News article:

A weird new species of ancient predatory cockroach has been discovered preserved in amber.

 The cockroach is thought to have lived 100 million years ago, and it looks little like its modern relatives.

 After the first look I knew it was something new

 The tiny monster, measuring just under 1 cm, hosts a weird amalgam of unique features making it look like a chimera of a crane fly, a praying mantis and a cockroach.

 The discovery adds to the number of ferocious cockroaches known to have lived in prehistoric times.

 The new specimen Manipulator modificaputis belongs to an ancient family of cockroaches, called the Manipulatoridae.

 It has a triangular, manoeuvrable head, with large eyes, set upon a long neck, features that likely helped it hunt its prey. The cockroach also had a narrow body and wings, elongated legs and mouthparts, and an extra set of modified eyes located on the top of its head, which likely helped it spot predators, such as the feathered dinosaurs living at the time.

 This little monster was a solitary hunter

 The cockroach was found preserved in amber by German researcher Ziggi Ellenberger in modern day Myanmar.

 At first, scientists thought the cockroach might have been a mantis.

 But an examination by Dr Peter Vršanský, from the Geological Institute of Bratislava and the Slovak Academy of Sciences revealed it to be something different. “After the first look I knew it was something new,” he told BBC Earth. “Nothing similar runs on Earth today.”

 Vršanský made the discovery, reported in the journal Geologica Carpathica along with Günter Bechly, from the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Germany.

 They believe the cockroach hunted at night.

 “This little monster was a solitary hunter, able to run very fast, with a body unlike the vast majority of cockroaches living today, it posed high above ground, frequently taking flight when necessary, and seizing its prey with strong short spines developed on its extremely long feet,” he adds.

 Not all scientists agree on the cockroach’s hunting skills though. Manipulator had long and weak legs, and was unlikely to run fast, says Dr Alexandr Rasnitsyn, a professor from the Palaeontological Institute, at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

 He thinks it was more likely to surprise rather than chase its prey, using its long limbs to traverse gaps between forest leaves.

 The new discovery in among a number of ancient cockroaches found in Myanmar.

 Many were predatory insects that evolved to rule the night. “Especially drastic and brutal were top predatory Raphidiomimidae. Cockroaches with a wingspan up to 20cm and eyes divided into two parts, with gut containing large pieces of demolished insects,” says Vršanský.

 Most of these ferocious lineages went extinct, however, with only one lineage surviving today: the praying mantis, which belongs to the same superorder of the cockroaches. ||||| Paleontologists working in Morocco have found a fossil of a bizarre sea creature that could grow up to seven feet in length and gathered plankton like a whale.

 The newly discovered animal, dubbed Aegirocassis benmoulae, is an early member of the arthropod family tree, making it an ancient ancestor of cockroaches, butterflies and shrimp. It lived about 480 million years ago in a shallow sea that once covered part of the Sahara Desert.

 "It is one of the biggest arthropods that ever existed, far bigger than any arthropod today," said Peter Van Roy, a paleobiologist at Yale University who helped uncover some of specimens of the extinct animal.

 A paper describing this strange early arthropod was published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

 Aegirocassis benmoulae is part of an extinct group of animals known as anomalocaridid, which were already known to be the largest animals of the Cambrian time period 543 million to 490 million years ago. Aegirocassis is the most recent of these animals to be found and more than double the size of the biggest of its older known relatives.

 It lived during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, about 10 million years after the Cambrian period came to a close.

 All of the anamolocardids were flat-bodied water dwellers, and all of them had two appendages in the front of their mouths. These structures were mostly used to grasp prey like worms and mollusks. However, Aegirocassis modified these appendages, creating an elaborate netlike structure of spikes that allowed it to catch the rapidly diversifying plankton found in the water column at the time.

 Despite its large size, Aegirocassis appears to have been fairly common, Van Roy said. He and the Moroccan fossil collector Mohamed Ben Moula, who first discovered these large animals, have found dozens of preserved specimens in the Moroccan desert.

 "They may have come together to molt, or they may have lived in a group," he said. "It is interesting we found so many of them. It shows there was a well developed, rich plankton system in place 480 million years ago."

 Arthropods first showed up in the fossil record about 530 million years ago, and today the phylum consists of the most morphologically diverse group of animals on the planet.

 However, early fossils of arthropods are hard to come by, which made this particular find so exciting.

 Most fossils are the remains of the hard parts of organisms, like shells and bone, because soft tissues decay so rapidly after death, explained John Paterson, an associate professor at the University of New England in Armidale, Australia, who was not involved in the study.

 "However, these extraordinary fossils are soft-bodied, which are typically very rare," he said. "They require rapid burial and low oxygen conditions in order to be preserved in such exquisite detail."

 According to Van Roy, giant storms occasionally caused large mud flows to wash into the ancient sea, smothering everything at the bottom and making it inaccessible for scavengers.

 "If you have the right sediments and they react with the right decay products, then you can basically turn soft tissues to stone," he said. "But a very specific set of criteria must be met, so sites like this are extremely rare."

 The fossils were so well preserved that they allowed researchers to see a previously hidden feature on the body of these early arthropods, helping them to solve a longstanding evolutionary mystery.

 The success of arthropods is associated with the way they are constructed. Their bodies and legs are made of multiple segments that can be be modified for a variety of purposes, allowing them to adapt to a wide range of environments.

 "Morphologically, they are incredibly plastic," Van Roy said.

 Today, the legs of most arthropods have two branches, but researchers were not sure how these double-branched limbs had evolved over time.

 Paleontologists thought they could trace the origins of this double-branched limb to an arthropod ancestor from the early Cambrian. This ancient animal had a set of flaps that ran down the top side of its body for swimming, representing an upper limb, and a set of legs on its belly side, for walking.

 And yet, previous studies of anamolocardids, a later arthropod, had found just one set of flaps on the lower side of the body. This led researchers to wonder where the upper limb had gone.

 The new fossils described in the Nature paper suggest that the second limb did not go anywhere. They show that anamolocardids did have a second set of swimming flaps on the back side of their segments, but they have only been preserved in these particularly complete fossils.

 "These flaps represent the precursors of more modern-style (two-branched) limbs that we see in other arthropods," Paterson said via email.

 Van Roy said there were still many more fossils to go through from the Moroccan site.

 "We have something like 5,000 or 6,000 specimens, most of them unstudied," he said.

 Among the other animals they found are more advanced arthropods, a variety of horseshoe crabs, some which look remarkably like modern-day horseshoe crabs, jellyfish relatives, and early starfish and snails.

 "There are a lot of really exciting things coming," he said.

 Science rules! Follow me @DeborahNetburn and "like" Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– A mean-looking cockroach that lived alongside the dinosaurs had a long neck, swiveling head, and elongated legs that enabled it to surprise prey, New Scientist reports via Gizmodo. Found embedded in amber in Myanmar, the 100-million-year-old insect resembles a cross between a roach, a crane fly, and a praying mantis: "After the first look I knew it was something new," Slovak scientist Peter Vršanský tells the BBC. "Nothing similar runs on Earth today." Vršanský and German colleague Günter Bechly, who revealed the appetizing bug together in the journal Geologica Carpathica, say it likely hunted at night. "This little monster was a solitary hunter, able to run very fast, with a body unlike the vast majority of cockroaches living today," explains Vršanský. It "frequently" took flight and grabbed prey "with strong short spines developed on its extremely long feet," he adds. Called Manipulator modificaputis, it also had an extra set of eyes on top of its head, probably to spot predators like feathered dinosaurs. On the stomach-settling side, it measured less than half an inch long. So it's not as scary as other insect predators back then, like the Raphidiomimidae—which were "especially drastic and brutal," Vršanský says. They were bug-eating roaches "with a wingspan up to 20cm [nearly 8 inches] and eyes divided into two parts." But compare that to Aegirocassis benmoulae, a 7-foot "bizarre sea creature" 480 million years ago that is an ancient cockroach relative and caught plankton like a whale, the LA Times reports. (Or read about an ancient, fearsome sea creature with "curved teeth the size of bananas.")


Here is a news article: Gaza City, Gaza (CNN) -- Israeli airstrikes and tank shells pounded parts of Gaza Tuesday -- killing a 4-year-old girl, Palestinian security and medical sources said -- after Israel said a Gaza sniper killed a Muslim Israeli man near a border fence.

 The events began when a sniper in Gaza shot a Bedouin Israeli citizen -- Salah Shukri Abu Latyef, 22 -- who was performing maintenance work Tuesday on the fence separating Israel from the Palestinian territory's northern border, the Israeli military said.

 Abu Latyef was from Rahat, a southern Israeli city inhabited mainly by Bedouins, an Arab Muslim minority in Israel, the military said.

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office promised a forceful response, saying the shooting was a "very severe incident, and we will not let it go unanswered."

 "Our policy until now has been to act beforehand and to respond in force, and this is how we will act regarding this incident as well," Netanyahu's office said.

 Israeli warplanes launched strikes on and near some Gaza camps of the al Qassam Brigades -- the military wing of Hamas, which controls Gaza -- Hamas security sources said.

 The Israeli military confirmed it launched tank and air attacks, saying it struck a weapon manufacturing facility and "a terror infrastructure in the southern Gaza Strip, a terror site and another terror infrastructure in the central Gaza Strip, and a concealed rocket launcher in the northern Gaza Strip."

 One airstrike struck a house near an al Qassam camp in central Gaza, killing a 4-year-old girl and injuring three of her relatives, the Hamas sources said.

 Israeli airstrikes also hit an empty field at an al Qassam camp near the southern Gaza area of Rafah, and an empty al Qassam training camp in the southern Gaza community of Khan Younes, the Hamas sources said.

 Hamas said the training camps were evacuated after the Israeli's killing.

 Israeli tank shells also hit near the al Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, according to the Hamas sources.

 The sources said 11 people were injured in the airstrikes and tank attacks, in addition to the child who was killed.

 The al Qassam Brigades claimed on its Twitter account that the slain Israeli was a soldier. The Israeli military, however, said Abu Latyef was a civilian.

 The Israeli defense minister, Moshe Ya'alon, said Israel holds Hamas responsible for the shooting.

 "We will not allow life in the south to be disturbed, and we will react in the sternest and gravest way to any attack on our sovereignty and injuries of our civilians and soldiers," Ya'alon said in a statement released by the defense ministry.

 U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is concerned about the violence, condemns Abu Latyef's killing and deplores the death of the Gaza girl and other Palestinian civilian casualties, his spokesman said Tuesday.

 The Israeli military said Abu Latyef was the first Israeli civilian killed near the Gaza Strip since it launched a series of attacks there last year.

 In Israel's "Pillar of Defense" operation in November 2012, the country's military launched strikes on Gaza designed to stop constant rocket fire. Eight days of round-the-clock warfare followed between Israel and Hamas. More than 160 Palestinians, many of whom were civilians, were killed. Six Israelis died, including civilians and soldiers.

 Journalist Talal Abu Rahma reported from Gaza City; CNN's Michael Schwartz reported from Bethlehem in the West Bank. CNN's Saad Abedine, Hamdi Alkhshali, Kareem Khadder and Jason Hanna contributed to this report. ||||| Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

 A civilian working for the Defense Ministry was shot and killed on Tuesday from Palestinian sniper fire, while working to fix damages caused to the Israeli-Gaza border fence caused by the recent winter storm.

 Salah Shukri Abu Latyef, 22, from Rahat, was working for Shabbat Drilling operating a tractor at the Gaza border when he was shot and struck in the center of his chest by a Palestinian sniper, according to the army's assessment.

 He was airlifted to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba where he later succumbed to his wounds.

 Israeli media reported that the Palestinian militant group Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the shooting.

 "The incident occurred very close to the border," one security source said.

 "This was his first day working on the Gaza Strip border and unfortunately it was also his last day of life," Latyef's cousin said.

 An IDF spokesman said that the military had limited the access of farmers working in the immediate vicinity of the fence in the aftermath of the attack.

 Israel clamped restrictions in the past on Palestinians working inside the Gaza Strip near the security fence to prevent exactly the type of sniper incident that killed an Israeli defense ministry worker on Tuesday, government officials said.

 The easing of those restrictions were part of the understandings brokered by Egypt that brought an end in November 2012 to Operation Pillar of Defense against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

 Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu characterized the attack a "very grave incident" that Israel would not let go unanswered. This attack, unlike the other terror attacks this week, elicited a quick and immediate response from Netanyahu.

 "Our policy up until now has been to prevent beforehand and to react with force, and this is how we will act now as well," he said.

 Government sources said Netanyahu viewed this incident as particularly serious both within the context of the string of other attacks this week – the foiled bus bomb in Bat Yam, the rocket fire from Gaza and the knifing of a Border Patrolman outside of Jerusalem – and also because it was such a clear violation of the understandings that brought an end to Operation Pillar of Defense.

 According to those understandings, Israel eased restriction on Gazans working close to security fence that were clamped on the area because of security concerns.

 Netanyahu made his comment as he was just about to fly back to Jerusalem from Sderot, where he went Tuesday to dedicate the new Tel Aviv-Sderot train line.

 Netanyahu said that Israel would not tolerate a "drizzle" of attacks from Gaza that would "turn into a storm."

 Since Operation Pillar of Defense last year, he said the south has been quieter than it has been for more than a decade. "I am committed to maintaining that quiet, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is our policy."

 The cross-border shooting comes after a spate of attempts by Palestinians to plant explosives along the security fence and to damage the barrier in recent days.

 Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said there was "no direct relation" between terrorist attacks in Israel over the past two days and the cross-border shooting attack.

 "We view take a most severe view of them. In Gaza, Hamas is sovereign, and we see it as being responsible for today's shooting from the Strip and rocket launches over the past today at Israel. We will not allow a disruption to life in the South, and we will respond decisively and painfully to attacks on our sovereignty and against our civilians and soldiers," the defense minister added.

 He advised Hamas "not to test our patience," calling on Gaza's ruling regime to exercise its authority on the ground to prevent further attacks on Israel by other organizations.

 "If there won't be quiet in Israel, there won't be quiet in Gaza either," Ya'alon warned.

 "Terrorism incidents are the continuation of previous attacks, most of which are the result of a lone attacker, or one who has been influenced by the atmosphere of incitement and hatred that exists in the Palestinian Authority against Israel. This is an intolerable situation from our perspective, and despite the difficulties in dealing with a lone individual incited to murder Jews, we will act with a resolute hand and in various ways to harm anyone who tries to carry out terrorist attacks," Ya'alon pledged.

 As long as the PA continues to incite against Israel and its civilians, and fails to promote a culture of peace, Israel will have to deal with attacks that result from this, he added. Ya'alon sent his condolences to the family of the fatally wounded civilian, and wished the policeman stabbed on Monday a swift recovery.

 Ya'alon ordered the closing of the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Tuesday evening, following escalation on the Gaza border.

 President Shimon Peres said that "Israel will ensure its own security" and advised Hamas and the Islamic Jihad to stop aggressions against Israel.

 "If Gaza wants it to be quiet, it must remain quiet, otherwise it will suffer the consequences of the unrest many times over," Peres said.

 "Gaza is not under any occupation. It is playing with fire. The world will not continue supporting Gaza if it continues killing innocent people," the president added.

 Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said the attack "proves that Hamas and its satellite organizations are determined to harm Israeli citizens without any connection to their religion or ideology."

 "The trickle of attacks must stop and life near Gaza must be stable and safe," Edelstein added, sending his condolences to the victim's family.

 Opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Labor) said he is certain that the recent wave of terror is meant to sabotage peace talks and the possibility of a two-state solution.

 "We will not give in to terror and will not let it win or determine the State of Israel's interests," Herzog stated. "I trust that the IDF and security forces will act against terror."

 However, some on the right did not share Herzog's determination to continue negotiating.

 "The deterioration in security shows once again that the Palestinians don't want peace," Deputy Minister for Liaison with the Knesset Ofir Akunis said. "This is a direct result of the Palestinian incitement against Israel."

 Knesset Finance Committee chairman Nissan Slomiansky (Bayit Yehudi) said the next release of terrorists from prison, which is planned for next week, should be canceled, calling it "absurd."

 "Day after day Israeli residents' lives are endangered and the government continues blindly giving in to the demands of the Palestinian Authority and the Americans. We should put an end to this farce. As long as terror against Israel continues, we cannot release even one terrorist," Slomiansky stated.

 In a separate incident, a Palestinian youth who approached the fence on the border with northern Gaza entered the closed security zone, and ignored calls by soldiers to vacate the area. He was shot in the leg and evacuated to a Gazan hospital by the Red Crescent.

 Lahav Harkov and Yasser Okbi contributed to this report. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Israel launched an airstrike in the Gaza Strip today, in retaliation for the shooting of an Israeli working on the border fence, the Israeli military said, according to the AP. The military gave no hint as to its target or how many casualties it may have inflicted, but Hamas security sources tell CNN that one 4-year-old girl was killed in the strike, and three others were wounded. All four belonged to a family that lived near an al Qassam Brigades camp that the attack appeared to be targeting. A Palestinian sniper shot Salah Shukri Abu Latyef, a 22-year-old civilian engineer, earlier today, the Jerusalem Post reports. He was airlifted to the hospital, where he died of his wounds. Benjamin Netanyahu called it a "very grave incident," and promised to "react with force" in accordance with longstanding policy. Palestinians have launched a series of attacks on Israeli targets in recent days; Israeli soldiers have fired on Palestinian suspects five times since Friday, including an incident yesterday in which they spotted a man planting a bomb and fired at his legs.


Article:

Was this done on purpose? Well, it is Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

 The 21st season of South Park premiered on Wednesday and, as the show usually does, touched on multiple current topics.

 The episode, "White People Renovating Houses," mostly skewered the white nationalist movement, poking fun at members' obsession with waving the Confederate flag.

 But it was another aspect of the storyline that was messing with some viewers' smart speakers.

 Both Alexa and Google Home were featured in "White People Renovating Houses," and the cartoon characters yelling commands at their cartoon models for 30 minutes played havoc on some actual Alexa and Home models.

 "We have an Amazon Alexa and a Google Home and South Park repeatedly screwed with both of them tonight," one Twitter user noted. Another viewer said he got so sick of his model going off, he had to unplug it. And another posted video of the incident.

 Was this done on purpose? Well, it is South Park.

 Also notable is that the episode appeared to be a one-off, which is what creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker told The Hollywood Reporter they were thinking of going back to after last season struggled with an overarching storyline involving a Trump-like character.

 Still, Cartman's girlfriend was back, which Parker mentioned to THR as a possibility.

 Who else’s Alexa’s keep going off every time Cartman says something on the Alexa during this South Park episode #SouthPark21 pic.twitter.com/strwnTST23 — Kenny Eaton (@Kenny_623) September 14, 2017

 We have an Alexa and a Google Home and South Park repeatedly screwed with both of them tonight. — Jeff S. (@tinmanic) September 14, 2017

 This @SouthPark episode has set my @amazon Alexa off about 15 times so far. Had to unplug it — Chris (@ChrisMn84) September 14, 2017

 This new @SouthPark is confusing the hell out of my Google Home #okgoogle — airharvey (@AirMississippi) September 14, 2017

 Wtf @SouthPark thanks for setting off all my Google Homes and Android devices — Matt Varner (@Mesut_and_Tie) September 14, 2017 ||||| Fans of the show South Park who watched the season premiere last night got more than the usual fart jokes and foul-mouthed rants: Amazon Echo and Google Home devices were woken up throughout the episode, triggered by commands from the characters. Of course, hilarity — or headaches, depending on your point of view — ensued.

 Before we proceed, it’s worth noting that South Park contains a great deal of extremely not safe for work language, so you’ll probably want to put on headphones, turn down the volume, and read this out of earshot of your boss and/or children.

 In one example in the episode, Cartman conducts a veritable potty-mouthed orchestra, getting a group of Echo and Home devices to repeatedly trigger each other to say things about human genitalia.

 For the most part, it seems viewers were pretty amused by the stunt, posting clips on Twitter showing their devices adding things like “titty chips” and “hairy balls” to their shopping lists, or setting an unwanted alarm for (gasp) 7 a.m.

 People who owned both devices had double the laughs:

 We have an Alexa and a Google Home and South Park repeatedly screwed with both of them tonight. — Jeff S. (@tinmanic) September 14, 2017

 While others sat back and watched Alexa go (again, beware foul language):

 Who else’s Alexa’s keep going off every time Cartman says something on the Alexa during this South Park episode 😂 #SouthPark21 pic.twitter.com/strwnTST23 — Kenny Eaton (@Kenny_623) September 14, 2017

 @SouthPark nailed it tonight. In other news I have an erroneous alarm set for 7am and a set of hairy balls on my shopping list. #alexa — Barto (@scottbarto) September 14, 2017

 Our Alexa reacting to her name being said on #southpark pic.twitter.com/xY942sLHNK — Vandal (@SSnatter) September 14, 2017

 This @SouthPark episode has set my @amazon Alexa off about 15 times so far. Had to unplug it — Chris (@ChrisMn84) September 14, 2017

 Don't watch the new South Park in same room as your Amazon Echo…or else Alexa will add peaches to your grocery list and set alarm for 7 am — Bãrt (@Bar_Tosh) September 14, 2017

 @SouthPark THANK YOU for making my Alexa say BIG HAIRY BALLS #SouthPark21 — Mike (@MIKEY_MILD) September 14, 2017

 Google Home was also feeling spunky, owners say:

 This new @SouthPark is confusing the hell out of my Google Home #okgoogle — airharvey (@AirMississippi) September 14, 2017

 This new @SouthPark is confusing the hell out of my Google Home #okgoogle — airharvey (@AirMississippi) September 14, 2017

 OMG. Thanks @SouthPark for setting off my Google Home. 😂 #SouthPark21 — Brandon J Alexander (@UNCgrad_99) September 14, 2017

 #SouthPark21 got the attention of my Google Home. @SouthPark — Erik Parshall (@ErikParshall) September 14, 2017

 We’ve reached out to Google and Amazon for more information on how this could happen, and whether the companies have plans to deal with these kinds of situations going forward. We’ll update this post if we hear anything back.

 Of course, this isn’t the first time TV content has messed with voice-activated devices. Back in April, a Burger King commercial for the Whopper forced Google Home devices to chime in with information about the burger. Soon after, Google blocked the ad from triggering Home devices, but Burger King found a way around it again. |||||
What is a summary?

– The 21st season of South Park debuted Wednesday, and it seems technology has finally advanced enough to pull Cartman and company's foul-mouthed antics out of the TV and into America's living rooms. In Wednesday's episode, "White People Renovating Houses," characters repeatedly yelled commands at Amazon Echo and Google Home devices, the Hollywood Reporter reports. Thanks to the nature of voice activation, this led to some chaotic and foul-mouthed results with real-life Echos and Homes across the country. "This South Park episode has set my Amazon Alexa off about 15 times so far. Had to unplug it," one fan tweeted. "We have an Alexa and a Google Home and South Park repeatedly screwed with both of them tonight," tweeted another. Some viewers ended up with offensive-sounding items on their grocery lists, had their alarms reset, or heard their devices repeat NSFW phrases. As Consumerist delicately puts it, Cartman got a group of devices on the show to repeatedly "say things about human genitalia," and devices in the real world dutifully followed suit.


Here is a news article: The fourth Independence (CVL 22), which began as the light cruiser USS Amsterdam (CL 59) was launched in August 1942 and commissioned in January 1943. Independence represented the first of a new class of carriers built on converted cruiser hulls. She joined the Pacific Fleet in June 1943. She participated in attacks on Rabaul, Tarawa, Luzon, and Okinawa. Most notably, Independence was part of the carrier group that sank the last remaining vestige of the Japanese Mobile Fleet at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. She was later used as a target during the Operation Crossroads atomic testing and subsequently towed and sunk near the Farallon Islands in 1951.

 Click the segments below for a detailed timeline history of USS Independence.

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 [huge_it_gallery id=”2″] USS Independence is christened at New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, N.J. The ship is christened by ship sponsor Mrs. Rawleigh Warner. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox and COMINCH/CNO Admiral Ernest J. King are also in attendance. USS Independence is commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 14 January 1943, Captain George Richard Fairlamb, Jr., commanding. Photo Captions:

 Captain George Richard Fairlamb, Jr. (Photo Courtesy Author John Lambert) Christening of the future USS Independence (CV-22) by Mrs. Dorothy Warner, wife of Rawleigh Warner, President of the Pure Oil Company. Saturday, 22 August 1942. (NAVSOURCE/Dale Hargrave) (L to R) Assistant Secretary of the Navy Ralph Bard, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, Ship Sponsor Mrs. Rawleigh Warner, Maid of Honor Ms. Suzanne Warner, and COMINCH Admiral Ernest J. King (Photo Courtesy Author John Lambert)

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 [huge_it_gallery id=”3″] After joining the fleet on the West Coast, USS Independence got underway for Pearl Harbor on 14 July 1943. The ship spent the next two weeks in training exercises to prepare for conflict. Alongside carriers USS Essex (CV 9) and USS Yorktown (CV 10), Independence and Task Force 15, RADM Charles Alan Pownall commanding, departed Pearl Harbor for the Marcus Islands on 22 August. The strike began on 31 August when planes from the three carriers launched nine strike groups against Japanese installations on the island. The attack destroyed over 70 percent of installations on the island. Independence was involved in a similar engagement at Wake Island on 5-6 October. Note: This was the first time the Grumman F6F Hellcat was used in combat. Photo Captions:

 Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighters and two Grumman TBF-1 Avenger torpedo bombers on the light aircraft carrier USS Independence sometime in 1943. (NAVSOURCE) Aerial view attack on Marcus Island on 31 August 1943. The attack was carried out by a task force consisting of the U.S. aircraft carriers USS Essex (CV-9), USS Yorktown (CV-10), and USS Independence (CVL-22), the battleship USS Indiana (BB-58), two cruisers, and ten destroyers. The photo was taken from a plane from the USS Yorktown. (NARA) Marcus Island (Minami Torishima) under attack by U.S. Navy aircraft of Carrier Air Group 5 (CVG-5) from the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-10), on 31 August 1943. (NNAM Photo # 2003.143.015)

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 “Up until this time, we had not seen any Japanese planes. Then all at once, there were about 110 of them over us. They made several strafing runs on our ship; however, they did very little damage. I was told, in fact, that as the Japanese strafed our flight deck, some of our crew members were digging the lead out of the deck for souvenirs.” – Herman Brown, “My Navy Story and Life on the Independence” [huge_it_gallery id=”4″] Following the Allied invasion of Bougainville, the Japanese sent a large force of cruisers from Truk to Rabaul in order to engage Allied supply lines and disrupt shipping. Task Group 50.3 of the 5th Fleet, including the carriers USS Bunker Hill, USS Essex, and USS Independence, arrived outside Rabaul on 7 November. Rabaul was considered one of the most important and heavily defended bases of the Japanese Army and Navy in the South Pacific. According to Independence historian John G. Lambert, the island was fortified “with over 350 antiaircraft guns, and over 40 coastal guns and numerous airbases.” Fighting alongside Halsey’s TF 38, carrier-based planes struck in a combined offensive on 11 November. Gunners aboard Independence shot down six Japanese planes during the attack. Photo Captions:

 Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman, Task Force commander, gets good news from Commander Joseph Clifton, fighter group commander on the raid, on board USS SARATOGA (CV-3). With Admiral Sherman (in cap, center) are (l-r): Captain Robert C. Sutliffe, Commander Robert E. Dixon, & Lieutenant Albert F. Howard. Commander Clifton’s fighters escorted the strike, in which 24 Japanese planes were shot down. Photo released 15 Dec. 1943. The two strikes on Rabaul occurred on 5 & 11 November 1943. (NHHC Photo # 80-G-44090) A Japanese bomber explodes on the water just astern of USS ESSEX (CV-9), after being shot down by anti-aircraft fire. USS INDEPENDENCE (CVL-22) is in the right background. (NHHC Photo # 80-G-206615)

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 “I dove to the deck, and all Hell broke loose. We did get hit by a very powerful aerial torpedo from a twin-engine Betty. Then word came over the speaker to abandon ship. I surely hated to hear such a command. Luckily, almost immediately, the order was cancelled. This was good news, since I really was not looking forward to going into the water with all the sharks, and possibly the Japanese coming back to finish us off.” – Herman Brown, “My Navy Story and Life on the Independence” [huge_it_gallery id=”5″] Following the engagement at Rabaul, Independence went to refuel at Espiritu Santu and headed for the Gilbert Islands for pre-landing strikes on Tarawa. On the last day of the strikes, the Japanese counterattacked the American carriers. Independence was targeted by a group of Japanese planes low to the water. Although six planes were shot down, one of their torpedoes managed to score a direct hit on the ship’s starboard quarter, causing serious damage. Independence steamed to Funafuti on 23 November for repairs, eventually making it to San Francisco on 2 January 1944 for more repairs. During that time, an extra catapult was fitted onto the ship, which helped in the crew’s training in night carrier operations after arriving at Pearl Harbor in July. She became the first aircraft carrier to do so. The crew continued to train at Eniwetok in late August before sailing with a large task group to support the Palau operation. There, Independence provided night reconnaissance and night combat air patrol for Task Force 38. Photo Captions:

 Burial at sea, Battle of Tarawa, Nov. 22, 1943. (Al Hiegel, CVL 22 Reunion Group) USS Independence (CVL-22) torpedo damage diagram, 20 November 1943, off Tarawa. Source: Navy Department Library, USS Independence (CVL-22) War Damage Report No. 52. USS Independence (CVL-22) torpedo damage diagram, 20 November 1943, off Tarawa. Source: Navy Department Library, USS Independence (CVL-22) War Damage Report No. 52.

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 “I remember during a short break in the action, I had a chance to relax and look around and saw the three big carriers in TG 38.2 with flight deck fires causes by kamikaze hits.” – RADM M. Dick Van Orden, “Operation of the Fast Carrier Task Force in the Battles of Leyte Gulf, October 25, 1944” [huge_it_gallery id=”6″] In September the fast carrier task force regularly pounded the Philippines in preparation for the invasion. When no Japanese counterattacks developed in this period, Independence shifted to regular daytime operations, striking targets on Luzon. After replenishment at Ulithi in early October, the great force sortied 6 October for Okinawa. In the days that followed the carriers struck Okinawa, Formosa, and Philippines in a striking demonstration of the mobility and balance of the fleet. Japanese air counterattacks were repulsed, with Independence providing day strike groups in addition to night fighters and reconnaissance aircraft for defensive protection. As the carrier groups steamed east of the Philippines 23 October, it became apparent, as Admiral Carney later recalled, that “something on a grand scale was underfoot.” And indeed it was, as the Japanese fleet moved on a three-pronged effort to turn back the American beachhead on Leyte Gulf. Planes from Independence’s Task Group 38.2, under Rear Admiral Bogan, spotted Kurita’s striking force in the Sibuyan Sea 24 October and the carriers launched a series of attacks. Planes from Independence and other ships sank giant battleship Musashi and disabled a cruiser. That evening Admiral Halsey made his fateful decision to turn Task Force 38 northward in search of Admiral Ozawa’s carrier group. Independence’s night search planes made contact and shadowed the Japanese ships until dawn 25 October, when the carriers launched a massive attack. In this second part of the great Battle for Leyte Gulf, all four Japanese carriers were sunk. Meanwhile, American heavy ships had won a great victory in Suriago Strait; and a light carrier force had outfought the remainder of Kurita’s ships in the Battle of Samar. After the great battle, which virtually spelled the end of the Japanese Navy as a major threat, Independence continued to provide search planes and night fighter protection for Task Force 38 in strikes on the Philippines. In these operations the ship had contributed to a major development in carrier group operations. Independence returned to Ulithi for long-delayed rest and replenishment 9 to 14 November, but soon got underway to operate off the Philippines on night attacks and defensive operations. On 17 December 1944, the ships of Task Force 38, seven fleet and six light carriers, eight battleships, 15 cruisers, and about 50 destroyers were operating about 300 miles east of Luzon in the Philippine Sea. The carriers had just completed three days of heavy raids against Japanese airfields, suppressing enemy aircraft during the American amphibious operations against Mindoro in the Philippines. Although the sea had been becoming rougher all day, the nearby cyclonic disturbance gave relatively little warning of its approach. On 18 December, the small but violent typhoon overtook the Task Force while many of the ships were attempting to refuel. According to an official casualty report on the Naval History and Heritage Command website, one sailor was confirmed killed or missing from the Typhoon aboard USS Independence. In all, approximately 790 officers and men were lost or killed, with another 80 injured. From 3 to 9 January, carriers of Task Force 38 supported the Lingayen landings on Luzon, after which Halsey took his fleet on a daring foray into the South China Sea. In the days that followed the aircraft struck at air bases on Formosa and on the coasts of Indo-China and China. These operations in support of the Philippines campaign marked the end of the carrier’s night operations, and she sailed 30 January 1945 for repairs at Pearl Harbor. Photo Captions:

 Units of task force 38 at anchor, at Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands, on 6 November 1944, following the Battle of Leyte Gulf. (NHHC Photo # 80-G-291054) Four Japanese ships under attack by task force 38 planes, off the north tip of Luzon, 18 October 1944. Ships may be the HOTEN MARU, TSINGTAO MARU, TAIHO MARU and TERUKUNI MARU. Photographed from a USS INTREPID (CV-11) plane. (NHHC Photo # NH 95946) One of many violent rolls during typhoon in the Pacific, Oct 4, 1944. (Photo courtesy Al Hiegel, USS Independence Reunion Group/NAVSOURCE)

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 Independence returned to Ulithi 13 March 1945 and got underway next day for operations against Okinawa, last target in the Pacific before Japan itself. She carried out preinvasion strikes 30 to 31 March, and after the assault 1 April remained off the island supplying Combat Air Patrol and strike aircraft. Her planes shot down numerous enemy planes during the desperate Japanese attacks on the invasion force. Independence remained off Okinawa until 10 June when she sailed for Leyte. During July and August, the carrier took part in the final carrier strikes against Japan itself, attacks which lowered enemy morale and had much to do with the eventual surrender. After the end of the war 15 August, Independence aircraft continued surveillance flights over the mainland locating prisoner of war camps, and covered the landings of Allied occupation troops. The ship departed Tokyo 22 September 1945, arriving San Francisco via Saipan and Guam 31 October. Independence joined the “Magic Carpet” fleet beginning 15 November 1945, transporting veterans back to the United States until arriving San Francisco once more 28 January 1946.

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 [huge_it_gallery id=”7″] Assigned as a target vessel for the Bikini atomic bomb tests, she was placed within one-half mile of ground zero for the 1 July explosion (Test Able). The ship did not sink, however, and after taking part in another explosion 25 July (Test Baker) was taken to Kwajalein and decommissioned 28 August 1946. The highly radioactive hulk was later taken to Pearl Harbor and San Francisco for further tests, and was finally sunk in weapons tests off the coast of California 29 January 1951. Photo Captions:

 A view of the target fleet immediately after the “Able” Day aerial burst, 1 July 1946. USS SARATOGA (CV-3) is in the center with USS INDEPENDENCE (CV-22) burning at left-center. Ex-Japanese battleship NAGATO is between them. (NHHC Photo # 80-G-K-20262) Afire aft, soon after the Able Day atomic bomb air burst test at Bikini on 1 July 1946. The bomb had exploded off the ship’s port quarter, causing massive blast damage in that area, and progressively less further forward. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. (Photo # 80-G-627502) iew of the ship’s port quarter, showing severe blast damage caused by the Able Day atomic bomb air burst at Bikini on 1 July 1946. Photographed at Bikini anchorage on 23 July 1946. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. (Photo # 80-G-627471) 3.25 USS INDEPENDENCE (CV-22) and USS SARATOGA (CV-3) burning at Bikini Atoll, 1 July 1946. (NHHC Photo # NH 85251-K) Correspondents aboard an LCU view the badly damaged USS INDEPENDENCE (CVL-22) on 3 July 1946, two days after the “Able Day” burst. This was the unengaged side of the ship. (NHHC Photo # 80-G-627512)

 Click to Read ||||| Famed oceanographer Robert Ballard discovered the Titanic, the Bismarck, the USS Yorktown and John F. Kennedy's PT-109.

 On Tuesday, he added another accomplishment to his list of documenting the world's greatest shipwrecks: the first images in more than six decades of the USS Independence, an iconic World War II aircraft carrier scuttled in 1951 off the California coast, half a mile under the sea.

 In a 20-hour-long expedition, Ballard's team, working with officials from the Navy and NOAA -- the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- revealed breathtaking images of the lost carrier's flight deck, a Hellcat fighter plane, anti-aircraft guns, hatches, ladders and even the letters of the ship's name still visible on the hull, all submerged 30 miles west of Half Moon Bay. Thousands of viewers in more than 30 countries watched the discoveries live over the Internet.

 "What's so wonderful about the wrecks in deeper water, like this ship, the Titanic and the Bismarck, is that they are in amazing states of preservation," Ballard said Tuesday, still at sea.

 "There's very little change from when the Navy scuttled it," he said. "The deep sea is the largest museum on Earth."

 Ballard, a retired Navy officer, and his organization, the Ocean Exploration Trust, based in Connecticut, plan to build a detailed 3-D digital image of the Independence from the thousands of photographs they took with two unmanned submersibles on Monday and Tuesday.

 "It was really nice to read the name on the side," he joked. "You think, 'Good, I found the right ship'."

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 For hours as the images streamed in at www.nautiluslive.org, the adventure riveted viewers who were discovering the fate of the ship, not seen in 65 years, at the same moments as the 31 researchers aboard the Nautilus, Ballard's ship.

 Classrooms of school children emailed questions that the researchers answered in a running commentary, as huge white sponges covered the Independence decks, and deep sea sole and orange thornyhead fish swam by. Large fishing nets could be seen draped across the ship's bow and stern.

 "We're pleased and surprised," said James Delgado, director of maritime heritage for NOAA, and lead scientist on the mission. "Independence is in much better condition than I had expected. It looks as it did in the 1946 photographs. It is a frozen moment in time."

 Delgado said the discovery of a Grumman Hellcat fighter plane was among the most significant findings.

 "It's damaged, but the star, the insignia, is still there on the wing and the 50-caliber guns are still in place," he said.

 'Hellcat' fighter plane found in the wreckage (Ocean Exploration Trust)

 The Independence, a light aircraft carrier that is 623 feet long, saw combat at Wake Island, Okinawa, and Leyte Gulf from 1943 to 1945, and was present a year later at the U.S. atomic tests at Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific. There, as part of nuclear tests, it was placed roughly 500 yards from two nuclear blasts so Naval officials could study their fleet's vulnerability to atomic weapons. While the Independence sustained major damage in the atomic blasts, it did not sink.

 Afterward, the Navy towed the vessel back to Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco. Then to dispose of it, Naval officials towed it out to sea, placed two torpedoes in the ship, and detonated them, sinking the ship on Jan. 26, 1951.

 The ship was all but lost until 1990 when the U.S. Geological Survey found it while mapping the seafloor. Sonar scans taken by NOAA last year provided more detail. But until now, there were no photos or video of the Independence in its final resting place.

 When the ship was sunk, Navy records show, it carried an unknown number of 50-gallon barrels that contained low-level nuclear waste such as gloves, tools and boots. The barrels were filled with concrete and put in a former engine room space that was sealed.

 Delgado said that Tuesday's expedition found no trace of the barrels.

 Kai Vetter, a professor of nuclear engineering at UC Berkeley, said Monday that the ship and its contents pose virtually no risk to ocean wildlife or the public. The reason, he said, is that the half-life of radioactive material that the steel of the ship was exposed to is seven years, meaning it degrades by half in that time period, and 70 years has passed, leaving far less than 1 percent of the original radioactivity.

 Nevertheless, a scientist from Vetter's lab was on board the expedition, and the two submersibles took samples of sediments and small creatures from the ship, such as sponges, for testing.

 Ballard said there are as many as 3 million shipwrecks at the bottom of the world's oceans. Ships in shallower water are covered with sediment that washes down from rivers, he said. Because sunlight can reach them, plants grow and cover them, breaking them down faster than the ships, like the Independence, lost in the icy, pitch-black waters of the deep oceans.

 With every expedition, said Ballard, 74, he takes great care never to set submersibles on the ship or to remove any artifacts, particularly if people died when the vessel sank, which was not the case with the Independence.

 "I left everything on the Titanic and the Bismarck," he said. "Taking things off would be like bringing a shovel to Gettysburg."

 Paul Rogers covers resources and environmental issues. Contact him at 408-920-5045. Follow him at Twitter.com/PaulRogersSJMN ||||| While I was in the control van for @EVNautilus , a viewer submitted this question: "How do I begin a marine science career in a land locked state?" I think this is a great question, and my main answer is get to know your freshwater resources! SCUBA in lakes and quarries! |||||
A summary of this is?

– The USS Independence has remained submerged a half-mile deep off the coast of California for 65 years, out of human sight since it was purposely relegated to the bottom of the ocean by the US Navy in 1951, reportedly with a bunch of 50-gallon barrels containing radioactive waste, per the Mercury News. This week, however, thousands of viewers watched as the first photos other than sonar scans of the 623-foot aircraft carrier were shown live online, courtesy of the same ocean explorer who discovered the Titanic, among other famous shipwrecks—and those pics show the Independence is in remarkably good shape in its watery grave. "There's very little change from when the Navy scuttled it," Robert Ballard says of his team's documentation, in conjunction with the Navy and the NOAA, adding the Titanic was similarly well-kept. "The deep sea is the largest museum on Earth." Viewers saw such wonders as the Independence's sponge-covered flight deck, a Grumman Hellcat fighter plane, and even the ship's name imprinted on its hull, all at the same time as researchers on the Nautilus exploration vessel, who sent out two remote-controlled submersibles Monday and Tuesday to capture the pictures about 30 miles west of Half Moon Bay. What the deep-sea dive didn't find: any evidence of the atomic waste rumored to have been sunk with the ship, per USA Today, though a UC Berkeley nuclear engineering expert tells the Mercury News any danger posed by such waste would've long since dissipated. The 74-year-old Ballard says he treated his newest subject with the same respect he does all his shipwrecks, leaving artifacts intact. "Taking things off would be like bringing a shovel to Gettysburg," he says. (Sonar images of the Independence were first seen last year.)


A federal judge ruled that the District of Columbia and Maryland may proceed with a lawsuit against President Trump alleging that Trump’s business dealings have violated the Constitution’s ban on receiving improper “emoluments,” or payments, from individual states and foreign governments.

 The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte in Maryland, marks the first time that a lawsuit of this kind has cleared the initial legal hurdle — a finding that the plaintiffs have legal standing to sue the president.

 In his opinion, Messitte gave credence to arguments by D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D) and Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) that Trump unfairly profits from business at downtown Washington’s Trump International Hotel, in which the president continues to hold a financial interest.

 Messitte cited examples of government clients — including Kuwait and Bahrain —

 patronizing the Washington hotel, possibly to the detriment of competitors and taxpayers. He wrote that Maryland and the District had sufficiently argued that Trump’s hotel “has had and almost certainly will continue to have an unlawful effect on competition.”

 As part of that ruling, Messitte said he rejected an argument made by critics of the lawsuit — that, under the Constitution, only Congress may decide whether the president has violated the emoluments clauses.

 “In absence of Congressional approval, this Court holds that it may review the actions of the President to determine if they comply with the law,” Messitte wrote.

 If the ruling stands, it could allow Racine and Frosh to seek internal documents from the Trump Organization to determine how much money the Washington hotel has taken in from state and foreign governments.

 Messitte’s ruling largely narrowed the lawsuit’s scope to the Washington hotel, saying that the District and Maryland had standing to sue because they could plausibly claim to have been injured by Trump’s receipt of payments from foreign and state governments.

 For one thing, he said, the two jurisdictions have financial interests in their own convention centers — one in downtown Washington, another in Bethesda, Md. They argued that the Trump hotel had an unfair advantage in the battle for meeting business.

 In addition, the court said, the District and Maryland could speak on behalf of their own businesses, which might also see clients lured away by the chance to do business with the president.

 “The Court concludes that [the District and Maryland] are, quite plausibly, trying to protect a large segment of their commercial residents and hospitality industry employees from economic harm,” he wrote.

 Messitte also raised examples of state governments having to make decisions related to the president’s company, which Frosh and Racine termed an “intolerable dilemma” between losing revenue or risking repercussions from the president. The judge cited a decision by District tax officials to lower the Trump hotel’s tax bill by nearly $1 million and a $6 million tax break being granted to a Trump-affiliated development by Mississippi officials.

 The Justice Department, which is representing the president in this case, did not immediately say whether it would appeal. “As we argued, we believe this case should be dismissed, and we will continue to defend the president in court,” spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said.

 After consulting with attorneys, Trump vowed last year to donate some profits from foreign governments to the U.S. treasury. This month the Trump Organization said it donated $151,470 but declined to explain how it came up with the amount.

 Although Trump said he gave up day-to-day management of his business while he is in the White House, he still owns his businesses and can withdraw money from them at any time.

 A statement from the Trump Organization said: “While the Trump Organization is not a party to the lawsuit, the Court’s decision today does significantly narrow the scope of the case. The Court has yet to rule on several additional arguments, which we believe should result in a complete dismissal.”

 In an interview, Frosh said that “overall we are extremely pleased” and that he and Racine would be seeking the president’s financial documents and tax returns as the case proceeded.

 “The basic principle here is Donald Trump is not above the law, and the court recognized that and said that we can enforce the nation’s original anti-corruption law — the emoluments clause,” he said.

 This case was filed last year, one of a raft of lawsuits in the months after Trump’s inauguration, all of them alleging that he was violating the Constitution’s emoluments clauses.

 Those clauses were dusty corners of the Constitution, rarely tested in court during 240-plus years of American history.

 One bars federal officers from taking presents, or emoluments, from foreign governments. The other prohibits presidents from taking side payments from individual states.

 In these lawsuits, the plaintiffs allege that Trump violated one or both of these bans, because foreign and state governments have rented hotel rooms or banquet halls at his businesses.

 Trump’s attorneys have said that the term “emolument” was never meant to cover transactions such as this — not outright gifts to the president but purchases made at fair-market value.

 The first step in all these cases has been an argument over what lawyers call “standing” — in essence, determining whether the plaintiff has a right to sue.

 In December, for instance, a federal judge threw out one of the emoluments lawsuits, brought by the nonprofit watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

 U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels ruled that the watchdog group lacked standing. He stated that the Constitution gave Congress — and only Congress — the right to enforce these rules.

 “As the only political branch with the power to consent to violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause, Congress is the appropriate body to determine whether, and to what extent, Defendant’s conduct unlawfully infringes on that power,” Daniels wrote in his ruling.

 The case involving the District and Maryland had a hearing earlier this year before Messitte at a federal court in Greenbelt, Md.

 In that hearing, the Justice Department, arguing on Trump’s behalf, made a similar argument in an effort to throw out the attorney generals’ suit. Brett Shumate, a Justice Department lawyer, said that states such as Maryland had no right to sue Trump over these clauses.

 “The states are not roving constitutional watchdogs,” Shumate said. He continued: “This is ultimately a political dispute. It should be left to the political process.”

 In his ruling Wednesday, Messitte rejected that idea.

 “The thrust of the President’s argument that only Congress can act is particularly concerning,” he wrote in a footnote. “Suppose a majority (simple? two-thirds?) of Congress (the House? the Senate? both?) is controlled by one party — that of the President. And suppose the Congress never undertakes to approve or disapprove the President’s receipt of such ‘emoluments.’ ”

 “The President could continue to receive unlimited ‘emoluments’ from foreign and state governments without the least oversight and with absolute impunity,” Messitte wrote. ||||| This will appear next to all of your comments

 This will NOT appear anywhere on Newser ||||| Washington (CNN) A federal judge said Wednesday that a lawsuit alleging gifts or payments from foreign and domestic governments made to President Donald Trump may be illegal can proceed.

 But the ruling from Judge Peter Messitte of the US District Court of Maryland says the Maryland and District of Columbia attorneys general who brought the case will have to focus it on the Trump Organization's operations in Washington. That means the case going forward will challenge payments made by foreign officials for services at the Trump International Hotel, but will not include visits to Mar-a-Lago in Florida or other Trump properties.

 Maryland and DC have argued that the Trump International Hotel's operations put other nearby hotel and entertainment properties at a competitive disadvantage, and that the Trump hotel got special tax concessions.

 Messitte did not make any rulings on the allegations in the case, which accuse Trump of taking illegal gifts from foreign governments through his family's business, violating the Constitution's Emoluments Clause.

 Still, the judge hints at his feelings toward the Trump International Hotel. He notes multiple times, for instance, that foreign governments have moved business from the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton hotels in Washington to the "President's Hotel."

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Write a summary.

– An emoluments lawsuit against President Trump is moving forward after a federal judge ruled Wednesday that attorneys general from Maryland and Washington DC have legal standing to proceed, the AP reports. According to the Washington Post, it's the first time such a lawsuit has ever made it past its first legal test. Two other emoluments lawsuits were tossed by a judge in New York in December, CNN reports. Attorneys general Karl Racine and Brian Frosh accuse Trump of violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution by receiving illegal gifts from foreign governments via the Trump Organization. While Judge Peter Messitte of the US District Court of Maryland is allowing the lawsuit to move forward, he's limiting its scope to just the Trump International Hotel in DC, excluding Mar-a-Lago and other properties. The lawsuit accuses Trump International of getting special tax concessions and having a competitive advantage over other hotels. Messitte noted that foreign governments have moved their business from other DC hotels to the "President's Hotel." He ruled that Trump's other properties are too far away to have any financial impact on Maryland or DC. While Messitte did not rule on the allegations themselves, he did reject an argument from the Trump camp that only Congress can decide if a president has violated the Emoluments Clause.


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Focused crawls are collections of frequently-updated webcrawl data from narrow (as opposed to broad or wide) web crawls, often focused on a single domain or subdomain. ||||| Luca Guadagnino’s films are all about the transformative power of nature—the way it allows our true selves to shine through and inspires us to pursue our hidden passions. From the wild, windswept hills of “I Am Love” to the chic swimming pool of “A Bigger Splash,” Guadagnino vividly portrays the outside world as almost a character in itself—driving the storyline, urging the other characters to be bold, inviting us to feel as if we, too, are a part of this intoxicating atmosphere.

 Never has this been more true than in “Call Me By Your Name,” a lush and vibrant masterpiece about first love set amid the warm, sunny skies, gentle breezes and charming, tree-lined roads of northern Italy. Guadagnino takes his time establishing this place and the players within it. He’s patient in his pacing, and you must be, as well. But really, what’s the rush? It’s the summer of 1983, and there’s nothing to do but read, play piano, ponder classic art and pluck peaches and apricots from the abundant fruit trees.

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 Within this garden of sensual delights, an unexpected yet life-changing romance blossoms between two young men who initially seem completely different on the surface.

 17-year-old Elio (Timothee Chalamet) is once again visiting his family’s summer home with his parents: his father (Michael Stuhlbarg), an esteemed professor of Greco-Roman culture, and his mother (Amira Casar), a translator and gracious hostess. Elio has the gangly body of a boy but with an intellect and a quick wit beyond his years, and the worldliness his parents have fostered within him at least allows him to affect the façade of sophistication. But beneath the bravado, a gawky and self-conscious kid sometimes still emerges. By the end of the summer, that kid will be vanquished forever.

 An American doctoral student named Oliver (Armie Hammer) arrives for the annual internship Elio’s father offers. Oliver is everything Elio isn’t—or at least, that’s our primary perception of him. Tall, gorgeous and supremely confident, he is the archetypal all-American hunk. But as polite as he often can be, Oliver can also breeze out of a room with a glib, “Later,” making him even more of a tantalizing mystery.

 Chalamet and Hammer have just ridiculous chemistry from the get-go, even though (or perhaps because) their characters are initially prickly toward each other: testing, pushing, feeling each other out, yet constantly worrying about what the other person thinks. They flirt by trying to one-up each other with knowledge of literature or classical music, but long before they ever have any physical contact, their electric connection is unmistakable. Lazy poolside chats are fraught with tension; spontaneous bike rides into town to run errands feel like nervous first dates.

 Writer James Ivory’s generous, sensitive adaptation of Andre Aciman’s novel reveals these characters and their ever-evolving dynamic in beautifully steady yet detailed fashion. And so when Elio and Oliver finally dare to reveal their true feelings for each other—a full hour into the film—the moment makes you hold your breath with its intimate power, and the emotions feel completely authentic and earned.

 The way Elio and Oliver peel away each other’s layers has both a sweetness and a giddy thrill to it, even though they feel they must keep their romance a secret from Elio’s parents. (Elio also has a kinda-sorta girlfriend in Marzia [Esther Garrel], a thoughtful, playful French teen who’s also in town for the summer.) One of the many impressive elements of Chalamet’s beautiful, complex performance is the effortless way he transitions between speaking in English, Italian and French, depending on whom Elio is with at the time. It gives him an air of maturity that’s otherwise still in development; eventually his massive character arc feels satisfying and true.

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 But Oliver’s evolution is just as crucial, and Hammer finds the tricky balance between the character’s swagger and his vulnerability as he gives himself over to this exciting affair. He’s flirty but tender—the couple’s love scenes are heartbreaking and intensely erotic all at once—and even though he’s the more experienced of the two, he can’t help but diving in headlong.

 And yet, the most resonant part of “Call Me By Your Name” may not even be the romance itself, but rather the lingering sensation that it can’t last, which Guadagnino evokes through long takes and expert use of silence. A feeling of melancholy tinges everything, from the choice of a particular shirt to the taste of a perfectly ripe peach. And oh my, that peach scene—Guadagnino was wise when he took a chance and left it in from the novel. It really works, and it’s perhaps the ultimate example of how masterfully the director manipulates and enlivens all of our senses.

 There’s a lushness to the visual beauty of this place, but it’s not so perfect as to be off-putting. Quite the opposite. Despite the director’s infamous eye for meticulous detail, cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom’s 35mm images provide a tactile quality that heightens the sensations, makes them feel almost primal. We see the wind gently rustling through the trees, or streaks of sunlight hitting Elio’s dark curls through an open bedroom window, and while it’s all subtly sensual, an inescapable tension is building underneath.

 Guadagnino establishes that raw, immediate energy from the very beginning through his use of music. The piano of contemporary classical composer John Adams’ intricate, insistent “Hallelujah Junction – 1st Movement” engages us during the elegant title sequence, while Sufjan Stevens’ plaintive, synthy “Visions of Gideon” during the film’s devastating final shot ends the film on an agonizingly sad note. (You’ll want to stay all the way through the closing credits—that long, last image is so transfixing. I seriously don’t know how Chalamet pulled it off, but there is serious craft on display here.)

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 In between is Guadagnino’s inspired use of the Psychedelic Furs’ “Love My Way,” an iconic ’80s New Wave tune you’ve probably heard a million times before but will never hear the same way again. The first time he plays it, it’s at an outdoor disco where Oliver feels so moved by the bouncy, percussive beat that he can’t help but jump around to it and get lost in the music, lacking all sense of self-consciousness. Watching this towering figure just go for it on the dance floor in his Converse high-tops is a moment of pure joy, but it’s also as if a dam has broken within Elio, being so close to someone who’s feeling so free. The second time he plays it, toward the end of Oliver and Elio’s journey, it feels like the soundtrack to a time capsule as it recaptures a moment of seemingly endless emotional possibility.

 They know what they’ve found has to end—we know it has to end. But a beautiful monologue from the always excellent Stuhlbarg as Elio’s warmhearted and open-minded father softens the blow somewhat. It’s a perfectly calibrated scene in a film full of them, and it’s one of a million reasons why “Call Me By Your Name” is far and away the best movie of the year. |||||

– Call Me By Your Name takes viewers to northern Italy in the summer of 1983, where 17-year-old Elio (recent Golden Globe nominee Timothee Chalamet) meets 24-year-old American graduate student Oliver (Armie Hammer) and, well, things heat up. The film by Luca Guadagnino, adapted from the novel by Andre Aciman, has a 96% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Their thoughts: The film is a "generous, sensitive adaptation" of Aciman's novel, benefited by the "ridiculous chemistry" of Hammer and 22-year-old Chalamet, who gives a "beautiful, complex performance." These are just a few of the “million reasons why Call Me By Your Name is far and away the best movie of the year," writes Christy Lemire at RogerEbert.com, who also calls the film "a lush and vibrant masterpiece." It's "a powerfully erotic and affecting love story, albeit one so closely and intimately observed that the term 'slow burn' seems almost inadequate," writes Justin Chang at the Los Angeles Times. "The undercurrents of lust, intrigue, jealousy and sexual anxiety flickering between Elio and Oliver are observed with a precision and playfulness that verge on the Hitchcockian," he adds, but it's the film's "compassion and wry wisdom … that catch you off-guard." It's "a spellbinding, almost ecstatically beautiful movie" that's "almost sinfully enjoyable," to boot, writes Ann Hornaday at the Washington Post. The "timeless" coming-of-age tale "acknowledges the purity and sculptural beauty of youth" but adds plenty of erotic tension. Chalamet brings it all together with "a note-perfect combination of cocky self-assurance and wary naiveté," Hornaday writes. "Chalamet delivers one of the year's best performances" in a film simple in its subject matter, writes Rafer Guzman at Newsday. "It's about two people and their feelings"—"erotic yet never graphic, heartfelt yet highly stylized." Two scenes to watch out for: one featuring "an eyebrow-raising use of a peach," and another in which Elio's father (Michael Stuhlbarg) "gives a lovely monologue with such purity of emotion that it's almost breathtaking."


Here is a news article: Lena Dunham is proud of her body. The Girls actress penned an empowering Instagram post thanking Glamour magazine for not Photoshopping her cellulite out of their February 2017 cover.

 “Okay, here goes: throughout my teens I was told, in no uncertain terms, that I was f--king funny looking," the actress wrote alongside an image from her shoot with her Girls costars. "Potbelly, rabbit teeth, knock knees - I could never seem to get it right and it haunted my every move. I posed as the sassy confident one, secretly horrified and hurt by careless comments and hostility."

 Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for Glamour

 Dunham continued that she “didn’t hate what [she] looked like” but that she “hated the culture that was telling [her] to hate it.” The outspoken actress noted that throughout her career people have “celebrated [her] look but always through the lens of 'isn't she brave? Isn't it such a bold move to show THAT body on TV?'"

 The actress, who has been vocal about her imperfections in the past and frequently strips off on her HBO show, went on to thank the magazine for letting her be real.

 “Today this body is on the cover of a magazine that millions of women will read, without photoshop, my thigh on full imperfect display. Whether you agree with my politics, like my show or connect to what I do, it doesn't matter - my body isn't fair game. No one's is, no matter their size, color, gender identity, and there's a place for us all in popular culture to be recognized as beautiful," she concluded. “Haters are gonna have to get more intellectual and creative with their disses in 2017 because none of us are going to be scared into muumuus by faceless basement dwellers, or cruel blogs, or even our partners and friends. Thank you to the women in Hollywood (and on Instagram!) leading the way, inspiring and normalizing the female form in EVERY form, and thank you to @glamourmag for letting my cellulite do the damn thing on news stands everywhere today Love you all.”

 On the cover, Dunham works it in a pair of purple metallic booty shorts and platform heels alongside her Girls costars Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet and Allison Williams.

 In their tell-all interview, which hits newsstands on January 10, Dunham reveals that as Girls’ creator and showrunner she sometimes felt left out of the group on set.

 "Sometimes I would get very lonely, because I wanted to be a part of the group, but there was also the element of, like, having to boss people around. And we would be doing all this as a team, [but] if we got criticism, I felt like it would all come down on me in this s--t-storm torrent,” said Dunham, who created the series. “Even though I was surrounded by love, there were times where I felt very 'by myself' in the process."

 The final season of Girls premieres on HBO on Sunday, February 12, at 10 p.m. ET.

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  ||||| One of the amazing things about women is how quickly we adapt to change. No matter how weird or new things are to us at first—ankle-revealing dresses? the right to vote? Lady Gaga?—we eventually just absorb them, like drops in a stream, until memory fades and they join up with the continually flowing river that is progress. Which is why it’s kind of hard to remember that five years ago, when Girls premiered on HBO, the world was a different place. Sure, single-gal shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Murphy Brown had laid the groundwork for then 25-year-old Lena Dunham’s creation. But Dunham made clear in the first episode that neither her character, Hannah, nor Jessa (Jemima Kirke), nor Marnie (Allison Williams), nor Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) would be a Sex and the City fantasy: When chirpy Shoshanna tells Jessa, “You’re definitely like a Carrie, but with, like, some Samantha aspects, and Charlotte hair,” Jessa shoots her a look that just says: No. This show would be different.

 Girls is fiction, obviously. But it has been committed to portraying life, for the most part, as it is. The characters look like people, not actors who spend every waking second working out or tanning or shooting up human growth hormone. The apartments they inhabit are dim and cramped. Their panic about work, money, and love is relatable, the sex they have is awkward, and they go to the bathroom, a lot. At times watching the characters flail around and shoot snot rockets in the bathtub can get uncomfortable, but then they reel you back in with a spot-on joke: “Nobody tells you how bad it’s going to be in the real world,” moans Shoshanna in season four. “Yeah they do,” Marnie snaps. “It’s pretty much all they ever tell you.”

 It is a comedy, after all. But from the start Girls intentionally pushed buttons: There’s nudity, which Dunham has explained is her way of trying to normalize real women’s bodies, homosexuality, and a character who is “super chill,” as the website Jezebel put it, about getting an abortion. Because of that, conservative critics began to rage against it almost immediately with what seemed like outsize fervor. “If, as [Dunham’s] character suggests in the show’s first episode, she is the voice of her generation, then one could seriously argue that we’re doomed,” the National Review warned in 2013.

 In hindsight it seems that perhaps its detractors saw before anyone else what a force Girls would be and how it would permeate our culture. The Internet roiled with Girls think pieces and interviews with the intelligent cast, all of whom made a point of identifying as feminists and encouraged others to do so. Traveling to Texas with Dunham in 2014 for a profile, I was startled by the size of the crowds at events for her book, Not That Kind of Girl, which she held in conjunction with Planned Parenthood, a favored cause. Since then Dunham has further immersed herself in politics; she was one of Hillary Clinton’s most vocal campaign surrogates. Meanwhile, Kirke advocated for the Center for Reproductive Rights, candidly sharing her own abortion story; Mamet wrote about her insecurities and struggles with an eating disorder in Glamour; and as an ambassador to Horizons National, Williams focused on closing the education gap. Last year all four women released a PSA urging support for sexual-assault survivors.

 One can bet that Girls isn’t going to go out lightly in its last season. And the show’s legacy will be felt long after it goes off the air: Shows like Broad City, Love, and Better Things all have Girls in their DNA. Dunham and Girls executive producer Jenni Konner, who interviews the cast below, have made it their mission to deepen the bench of women storytellers by founding a newsletter, Lenny Letter, and a production company, A Casual Romance Productions. And so the river of progress will continue its inexorable flow forward and not back. With that, Jenni, take it away. —Jessica Pressler

 JENNI KONNER: Here’s the idea: When you leave a job, they do something called an exit interview, where they ask you questions about your experience at that company. I want to ask you questions from a corporation’s actual exit interview for this interview. And the company we’re going to talk about is Girls. So. Hi, guys. Welcome.

 LENA DUNHAM: Hi, Jennifer.

 JENNI: I’m going to start with Jemima. What was the most satisfying thing about your job, and the least satisfying?

 JEMIMA KIRKE: OK, thank you. The least and the most satisfying thing about my job was my relationship with Lena. [ Laughter. ] In a good way. It definitely caused us to get closer [after 15 years of friendship,] and it caused us to fight. And then at the end of it, you know, [our relationship] was nicer.

 JENNI: Everyone, take your cue from Jemima and be brutally honest. [ Laughter. ] All right—Allison?

 ALLISON WILLIAMS: I started playing one person, then she evolved so much. I got to exercise all kinds of muscles. The least satisfying? I always wanted to be in the show more. [ Laughter. ] That was my M.O. every year. I wanted to be a piece of furniture in Hannah’s apartment, if that’s what it took.

 JENNI: Jemima just said, “That’s so typical.” And I was about to say, “That’s so on-brand.”

 ALLISON: Listen, I’m consistent.

 JENNI: You are nothing if not consistent. It’s such a relief. Zosia?

 ZOSIA MAMET: The most satisfying part was getting to play a person who was so intrinsically opposite of me in, like, every atom of my being. The dissatisfying thing was that I came to know this human that I created. And love her. And now I miss her.

 JENNI: Lena?

 LENA: I think the most satisfying part was learning to treasure collaboration. When I went into the job, I had fear about letting other people into my process. So whether it was becoming partners with you, Jenni, and realizing that I had a lifelong creative partner, which isn’t something that I ever expected to have in my life based on being raised by parents who went into a studio alone and acted like art was a solitary activity. Or building my relationships with Allison and Zosia, and learning to listen when they had a note and not become defensive. Or the hardest, learning to listen to Jemima, because I always felt like she was, like, six steps from murdering me and I had to protect myself. But all of that helped me learn the satisfying thing of opening up and understanding that other people’s concepts of their characters, their ideas, are just as valuable as mine.

 JENNI: And least satisfying?

 LENA: Sometimes I would get very lonely, because I wanted to be a part of the group, but there was also the element of, like, having to boss people around. And we would be doing all this as a team, [but] if we got criticism, I felt like it would all come down on me in this shit-storm torrent. Even though I was surrounded by love, there were times where I felt very “by myself” in the process.

 JENNI: I’m just gonna say—the hardest part of my job was just trying to get you guys not to get haircuts and tattoos! [ Laughter. ] Now back to the questionnaire: What would you change about the job, if you could, now?

 JEMIMA: Ugh, I think season two.

 JENNI: Your whole season?

 LENA: That was the season where you said I had to get out of your dressing room or you were gonna punch me, Jem.

 JEMIMA: Season two was kind of traumatic for me. I think for everyone. And I know that I was a bit of a tyrant myself.

 LENA: I think it’s time for us to disclose to the world that, like, three days before season two, Jemima tried to quit. [ Laughter. ]

 JEMIMA: Yeah. My sense of who I was and what I wanted was really thin. I really wasn’t sure what the f-ck I was doing.

 LENA: I remember being in a cab. And Jemima called me. She was like, “I have to tell you something. It’s not a big deal. I don’t want you to freak out. I want to quit the show.” [ Laughter. ]

 JENNI: We’re so glad you stayed, Jem. Zosia, what would you change?

 ZOSIA: Oh, f-ck. That’s so hard. So much of my day-to-day work on the show was my attempt to try and find Shoshanna. I think I had a lot of anxiety that I wouldn’t hit her tone right.

 JENNI: But you invented her tone.

 ZOSIA: It was such a surprise to me that that [character] came out of me. I was so all-encompassed in getting it right that I think I lost some of the “relishing the moment” of being in the scenes. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Lena Dunham appears on the cover of Glamour magazine's February issue with her Girls co-stars, wearing booty shorts, and she has something to say to the magazine for not Photoshopping her thighs to smooth perfection: thanks. "Here goes: throughout my teens I was told, in no uncertain terms, that I was f---ing funny looking. Potbelly, rabbit teeth, knock knees- I could never seem to get it right and it haunted my every move," she writes on Instagram. "Let's get something straight: I didn't hate what I looked like- I hated the culture that was telling me to hate it. When my career started, some people celebrated my look but always through the lens of 'isn't she brave? Isn't it such a bold move to show THAT body on TV?' ... Well, today this body is on the cover of a magazine that millions of women will read, without photoshop, my thigh on full imperfect display." "Thank you to the women in Hollywood (and on Instagram!) leading the way, inspiring and normalizing the female form in EVERY form, and thank you to @glamourmag for letting my cellulite do the damn thing on news stands everywhere today," she continues. In another Instagram post, Dunham shared the cover image itself and noted that the Glamour issue in which she appears was produced entirely by women. In the accompanying interview, Dunham reveals that Girls star Jemima Kirke nearly quit during season two: "I remember being in a cab. And Jemima called me. She was like, 'I have to tell you something. It’s not a big deal. I don’t want you to freak out. I want to quit the show.'" Girls' final season premieres on HBO Feb. 12, Us reports.


A kayaker fishing for salmon off Waukegan Harbor on Monday morning found an unexpected animal in the water — a 4-foot-long American alligator.

 Chicago resident David Castaneda had been paddling for about four hours when around 9:30 a.m. he saw something floating in the water, he said. Thinking it was a dead salmon, he went closer to check.

 Instead, he saw an alligator head, Castaneda said.

 “I went closer to see if it was real,” he said. “I was just in shock. I wasn’t sure if it was a real alligator or a toy.”

 Castaneda called 911 to report the alligator, and Waukegan’s Animal Control responded.

 The animal, which had its mouth taped shut, “was definitely on borrowed time,” said Rob Carmichael, curator for the Wildlife Discovery Center in Lake Forest, where the alligator is being taken.

 “I would say it would be lucky if it lived another couple weeks,” Carmichael said. “Lake Michigan is only getting colder and colder each week.”

 Carmichael said he and a veterinarian will assess the alligator’s condition once it arrives.

 The city had initially reported the animal found as a caiman, which is similar to an alligator, but the Wildlife Discovery Center told the city later in the day Monday that it was an American alligator.

 It is unknown how long the animal was in the water with its mouth taped shut, Carmichael added, saying the alligator looked to be on the thin side from what he has seen so far.

 He expects the Discovery Center to know within three to five days how serious the situation is, but as long as there aren’t any major issues like a bacterial infection, Carmichael said he thinks they should be able to get the animal turned around.

 City of Waukegan Nicole Garza, an animal warden for the city of Waukegan, rescues a 4-foot-long alligator that was discovered by a kayaker off Waukegan Harbor in Lake Michigan. Nicole Garza, an animal warden for the city of Waukegan, rescues a 4-foot-long alligator that was discovered by a kayaker off Waukegan Harbor in Lake Michigan. (City of Waukegan)

 An investigation into whether the animal was abandoned, which is a crime, will “absolutely” be conducted, city spokesman David Motley said.

 The abandoning of exotic animals is something that occurs less than it used to as a result of stepped-up state regulations around ownership of endangered or threatened animals, which require permits to own, Carmichael said.

 The system seems to be working, because Carmichael hasn’t seen as many cases like what happened in Waukegan within the last five years, Carmichael said.

 Another time an exotic animal was discovered in Waukegan was in September 2012 when a nearly 14-foot, fully grown Burmese python was found near Waukegan Harbor, according to News-Sun reports. The snake was euthanized due to its wounds the next day.

 An alligator was also discovered in the Chicago River under the Belmont Avenue bridge in August 2010, according to a Chicago Tribune report from the time.

 “There’s a lot more accountability built into the system,” Carmichael said. “It requires people to jump through hoops, and that’s a good thing. It leaves out the people who want to do it for the ‘oh, wow’ factor.”

 Some dangerous animals, like lions, bears or coyotes, are illegal to own under the state’s Dangerous Animals Act.

 emcoleman@tribpub.com

 Twitter @mekcoleman ||||| A four-foot alligator was found in Lake Michigan on Oct. 8, 2018. A kayaker saw the alligator and called the police, who responded to the call with skepticism initially. (Photo: City of Waukegan)

 The City of Waukegan, Illinois, confirmed via a Facebook post Monday that it pulled a 4-foot alligator from Lake Michigan.

 The city said a kayaker saw the alligator swimming slowly in the Waukegan harbor area and called police. Waukegan Police Animal Control retrieved the alligator, which turned out to be an American alligator. The alligator was transferred to the Lake Forest Wildlife Discovery Center.

 "These creatures are not indigenous. You can imagine the skepticism that came with it," said David Motley, the city's director of public relations.

 Waukegan is about 54 miles south of Milwaukee.

 Read or Share this story: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2018/10/08/alligator-found-swimming-lake-michigan-waukegan-illinios/1570025002/ |||||

Write a summary.

– A kayaker hoping to reel in some salmon on Lake Michigan instead found himself face-to-snout with a 4-foot alligator on Monday. David Castaneda was fishing off Waukegan Harbor when he spotted the reptile swimming slowly with its mouth taped shut, reports the Lake County News-Sun. "I was just in shock," says Castaneda, who sent authorities a video to confirm the alligator wasn't a toy. Once rescued, it was taken to Wildlife Discovery Center in Lake Forest, where officials hope to nurse it back to health. Though the animal's condition remains unclear, curator Rob Carmichael says the gator was thin and likely would've died within a couple of weeks as "Lake Michigan is only getting colder and colder." An effort is now being made to trace the foreigner; an investigation will examine whether the exotic animal was abandoned against the law, says city spokesman David Motley. "These creatures are not indigenous," he tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "You can imagine the skepticism that came with it."