirely ice-free during the summer. Between warmer water with more nutrients and no more ice to block the sun, it's unclear what will happen to the Arctic's ecosystem, Inverse reports. (One woman's desperation advanced Arctic exploration.)


Article:
A mental adventure familiar to most students is that of cramming one’s mind with knowledge in the run up to an exam. Once the exam is done, we gleefully evacuate our brain of all this hard-won learning that’s no longer needed. Within days, we can barely remember the subject matter, let alone the details. At such moments, it’s as if we’ve forgotten on purpose.

 It might then come as a surprise to learn that until recently, there was little scientific evidence that people could have any deliberate influence on their rates of forgetting. But in the last few years, a small family of experimental techniques have showed that, under the right conditions, we can in fact deliberately forget things. The effects are subtle, but nonetheless suggestive: being able to forget at will would, after all, be a killer life skill.

 But how does deliberate forgetting work? An exciting new study sheds light on the question.

 Jeremy Manning and Kenneth Norman have been doing wonderful work on memory for years, and in a remarkably cunning experiment, they provide evidence that we forget things by discarding the mental context within which those memories were first learned.

 Sticky brain or memory like a sieve? | Ben Ambridge Read more

 The study is a sophisticated one, and it’s worth reading the original here (methods sections are always the best bit, FYI). But in essence, they instructed people to deliberately remember or forget words they’d just learned. And they then spied on the brain to see what happened next.

 What they observed is that the brain that attempts to remember keeps active the mental context that was present during the learning – whereas the brain that tries to forget discards that context, letting go of the mental scaffolding that had (probably) supported the construction of those memories in the first place.

 That context is the key to forgetting is striking, and makes intuitive sense, since it’s also the key to remembering. The most powerful memory technique of all is the “memory palace”, which is precisely an instrument that exploits the powers of spatial context to enhance memory. By imagining objects around sequences of locations (contexts), we can then recall those memories by visiting those contexts.

 In more familiar territory, a fundamental rule of hosting a good party is to make sure the event transitions through several rooms or locations. Parties that unfurl all in the same space become a mess of disorganised memory; by contrast, when a party transitions through a series of differentiated contexts, such variety is soon reflected in memory, and one can recall precisely what one experienced in each location, enjoying each moment for its own recollected merits.

 And of course, the quality of an experience correlates almost exactly with how well it sits in memory. Our most magical and meaningful experiences tend to include lots of doubt and suffering at the time. But such vulgar details dim in memory, and when the golden burst of meaning and friendship at the top of the tiring mountain path, for instance, is all that remains of a remembered adventure, we know that it was a wonderful time.

 Too many neurons spoil the memory Read more

 It’s sometimes said that we live in an age that doesn’t value memory, which would seem to be rather worrying in light of the vital role of memory in meaning. I don’t completely agree with this concern (the world’s never been more memorable), but this study on the importance of context in remembering and forgetting can attune us to at least one way in which we might do better with our experience.

 Consider how we now tend to photograph the most important moments in our lives rather than just drinking them in. When we do this, we diminish our first-hand experience, confident that by having stored (and perhaps shared) a photo, we’ve logged the moment. That leaves us much less likely to directly remember the original experience, allowing the photo to do our remembering for us.

 The result is that our lives become ever more biased in favour of the visual and the shareable. Vision is the most dispassionate, the least emotional, of all the modalities, and what we share inevitably biases our recollections towards moments where we seemed beautiful and happy, as opposed to those when we actually were. So our recollected lives become thinner, and less truthful.

 This mode of living is what the late Doris McIlwain called Living Palely, and I highly recommend reading her call for us to rationally embrace irrational emotion in order to live, and remember, fully.

 Perhaps, one day, we will all be able to remember at will the best parts of life and forget the parts that hold us back. There are techniques at our disposal to help us do both. But they require more than just changing the way we relate to our memories – they require us to tweak the way we live. And that is no small feat. ||||| Photo

 The leaders of the independent commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks, former Governor Tom Kean of New Jersey and former Representative Lee Hamilton of Indiana, carried out that highly sensitive task with integrity and rigor.

 Now they are weighing in again as the Obama administration prepares to make public at least some of the 28 pages from a separate, earlier investigation by a congressional panel that examined possible Saudi government involvement in the attacks. The pages have been kept secret since 2002.

 In a statement issued last Friday, Mr. Kean, the commission chairman, and Mr. Hamilton, the vice chairman, effectively delivered this bottom line to Americans: Be cautious in judging the material when it becomes available.

 Former Senator Bob Graham, who was a co-chairman of the separate 2002 joint congressional inquiry into the attacks, has long claimed there is evidence of complicity by institutions and people in Saudi Arabia beyond the 15 Saudi nationals who were among the 19 Al Qaeda terrorists. Such allegations are adding new tensions to an already fraught Saudi-American relationship.

 But Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Kean stress that, unlike their commission, the congressional panel never had a chance to investigate any of the leads contained in the 28 pages. Those pages were based mostly on raw, unvetted material from the F.B.I. and “therefore, are comparable to preliminary law enforcement notes, which are generally covered by grand jury secrecy rules. Those rules exist to avoid implicating people in serious crimes without the benefit of follow-up investigation to determine if such suspicions are substantiated,” they wrote.

 The two men said they consider this point crucial since the attacks were the worst mass murder ever in the United States. “Those responsible deserve the maximum punishment possible. Therefore, accusations of complicity in that mass murder from responsible authorities are a grave matter. Such charges should be levied with care,” they added.

 Their comments do not appear to be an attempt to whitewash any Saudi role. The 9/11 report was critical of Saudi Arabia: It cited the government’s funding of schools and mosques that fanned an extreme form of Islam known as Wahhabism, as well as contributions by some wealthy Saudis to Islamic charities with links to terrorism.

 During its tenure, the commission investigated all leads in the 28 pages and only one Saudi government employee was implicated in the plot, Mr. Kean and Mr. Hamilton said. He was Fahad al Thumairy, who worked as an imam at a mosque in Los Angeles and was employed by the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs. The commission found no evidence that Mr. Thumairy, who returned to Saudi Arabia in 2003, assisted two of the hijackers when they came to Los Angeles in 2000 but “he is still a person of interest,” they wrote.

 When it wrapped up its investigation in 2004, the commission concluded that there was “no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded” al Qaeda. In 2015, another independent panel created by Congress, the 9/11 Review Commission, found no new evidence against the Saudi government.

 The director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said on Monday that it was realistic to expect the administration to release at least some of the 28 classified pages by June. Whatever emerges must be weighed in the context of the work already done by Mr. Kean and Mr. Hamilton and their team. |||||Summary:

– A member of the official commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks is ratcheting up pressure on the White House to make public 28 pages of a congressional report dealing with suspected Saudi involvement. In an interview with the Guardian, former Navy secretary John Lehman lays it out in blunt terms: “There was an awful lot of participation by Saudi individuals in supporting the hijackers, and some of those people worked in the Saudi government,” he says. “Our report should never have been read as an exoneration of Saudi Arabia.” Lehman adds that he's not implicating members of the Saudi royal family or top civilian officials, but rather lower-echelon employees, perhaps in the Saudi ministry of Islamic affairs. Last month, the leaders of the commission—former GOP Gov. Tom Kean of New Jersey and former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton of Indiana—cautioned against releasing the 28 pages and noted that just one Saudi official had been implicated in the plot. (That was diplomat Fahad al-Thumairy, who was deported and remains a "person of interest," notes the New York Times.) But Lehman says he knows of at least five other Saudi employees who were under suspicion. “They may not have been indicted, but they were certainly implicated,” he says. “There was an awful lot of circumstantial evidence.”


Write a summary based on this article:

New research shows that for women who eat apples, there might be more to that old adage about the forbidden fruit's health effects than previously thought. According to a recent study in Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, women who consume apples on a regular basis tend to experience greater overall sexual function, reporting higher levels of arousal and satisfaction.

 Researchers analyzed the apple-eating habits of 731 sexually active Italian women over the course of seven months, polling participants between the ages of 18 and 43 with no history of sexual dysfunction. The women were classified into two groups -- those who ate one to two apples daily and those who ate none -- and asked to fill out the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), which includes more than a dozen questions regarding desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction and pain. All in all, Group A (the apple-eaters) totaled higher FSFI scores than their non-apple-eating counterparts, indicating increased lubrication and general sexual function.

 The researchers are quick to point out that while their results are "intriguing," they should be taken with caution. The study's small sample size makes it difficult to categorize too broadly, although the positive correlation between apples and better sex they found seems to speak for itself. Possible explanations for the link include the multiple antioxidants and other pharmacologically active substances (like phytoestrogens and polyphenols) present in apples, which have been associated with positive sexual effects before. The fruit shows similar sexual benefits as red wine and chocolate, but with other added health effects as well.

 It's also possible that the sexual health benefits come more from apple peels -- which have high concentrations of helpful phenolic compound -- than from the apples themselves. This study included only women who did not peel their apples before eating them, but the researchers speculate that it "might be interesting to evaluate" whether apple peels play a more specific role in female sexuality. We'll wait for that future study -- while snacking on some unpeeled apples.

 (h/t Huffington Post) ||||| It's been said that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but new research suggests it can do a lot more than that.

 A new study published in Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics suggests that eating more apples leads to better sex for women.

 Researchers analyzed 731 sexually active Italian women aged 18 to 43 with no history or complaint of sexual disorder. Women taking prescription drugs or suffering from depression were excluded from the study as well.

 Participants were separated into two groups: regular apple consumption (one to two apples a day) and no apple consumption (0 to 0.5 apples per day). The women then filled out the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), which is comprised of 19 questions about sexual function, sexual frequency, orgasm, lubrication and overall sexual satisfaction.

 Researchers found that "daily apple use is associated with higher FSFI scores in sexually active female patients, thus increasing their lubrication and overall sexual function."

 So why apples?

 The researchers hypothesize that apples may improve sexual function because, like red wine and chocolate, they contain polyphenols and antioxidants that can stimulate blood flow to the genitalia and vagina, thus helping with arousal.

 Not only that, researchers says apples contain phloridzin, a common phytoestrogen that is structurally similar to estradiol -- a female sex hormone -- and plays a huge role in vaginal lubrication and female sexuality.

 Of course, the study has its limitations. It's a relatively small sample size and it's difficult to separate correlation from causation. However, the researchers note the results are "intriguing," to say the least.

 Now excuse us while we go eat some apples.

 Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost Divorce on Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our newsletter here. ||||| INTRODUCTION:

 Even if some evidence exists of a positive correlation between regular intake of phytoestrogens, polyphenols, antioxidants and women's sexual health, there is not a study addressing the potential correlation between daily apple consumption and women's sexual function. We aim to assess whether there is a tie between daily apple intake and sexual function in a sample of healthy young sexually active Italian women, not complaining of any sexual disorders.

 MATERIALS AND METHODS:

 Seven hundred and thirty-one women (mean age 31.9, range 18-43) were enrolled in this cross-sectional study (from September 2011 to April 2012). All participants completed anonymously the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) and were asked to report on their amount of daily apple consumption and their eating habits. On the basis of apple consumption all women were split into two groups: Group A--regular daily apple consumption, Group B--no regular apple consumption (<1 apple/day). The main outcome measure was the FSFI questionnaire result.

 RESULTS:

 Three hundred and forty-three women reported a regular daily apple intake and were classified in Group A, while 388 were included in Group B. Group A had a significantly higher total (p = 0.001; Cohen's d = 3.39) and lubrication domain (p = 0.001; Cohen's d = 3.02) FSFI scores than participants in Group B. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that daily apple intake must be considered as an independent parameter (p = 0.002) in predicting a better score at questionnaire examination.

 DISCUSSION: |||||

– Eating the forbidden fruit of an apple tree may be even racier than the Bible says. Women who eat one to two apples a day experience a better sexual quality of life than women classified as having "no regular apple consumption," according to a new study in the Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Scientists followed 781 Italian women aged 18 to 43 with no history of sexual disorder and who were not taking prescription meds or suffering from depression, and learned that those who eat apples regularly had better "lubrication and overall sexual function." The researchers didn't establish causation—it's possible, for instance, that women who eat more apples are healthier overall, which contributes to better sexual function. But, like chocolate and red wine, apples contain polyphenols and antioxidants, which can increase blood flow to the genitalia, as well as phloridzin, a type of estrogen similar to the female sex hormone estradiol that improves vaginal lubrication, reports the Huffington Post. Some of these benefits may lie only in the peel of the apple, and researchers say it "might be interesting to evaluate" what role apple peels play in female sexuality, reports Salon. (Click to read about another unusual sex-related study.)


Summarize this article:

CLOSE Here is the full audio of Chuck Grassley's answer to a Des Moines Register reporter's question concerning the estate tax. The "booze or women or movies" quote begins at the 4:10 mark. Jason Noble/The Register

 Reporters wait for the arrival of senators for vote on the tax bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on December 1, 2017. (Photo: MARI MATSURI, AFP/Getty Images)

 If the tax reform packages that have now passed the U.S. House and Senate become law, at least one thing appears likely: The federal estate tax will be slashed and perhaps eliminated altogether.

 That will represent a victory for Republicans in Iowa’s congressional delegation, who have consistently opposed the tax and argued it unfairly lumps in the state’s farmers with some of the country’s richest families.

 But a review of federal tax data and nonpartisan research on the subject shows that family farmers and small business owners represent a tiny share of estate tax payers, and that the taxes they owe rarely force them to sell land or quit farming.

 The number of Iowans paying the estate tax actually numbers in the dozens each year, out of roughly 1.4 million who file federal tax returns each year. IRS data from the last five years shows the number of Iowa taxpayers owing estate taxes ranged from 32 in 2012 to 61 in 2015, and that the vast majority of those probably were not farmers or small business owners.

 Buy Photo Protesters gather outside the Neil Smith Federal Building in downtown Des Moines Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017, to protest the Republican Tax Reform Plan. (Photo: Rodney White/The Register)

 Despite that evidence, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a member of the tax-writing Finance Committee in the Senate, has long presented the estate tax as a potentially ruinous burden on farmers and small business owners.

 “The federal estate tax may force family members to liquidate to pay the death tax,” Grassley said in a statement released earlier this year. “It’s harder than ever for families to pass down the family-run farm or business from one generation to the next. The death tax creates financial hardship for family businesses to survive and thrive.”

 The estate tax is a 40 percent tax on wealth assessed when a person dies, and currently is applied to assets above $5.5 million for individuals and $11 million for couples. The House and Senate bills double those exemptions to $11 million and $22 million, and the House version abolishes the tax completely in 2024.

 ““I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”” U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa

 In a statement after the House bill passed, U.S. Rep. Steve King, a Republican from Iowa’s ag-heavy 4th District, cheered the changes, arguing the estate tax “often falls hardest on family-owned farms and small businesses.”

 Likewise, U.S. Rep. David Young, a Republican whose district includes the Des Moines metro, has highlighted changes to what Republicans often call the “death tax.”

 In a newsletter sent on Friday, Young called it a "myth" that "repealing the estate tax is a massive giveaway to the wealthiest Americans."

 Rather, he wrote, "The estate tax (sometimes called the death tax) negatively impacts farms and businesses all over the 3rd District. ... Death should not be a taxable event and families should not have to fear the Internal Revenue Service and more taxes making it more difficult and costly to pass on the farm or family business to the next generation."

 That view, in fact, has been a GOP talking point for a generation or more. President George W. Bush made the exact argument in 2001 when pushing tax cuts that raised the estate tax exemption and lowered rates.

 “To keep farms in the family, we are going to get rid of the death tax,” Bush declared back then.

 CLOSE Senate Republicans have approved a massive tax overhaul that provides more than $1 trillion in tax cuts over ten years. USA TODAY

 Few farmers affected

 The arguments from Grassley, Young, King and others, however, don’t match the reality found in federal tax data – particularly for Iowa.

 The estate tax applies to around 5,000 taxpayers across the entire country each year, and very few of them come from Iowa. Of the Iowans subject to the tax, only a fraction are actually farmers, and a vanishingly small number of them face a tax bill requiring them to sell off farmland or other assets.

 Buy Photo Paula Egan of Des Moines stands with protesters gathered outside the Neil Smith Federal Building in downtown Des Moines Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017, to protest the Republican Tax Reform Plan. (Photo: Rodney White/The Register)

 No data is available breaking down the occupations or asset types held by the Iowans subject to the estate tax. But national data shows farmers and owners of farm assets make up a tiny share of estate tax payers.

 According to IRS data from 2016, just 682 tax filers in the entire country who owed estate taxes owned any farm assets. That represents about 13 percent of the 5,219 estate tax returns in which taxes were owed.

 And even that figure likely overstates the number of primarily farm operations subject to the tax. A 2015 report from the Congressional Research Service projects that just 65 farm estates annually across the U.S. face an estate tax liability. Less than a quarter of these, the congressional report finds, have insufficient cash to pay their tax bills.

 A U.S. Department of Agriculture analysis published earlier this year found a somewhat higher number of farm estates owed the tax in 2016: 0.4 percent, or about 160 nationwide.

 Kristine Tidgren, the assistant director of the Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation at Iowa State University, said she’s not aware of any Iowa estates forced to sell land since the estate tax exemption was raised to its current level in 2012.

 Buy Photo Protesters gather outside the Neil Smith Federal Building in downtown Des Moines Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017, to protest the Republican Tax Reform Plan. (Photo: Rodney White/The Register)

 “I haven’t come across any examples of an Iowa family that had to sell the farm to pay the estate tax,” Tidgren said. “I don’t think the current estate tax system threatens family farmers.”

 The USDA report puts hard numbers to the tax liability faced by the few farms subject to the estate tax.

 Operations the USDA classifies as small family farms (those with annual income under $350,000) face an average tax bill of about $620,000, or 11 percent of their total value of the estate. For mid-size farms (with annual income between $350,000 and $1 million), the average bill is $3.7 million, or about 24 percent of the estate’s value.

 Tidgren said the farmers facing such a bill are typically diversified — perhaps with an off-farm job or business and liquid assets like stocks and bonds in addition to real estate and equipment.

 “With the price of land, there are some farms in Iowa that definitely have to worry about the estate tax, and they might end up having to pay some,” she said. “But generally those are larger operations and oftentimes they have other assets outside of the farm property.”

 The number of small businesses impacted by the estate tax is similarly small. That same Congressional Research Service report finds about 94 estates annually that hold half or more of their assets in a small business that heirs will continue to operate after the owners die. And fewer than half of these don’t have the cash on hand to pay the tax.

 All this means, in essence, is that lawmakers’ argument for abolishing a tax that generates tens of billions of dollars annually is based on the challenges faced by perhaps a few dozen farm estates and a few dozen more small businesses across the entire country.

 When asked for data supporting Grassley’s view, his Senate office offered a report from the American Farm Bureau Federation, which showed that rising land values in recent years have increased the number of farms potentially subject to the estate tax.

 That report found Iowa farms with as few as 625 acres — encompassing as much as 30 percent of farms in the state — could be subject to the tax in 2016.

 This analysis overlooks key factors, however. For one, it applies an exemption level of $5 million, which is roughly the exemption for an individual. For married couples, the first $11 million in assets are exempt from the tax. Using the Farm Bureau’s analysis but applying an $11 million exemption suggests only farms with more than about 1,400 acres might face the estate tax. Ten percent or less of Iowa farms are that size.

 The Farm Bureau analysis also does not account for various deductions available that can drive an estate’s taxable value below the $5 million threshold. Of the 120 Iowa taxpayers who filed an estate tax return in 2016, 118 claimed deductions and 44 actually owed taxes.

 Young, King and 1st District U.S. Rep. Rod Blum voted for the House version of tax reform containing the estate tax repeal. Grassley and Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst likewise voted for the Senate version, and Grassley this year co-sponsored standalone legislation to permanently abolish the estate tax.

 In a Nov. 29 interview, Grassley was adamant about the need for change, even if farmers and small business owners represent a tiny minority of estate tax payers. The reason, he said, is as much philosophical as practical.

 An estate tax effectively and unfairly taxes a person’s earnings twice, he argued: first when they earn it and again when they die. And, he added, it penalizes savers without touching spenders.

 “I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing,” Grassley said, “as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”

 The seven-term senator runs an operation in Butler County with his son and grandson and frequently describes himself as a farmer. When asked if his own family farm would be subject to the estate tax, Grassley initially said it would not.

 Then, after mulling it over a moment, he backtracked, noting that if he and his wife died on the same day the estate would be subject to the $5.5 million exemption rather than the $11 million exemption and likely would have to file an estate tax return.

 What the changes might mean

 Should the tax reform package ultimately pass with language doubling the exemption or ending it all together, Tidgren said one likely effect would be simplifying farmers’ financial planning. That’s particularly true for those who end up owing little or nothing, but must take complicated steps to get there.

 U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Dec. 2, 2017 (Photo: David R. Lutman, Special to Courier Journal)

 “There is a lot of expensive planning going on to try to reduce any liability that you have. That’s just smart business,” she said. “So the one thing I would say about the proposals on the table is they would definitely reduce the need for the vast majority of our farmers to worry about it at all.”

 Grassley echoed that point in a statement to the Des Moines Register, citing estate tax-related planning as a major headache for farmers and business owners.

 “Family farmers, small businesspeople and others that may be affected by the estate tax understand that it is law, so many are forced into spending large sums of their hard-earned dollars on lawyers and accountants to avoid its impact instead of reinvesting in their business,” he said. “This means that while many don’t end up paying the tax, it still has a negative effect on the economy.”

 Beyond that, of course, pulling back or eliminating the estate tax would save billions for the richest Americans. Seventy-two percent of estate tax payments come from the top 1 percent of U.S. taxpayers; 42 percent comes from the top 0.1 percent.

 How the estate tax works

 The estate tax is a 40 percent tax on assets assessed when a person dies. The rate and income levels subject to the tax have bounced around a lot over the last two decades, but under current law it kicks in on assets above $5.5 million for individuals and $11 million for couples.

 How might that play out in real life? Imagine a couple with assets — property, stocks, cash savings, etc. — valued at $21 million. When the surviving spouse dies, the estate would owe $4 million in estate taxes — 40 percent of the $10 million above the $11 million exemption.

 (This is just an example; there are several available deductions that could drive down the tax liability even further.)

 The tax bill that passed the Senate last week doubles the exemption to the tax, so that it’s applied only to an individual’s estate above $11 million or a couple’s estate over $22 million. In the example given above, the couple would no longer be subject to the estate tax at all; their assets are below the $22 million exemption.

 The House’s tax reform package, passed in November, is even more generous: It doubles the exemptions starting in 2018 and then abolishes the tax altogether in 2024.

 The Senate version would reduce government revenues by $83 billion between 2018 and 2027, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. The House approach would reduce government revenues $150.7 billion over that time.

 The House and Senate must now reconcile the differences between their bills and send a final version to President Donald Trump.

 Read or Share this story: http://dmreg.co/2nnLxD2 ||||| Grassley: Ending Estate Tax Recognizes Investors Over Spenders

 Enlarge this image toggle caption J. Scott Applewhite/AP J. Scott Applewhite/AP

 Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, commenting on the GOP tax overhaul, tells The Des Moines Register that ending the estate tax is about rewarding people who invest over those who spend everything they earn on "booze or women or movies."

 A promise to end the so-called death tax has been a bulwark of Republican electoral politics for decades. A House version of the bill would do just that by 2024; however, the Senate's version of the tax overhaul, which narrowly passed the chamber early Saturday, would keep it, but instead double the current exemption to $11 million from $5.5 million per individual. For married couples, the current exemption is already at $11 million.

 "I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it's on booze or women or movies," Grassley, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, told the Register on Saturday.

 The senator's remarks elicited a harsh response on social media, with one Twitter user commenting: "I'm sure those folks would love to invest, but they're a bit preoccupied just trying to make ends meet."

 The elimination of the estate tax benefits a tiny fraction of taxpayers. The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that for 2017, fewer than 2 in 1,000 estates will owe any estate tax, or about 0.2 percent.

 Grassley has been an especially strong proponent of ending the estate tax, claiming that it hurts Iowa families trying to pass their farms from one generation to the next. But in an editorial published over the weekend, the Register wrote: "a review of federal tax data and nonpartisan research on the subject shows that family farmers and small business owners represent a tiny share of estate tax payers, and that the taxes they owe rarely force them to sell land or quit farming."

 The Hill writes: |||||

 Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) questions Neil M. Gorsuch during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

 As Republicans continue to sell the details of their tax bill, some are reaching for more colorful language to liven up complex policies that tend to put the average voter to sleep.

 Case in point: Over the weekend, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) hashed over the plan with his home state’s largest newspaper, the Des Moines Register. Turning to the party’s idea of doing away with the estate tax, Grassley framed the current law as a hindrance to responsible saving.

 “I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing,” Grassley told the Register in a story published Saturday. “As opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”

 The estate tax, often described by Republicans as the “death tax,” is levied only on the very rich, passing on assets of more than $5.5 million for individuals and $11 million for married couples. The current tax on estates is 40 percent of an individual’s wealth at death.

 Grassley, a Senate Finance Committee member responsible for writing the tax proposal, was immediately slammed by critics over the comments.

 The suggestion — that anyone not socking away their savings in the bank or investments must be profligately throwing their money away — played directly into the critique that Republicans are disconnected from the majority of working Americans.

 [Analysis: Why aren’t you paying the estate tax? Maybe because you bought 311,000 bottles of whisky.]

 “Darn straight, Sen. Grassley,” former Hillary Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson wrote on Twitter. “If we gave that money in middle class tax cuts, they’d just waste it on hookers and blow. right?”

 Said Holly O’Reilly, a national “March for Truth” organizer:

 Dear @ChuckGrassley You spelled “food and childcare” wrong. Pull it together. Sincerely, America

 On Monday, Grassley said his point about the estate tax had been taken out of context and sought to expound on his thoughts.

 “My point regarding the estate tax, which has been taken out of context, is that the government shouldn’t seize the fruits of someone’s lifetime of labor after they die,” he said in a statement. “The question is one of basic fairness, and working to create a tax code that doesn’t penalize frugality, saving and investment. That’s as true for family farmers who have to break up their operations to pay the IRS following the death of a loved one as it is for parents saving for their children’s college education or working families investing and saving for their retirement.”

 [Democrats fume over ‘absurd’ GOP tax bill full of last-minute handwritten edits]

 Under the Senate tax plan passed early Saturday morning along partisan lines, the exemptions are raised to $11 million per individual and $22 million per couple. The House version of the bill does the same but also axes the tax completely in 2024.

 In Grassley’s home state of Iowa, the estate tax has been particularly fraught with controversy. Republicans have often argued that the 40 percent government tax creates a cost-prohibitive situation for farmers hoping to pass their farms on to heirs.

 “Death should not be a taxable event and families should not have to fear the Internal Revenue Service and more taxes making it more difficult and costly to pass on the farm or family business to the next generation,” Rep. David Young (R), a Des Moines-area congressman, wrote on Friday in a newsletter to constituents.

 But according to the Register, the actual numbers do not support that narrative. Citing 2016 data from the IRS, the newspaper determined 5,219 tax returns were affected by the current estate tax. Only 682, or 13 percent, of the tax filers owned farm assets.

 The paper also referred to a 2015 report from the Congressional Research Service noting that only 65 farm estates in the United States annually are touched by the estate tax.

 Grassley and other congressional Republicans have long maintained that even if farmers are not affected by the tax directly, the planning involved is an additional strain.

 “[M]any are forced into spending large sums of their hard-earned dollars on lawyers and accountants to avoid its impact instead of reinvesting in their business,” he told the Register. “This means that while many don’t end up paying the tax, it still has a negative effect on the economy.”

 This post has been updated.

 More from Morning Mix:

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 James B. Comey, Sally Yates and Eric Holder defend FBI after Trump’s Twitter attack ||||| Tweet with a location

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 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 ||||| As arguments for repealing the estate tax go, Chuck Grassley certainly … has one. Actually, the senator from Iowa has two, one on principle and the other based on scolding people over how they use their own money. Guess which one got the most attention this weekend?

 In comments published by the Des Moines Register on Saturday, Grassley explained why the Senate version of tax reform includes a traditional Republican repeal of the estate tax:

 Grassley was adamant about the need for change, even if farmers and small business owners represent a tiny minority of estate tax payers. The reason, he said, is as much philosophical as practical. An estate tax effectively and unfairly taxes a person’s earnings twice, he argued: first when they earn it and again when they die. And, he added, it penalizes savers without touching spenders. “I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing,” Grassley said, “as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”

 If Grassley wants to stop boozers and womanizers, he’d have his hands full just focusing on his Capitol Hill colleagues. Nothing says “I’m a man of the people” like attempting to craft laws to punish people for their social activities, amirite?

 This is everything right and wrong with the current Republican tax-reform effort in a nutshell. His first argument on the estate tax is dead-on correct. The estate tax’s true offense to ordered liberty is that it double-dips. Accumulated wealth exists from earnings already subject to taxation, and further taxation by passing the estate to one’s heirs is an injustice that in some cases needlessly complicates an already emotional process. It’s a form of double jeopardy, at least in principle.

 In the very next breath, however, Grassley commits the same sin that has plagued the tax system for decades, which is Congress’ desire to commit social engineering through it. The point of limited taxation is that the money belongs to the people who earned it, not the government elected by those people. If I want to spend my money on dinner with a woman, the latest Roman-numeral cookie-cutter superhero flick, followed up by a few drinks at the local bar, that’s my business and not that of Chuck Grassley. (In my case specifically, it would also be my wife’s business, and I’d face a very different kind of taxation.) Those choices should neither be abetted nor punished through the federal tax system.

 Conservatives have argued for decades to eliminate the kind of social engineering Grassley endorses here. A decade ago, we had competing tax proposals for either a flat tax or a repeal of the 16th Amendment and the use of a consumption tax to replace the current income tax. Now that Republicans finally have control of Washington, the best that they can do is merely an adjustment to the existing labyrinthine system — especially true of the Senate version — that leaves in place all of the manipulative capabilities for social engineering in both the corporate and individual tax systems.

 Finally, while eliminating the estate tax is a theoretically principled step, it should have been waaaaaaay down the list for true reform. As the DMR points out, it doesn’t actually impact very many taxpayers anyway, thanks to a high threshold for its application (currently $5 million in estate assets for single heirs, $11 million for married). In Iowa, that would impact perhaps 10% of all farms before allowable deductions that would raise the threshold even higher. And the Senate bill doesn’t even repeal the tax — it only raises the thresholds to $11 million/$22 million. That also is an adjustment, not a reform, so Grassley can’t even stand on the principle he proposes.

 Republicans had an opportunity to be bold; instead, they’re perpetuating the problem. In honor of that, I think I’ll get a case of Jameson’s, a shelf of new Blu-Ray films, and celebrate the victory of the swamp until the 2018 elections. As for the womanizing, Grassley has no worries. My wife is all over that one. |||||

– Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is taking flak over comments he made about why the GOP aims to scrap or least mitigate the estate tax. In speaking to the Des Moines Register, Grassley said the tax often derided by Republicans as the "death tax" is unfair because it taxes earnings twice, first when people earn the money and again when they die and try to pass it on to their heirs. Then came the more controversial part: "I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies." As NPR notes, that triggered a flurry of online criticism from those who viewed Grassley's remarks as elitist. This tweet is typical of the reaction: "I'm sure those folks would love to invest, but they're a bit preoccupied just trying to make ends meet." The Washington Post notes that it also caught the attention of former Hillary Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson, who tweeted, "[I]f we gave that money in middle class tax cuts, they’d just waste it on hookers and blow. right?” But it wasn't just Democrats taking issue. At the conservative Hot Air site, Ed Morrissey says the comment "is everything right and wrong with the current Republican tax-reform effort in a nutshell." Grassley's first criticism of the "double dip" problem with the estate tax is spot-on correct, he writes. "In the very next breath, however, Grassley commits the same sin that has plagued the tax system for decades, which is Congress’ desire to commit social engineering through it." The House tax plan would eliminate the tax entirely in 2024, while the Senate version would double exemptions to $11 million for individuals and $22 million for couples.


Article:

Acidic wastewater from an abandoned mine above Silverton coursed its way through La Plata County on Thursday, turning the Animas River orange-brown, forcing the city of Durango to stop pumping raw water from the river and persuading the sheriff to close the river to public use.

 Residents lined the banks of the Animas River on Thursday afternoon to watch the toxic wastewater as it flowed through Durango city limits. But the sludge slowed as it snaked its way through the oxbow in the Animas Valley, and the murk didn't arrive until after 8 p.m.

 The accident occurred about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Gold King Mine in San Juan County. A mining and safety team working on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency triggered the discharge, according to a news release issued by the EPA.

 The EPA's team was working with heavy equipment to secure and consolidate a safe way to enter the mine and access contaminated water, said Richard Mylott, a spokesman for the EPA in Denver. The project was intended to pump and treat the water and reduce metal pollution flowing out of the mine into Cement Creek, he said.

 The disaster released about 1 million gallons of acidic water containing sediment and metals flowing as an orange-colored discharge downstream through Cement Creek and into the Animas River.

 River closure

 The Animas River was closed to tubers, rafters and kayakers Thursday as the toxic plume made its way through Durango. The closure went into effect at 3 p.m., and it will remain in effect indefinitely until the river is deemed safe, said La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith. Government officials aren't certain what toxins and at what levels toxins are present in the river, and, therefore, decided it was best to close the river to public use.

 The closure, which applies to all flotation devices, is in effect for the entire stretch of the Animas River in La Plata County.

 “This decision was made in the interest of public health after consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, San Juan Basin Health Department and representatives of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe,” Smith said. “EPA test results of the Animas River are expected within 24-48 hours, and the order will be re-evaluated at that time.”

 City to conserve water

 The city of Durango stopped pumping water out of the Animas River on Wednesday to prevent contaminating the city reservoir.

 The Animas is an important secondary source of water for the city during the summer, and residents need to conserve as much water as possible over the next few days until the water is safe to use, said Steve Salka, the city's utilities director.

 No formal water restrictions were issued.

 At south City Market, Sean Lumen, who was hoisting bottled water onto emptied shelves, said if customers continued to buy water at Thursday's rate, the store would run out sometime Friday.

 At Albertsons, front-end manager Shelley Osborn said she initially thought people were buying up bottled water at an unusually rapid rate because it was on sale. Aaron Memro, grocery manager, estimated Albertsons sold two pallets of water Thursday – far more than usual.

 During the emergency, Salka will not send raw water to Hillcrest Golf Club or Fort Lewis College for grounds use. The city also will not water any city-owned parks for the next three days to help conserve, he said.

 On hot summer days, the city can use up to 9.2 million gallons a day. But the city can pump only 5.3 million gallons a day out of the Florida River.

 The city reservoir was about 4.5 feet below capacity on Wednesday, Salka said.

 “This couldn't happen at a worse time for me, so I have to be really cautious,” he said.

 Fish habitat

 The EPA downplayed the potential effects on aquatic life, saying there are long-standing water-quality impairment issues associated with heavy metals in Cement Creek and upper portions of the Animas River. As a result, there are no fish populations in the Cement Creek watershed, and fish populations have historically been impaired for several miles downstream of Silverton in the Animas River, the release said.

 Colorado Parks and Wildlife placed four cages containing fish in the Animas River to monitor what happens to them, said spokesman Joe Lewandowski. The cages were placed at 32nd Street, the fish hatchery, Dallabetta Park and the High Bridge.

 “We'll see if those fish survive,” Lewandowski said. “We're also monitoring to make sure we don't get infiltration into the hatchery, because that could be a problem.”

 Peter Butler, co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group and former chairman of the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission, said it remains to be seen whether the toxic metal concentrations flowing downriver will impact the few fish species living below Bakers Bridge. But if the plume does have a negative impact on aquatic life, Butler estimated that fish would die within hours of contact with the plume.

 The contaminated water made its way to Bakers Bridge in La Plata County by Thursday morning and hit town by Thursday evening. The material was expected to cross the New Mexico state line between 4 and 5 a.m. Friday and arrive in Farmington on Friday evening.

 Farmington city officials shut down all water-supply intake pumps to avoid contamination and advised citizens to stay out of the river until the discoloration has passed.

 Local officials asked all agricultural water users to shut off water intakes.

 What's in the water?

 Butler said the water being discharged from Gold King carried high concentrations of iron, aluminum, cadmium, zinc and copper.

 While he didn't know precisely the metal levels in the water that surged out of Gold King on Wednesday, Butler said: “I'm sure they were really high.”

 Though Gold King has no record of emitting mercury, Butler said “when old mines open up like that, mercury sometimes drains out. Possibly, some other metals might have been released, like lead and arsenic. But there's no evidence of that at this point.”

 Butler said Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety scientist Kirstin Brown had tested pH levels – the telltale measure of acidity in water – in the Animas River at Trimble Lane when the toxic plume arrived.

 The pH level dropped from 7.8 to 5.8.

 “That's a pretty big drop,” Butler said.

 Silverton does not use water from Cement Creek, so its water source remained uncontaminated, said William Tookey, the San Juan County administrator who met Thursday with EPA officials.

 The Animas River was looking healthier about 24 hours after the discharge in Silverton, he said.

 Gold King problems

 This is not the first time there has been a water-related accident at one of the mines, but it did come as a surprise to the town, Tookey said.

 He was not sure if the release would change attitudes toward the EPA in town. For years, some town residents and local officials have been opposed to a Superfund listing.

 “Since it was the EPA that was responsible for this, it may make people less likely to be open to them,” he said.

 Butler said everyone invested in improving the Animas River's water quality wanted to get into Gold King, because, for years, it has been one of the two biggest contributors of heavy-metal loads in the Animas Basin.

 “They had a plan for handling the mine pool, but something went wrong, and it all came blowing out,” Butler said.

 EPA teams will be sampling and investigating downstream locations over the next several days to confirm the release has passed and poses no additional concerns for aquatic life or water users. ||||| DENVER (AP) — A plume of orange-ish muck from million-gallon mine waste spill in Colorado was headed down river to New Mexico, prompting communities along the water route to take precautions until the sludge passes.

 People kayak in the Animas River near Durango, Colo., Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, in water colored from a mine waste spill. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that a cleanup team was working with... (Associated Press)

 Dan Bender, with the La Plata County Sheriff's Office, takes a water sample from the Animas River near Durango, Colo., Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that a cleanup... (Associated Press)

 Officials emphasized that there was no threat to drinking water from the spill. But downstream water agencies were warned to avoid Animas River water until the plume passes, said David Ostrander, director of the EPA's emergency response program in Denver.

 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that a cleanup team was working with heavy equipment Wednesday to secure an entrance to the Gold King Mine in southwest Colorado. Workers instead released an estimated 1 million gallons of mine waste into Cement Creek.

 "The project was intended to pump and treat the water and reduce metals pollution flowing out of the mine," agency spokesman Rich Mylott said in a statement.

 The creek runs into the Animas, which then flows into the San Juan River in New Mexico and joins the Colorado River in Utah.

 Officials weren't sure how long it would take the plume to dissipate, Ostrander said. The acidic sludge is made of heavy metal and soil, which could irritate the skin, he said.

 The EPA was testing the plume to see which metals were released. Previous contamination from the mine sent iron, aluminum, cadmium, zinc and copper into the water, said Peter Butler, co-coordinator of the Animas River Stakeholders Group.

 Earlier Thursday, the EPA said in a statement that the polluted water "was held behind unconsolidated debris near an abandoned mine portal."

 As the plume headed toward New Mexico, that state's governor said the EPA waited too long to tell her about the problem.

 Gov. Susana Martinez is disturbed by the lack of information provided by the agency to New Mexico's environmental agencies, said Chris Sanchez, a spokesman for the governor. Sanchez said that the state was not told of the spill until almost a full day after it happened.

 The plume made its way to Durango on Thursday afternoon, prompting La Plata County health officials to warn rafters and others to avoid the water. The scenic waterway was the backdrop for parts of the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and is popular with summer boaters.

 Durango stopped pumping water out of the Animas River on Wednesday to make sure none of the waste could be sucked up into the city reservoir. It also suspended the transfers of raw water to a local golf course and Fort Lewis College. Pet owners were advised to keep dogs and livestock out of the Animas.

 "It's really, really ugly," Butch Knowlton, La Plata County's director of emergency preparedness, told The Durango Herald. "Any kind of recreational activity on the river needs to be suspended."

 In Farmington, New Mexico, city officials shut down water-supply intake pumps to avoid contamination and advised citizens to stay out of the river until the discoloration has passed. Don Cooper, emergency manager in San Juan County, said people should not panic because the EPA had told the county the spill would not harm people and that the primary pollutants were iron and zinc.

 "It's not going to look pretty, but it's not a killer," Cooper told The (Farmington) Daily Times.

 The impact on wildlife wasn't clear. There are no fish in the Cement Creek watershed because of longstanding problems with water quality, the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment said.

 Colorado Parks and Wildlife was placing cages containing fish in the Animas River to monitor what happens to them, spokesman Joe Lewandowski said.

 "We'll see if those fish survive," Lewandowski said. "We're also monitoring to make sure we don't get infiltration into the hatchery, because that could be a problem."

 The U.S. Fish & Wildlife office in suburban Denver did not immediately return a call asking about the spill.

 Durango resident Lisa Shaefer said she was near the mine Wednesday when a mine bulwark broke and sent a torrent of water downstream that raised the water level 2 to 3 feet in Cement Creek. The initial wall of water carried rocks and debris and made a roar as it pushed through a culvert, she said.

 "What came down was the filthiest yellow mustard water you've ever seen," she told the newspaper.

 ___

 Information from: KIQX-FM, http://www.radiodurango.com ||||| About 1 million gallons of mine waste spilled into a Colorado waterway on Wednesday, turning the water bright orange and prompting officials to warn residents to avoid recreational use of the Animas River.

 San Juan County health officials say the Environmental Protection Agency and the state Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety were investigating another contamination when they “unexpectedly triggered a large release of mine waste water into the upper portions of Cement Creek.” Cement Creek is a tributary of the Animas River.

 Residents in parts of Colorado have been urged to cut back on water use and avoid the Animas River until officials are sure the river is free from contamination. According to a release by San Juan County Health Department, the waste contains “high levels of sediment and metals.”

 Residents in Durango, Colo. were bracing for the contaminated spillage to reach their area on Thursday afternoon. According to the Durango Herald, the city has stopped watering local parks for at least three days and is urging residents to conserve water until they’re sure their supply isn’t contaminated. The city has also ceased pumping water to a local college and golf course. |||||
What is a summary?

– Colorado's Animas River isn't always bright orange, but that's how it looks today after the EPA accidentally spilled a million gallons of mine waste into a tributary. Officials in San Juan County say state officials and the EPA were actually trying to access contaminated water at Gold King Mine in southwest Colorado on Wednesday when they "unexpectedly triggered a large release of mine waste water into the upper portions of Cement Creek," report Time and the Durango Herald. The acidic water—described by one witness as "the filthiest yellow mustard water you've ever seen"—contains sediment and metals that could irritate the skin, reports the AP. There's no risk to drinking water, but residents of communities along the river have been urged to cut back on water usage until the plume moves on. Yesterday the plume reached Durango, Colo., which had stopped pumping water out of the river on Wednesday. "It's really, really ugly," says a La Plata County official. "Any kind of recreational activity on the river needs to be suspended." The waste is now making its way to New Mexico, as the Animas River meets up with the San Juan River in that state before the San Juan joins the Colorado River in Utah. Officials have placed cages of fish in the river to identify any ill effects and are testing the water to identify the specific metals released. An expert guesses the water contains high concentrations of iron, aluminum, cadmium, zinc, and copper, based on previous contamination. It may also contain mercury, lead, and arsenic, he says, "but there's no evidence of that at this point." (One Texas town recently experienced a creepy water problem.)


– Wendy Davis took her 10 hours of filibustering fame and extended it by at least 15 minutes, appearing on three Sunday shows today and unloading on Texas Republicans trying to push through a 20-week abortion ban. “Gov. Perry and Lt. Gov. Dewhurst are willing to … put women in harm’s way in order to step up on the political ladder,” she said, adding that Republicans "mismanaged the clock terribly last time, and ran roughshod over a lot of our senate rules and traditions to try to ram this bill through. And they’ll probably be a bit smarter. But what they now have to confront is that the eyes of Texas, the eyes of the country are watching.” As for Rick Perry's musings on her beginnings, she responded thusly: "My life story is something that belongs to me. I had choices and chances and opportunities. What I'm working to fight for is to make sure that all women have the ability to do that." Elsewhere on the Sunday dial, as per Politico: Nancy Pelosi on Edward Snowden: “We have to know what is it that he has. And I don't know that he has that much substance. He may know something about the machinery. I don't know that he knows that much about the content. But now that he's threatening to share information with Russia and China, if he in fact he has any information, I think that should disabuse anybody of the notion that he is a hero.” And furthermore: “I think it's pretty good that he's stuck in the Moscow airport. That's OK with me. He can stay there, that's fine.” Former NSA chief Michael Hayden on NSA leak: It has caused "significant" damage, and “in an ideal world, I’d keep all of this secret because any of it I make public slices some of my operational advantage away from me. But democracies like ours don’t get to do something over a long period of time without national consensus." Conservative leader Ralph Reed says Prop 8 supporters aren't bigots: Joe Biden and Pat Leahy were among Dems who "voted for this law and Bill Clinton, who signed it into law, (so were they) intolerant and motivated by an animus toward gays? Obama was 14 months ago. Was he a bigot 14 months ago?"

Expand this summary.

Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis blasted Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on Sunday for using the 20-week abortion ban legislation in Texas to advance their own political ambitions.

 “I think really what’s happening here, Bob, is politicians are using this issue to boost their own political aspirations, their own political ambitions,” she told host Bob Schieffer Sunday on CBS's “Face the Nation.”

 “Gov. Perry and Lt. Gov. Dewhurst are willing to … put women in harm’s way in order to step up on the political ladder,” she continued.

 (QUIZ: Do you know Wendy Davis?)

 Davis, a Democrat, also said she expects Republicans to be “smarter” about how they manage the bill in the upcoming special legislative session, but that the national attention will ensure they are held “accountable” for the bill.

 “They mismanaged the clock terribly last time, and they also ran roughshod over a lot of our senate rules and traditions to try to ram this bill through. And they’ll probably be a bit smarter about how they try to move this bill in this next session starting on Monday,” she said. “But what they now have to confront is that the eyes of Texas, the eyes of the country are watching.”

 Read more about: Abortion, Rick Perry, Texas, David Dewhurst, Wendy Davis ||||| House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is defending her criticism of NSA leaker Edward Snowden and suggests he may not have any more substantive information about the surveillance program.

 “We have to know what is it that he has. And I don't know that he has that much substance,” Pelosi said in an interview aired Sunday on NBC’s "Meet the Press." “He may know something about the machinery. I don't know that he knows that much about the content. But I think that anybody thought he was a hero to begin with, now that he's threatening in any event to share information with Russia and China, if he fact he has any information, I think that should disabuse anybody of the notion-- that he is a hero.”

 The California Democrat also pushed back about criticism that while speaking to a progressive group, Pelosi was booed when she said Snowden wasn’t a hero.

 “And by the way, it was a smattering when I objected to him being called a hero. And yes, he did break the law,” she said. She added, “I think it's pretty good that he's stuck in the Moscow Airport. That's okay with me. He can stay there, that's fine.”

 Pelosi said the program strikes a balance.

 (Also on POLITICO: Assange: ‘Disgrace’ to cancel Snowden passport)

 “We all know that we have to have a balance between security to protect the American people and liberty. We take an oath to protect and defend the constitution and the American people,” she said. “And there -- so I have -- in all of the legislation that I've been involved in put serious obstacles to having surveillance that comes anywhere near to violating the rights of the American people including the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board which I think will now be further strengthened.”

 The current programs, she said, shouldn’t be compared to surveillance under former President George W. Bush.

 (PHOTOS: Pols react to Snowden on the run)

 “President Bush exercised unfettered, unlimited presidential discretion for surveillance in-- for surveillance," she said. "Under President Obama in '08 before he even became president we passed the FISA amendments which put up obstacles to the federal government doing surveillance which put oversight whether it's-- inspectors general, whether it's the Congress of the United States, whether it's a privacy or-- Privacy and Civil Liberties Board."

 Read more about: Nancy Pelosi, Surveillance, NSA, Edward Snowden ||||| Conservative leader Ralph Reed is pushing back at depictions of those who oppose gay marriage as being bigots.

 In a panel Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Reed, the head of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, responded to comments by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow that those who oppose gay marriage are trying to discriminate against gays and lesbians.

 "By that argument, was Barack Obama intolerant 14 months ago?" Reed asked Maddow.

 (PHOTOS: 26 gay-rights milestones)

 He rattled off a list of Democrats who voted for the Defense of Marriage Act but are now opposed to it, including Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Patrick Leahy.

 "All voted for this law and Bill Clinton who signed it into law were intolerant and motivated by a animus toward gays?" Reed said. "Obama was 14 months ago. Was he a bigot 14 months ago?"

 Read more about: Barack Obama, Gay Marriage, Ralph Reed ||||| Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, who skyrocketed to national stardom after she filibustered an abortion bill last week, said on Sunday she's not giving up when the Texas Legislature returns to again consider the legislation.

 "We will fight as we begin the session again on Monday," the Democratic lawmaker said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I don't think that we will concede that the battle is over."

 Davis pointed out that the legislation isn't just a ban on abortions after 20 weeks, the element that has gained the most attention. It also includes regulations that will close many of the abortion clinics in the state.

 "It's a huge omnibus bill that includes many many other aspects to it that are setting Texas back," Davis said.

 (QUIZ: Do you know Wendy Davis?)

 She also responded to Texas Gov. Rick Perry pointing out that Davis was a teenage mother as evidence that she should support abortion bans.

 "My life story is something that belongs to me. I had choices and chances and opportunities," Davis said. "What I'm working to fight for is to make sure that all women have the ability to do that."

 "His comments really demean the high office that he holds," Davis said, "and I think that's why we saw such a strong reaction to it."

 Read more about: Abortion, Rick Perry, Texas, Wendy Davis ||||| The former director of the CIA and NSA said Sunday revelations about NSA surveillance programs have done “significant” damage to President Barack Obama and his administration should do more to educate the American people about what’s going on.

 The administration, retired Gen. Michael Hayden said on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” should “make the American people a bit more comfortable about what we’re doing, otherwise they won’t let us do it in the first place.”

 “In an ideal world, I’d keep all of this secret because any of it I make public slices some of my operational advantage away from me,” he said.

 Still, he said, if the government does not find a “national consensus” on issues of surveillance, there will be a huge backlash.

 “You may be able to do one thing one-off based on narrow legalness … but democracies like ours don’t get to do something over a long period of time without national consensus,” he said.

 Read more about: Barack Obama, Michael Hayden, NSA |||||


The Pennsylvania State Police have a rigorous application process, which includes a polygraph pretest. Recently, a Crawford County man applying to become a state trooper apparently failed his polygraph so spectacularly, not only didn't he get the job, he ended up under arrest, instead.

 The Associated Press reports that 29-year-old Joseph Adam White, of Hartstown, was at the Meadville barracks for his police cadet lie detector exam when he admitted having sex with an underage girl four years ago during the polygraph pretest.

 The story doesn't detail how the subject came up. Only that White allegedly told the examiner that he had had consensual sex and other contact with the girl in 2011. She is now 19.

 Police tell AP they charged White on Thursday with four counts of unlawful sexual contact with a minor and 10 counts of corruption of minors after interviewing the woman and corroborating that information.

 Needless to say, he won't be getting an interview. ||||| MEADVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Police say a Pennsylvania man applying to become a state trooper has been arrested after saying during a polygraph pretest that he had sex with an underage girl four years ago.

 State police say 29-year-old Joseph Adam White, of Hartstown, was at the Meadville barracks Jan. 15 for his police cadet lie detector exam. They say during the pretest, he told the examiner he had consensual sex and other contact with the girl in 2011. She is now 19.

 Police say they charged White on Thursday with four counts of unlawful sexual contact with a minor and 10 counts of corruption of minors after interviewing the woman and corroborating that information.

 Online court records don't list an attorney for White, and he doesn't have a listed phone number. |||||

Write a summary.

– A Pennsylvania man is behind bars after allegedly telling state police he'd had sex with an underage girl. What's unusual: He told them while applying for a job as a state trooper, the AP reports via the Patriot-News. Police say Joseph White, 29, made the admission during a polygraph pretest at the Meadville state police barracks on Jan. 15. He allegedly admitted to consensual sex and other sexual contact with the girl four years ago; she's now 19. Police say the victim later corroborated the incidents, which occurred in a field in South Shenango Township, the Meadville Tribune reports. White was arrested Thursday on multiple charges of unlawful sexual contact with a minor and corruption of minors, and jailed on $25,000 bond. "Needless to say, he won't be getting an interview," quips the Patriot-News.


– A sinkhole that started out the size of a small swimming pool and continued to grow in Florida swallowed a boat, destroyed two homes, and prompted officials to evacuate residents from 10 other homes on Friday, the AP reports. Dramatic video showed the home, north of Tampa in Pasco County, collapsing into the hole on Friday morning. The hole quickly grew to 200 feet wide—about two-thirds the length of a football field—and 50 feet deep. Pasco County Fire Chief Shawn Whited told reporters that no one was at the home when crews arrived just after 7:30am. Someone had called about a "depression" under a boat parked in the backyard of a home in Lake Padgett Estates in Land O'Lakes. Within minutes, he said, "the hole opened up," and the boat fell in. Firefighters were able to get two dogs out of the home and retrieve some belongings before the first home started collapsing into the quickly-expanding hole. By early afternoon, the home next door also had been destroyed by the sinkhole. No injuries have been reported. Kevin Guthrie, Pasco County's assistant county administrator for public safety, said 10 other homes in the neighborhood have been tagged unsafe and the residents have been voluntarily evacuated. He said firefighters and deputies helped people get some of their belongings out of their homes. "It was frightening," Guthrie said. "The people coming out of those houses were frightened. Mother Nature is going to take what Mother Nature takes." Officials say Duke Energy cut power to about 100 homes in the neighborhood. The American Red Cross is assisting residents who've been displaced.

Expand this summary.

Debris is strewn about from a partially collapsed home in Land O' Lakes, Fla. on Friday, July 14, 2017.A sinkhole that started out the size of a small swimming pool and continued to grow has swallowed... (Associated Press)

 MIAMI (AP) — A sinkhole that started out the size of a small swimming pool and continued to grow in Florida swallowed a boat, destroyed two homes and prompted officials to evacuate residents from 10 other homes on Friday.

 Dramatic video showed the home, north of Tampa in Pasco County, collapsing into the hole on Friday morning. The hole quickly grew to 200 feet (60 meters) wide — about two-thirds the length of a football field — and 50 feet (15 meters) deep.

 Pasco County Fire Chief Shawn Whited told reporters that no one was at the home when crews arrived just after 7:30 a.m. Someone had called about a "depression" under a boat parked in the backyard of a home in Lake Padgett Estates in Land O'Lakes. Within minutes, he said, "the hole opened up," and the boat fell in.

 Firefighters were able to get two dogs out of the home and retrieve some belongings before the first home started collapsing into the quickly-expanding hole. By early afternoon, the home next door also had been destroyed by the sinkhole.

 No injuries have been reported.

 County property records show there was a sinkhole previously at the property where the first house was swallowed up, and that it had been "stabilized," in 2012. The home last sold in 2015, according to records.

 Sinkholes are stabilized by boring holes into the ground and injecting concrete

 Kevin Guthrie, Pasco County's assistant county administrator for public safety, said 10 other homes in the neighborhood have been tagged unsafe and the residents have been voluntarily evacuated. He said firefighters and deputies helped people get some of their belongings out of their homes.

 "It was frightening," Guthrie said. "The people coming out of those houses were frightened. Mother Nature is going to take what Mother Nature takes."

 Officials say Duke Energy cut power to about 100 homes in the neighborhood. The American Red Cross is assisting residents who've been displaced. ||||| Published on Jul 14, 2017

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 Video captured a large sinkhole swallowing part of a home near Tampa, Florida. Property records indicate a sinkhole previously opened on the property in 2012. (July 14)

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