– For four years, nearly all kids living in Japan's Fukushima prefecture have received ultrasounds to gauge the effects of the nuclear disaster there in March 2011. Now a research team says the alarming results are in: Children living near the nuclear plant have thyroid cancer rates that are 20 to 50 times higher than those found in children elsewhere, the AP reports. Per a study being published in the November issue of Epidemiology, of the 370,000 or so kids 18 and under in the Fukushima region who received thyroid exams since the disaster, 137 of them have suspected or confirmed cases of thyroid cancer, a number that rose by 25 from last year, the AP notes. "This is more than expected and emerging faster than expected," lead author Toshihide Tsuda tells the AP. Thyroid cancer cases in children outside the prefecture are estimated to be around one or two out of every million kids per year. Children's thyroids are particularly vulnerable to cancer—radioactive iodine released during nuclear meltdowns can cause it—because they're growing so quickly, NPR notes. Tsuda and his team claim that the numbers aren't simply the result of a "screening effect"—in which more routine checkups like the ones in Fukushima have simply found tumors earlier and more often—as the Japanese government has suggested. Other experts, however, aren't so sure how accurate Tsuda's study is and note the complexity of studying such an issue. The director for Columbia University's Center for Radiological Research, for example, tells NPR that just tying certain geographic areas to higher cancer rates doesn't prove anything without looking at individual radiation exposure, a claim that's echoed in a report by the World Health Organization.(The residents of the Japanese town of Nahara are finally allowed back—but many don't want to go.)

Expand this summary.

Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| TOKYO (AP) — A new study says children living near the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer at a rate 20 to 50 times that of children elsewhere, a difference the authors contend undermines the government's position that more cases have been discovered in the area only because of stringent monitoring.

 Toshihide Tsuda, a professor at Okayama University, speaks during a press conference at Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015. A new study says children living near the... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this March 29, 2011 file photo, children watch their father being screened for radiation at a shelter in Fukushima, northeast of Tokyo. A new study says children living near the Fukushima nuclear... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this March 15, 2011 file photo, a child is screened for radiation exposure at a testing center in Koriyama city, Fukushima Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, after a nuclear power plant on the... (Associated Press)

 Toshihide Tsuda, a professor at Okayama University, listens to a reporter's questions during a press conference at Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015. A new study says... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this March 24, 2011 file photo, a young evacuee is screened at a shelter for leaked radiation from the tsunami-ravaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Fukushima, northeast of Tokyo. A new... (Associated Press)

 Most of the 370,000 children in Fukushima prefecture (state) have been given ultrasound checkups since the March 2011 meltdowns at the tsunami-ravaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. The most recent statistics, released in August, show that thyroid cancer is suspected or confirmed in 137 of those children, a number that rose by 25 from a year earlier. Elsewhere, the disease occurs in only about one or two of every million children per year by some estimates.

 "This is more than expected and emerging faster than expected," lead author Toshihide Tsuda told The Associated Press during a visit to Tokyo. "This is 20 times to 50 times what would be normally expected."

 The study was released online this week and is being published in the November issue of Epidemiology, produced by the Herndon, Virginia-based International Society for Environmental Epidemiology. The data comes from tests overseen by Fukushima Medical University.

 Making sense of the relationship between radiation and cancer is precarious: It's scientifically impossible to link an individual cancer case to radiation. Looking harder with routine check-ups, like the one in Fukushima, leads to quicker discovery of tumors, inflating the tallies in a so-called "screening effect."

 Right after the disaster, the lead doctor brought in to Fukushima, Shunichi Yamashita, repeatedly ruled out the possibility of radiation-induced illnesses. The thyroid checks were being ordered just to play it safe, according to the government.

 But Tsuda, a professor at Okayama University, said the latest results from the ultrasound checkups, which continue to be conducted, raise doubts about the government's view.

 Thyroid cancer among children is one sickness the medical world has definitively linked to radiation after the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe. If treated, it is rarely fatal, and early detection is a plus, but patients are on medication for the rest of their lives.

 Scientists are divided on Tsuda's conclusions.

 In the same Epidemiology issue, Scott Davis, professor at the Department of Epidemiology in the Seattle-based School of Public Health, said the key limitation of Tsuda's study is the lack of individual-level data to estimate actual radiation doses.

 Davis agreed with the findings of the World Health Organization and UNSCEAR, or the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, both of which have carried out reviews on Fukushima and predicted cancer rates will remain stable, with no rises being discernable as radiation-caused.

 David J. Brenner, professor of radiation biophysics at Columbia University Medical Center, took a different view. While he agreed individual estimates on radiation doses are needed, he said in a telephone interview that the higher thyroid cancer rate in Fukushima is "not due to screening. It's real."

 Conclusions about any connection between Fukushima radiation and cancer will help determine compensation and other policies. Many people who live in areas deemed safe by the government have fled fearing sickness, especially for their children.

 An area extending about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the nuclear plant has been declared an exclusion zone. The borders are constantly being remapped as cleanup of radiated debris and soil continues in an effort to bring as many people back as possible. Decommissioning the plant is expected to take decades.

 Noriko Matsumoto, 53, who used to work as a nurse in Koriyama, Fukushima, outside the no-go zone, fled to Tokyo with her then-11-year-old daughter a few months after the disaster. She had initially shrugged off the fears but got worried when her daughter started getting nosebleeds and rashes.

 "My daughter has the right to live free of radiation," she said. "We can never be sure about blaming radiation. But I personally feel radiation is behind sicknesses."

 Andrew F. Olshan, professor at the Department of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill, noted that research on what follows a catastrophe is complex and difficult.

 "Dr. Tsuda's study had limitations including assessment of individual radiation dose levels to the thyroid and the ability to fully assess the impact of screening on the excess cases detected," he said.

 "Nonetheless, this study is critical to initiate additional investigations of possible health effects, for governmental planning, and increasing public awareness."

 ___

 Follow Yuri Kageyama: http://twitter.com/yurikageyama ||||| Background: After the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in March 2011, radioactive elements were released from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Based on prior knowledge, concern emerged about whether an increased incidence of thyroid cancer among exposed residents would occur as a result.

 Methods: After the release, Fukushima Prefecture performed ultrasound thyroid screening on all residents ages <=18 years. The first round of screening included 298,577 examinees, and a second round began in April 2014. We analyzed the prefecture results from the first and second round up to December 31, 2014, in comparison with the Japanese annual incidence and the incidence within a reference area in Fukushima Prefecture.

 Results: The highest incidence rate ratio, using a latency period of 4 years, was observed in the central middle district of the prefecture compared with the Japanese annual incidence (incidence rate ratio = 50; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 25, 90). The prevalence of thyroid cancer was 605 per million examinees (95% CI = 302, 1,082) and the prevalence odds ratio compared with the reference district in Fukushima Prefecture was 2.6 (95% CI = 0.99, 7.0). In the second screening round, even under the assumption that the rest of examinees were disease free, an incidence rate ratio of 12 has already been observed (95% CI = 5.1, 23).

 Conclusions: An excess of thyroid cancer has been detected by ultrasound among children and adolescents in Fukushima Prefecture within 4 years of the release, and is unlikely to be explained by a screening surge.

 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially.

 Copyright (C) 2016 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved. ||||| Overview of the Fukushima Health Management Survey

 Presented at ‘The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster – One Year Later’ at Simon

 Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada, on 10-11 March 2012.

 Shunichi Yamashita, M.D., Ph.D.

 Vice President

 Director, Radiation Medical Science Center

 Seiji Yasumura, M.D., Ph.D.

 Professor, Department of Public Health

 Vice Director, Radiation Medical Science Center

 Background

 The accidents that occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after the Great East Japan

 Earthquake on 11 March 2011 have resulted in long-term, ongoing anxiety among the residents of Fukushima, Japan.

 Soon after the disaster, Fukushima Prefecture launched the Fukushima Health Management Survey to investigate

 long-term low-dose radiation exposure caused by the accident. Fukushima Medical University took the lead in

 planning and implementing this survey. The primary purposes of this survey are to monitor the long-term health of

 residents, promote their future well-being, and confirm whether long-term low-dose radiation exposure has health

 effects.

 Survey population

 The Fukushima Health Management Survey consists of a basic survey and 4 detailed surveys, namely, the thyroid ultrasound examination, comprehensive health check, mental health and lifestyle survey, and pregnancy and birth survey. The target population of the basic survey is about 2.05 million. To be selected for the basic survey, individuals had to be either a registered resident of Fukushima Prefecture during the period of 11 March to 1 July (including those evacuated or transferred to residence registration in another prefecture); a resident of Fukushima Prefecture who was registered in another prefecture during the period of 11 March to 1 July; a resident of another prefecture who commuted to Fukushima Prefecture during the period of 11 March to 1 July; or a resident of another prefecture who temporarily stayed in Fukushima Prefecture during the period of 11 March to 25 March. The detailed surveys targeted selected people on the basis of the particular criteria used for each survey.

 External exposure dose, as indicated on the basic survey, and information from the detailed surveys will be linked and maintained in the database for later analysis.

 Basic Survey

 The Basic Survey is a questionnaire targeting roughly 2,050,000 residents of and visitors to Fukushima Prefecture as of 11 March 2011. Estimated external radiation doses were calculated based on recorded movements of respondents in the four months following the nuclear accident.

 Detailed Surveys

 Thyroid Ultrasound Examination: The examination covers roughly 360,000 residents aged 0 to 18 years at the time of the nuclear accident. The initial screening is to be performed within the first three years after the accident, followed by complete thyroid examinations from 2014 onwards, and the residents will be monitored regularly thereafter.

 Comprehensive Health Check: The program aims at early detection and treatment of diseases as well as prevention of lifestyle-related diseases. Its main target includes 210,000 former residents of evacuation zones whose lifestyle changed drastically after the accident. Additional tests such as differential leukocyte count are performed apart from the routine tests included in the general medical check-up at the workplace or by the local government.

 Mental Health and Lifestyle Survey: The survey aims to provide adequate care mainly for evacuees who are at a higher risk of developing mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and stress.

 Pregnancy and Birth Survey: The survey aids in providing appropriate medical care and support to mothers who were given a Maternal and Child Health Handbook between 1 August 2010 and 31 July 2011 and to their children. ||||| Fukushima Study Links Children's Cancer To Nuclear Accident

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Chris Meyers/Reuters/Landov Chris Meyers/Reuters/Landov

 Updated at 3:40 p.m. ET

 A new analysis of data from Fukushima suggests children exposed to the March 2011 nuclear accident may be developing thyroid cancer at an elevated rate.

 But independent experts say that the study, published in the journal Epidemiology, has numerous shortcomings and does not prove a link between the accident and cancer.

 The work, led by Toshihide Tsuda of Okayama University, is based on a large public health survey that was set up in Japan's Fukushima prefecture following the accident. As part of the survey, children who were living near the plant at the time of the accident have been offered regular thyroid screenings.

 Thyroid cancer can be caused by radioactive iodine released in a nuclear accident. Children are particularly susceptible because their thyroids are growing rapidly. Thyroid cancer was listed as a possible health risk in a World Health Organization report on Fukushima, though the report stated it would be difficult to link cancer cases to the accident.

 In the past year or so, the Fukushima Health Survey of more than 150,000 children has turned up 25 "suspicious or malignant cases" of thyroid cancer. Thyroid screenings in previous years have also found numerous cases.

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Wally Santana/AP Wally Santana/AP

 Japanese officials believe the screening process itself may be behind the numbers. Increased vigilance might be turning up thyroid abnormalities that otherwise would have gone undetected.

 But the new paper contradicts that view. The increase in cancer is "unlikely to be caused by a screening surge," the paper says. It says thyroid cancer rates are highly elevated throughout Fukushima.

 Other researchers are skeptical of the new result. Geraldine Thomas, a professor at Imperial College who has studied thyroid cancer from Chernobyl, says the analysis incorrectly compares the screening in Fukushima to clinical cases of thyroid cancer in which patients are already sick. The comparison falsely suggests thyroid cancer in Fukushima is elevated by as much as 50 times compared with the general population. "This is not a very good paper to be basing opinions on," she says.

 More accurate comparisons between residents within different parts of Fukushima prefecture show no statistically significant variations in cancer rates, she says.

 David Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University, adds that the study makes no effort to trace the exposure of patients. "It's simply relating geographic regions to cancer risks and not looking at individual radiation doses," he says, adding that without that information, it's virtually impossible to connect the screenings to the accident.

 "It really doesn't tell us the whole story," he says. |||||


– Tony Dungy says he's not prejudiced, despite his comment a couple days ago that he wouldn't have drafted openly gay player Michael Sam, TMZ reports. "I gave my honest answer, which is that I felt drafting him would bring much distraction to the team," Dungy said in a statement. He added that Sam deserves a chance to play, and Dungy would coach him, but said that "the media attention that comes with it will be a distraction." A few reactions to Dungy's initial comments: "Given Dungy's religious nature, his Indiana Family Institute affiliation and his expressed opposition to gay marriage, I wouldn't expect Dungy to open the door too widely to a gay athlete," writes Bob Kravitz at the Indianapolis Star. "It is, however, disappointing." Slate dug up a tweet Dungy posted about President Obama's support for marriage equality: "What is your take on the President's stance on gay marriage? I was disappointed he veered from biblical view." At Yahoo, Dan Wetzel argues that Dungy may be forgetting how blacks overcame prejudices to play pro ball, or how Dungy advocated for Michael Vick's return after Vick served time on dog-fighting charges. Now, Dungy's "thinking is devoid of courage—in every possible way." Enter Rush Limbaugh, who says that if the St. Louis Rams should cut Sam, people will say it's because he's gay—just as people did when the first black coaches were fired. Dungy is "just saying, if the report is accurate, he wouldn't want to deal with the distraction of it all as a coach," says Limbaugh.

Expand this summary.

The good news for Tony Dungy is that once upon a time enough people in power, be it in football … education … government … wherever, decided that they should empower African-Americans with the opportunities they deserved. They did this no matter whether things would go "totally smooth" or cause "things to happen" with the bigots who wanted to cling to the old days.

 At some point they said someone such as Dungy deserved to go to school with white people, play football with white people, even coach football like white people once exclusively did, even at the highest levels of the NFL. They rejected the ancient concept that blacks either weren't deserving/capable of such opportunities. Even more important, they ignored the idiotic idea that until every last racist was completely and wholly comfortable with a black man playing, learning or working alongside them (let alone be the boss) then such opportunity should continue to be withheld.

 The smartest people pushed the dumbest aside and decided to just let the best person win.

 Michael Sam is trying to make the roster with the Rams as a seventh-round draft pick. (AP) More

 And Tony Dungy won. From high school in Jackson, Mich., to college at the University of Minnesota, to the NFL as both a Super Bowl-winning player and coach. It continued as a best-selling author, coveted and highly compensated speaker and now high-profile analyst on NBC, front and center on the No. 1 television show in America.

 Despite all of that, Dungy decided to throw gasoline on the training camp story of the year by telling the Tampa Tribune that unlike the St. Louis Rams, he never would have drafted Michael Sam, the NFL's first openly homosexual player, because someone (who, he didn't say) might not handle it so well.

 "I wouldn't have taken him,'' Dungy told the Tribune. "Not because I don't believe Michael Sam should have a chance to play, but I wouldn't want to deal with all of it … It's not going to be totally smooth … things will happen.''

 This thinking is devoid of courage – in every possible way. And that's what makes this so pathetic.

 Dungy has a well-earned reputation as a straight shooter and a stand-up guy. It's almost impossible to play and work in the NFL without self-belief and heart. He is a powerful figure. He says a lot of smart things. He knows tough times and consistently finds time for people going through them.

 He should be a lot better than this.

 Dungy is an outspoken conservative Christian and if he were to say that he wouldn't have drafted Michael Sam because the Bible that Dungy believes in condemns Sam's lifestyle that would be … well, that would be ridiculous, hypocritical and wrong also, but at least it would seemingly jibe with Dungy's sometimes expressed beliefs.

 Sometimes being the operative word.

 Dungy, is, after all, a guy who has drafted, hired, signed, coached, championed and personally mentored scores of players and coaches who routinely engaged in Biblical definitions of sin, let alone behavior that goes against modern societal standards. He was (rightfully) a huge proponent, for instance, of Michael Vick deserving a second chance after incarceration for the operation of a dog-fighting ring.

 Still, at least it would be some kind of principled (if misguided) stance. At least it would've been honest.

 This is actually worse. This is a complete cop-out. This is Dungy bending to the beliefs that he knows are wrong simply because those who hold them may – may – find doing the right thing difficult.

 Read More ||||| Uh Oh! Tony Dungy Says He WouldnÂ’t Have Drafted Michael Sam

 RUSH: CBS News Pittsburgh. This is the, “Uh-oh!” I have it right here. It’s a Pittsburgh.CBSlocal.com report: “Former Pittsburgh Steeler defensive coordinator, NFL head coach, and NBC analyst Tony Dungy is making headlines after reportedly saying he wouldn’t have drafted Michael Sam because he is gay, and wouldn’t want to ‘deal with it.’

 “Dungy told the Tampa Bay Times that he wouldnÂ’t have taken Sam, ‘Not because I don’t believe Michael Sam should have a chance to play, but I wouldn’t want to deal with all of it.’ Michael Sam is a former Missouri linebacker, SEC player of the year, and openly gay. He was drafted in the 7th round of the NFL draft by the St. Louis [Lambs]. Dungy told the paper, ‘ItÂ’s not going to be totally smooth … things will happen.'”

 Things are getting ready to happen right now, if this is true. I mean, it says the word “report” in here. “After reportedly saying,” and it says, “Dungy told the Tampa Bay Times that he wouldnÂ’t have taken Sam, ‘Not because I don’t believe Michael Sam should have a chance to play, but I wouldn’t want to deal with all of it,'” meaning the Rams are not a football team this season.

 They are a social experiment.

 That’s what he means. Well, I don’t want to put words in his mouth. It’s just gonna be a constant… The media presence is gonna be there, and no matter what decision the coaching staff makes about Sam — whether he plays or not, whether he gets cut or not — it’s all gonna be held up through the prism of, “Is it because he’s gay?” Like if he gets cut — which I don’t think he can be.

 I, frankly, just… I don’t think anything’s in writing but I don’t think he can get cut. Let’s say he is. Can you imagine? Sportswriters are dumber and more liberal than their news counterparts, and they’re gonna be out there. The story is gonna be from, “Was he cut because he’s gay? Was he drafted ’cause he’s gay just so the goodwill could accrue to the league, and now they’re saying he can’t play?

 “They knew he shouldn’t play! Should he have never been drafted in the first place? Was it all a publicity stunt?” That will be one angle. Another angle will be related to, “Okay, maybe he can’t play, maybe he’s good as a backup, maybe he can’t start, but why cut him? Why can’t they make the statement of keeping the first openly gay player in the league?” It’s just not gonna end, and there’s no right move that the league or the Lambs can make.

 It’s like when there was a dearth of African-American head coaches, and then that was ameliorated somewhat with a number of them being hired. Well, you get hired to get fired in the NFL. So many African-American coaches, after being hired, were then fired. And there was not a cacophony of charges of discrimination against black coaches after they were hired because teams could respond:

 “Hey, hey, hey, hey! What do you mean discrimination? We hired the guy,” and that pretty much held sway. That ruled the roost. But, now, if Michael Sam gets cut, and the Rams… Look, I don’t even want to get into this, and I have nothing to do with it. But if he gets cut? Whew! They better have a lot of tape. He better play in all four preseason games. They better have the evidence that he’s cut because he just can’t make it, if that’s the case.

 I’m not saying he can’t. I don’t know what’s gonna happen. What Dungy is referring to is these eagle eyes that are gonna be on this, and this is no longer about a football team in the NFL. It’s a social experiment. He’s just saying, if the report is accurate, he wouldn’t want to deal with the distraction of it all as a coach. It’s not that he doesn’t think Sam should get an opportunity.

 Now, Tony Dungy… Speaking moral authority, Tony Dungy has it. Tony Dungy, in the NFL today, is the go-to guy for the right answer to every controversial question. He has earned that. Everybody wants to know what Tony thinks. You know, “What would Jesus do?” What would Dungy do? What does Dungy think? He has achieved that lofty perch in the NFL. That’s why this story is gonna be, “Uh-oh!”

 BREAK TRANSCRIPT

 RUSH: Anyway, a couple of snarky e-mails. “So, when are the gay activists going to demand that Tony Dungy be fired at NBC? When do you think that’ll happen, Rush?” Because, if you’re just joining us, and it has now been confirmed, Tony Dungy did tell, and he’s the moral authority of the NFL. When there is a moral dilemma or conundrum, they turn to Tony Dungy, the league does, other players do. They seek Dungy’s counsel on things. He’s achieved that status. He is a man of God. He’s considered incorruptible.

 He told the Tampa Bay Times that he would not have drafted Michael Sam if he were head coach in the league precisely because Michael Sam was gay, that he would not want to deal with the mess, meaning the media circus. He said it’s not that I’m opposed to Michael Sam having an opportunity to play; I just wouldn’t have picked him. Which, you people e-mailing me wondering about snark comments, there are.

 I have seen, I have found a couple of mini-snark comments in Drive-By sports media. The first half of the stories: Dungy unassailable, Dungy moral authority, Dungy understandable. But then at the end of the story, “But this is where Coach Dungy runs into trouble, because if it’s okay to discriminate against minorities because of too much trouble, then where would he be in the league?”

 So, I don’t know what’s gonna happen here. You would think that Dungy would, I don’t know, be immune. But even in some of the Drive-By sports media, they’re gonna have problems with this. (interruption) You want to ask me an NFL marketing question? By all means, ask me the NFL marketing much. What is it? (interruption) Perhaps. Snerdley wants to know, “Could it be that drafting the first openly gay player is a marketing ploy by the Rams ’cause you know it’s gonna sell tickets.”

 It might attract, it might expand the NFL audience to include gay people who may not be football fans, who might now be converted to football. Is that what you mean? (interruption) Or just want to be supportive? (interruption) Okay. So the Rams might sell more tickets than they otherwise would have because people just want be to supportive of the decision that they made. Anything’s possible. I mean, if you can have the whole month of October as pink month in the NFL, you could have a rainbow day. You know, one Sunday rainbow Sunday.

 You could do a rainbow month as a marketing opportunity. Yeah. I suppose it’s entirely possible. I don’t see why not if they thought it was a marketing opportunity. (interruption) What do you mean if Dungy blames Republicans? Who said he blames Republicans? (interruption) Oh. Oh, well, but he didn’t say that. Let’s not start putting words in his mouth. (interruption) (laughing) Look, any words I put in Dungy’s mouth the media’s gonna write that I said. I’m not gonna do that. Everybody’s asking me, “Well, Rush, what about this? What about this?”

 You guys go get your own shows and then you raise those questions. What do you mean, what if Dungy had said, “Well, the Republicans aren’t gonna stay fans anymore.” He didn’t say that. Why bring the Republicans into this? (laughing) Oh, you mean like blame the Tea Party? The Tea Party must have gotten to Dungy or something? Nah. I don’t think — well, anything is possible, but it is the news, Dungy did say it. It has been confirmed and there is some discomfort and unease out there in the sports Drive-Bys. I’ve already detected some.

 It’s very, very carefully worded right now. They’re tiptoeing into the water of this, waiting for media brethren to sign on and support any sentiment that might be opposed to Tony Dungy on this. (interruption) It is. The sports media’s dumber than the regular news media, and it’s more liberal. Hey, I am not the only one who thinks that. I know I’m the only one who said it. That’s true.

 I mentioned — well, I am courageous in that way. I told you I was at a golf tournament over the weekend. I can’t tell you, it was a record number of people on the golf course and at the related social functions, people didn’t even introduce themselves, they kept saying “Don’t stop what you’re doing.” I haven’t heard that in I don’t know how many years. “Don’t stop what you’re doing.”

 Most people, “Hey, great to meet you. I love listening to your show, blah, blah, blah.”

 “Don’t stop what you’re doing.” Well, the staff has always told me that, yes. But I’m talking about members of the audience, as a specific thing to say. I mean, there was a sense of urgency and fear behind it all, and appreciation. |||||


Here is a news article: The number of overdose cases on Chicago's West Side has jumped from more than 20 in 24 hours to more than 70 within 72 hours.

 Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said there has been 74 overdoses in the past 72 hours, noting that the number is more than double the rate of overdoses the city saw at this time last year.

 Chicago authorities said Thursday they were investigating what's behind the spike.

 A Chicago Department of Public Health alert obtained by the Tribune reported more than 20 people had overdosed in the neighborhood in just 24 hours.

 Police recovered a sample that may have been heroin laced with the painkiller fentanyl purchased at two West Side locations. Langford said it was not clear how much fentanyl had been added to the heroin batches.

 Chicago Police News Affairs on Friday said that 23 overdoses were reported in 24 hours, but no one had died as of Friday afternoon.

 Police said multiple law enforcement agencies were working "to identify the source of the extremely strong batch of heroin."

 The painkiller was in the spotlight in the in the mid-2000s when dozens of people died from fentanyl-related overdoses. ||||| By Friday afternoon, 14 people had been rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago in the previous 24 hours to be treated for heroin overdoses, some with the needles still stuck in their arm, according to hospital officials.

 In all, nearly 75 people have overdosed in Chicago since Tuesday afternoon from dangerous batches of narcotics, possibly heroin laced with the painkiller fentanyl, according to city health and fire officials. Police were investigating if at least one recent death was caused by a heroin overdose.

 "We suspect what is happening is the same thing that happened in 2006 when people were getting heroin that was cut with fentanyl, which is a very strong narcotic," said Diane Hincks, a registered nurse and emergency room director at Mount Sinai on the West Side. "That's what we think is happening."

 By early Friday afternoon, emergency crews had responded to 74 cases over 72 hours, more than double the same three-day period last year, said Larry Langford, spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department.

 Hincks said some of the 14 overdose victims treated at Mount Sinai had collapsed as soon as they injected themselves. The hospital typically sees two or three overdoses a day, she said.

 Two of Mount Sinai's patients were in intensive care, another was still undergoing treatment, seven had been discharged and a few more were still in the emergency room as of about 3 p.m, Hincks said.

 Chicago police said the drugs were purchased primarily at two locations on the West Side, one of them in the North Lawndale community. A sample of heroin recovered by police may have contained fentanyl, authorities said.

 The Drug Enforcement Administration is working with Chicago police to try to find the source of the dangerous batches of drugs.

 At City Council budget hearings Friday afternoon, Chief Mary Sheridan, head of the Fire Department's emergency medical services division, said all the recent overdose victims were stabilized with a single dose of Narcan, a heroin antidote carried by Chicago paramedics, and then transported safely to hospitals. But fire officials said the victims required additional doses of Narcan after arriving at hospitals.

 "They're taking double and triple the doses of Narcan in order to bring them out of their stupor," Hincks told the Tribune.

 Paramedics and other Fire Department personnel were given extra Narcan for their medical runs, officials said.

 Chicago police, meanwhile, are looking into whether a 49-year-old man who died of an apparent drug overdose in the West Side's East Garfield Park neighborhood had ingested narcotics from one of the dangerous batches, according to law enforcement sources.

 Heroin overdoses are spiking in Chicago. Authorities think the illegal drug may be spiked with something. Oct. 2, 2015. (CBS Chicago) Heroin overdoses are spiking in Chicago. Authorities think the illegal drug may be spiked with something. Oct. 2, 2015. (CBS Chicago) SEE MORE VIDEOS

 The victim was found dead in a third-floor apartment Thursday night in the 3300 block of West Ohio Street, police said. An autopsy on the victim Friday was inconclusive, pending toxicology studies that could take up to eight weeks to complete, according to a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office.

 The Chicago Recovery Alliance, which helps drug users, trains the public in overdose prevention, provides HIV testing and conducts needle exchanges, urged caution.

 "The best thing would be to have (Narcan)," said Dan Bigg, the group's director. "And watch each other's backs."

 Fentanyl-laced heroin has been causing overdoses across the nation. The DEA issued a nationwide health alert in March.

 Dr. Steven Aks, chief toxicologist at Stroger Hospital and an emergency physician, said fentanyl is used for especially painful surgical procedures.

 The powerful synthetic painkiller adds a potent kick to heroin, making it attractive to suppliers seeking an edge with customers.

 The last major outbreak of fentanyl-related deaths took place between 2005 and 2007, killing more than 1,000 people across the country. Dozens in the Chicago area died of overdoses, including from fentanyl mixed with other drugs.

 Hincks recalled how busy Mount Sinai's emergency room was for a few weeks in 2006, when she was a charge nurse, because of the fentanyl-laced heroin.

 "I remember how crazy it was," she said. "It got to the point it was just full. We had everyone lined up in the halls on carts. ... It was very busy."

 Cristina Villarreal, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Public Health, said that by 8:30 a.m. Friday more than 20 people had been treated for heroin overdoses. Villarreal said the department was awaiting lab results to confirm if the heroin was laced with fentanyl.

 "We are working closely to ensure that area hospitals are tracking individuals affected and are maintaining a necessary stock of medication supplies — including Narcan," Villarreal said in an email.

 John Callahan, coroner of Grundy County, said his office has seen three heroin-related deaths in the Morris and Coal City areas this year — but all of them came in August.

 He said he had been contacted by the DEA about two weeks ago.

 "They're trying to trace back where this potent heroin came from," Callahan said. "The way I understand it, there's a bad batch.''

 Heroin overdose deaths have been on the rise statewide since 2011, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Last year, 633 heroin overdose deaths occurred in Illinois, up from 583 in 2013. In Cook County, heroin overdose deaths remained largely unchanged last year at 283, down eight from 2013.

 A recent Roosevelt University report concluded that the Chicago area is racking up more heroin-related emergency room visits than any other metro area in the country. Compounding the problem was that state-funded drug treatment had dried up, the report found.

 Illinois' heroin crisis has drawn increasing attention from government officials in recent years, and lawmakers have proposed numerous measures aimed at attacking the problem.

 Chicago Tribune's John Byrne and The Washington Post contributed.

 jgorner@tribpub.com

 pnickeas@tribpub.com

 rsobol@tribpub.com |||||
A summary of this is?

– Chicago authorities are scrambling after 74 heroin overdoses were reported in the 72 hours between Tuesday and Friday afternoon, more than double the overdose rate during the same time last year, NBC Chicago reports. Police suspect an "extremely strong batch of heroin" that's been laced the powerful painkiller fentanyl. They are currently hunting for the source of the drug, which appears to have been sold at two locations on the city's West Side. "We suspect what is happening is the same thing that happened in 2006," Mount Sinai emergency room director Diane Hincks tells the Chicago Tribune. Between 2005 and 2007, more than 1,000 people around the country died from fentanyl-laced heroin. The Tribune reports there have been no deaths during the rash of overdoses this week that can be definitively traced to heroin laced with fentanyl, though authorities are waiting on toxicology reports from a 49-year-old man who died of an apparent overdose Thursday. Hospitals are supplying paramedics with extra doses of Narcan, a heroin antidote, due to the strength of the current batch. "They're taking double and triple the doses of Narcan in order to bring them out of their stupor," Hincks tells the Tribune. The DEA issued a nationwide warning about fentanyl-laced heroin in March. A recent study show Chicago has more heroin-related ER visits than any other US city.


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Former prosecutor Marcia Clark is opening up about the recent bombshell that Los Angeles police are currently investigating a knife that was allegedly recovered on property once owned by O.J. Simpson.

 "I really don't know what to think of it," Clark tells ET exclusively. "I can't believe someone gave a police officer what appears to be, could be, important evidence in a case -- even if it is closed -- and takes it home. I don't know what to say about that except I can't believe it, but it's apparently what happened."

 Of course, she still remains skeptical.

 "I don't know whether to say it is truly evidence, none of us knows that yet -- it might be a hoax, it might be somebody who planted it and then just pretended to find it and gave it to the off-duty police officer, you don't know," Clark says. "But, of course, I'm glad the LAPD is taking it seriously and subjecting it to testing so we can find out."

 Clark notes that DNA evidence could still be potentially recovered from the knife, if it is indeed not a hoax.

 "It's very possible -- I mean, they recover DNA on mummies in Egypt," Clark says. "It's entirely possible that if there is some DNA to be recovered, that it could be found, especially with today's technology, which is much more sensitive."

 "I think it's a remarkable development if it does turn out to be connected to the murders of Ron and Nicole," she adds. "It would be interesting if there was some evidence on that knife that pointed to who might have helped to bury it, if indeed someone else did."

 Though Clark points out that the chances of this leading to any sort of prosecution is unlikely.

 "The likelihood of any prosecution stemming from this evidence is very, very slim," she admits. "But we have to find out what this means -- what the truth of this is."

 "I just hope the truth comes out about this situation, as I always do about all situations -- whatever this is, let's find out," she adds. "Let's find out if it's related or not. I really want to say -- my heart goes out to the families. With these kind of things that stir up all these memories and the pain of it all, I just can't imagine how they're feeling right now."

 In a press conference on Friday morning, LAPD Capt. Andrew Neiman confirmed that the department is investigating the alleged discovery of a knife on the Rockingham property formerly owned by Simpson. He declined to name the retired officer involved in the discovery of the knife, although according to the Los Angeles Times , a construction worker found the knife years ago and turned it over to the police officer in question.

 According to TMZ, the officer informed Robbery Homicide detectives of the knife's existence because he wanted to get it framed.

 Clark, 62, was the head prosecutor during Simpson's trial, and ended up taking a leave of absence from her job after the former NFL star was acquitted of the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman in 1995. Clark retired two years later, but went on to co-author a book about the case titled Without a Doubt.

 Simpson, 68, remains in a Nevada state prison after he was arrested in connection with a robbery at a Las Vegas hotel room in September 2007. He was found guilty on 12 counts, including kidnapping and armed robbery, in October 2008, and was later sentenced to 33 years in jail. Simpson is still eligible for parole in November of 2017 -- at the age of 70 -- his lawyer, Ozzie Fumo, tells ET, unless he receives a sentence reduction through other means.

 On Friday, Neiman said that it is his understanding that could Simpson could not be retried on murder charges, as he was previously acquitted.

 "I think the series actually makes an effort to acknowledge them and the ways in which that they were forgotten," Clark said. "This is an important series that's beautifully done, very compelling and I can't thank Ryan Murphy enough for what he's done here in terms of raising these issues in a very serious and compelling and very substantive way."

 "But at the end of the day, two people lost their lives in a brutal murder," she added. "So we have to remember that. We can't forget them again. Remember Ron and Nicole." ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| O.J. Simpson Murder Case Buck Knife Could Produce Fatal Wounds

 O.J. Simpson Murder Case: Buck Knife Could Produce Ron and Nicole's Fatal Wounds

 EXCLUSIVE

 The knife found buried on O.J. Simpson's former estate was more than capable of inflicting the mortal wounds on Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman ... so says the man who examined the wounds of the victims.

 Dr. Irwin Golden, who served as the Deputy Medical Examiner, testified in the O.J. Simpson case and performed both autopsies, tells TMZ the folding buck knife could have severely cut both victims. Nicole was brutally attacked with a deep neck wound -- 2 1/2 inches deep and 5 1/2 inches across -- and Golden says a 4" blade could have done the deed. We broke the story ... the knife in question has a 5" blade.

 Sources connected with the 1994 investigation and others involved in the evaluation of the knife tell us there was always a wide belief among LAPD cops that Simpson used a buck knife.

 TMZ broke the story ... a construction worker found the knife buried on the perimeter of the property in 2002, gave it to a retired LAPD cop who never turned it in, instead taking it home and putting it in his tool box. The cop claims he alerted LAPD when he got it, but they expressed no interest.

 Dr. Golden cautioned if the murder weapon was a buck knife it had to be "heavy." A knife expert tells us back in '94 buck knives were made with heavy American-made steel.

 The knife is being tested for fingerprints and hair. Next week it goes to the serology unit for DNA testing. ||||| A buried knife was found at O. J. Simpson's estate during construction work, though no one is sure exactly when, TMZ reports. Though the construction worker gave it to a nearby police officer, that cop chose to keep the knife at his own house — and did so for years. It didn't come to official attention until the officer retired and asked a fellow cop for the case number for the Simpson case; he wanted to engrave it on his grim keepsake. The second cop reported the first to superiors, and the knife was turned over to the police forensics experts. It is currently being tested for hair and fingerprints, TMZ says, though those tests may not be of much use. It's hard to know, after so many years, how much forensics experts will be able to find.

 Simpson can't be tried again Over the years, several knives have been proposed as the murder weapon — the knife that killed Simpson's ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman — though none conclusively. This may not be the right knife, either. The knife found on the Simpson property is "a relatively inexpensive, smaller-bladed utility blade typically carried and used by construction workers, gardeners, landscapers or other laborers," NBC reports. Still, the knife must be tested to definitively rule it out.

 Even assuming evidence is found linking the knife to the slayings, its discovery is mostly a symbolic event. There's no double jeopardy — even if the knife has Simpson's DNA, or that of the murder victims, Simpson can't be tried again. But this is assuming any evidence will be found on the knife, and that's not a sure thing.

 Let's start with fingerprints, though there's no guarantee any will be found. People don't always leave fingerprints, even if they've touched an object, according to the South Dakota Department of Criminal Investigation. There's also no way to know how long a fingerprint will last — sometimes fingerprints are found on surfaces that haven't been touched in decades, but they're sometimes lost on objects touched recently. And fingerprint residue can be wiped away through cleaning. If the officer who had the knife cleaned it, fingerprint evidence is likely lost.

 Samples may have been contaminated through the years Hair is a little trickier. The part of your hair that sticks out of your head doesn't contain nuclear DNA — only the bulb, which produces the hair, does, according to Forensics Magazine. If the bulb is there, though, it may have been contaminated through the years, and time, as well as the environment, may have degraded it — making a single source profile difficult, says Susan Walsh, a forensics professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, in an email.

 That doesn't mean it's impossible to obtain DNA from the hair shaft, though. There may be mitochondrial DNA, which can provide information about the mother of the person who produced the hair — though that's not as useful as a typical nuclear DNA profile, says Walsh.

 Regardless of the type of DNA forensics experts are trying to work with, it's possible the sample was degraded or contaminated over the years. For instance, if the knife was in a damp environment, that makes it likelier that the DNA won't be useful, says Graciela Cabana, an expert in ancient DNA at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Every environment has contaminants, so it's important that DNA from the sample be in good shape, otherwise, the contaminants can drown out important information. "Was the knife in an evidence bag?" she writes in an email. "If not, I wouldn't trust any evidence on it."

 "Was the knife in an evidence bag?" A major question for any kind of forensic analysis is how the knife was handled, and what has happened to it since it was discovered. If it was handled by people not wearing gloves, they probably introduced contaminants, says Cassandra Kuba, a professor of anthropology at the California University of Pennsylvania. Mishandling the knife may mean fingerprints rubbed off, and adds to the likelihood there's contaminant DNA.

 But it may be possible to rule out some contaminants — DNA samples from the construction worker who originally found it and from the cop whose possession it was in could help eliminate any contamination from them. Samples from the environment it was found in could also help scientists eliminate additional irrelevant DNA. "We have gotten DNA from buried items, there is really no way to tell which ones will give you meaningful DNA until you test," says Greg Hampikian, director of the Idaho Innocence Project. "Questions about possible contamination are really premature until we see what is recovered from the knife."

 A little bit of background for the '90s babies: O. J. Simpson was a tremendously popular football player in the 1970s who parlayed his retirement into an acting career in the 1980s (he's in The Naked Gun, for instance). In June 1994, Simpson's ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered, along with Ronald L. Goldman; their wounds indicated a knife, but no weapon was ever found. After leading police on a low-speed chase in his iconic white Ford Bronco, Simpson was arrested and stood trial for the murders. Without the knife, prosecutors relied on a blood-soaked glove — and that wasn't enough to convince a jury. Simpson was acquitted. He is now in prison for armed robbery; he was found guilty of that crime in 2008.

 Correction: A previous version of this article characterized O.J. Simpson's police chase as "high-speed." It wasn't; he was driving slowly, but with a gun to his head so that police wouldn't approach. |||||

– Yesterday felt like 1994 all over again, with OJ Simpson grabbing headlines across America after TMZ broke the news that the LAPD is testing a knife that was allegedly found nearly two decades ago on Simpson's former estate. More comments and context as the dust settles: The Los Angeles Times spoke with Mike Weber, whose Weber-Madgwick Inc. construction company demolished the Brentwood mansion in 1998. "I think it's a joke. No one on my crew found anything. I had instructed my people, 'If you find anything, don't keep it,'" he said, though he does concede, "Hundreds and hundreds of people were there after me." TMZ keeps its story going by speaking to Dr. Irwin Golden, the Deputy Medical Examiner who examined Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman's bodies. He believes a knife with a 4-inch blade could have been the murder weapon; the newly found knife has a 5-inch blade. NBC News' report throws plenty of water on the story. Its law enforcement sources tell it the knife is not consistent with the murder weapon but is akin to a small utility knife a gardener might carry, was given to now-retired LAPD officer in 2001 or 2002, and didn't have the appearance of having long-been buried. Former prosecutor Marcia Clark weighed in, too, with comments to Entertainment Tonight. "It might be a hoax ... but, of course, I'm glad the LAPD is taking it seriously and subjecting it to testing so we can find out." As far as those tests go, The Verge explains exactly how the forensic analysis will be carried out. And should the knife actually check out? The Washington Post asks and answers a slew of "tricky legal questions." Read more on the newly found knife here.


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– When Deena Murphy and Timothy Sullivan wanted to renovate their Raleigh, NC, rental property, they didn't want a DIY project, so they did what they thought was the next best thing: signed up to have an HGTV show do it for them. But per a lawsuit the couple has now filed against Big Coat, the production company behind Love It or List It, as well as the local contractor who overhauled the home, they were left with "disastrous work," including holes in the floor and windows painted shut, the Charlotte Observer reports. The suit also alleges the "reality-TV" program is "scripted, with 'roles' and reactions assigned to the various performers and participants, including the homeowners." And the show's hosts, designer Hilary Farr and real estate agent David Visentin, and its resident general contractor? "Actors or television personalities … [who don't play] more than a casual role in the actual renovation process." Per their contract with Big Coat, the couple deposited $140,000 that would be used to pay Aaron Fitz Construction and its subcontractors. About $85,000 was distributed to Aaron Fitz during the overhaul, even though Murphy and Sullivan say they expressed concerns about mediocre reviews seen on Angie's List. The rest of the money got pumped into producing the show, the couple claims, reports Today.com. They say the show is "even more of a scam than it generally seems," as the AV Club frames it. "The homeowners' funds essentially pay the cost of creating a stage set for this television series," the suit says. A statement from Big Coat's CEO says the company will "vigorously defend what we consider to be false allegations." (This DIY project took six months to make and much less time to eat.)

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 A North Carolina couple is trying to pull back the curtains on a popular home renovation reality show.

 Deena Murphy and Timothy Sullivan are suing the production company for HGTV’s “Love It or List It,” claiming the hit show turned their dream home into a nightmare.

 The lawsuit against Big Coat TV and one of its contractors alleges the couple were “victims of shoddy work and unfair trade practices” that left their floors, windows and other parts of their home damaged.

 RELATED: 'Fixer Upper': What it's actually like to be on the home show

 The show’s premise is to renovate a family’s home while the owners contemplate moving into a new home. But the couple's lawsuit may provide too much of a peek behind the reality television curtain.

 TODAY The program's hosts, David Visentin and Hilary Farr

 “One of the things they're doing in this lawsuit is kind of blowing the secrecy off of reality TV,” said TODAY legal analyst Lisa Bloom.

 In their lawsuit, Murphy and Sullivan describe Big Coat’s business model as “skewed.” They said they gave the production company $140,000 for renovations, but only about $85,000 went to the contractor. They claim the production company used the remaining funds “for the production of its series.”

 TODAY North Carolina couple Deena Murphy and Timothy Sullivan are suing the show's production company.

 In a statement to TODAY, the couple’s attorney said the company’s incentive was “to make decisions that favor the television show but not the homeowners.”

 RELATED: 'Fixer Upper' Joanna Gaines shares her spring cleaning checklist

 The “Love It or List It” production company disputes the allegation.

 “We believe that this claim is in no way supported by any of the facts of the case, and we will be defending ourselves vigorously in this matter,” it told TODAY in a statement.

 TODAY sought comment from the contractor listed as one of the lawsuit defendants but did not hear back. ||||| 1:11 See Billy Graham's visit to South Carolina, including USC football stadium and Ft. Jackson Pause

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 2:23 How to report Social Security fraud ||||| A North Carolina couple is suing the producers of Love It Or List It, saying the show left them with a house that was shoddily constructed. The Raleigh News & Observer says that Deena Murphy and Timothy Sullivan agreed to participate in the hit HGTV series under the guise that they were considering a move to a rental property with their teenage foster children. The problem, according to the suit against Big Coat TV and Aaron Fitz Construction, was that the show’s principals—designer Hilary Farr, real estate agent David Visentin, and contractor Eric Eremita—are “actors or television personalities playing a role for the camera,” not people who “played more than a casual role in the actual renovation process.” While this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s ever suffered through Farr and Visentin’s bullshit “no, you are” banter, it’s still mildly disheartening to hear.

 For the episode, which aired in April 2015, Murphy and Sullivan were asked to deposit $140,000 into a fund with the production company, who would later use that money to pay Fitz and other subcontractors. According to the suit, the couple voiced its concerns about Fitz, saying it had below-average reviews on Angie’s List, but they were ignored. Over the course of the renovations, only $85,780.50 was disbursed to Fitz, leaving the couple wondering where the rest of their money went. The suit also questions how Big Coat can operate as a general contractor, a role it’s not licensed for.

 Murphy and Sullivan are also claiming that Love It Or List It is even more of a scam than it generally seems, with the couple saying the show never used a licensed architect to develop plans for their house, and that they were never shown houses that were actually for sale in North Carolina—or for sale by any licensed North Carolina real estate broker. They also say any work done on the show was work that they’d previously made plans for with another company, Werx-Design Build.

 According to the suit, the actual work done on the house was “disastrous,” leaving the home “irreparably damaged.” Duct work was left open, leading to vermin entering the house, and the couple complains of “low-grade industrial carpeting, unpainted surfaces, and windows painted shut.”

 As the News & Observer summarizes, “Big Coat’s purported agreement,” the lawsuit contends, ‘admits that it is in the business of television production, not construction. ... The homeowners’ funds essentially pay the cost of creating a stage set for this television series.’”

 Maria Armstrong, Big Coat’s CEO and the show’s executive producer, says that the company intends to “vigorously defend what [it] consider[s] false allegations.”

 Submit your Newswire tips here. |||||


Celebs Elton John admits he cried listening to 'Yellow Brick Road' album again March 31, 2014 at 9:36 AM ET

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 Sir Elton John's album "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," released 40 years ago, was a huge breakthrough for the flamboyant singer/songwriter. The album sold more than 30 million copies — and even today, is powerful enough to bring John to tears.

 During the first part of a chat with TODAY's Matt Lauer Monday, John explained that he'd listened to the record in anticipation of doing interviews about it. The experience, he said, "Made me very emotional. I cried a little at it, because it reminded me of a time when I was very innocent."

 But "Road's" success was also a gateway into a downward spiral for the then 26-year-old, who began abusing drugs and alcohol after fame swept over him. John has now been sober for more than two decades, and has regrets but no anger.

 "I don't blame anything," he said. "I don't blame anybody or anything. It was just me being inquisitive. ... 'I'll join in. I'll be part of the gang.' Bad decision. If I could go back again, I would never do it."

 Maybe not the addiction, but John, 67, would still be making music, his "soul mate." He told Lauer music has been with him through "sadness, through laughter, through love."

 On Tuesday, the second part of John's interview with TODAY airs, and he'll discuss his upcoming nuptials with partner David Furnish. The pair plan to wed as early as May, now that gay marriage is legal in England.

 "We'll do it very quietly," John told Lauer. "But we will do it and it will be a joyous occasion and we will have our children. " They have two kids together , Zachary, 3, and Elijah, 1.

 "I'm very proud of Britain and the laws that we've seen come into existence since we've been together , " John said. "Having our civil partnership was an incredible breakthrough for people that have campaigned for a long time — through the '60s and the '50s in England when it was so hard to be gay and hard to be open about it. And it was a criminal act. So for this legislation to come through is joyous, and we should celebrate it. We shouldn't just say, 'Oh, well we have a civil partnership. We're not going to bother to get married.' We will get married."

 The pair have been in a civil partnership since 2005, which John said had a "huge impact" on their commitment. "We didn't think it would make much difference to our relationship, but it solidified our relationship."

 Meanwhile, John continues to be as involved in his other relationship — making music — as ever.

 "I love it as much now as I did," he said. "I don't like the fame part of it, and I don't like the technology part of it so much. But, the thrill of the music will never die for me ... when you hear somebody young, like Lorde, or someone like that, making a record like she did, and you think, 'You're 16,' I am flabbergasted. And it makes you want to write the best song in the world, because you just cannot believe that this music has come out of someone so young, and so brilliant."

 Tune in Tuesday on TODAY for the second installment of the two-part interview.

 Tweet email ||||| It looks like Elton John and David Furnish will get married in an English registry office in May, with their two kids Elijah and Zachary in tow, plus a few friends.

 Furnish told me this news Friday while we sat in a luxurious booth at the Caesars Palace lounge he created, Fizz Las Vegas (the prettiest lounge I’ve ever seen in Vegas, by the way).

 Elton and Furnish entered a British civil partnership eight years ago. But today is the first day gay couples can legally wed in England.

 “We don’t feel the need to take an extra step legally. But since we’re committed for life, we feel it’s really important to take that step, and take advantage of that amazing change in legislation. We all live by example,” Furnish said.

 I told him I was surprised he and Elton don’t want to throw another big wedding party.

 “We do like big parties,” Furnish said. “Over eight years ago, we had 650 people on the 21st of December at our house in Windsor.

 “But with the kids, everything is different. I think what we’ll do is go to a registry office in England in May, and take the boys with us, and a couple of witnesses.”

 Furnish wears large tattoos of the boys’ names on the inside of his forearms in Old Gothic script, “Elijah” on the left arm, “Zachary” on the right. Elton has their names tattooed on his back, Furnish said.

 Furnish, 51, said he and Elton entered a civil partnership as a symbolic way to support the movement that so many people had struggled to achieve, and to acknowledge their commitment to each other.

 Civil partnership changed them more than they expected.

 “After we did it, we felt this amazing sense of commitment and happiness we didn’t anticipate happening. It’s a really nice thing,” Furnish said.

 “Initially, the political side of you is like, ‘No, no, we must have equality.’ When you finally get it, it’s like, ‘Oh my god, this feels really nice.’ It’s a lifting thing.”

 When Furnish was younger, he never thought he’d get the opportunity to marry.

 “I remember trying to come out to my mother and unfortunately going to all the negatives. ‘You’ll never get married. You’ll never have children. You’ll never be accepted by society. You’ll be prejudiced against. You won’t have a future.’

 “I resigned myself to having a different life. I found it particularly difficult and challenging, because I came from a wonderful marriage; my parents are madly in love still. They’ve been married over 60 years.

 “I wanted what they had. I came from a happy union, and I loved the associations I had from that. I felt very loved and encouraged.”

 He was frustrated when he found out marriage between two loved ones was forbidden.

 “I found it particularly painful.”

 But the world is changing.

 “We’re living in extraordinary times. My god, 20 years ago, when I started seeing Elton, if you asked me if I’d be able to get married, if I’d be able to have children, it was unthinkable, literally unimaginable.”

 Furnish believes people’s exposure to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people through our “more media-intensive times” has helped many people reexamine previous biases.

 “With access to more information, the barriers come down.”

 I said to Furnish I believe we should all send thank-you cards to “Will & Grace” for starting a landslide of public acceptance through that show’s exposure to lovable characters.

 “I went to high school with Eric McCormack,” who starred on “Will & Grace,” Furnish said. “We were in the same drama program together.

 “It’s funny how life works, coming from the same little conservative suburb of Toronto, but you find yourself years later in a room in L.A., saying, ‘OK, I’m in this super high-profile gay relationship, and you’re in this super high-profile gay TV series. Who’d have thought?’”

 Doug Elfman’s column appears on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/entertainment/reel. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Mazel tov: Elton John and longtime partner David Furnish are getting hitched in May, Furnish reveals to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The two have been civil partners for eight years, but now that gay marriage is legal in England, they're planning a wedding at a registry office with just a few friends, plus their two children. "We don’t feel the need to take an extra step legally," Furnish says. "But since we’re committed for life, we feel it’s really important to take that step, and take advantage of that amazing change in legislation. We all live by example." John also discusses the upcoming nuptials in an interview airing Monday and Tuesday on Today. "We'll do it very quietly. But we will do it and it will be a joyous occasion and we will have our children," he says. "I'm very proud of Britain and the laws that we've seen come into existence since we've been together. ... For this legislation to come through is joyous, and we should celebrate it. We shouldn't just say, 'Oh, well we have a civil partnership. We're not going to bother to get married.' We will get married."


Article:

View Images NASA's Curiosity rover has delivered some cool findings from its trips across the red planet.

 Photograph courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

 NASA's Curiosity rover, which has been on Mars for almost a year and a half now, just delivered its largest and most important downlink so far of findings, discoveries, and conclusions. (Also see video: "Mission to Mars.")

 While the six papers released by the journal Science report on different aspects of Mars and do it from different scientific perspectives, together they present the beginnings of a new understanding of the red planet, especially in its early epochs, three to four billion years ago.

 Early Mars, it has become increasingly apparent, was in many important ways similar to Earth. (See also "Did Life on Earth Come From Mars?")

 "If you put together all that we're learning about Gale Crater and Mars, you really begin to chip away the rock and the sculpture inside emerges," said Pan Conrad, an astrobiologist with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and a co-author on several of the papers.

 As described in the six Science papers, that hidden but slowly materializing landscape looks something like this:

 1. Early Mars was habitable, perhaps for a long time.

 After concluding that rivers and streams once flowed into Gale Crater, the Curiosity team has now reported that a lake existed there as well. That surface water, as well as groundwater that likely went down hundreds of meters, possessed all that was needed to support microbial life.

 The period when Gale Crater was warmer, wetter, and habitable was broadly between 3.5 and 4 billion or more years ago. That period is when life on Earth is understood to have arisen.

 Was Mars once home to primitive extraterrestrial life? Curiosity can't and won't make that determination, but its discoveries have made the possibility of Martian life significantly more plausible.

 2. Water once flowed on many parts of Mars.

 And that water was there at times and in forms that scientists didn't believe to be possible not long ago.

 One of the major achievements of Curiosity so far has been to "ground-truth" observations made in recent years by the satellites orbiting the planet. Those instruments found strong hints that Mars had a watery past, and at Gale Crater they were found to be on target.

 As a result, the mission has given greater credibility to the view that thousands of additional fossil formations of what appear to be ancient streams, channels, deltas, and lakes likely are just what they appeared to be.

 3. "Follow the carbon" has been vindicated.

 The search for Martian carbon-based organic compounds—one of the major goals of the Curiosity mission—has been and will continue to be complicated and trying.

 While as many as six different organic compounds have been identified so far by the miniature chemistry lab called Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM), their origin remain unclear.

 "There's no doubt that SAM has identified organics, but we can't say with confidence yet that they are Martian in origin," said Douglas Ming of NASA's Johnson Space Center, and author of one of the six Curiosity papers in Science.

 There are at least two sources of the confounding results: The presence on Mars of a chlorine-based compound that, when heated in the SAM oven with any organic material, largely destroys the compounds. And the leak into the SAM ovens of an organic solvent brought to Mars as part of a wet chemistry experiment.

 The search for Martian organics is nonetheless making progress. With each collection of Martian sand or rock, the number of organics found and their concentration has increased—suggesting that different samples of Martian material are leading to different results. If the organics were all contaminants from Earth, those concentrations would likely be more steady.

 "SAM is probably the most complex and important instrument ever brought to another planet," Ming said. "Inevitably, it has taken time to figure out how best to work with it."

 4. Mars gets pounded by radiation.

 Galactic cosmic rays and solar eruptions bombard Mars, and their high-energy particles break the bonds that allow organisms to survive. The Radiation Assessment Detector on Curiosity has made the first measurements ever of radiation on the surface of Mars, and the results are sobering.

 In another Science paper, RAD principal investigator Donald Hassler reports that the radiation would almost certainly be fatal within a few million years to any microbial life on the surface or less than several meters deep.

 The RAD team used as their model the terrestrial bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans, which is capable of withstanding enormous doses of radiation, to make that assessment.

 Notwithstanding the high levels of radiation, Hassler reported that life could theoretically still survive on Mars today under special circumstances. If a bacteria similar to D. radiodurans appeared when early Mars was wetter, warmer, and had a more protective atmosphere, he wrote, it could have survived over the epochs through long periods of dormancy.

 5. Mars radiation also damages normal chemistry.

 Many on the Curiosity team point to radiation damage of all carbon chemistry on Mars as a major reason why it has been so difficult to identify organics on the surface.

 That effort, however, may have gotten a significant boost from one of the most unexpected developments to come out of the mission so far―a method to date how long surfaces have been exposed to the sky on Mars.

 Using measurements of radioactive decay also employed on Earth, Kenneth Farley of the California Institute of Technology reports that the surface of Yellowknife Bay has been exposed for some 80 million years.

 The discovery points to a method for finding places for the rover to drill where there has been less chemistry-damaging radiation exposure.

 Essentially, Farley said, the team has to look for cliffs or overhangs being undercut by the surface wind―as happened in Yellowknife Bay―and where radiation would be blocked by the rocks above. "If we find that kind of formation," he said, "drill there."

 6. Detours sometimes turn out to be interesting.

 The Curiosity rover was scheduled to head for the scientifically alluring Mount Sharp in the center of Gale Crater soon after landing. More than 480 days into the mission, the rover is still months away from its prime destination.

 The detour to Yellowknife Bay is the main reason why, and it has turned out to be a gold mine of data. But now the rover is on what is called the "rapid transit route" to three-mile-high Mount Sharp, driving most of the time and passing many potentially interesting sites. ||||| Mastcam mosaic of the Yellowknife Bay formation. This is a view from the base of an exposed section up through Sheepbed, Gillespie Lake, and basal Glenelg members. Locations of drill holes and Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (A PXS) measurements are shown. Image released Dec. 9, 2013.

 NASA's Curiosity rover has found evidence of an ancient Martian lake that could have supported life as we know it for long stretches — perhaps millions of years.

 This long and skinny freshwater lake likely existed about 3.7 billion years ago, researchers said, suggesting that habitable environments were present on Mars more recently than previously thought.

 "Quite honestly, it just looks very Earth-like," said Curiosity lead scientist John Grotzinger, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. [Ancient Mars Could Have Supported Life (Photos)]

 "You've got an alluvial fan, which is being fed by streams that originate in mountains, that accumulates a body of water," Grotzinger told SPACE.com. "That probably was not unlike what happened during the last glacial maximum in the Western U.S."

 The lake once covered a small portion of the 96-mile-wide (154 kilometers) Gale Crater, which the 1-ton Curiosity rover has been exploring since touching down on the Red Planet in August 2012.

 Yes - The Red Planet is teeming with tiny microbes, we just haven't found them yet.

 Yes - An advanced civilization lives below the surface, where we can't detect them.

 No - Life never existed on Mars.

 No - Mars once had life, but those organisms are long dead.

 The main task of Curiosity's $2.5 billion mission is to determine whether Gale Crater could ever have supported microbial life. The rover team achieved that goal months ago, announcing in March that a spot near Curiosity's landing site called Yellowknife Bay was indeed habitable billions of years ago

 The new results, which are reported today (Dec. 9) in six separate papers in the journal Science, confirm and extend Curiosity's landmark discovery, painting a more complete picture of the Yellowknife Bay area long ago.

 This picture emerged from Curiosity's analysis of fine-grained sedimentary rocks called mudstones, which generally form in calm, still water. The rover obtained powdered samples of these rocks by drilling into Yellowknife Bay outcrops.

 The mudstones contain clay minerals that formed in the sediments of an ancient freshwater lake, researchers said. Curiosity also spotted some of the key chemical ingredients for life in the samples, including sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon.

 The lake could have potentially supported a class of microbes called chemolithoautotrophs, which obtain energy by breaking down rocks and minerals. Here on Earth, chemolithoautotrophs are commonly found in habitats beyond the reach of sunlight, such as caves and hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor.

 "It is exciting to think that billions of years ago, ancient microbial life may have existed in the lake's calm waters, converting a rich array of elements into energy," Sanjeev Gupta of Imperial College London, co-author of one of the new papers, said in a statement.

 NASA's Curiosity rover — the centerpiece of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission — landed on Mars Aug. 5. How much do you know about Curiosity and its mission? Start the Quiz 0 of 10 questions complete

 A 'Curiosity' Quiz: How Well Do You Know NASA's Newest Mars Rover? NASA's Curiosity rover — the centerpiece of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission — landed on Mars Aug. 5. How much do you know about Curiosity and its mission? 0 of questions complete

 The shallow ancient lake may have been about 30 miles long by 3 miles wide (50 by 5 kilometers), Grotzinger said. Based on the thickness of the sedimentary deposits, the research team estimates that the lake existed for at least tens of thousands of years — and perhaps much longer, albeit on a possibly on-and-off basis.

 Taking into account the broader geological context, "you could wind up with an assemblage of rocks that represent streams, lakes and ancient groundwater systems — so for times when the lake might have been dry, the groundwater's still there. This could have gone on for millions or tens of millions of years," Grotzinger said.

 The lack of weathering on Gale Crater's rim suggests that the area was cold when the lake existed, he added, raising the possibility that a layer of ice covered the lake on a permanent or occasional basis. But such conditions wouldn't be much of a deterrent to hardy microbes.

 "These are entirely viable habitable environments for chemolithoautotrophs," Grotzinger said.

 Researchers still don't know if the Gale Crater lake hosted organisms of any kind; Curiosity was not designed to hunt for signs of life on Mars. But if chemolithoautotrophs did indeed dominate the lake, it would put an alien twist on a superficially familiar environment.

 "You can imagine that, if life evolved on Mars and never got beyond the point of chemolithoautotrophy, then in the absence of competition from other types of microbes, these systems might have been dominated by that type of metabolic pathway," Grotzinger said. "And that's an un-Earth-like situation."

 Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on SPACE.com. |||||
What is a summary?

– The Curiosity rover has discovered evidence of an ancient freshwater lake on Mars that was brimming with the key chemicals necessary to support microbial life, and its findings suggest that it could have held that life more recently than we thought—and possibly for millions of years before that. "Quite honestly it just looks very Earth-like," the Curiosity's lead scientist said, according to Space.com. The lake, located in the Gale Crater, would have been about 30 miles long and 3 miles wide. The lake's mudstones—which form in calm, still water—contain traces of sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and carbon, meaning it could have supported chemolithoautotrophs, a kind of microbial that obtains energy by breaking down rock minerals. The lake was revealed today amidst a barrage of papers on the Rover's progress. National Geographic breaks down some of the other key take-aways, including one that's less promising for Martian life hunters: Curiosity's first radiation measurements indicate levels that would be fatal, within a few million years, to anything within several meters of the surface. Though the researchers did note that some classes of bacteria might have been able to survive through long periods of hibernation.


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 In a new sign of tumult within Anthony D. Weiner’s embattled political operation, his campaign manager has quit, leaving his already skeletal team without a day-to-day leader.

 According to two people told of the decision, the campaign manager, Danny Kedem, no longer wished to oversee Mr. Weiner’s bid for New York mayor after a week of bruising revelations about the candidate’s latest online conduct. The two people, who have close ties to the campaign, did not want to be identified because they were disclosing confidential conversations.

 Mr. Kedem, 31, informed Mr. Weiner of his decision in the last 24 hours, the two people said.

 Mr. Weiner confirmed the news on Sunday morning outside of a Brooklyn church where he was campaigning. “Danny has left the campaign. He did a remarkable job,” Mr. Weiner said.

 The move suggests that even as Mr. Weiner vows to press ahead with his candidacy, there are mounting doubts about its political viability within his own campaign.

 Mr. Weiner’s staff was jolted by his admission last week that his habit of sending raunchy online photographs and messages to women had persisted long after he resigned from Congress in 2011. The disclosures clashed with Mr. Weiner’s claims that he had been rehabilitated after undergoing therapy and his suggestion that such behavior had long ago stopped.

 Mr. Kedem had helped guide Mr. Weiner’s candidacy, originally considered a long shot, to the top of the polls in the mayoral field before last week.

 Not long ago, Mr. Kedem made clear he had no qualms about his new job. He sent an e-mail to dozens of his associates in late June seeking volunteers and financial contributions for Mr. Weiner’s mayoral bid. “I am really proud to work for Anthony,” he wrote.

 His departure is a hit to a campaign that was short of experienced staff members, because of Mr. Weiner’s scandal and his reputation as a difficult boss.

 On Sunday, Mr. Weiner insisted that “we have an excellent staff,” and that volunteers were still flocking to his campaign.

 Before working for Mr. Weiner, Mr. Kedem had managed the re-election of John DeStefano Jr. to a 10th term as mayor of New Haven in 2011, according to his online profile, and worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.

 Video ||||| Anthony Weiner needs to "go away" and will not be the next mayor of New York City, Democratic strategist David Axelrod said Sunday.

 Voters don't need to hear any more from Weiner over his explicit, online relationships with women, said President Barack Obama's longtime political counselor.

 "At this point it's absurd. He is not going to be the next mayor of New York. He is wasting time and space," Axelrod said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

 The former Democratic congressman from New York, now running for New York City mayor, was plunged back in scandal last week over revelations that he continued sending inappropriate messages online after leaving Congress. Axelrod said enough is enough.

 "It's time for him to go away and let New York have its mayor's race," Axelrod said.

 Read more about: David Axelrod, Anthony Weiner, Meet The Press, New York City ||||| Rep. Peter King said Sunday Anthony Weiner should step out of the New York City mayoral race, saying he has a “pathological problem.”

 “He should do himself and everybody a favor and step to the sidelines. He is not psychologically qualified to be mayor of the city of New York,” the Republican congressman from New York said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

 King said the fact Weiner is still pulling top poll numbers is a “terrible aberration” and that there was never a way Weiner could have won the race even before the recent revelations.

 “I just think it was sort of a perverse celebrity factor for a while to have his numbers up there," King said. "I just can't see any way, even if this latest scandal would not have come out, that Anthony Weiner could have won."

 Read more about: Anthony Weiner, Peter King |||||Summary:

– Huma Abedin is thus far still standing behind her man, but the guy running Anthony Weiner's campaign for New York City mayor is not. Weiner's 31-year-old campaign manager, Danny Kedem, has quit, reports the New York Times, in the latest tire to blow out for an increasingly battered and bare-bones campaign. Weiner confirmed Kedem's departure this morning, noting, “Danny has left the campaign. He did a remarkable job." Kedem put his long-shot candidate atop the polls—before the latest round of sexting emerged. It's not the only blow for Weiner today, as top politicians raced to the Sunday shows to throw Weiner under the bus. A sampling: David Axelrod, as per Politico: "At this point it's absurd. He is not going to be the next mayor of New York. He is wasting time and space. It's time for him to go away and let New York have its mayor's race." Peter King: "He should do himself and everybody a favor and step to the sidelines. He is not psychologically qualified to be mayor of the city of New York. I just can't see any way, even if this latest scandal would not have come out, that Anthony Weiner could have won." Mayoral rival Christine Quinn: "When you see scandal after scandal about this, what it does is create even more distrust and maybe even disgust in government. We really need to move beyond that." And further: "Has he disqualified himself? Yes. He disqualified himself, but not just because of these scandals. He didn't have the qualifications when he was in Congress. He was in Congress for 12 years, he passed one bill." Former Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers: The Clintons "would like to see this go away. It's very painful for the Clintons. They are genuinely very close to Huma." And it's all over but the singing anyway: “He may still be in the race, but his campaign is over. Voters are willing to forgive people as long as the person is genuinely sorry and tries to change. Anthony Weiner's played voters for fools.”