Write a summary based on this article:

Sally Jewell, an outdoor-equipment executive and former petroleum engineer and commercial banker, won Senate confirmation to become U.S. Interior secretary in a bipartisan Senate vote.

 Jewell’s nomination won approval today 87-11.

 The chief executive officer of outfitter Recreational Equipment Inc., Jewell pledged in her confirmation hearing to balance conflicting demands in using federal land for recreation, conservation, mining and forestry.

 “She is the right person to oversee the multitude of programs” in the Interior Department, Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said before the vote. “She understands there is an enormous challenge to balance these dual roles of conserving and developing.”

 In hearings leading up to the vote, Republican senators such as Wyoming’s John Barrasso had questioned her ties to environmental groups that had opposed oil and coal use near national parks or on government lands. While at Kent, Washington-based REI, Jewell has helped lead groups such as the National Parks Conservation Association that pushed the government to curb fossil-fuel mining in or near public lands.

 Jewell, 57, will replace Ken Salazar at the Interior Department, a sprawling, 70,000-employee agency that manages national parks along with 500 million acres of mineral-rich land. Interior also oversees development of offshore resources.

 ‘Pay Attention’

 Given its large holdings in Alaska and other western states, “when it comes to cabinet positions, this is one we are going to pay attention to,” Republican Lisa Murkowski said on the Senate floor. “We all have instances, where people from the state we represent have to go knock on the door of some federal agency, and they don’t feel like they are being adequately heard.”

 Murkowski said she was “very impressed with her level of sincerity,” and said she also supported Jewell.

 Jewell is an accomplished mountain climber, expert skier and longtime bicycle commuter, and was supported for the Interior post by environmental groups such as the Sierra Club.

 She pledged to resign her post at REI once confirmed by the Senate.

 To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Drajem in Washington at mdrajem@bloomberg.net

 To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net ||||| The Senate approved Sally Jewell Sarah (Sally) Margaret JewellOvernight Regulation: Senate panel approves driverless car bill | House bill to change joint-employer rule advances | Treasury to withdraw proposed estate tax rule | Feds delaying Obama methane leak rule Overnight Energy: Dems take on Trump's chemical safety pick GOP chairman probes Zinke’s charter plane use MORE to be the next Interior Secretary on Wednesday, placing her atop an agency at the center of intense political battles over energy throughout President Obama’s tenure.

 Lawmakers voted 87-11 to approve Jewell to run the department that oversees conservation, recreation, oil-and-gas drilling and other uses on vast swaths of federal land. Eleven Republicans opposed her nomination.

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 “Sally knows that business and environment both benefit when we are committed to protecting our national parks and national treasures,” Sen.(D-Wash.) said.

 Jewell, who lives in Seattle, is the head of outdoor gear giant REI, Inc. Before taking the REI job, she spent two decades working in the banking industry and began her career as an engineer for Mobil Oil Corp. (before its merger with Exxon).

 “Outdoor recreation is now a major economic generator for our country,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden Ronald (Ron) Lee WydenLobbying World Overnight Regulation: House to vote on repealing joint-employer rule | EPA won't say which areas don't meet Obama smog rule | Lawmakers urge regulators to reject Perry plan New tax plan will hinder care for older Americans MORE (D-Ore.) said ahead of her vote. “That’s why I’m especially enthused today to recommend Sally Jewell to head the Department of Interior. … You can’t run a multi-billion dollar company like REI without being able to bring people together and anticipating some of the trends that lie ahead.”

 GOP Sens. Mike Johanns Mike JohannsFarmers, tax incentives can ease the pain of a smaller farm bill Lobbying World To buy a Swiss company, ChemChina must pass through Washington MORE (Neb.), Deb Fischer Debra (Deb) Strobel FischerDissent is democratic: Stop calling McCain, Corker, Flake RINOs GOP senators fear bill will be cast as gift to rich GOP plans tax blitzkrieg MORE (Neb.), John Barrasso John Anthony BarrassoThis week: GOP seeks to advance tax overhaul Dissent is democratic: Stop calling McCain, Corker, Flake RINOs The farm bill presents a chance to lighten the regulatory burden of farmers MORE (Wyo.), Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioOvernight Cybersecurity: What we learned from Carter Page's House Intel testimony | House to mark up foreign intel reform law | FBI can't access Texas shooter's phone | Sessions to testify at hearing amid Russia scrutiny Cornyn: Senate GOP tax plan to be released Thursday This week: GOP seeks to advance tax overhaul MORE (Fla.), Mike Enzi Michael (Mike) Bradley EnziGOP senators ask Trump for meeting on biofuels mandate Senate budget just the latest attack on seniors Week ahead: GOP's next steps on tax reform | Fed chief speculation heats up | Senate to vote on disaster relief MORE (Wyo.), David Vitter David VitterYou're fired! Why it's time to ditch the Fed's community banker seat Overnight Energy: Trump set to propose sharp cuts to EPA, energy spending Former La. official tapped as lead offshore drilling regulator MORE (La.), Tim Scott Timothy (Tim) Eugene ScottKey differences between the Senate and House tax plans Strange bedfellows on criminal justice reform could offer Trump a legislative win Senate GOP reveals different approach on tax reform MORE (S.C.), Mike Lee Michael (Mike) Shumway LeeOvernight Health Care: Trump officials to allow work requirements for Medicaid GOP senator: CBO moving the goalposts on ObamaCare mandate Cornyn: Senate GOP tax plan to be released Thursday MORE (Utah), Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellMcConnell expects Paul to return to Senate next week Former Hill staff calls for mandatory harassment training Gaming the odds of any GOP tax bill getting signed into law MORE (Ky.), Saxby Chambliss Saxby ChamblissLobbying World Former GOP senator: Let Dems engage on healthcare bill OPINION: Left-wing politics will be the demise of the Democratic Party MORE (Ga.) and Tom Coburn Tom CoburnFormer GOP senator: Trump has a personality disorder Lobbying World -trillion debt puts US fiscal house on very shaky ground MORE (Okla.) voted against Jewell's nomination.

 Republicans and petroleum industry groups say the Obama administration has placed too many restrictions on oil-and-gas drilling and other commercial development, battles likely to continue under Jewell, who replaces outgoing Secretary Ken Salazar.

 But Sen. Lisa Murkowski Lisa Ann MurkowskiMoore digs in amid mounting GOP criticism Republicans float pushing back Alabama special election Moore defends himself as pressure mounts MORE (R-Alaska), the top Republican on the Senate’s energy committee, said she was hopeful that Jewell would work with all sides in various battles over Interior policy. Murkowski said that the most important role of the Interior Secretary is being a “landlord” since Interior owns a large portion of U.S. land.

 “I think we recognize as westerners that this is a position that has great meaning to our states, so we pay attention to who is the Secretary of Interior,” Murkowski said. “Really the most prominent role is being a landlord … and we need to trust our landlord.”

 The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved Jewell with a bipartisan 19-3 vote last month. ||||| The Senate has confirmed Sally Jewell, CEO of outdoor retailer Recreational Equipment Inc., as interior secretary.

 Jewell will oversee more than 500 million acres of national parks and other public lands, and more than 1 billion acres offshore. The lands are used for energy development, mining, recreation and other purposes. The department also provides services to 566 federally recognized Indian tribes. The Senate approved her nomination, 87-11.

 A lifelong outdoors enthusiast, the 57-year-old Jewell previously worked as a petroleum engineer and banker. She also served on the board of the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group that works to protect and enhance national parks.

 President Barack Obama's nominated Jewell last month to replace outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who announced his departure in January. Jewell is from Seattle. |||||

– President Obama's choice to be the next interior secretary sailed through her Senate confirmation today by a vote of 87 to 11, reports the Washington Post. Sally Jewell, 57, will replace Ken Salazar as head of the department that overseas 500 million acres of parks and public lands, reports AP. Jewell has an interesting resume, notes Bloomberg and the Hill: She is currently CEO of the huge outdoor gear company REI, though she will resign immediately. Previously, she worked as a petroleum engineer and a commercial banker. “Outdoor recreation is now a major economic generator for our country,” Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon said before the vote. “You can’t run a multi-billion dollar company like REI without being able to bring people together and anticipating some of the trends that lie ahead."


Article:

Payment processor PayPal has banned Infowars in what represents nothing less than a political ploy designed to financially sabotage an influential media outlet just weeks before the mid-term elections.

 Company representatives called Infowars yesterday to confirm that PayPal was terminating its agreement after “a comprehensive review of the Infowars site.”

 The company claimed that Infowars violated PayPal’s “acceptable use policy” because it “promoted hate and discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions.”

 No specific examples whatsoever were officially provided to back up this claim, which relies on a nebulous definition of “hate” which is so vague that virtually anything could qualify.

 Off record, Infowars was told that criticism of Islam and opposition to transgenderism being taught to children in schools were two of the examples of “hate”.

 The ban was instituted despite InfowarsStore.com containing no political content whatsoever, emphasizing how the decision was a broader attack on the Infowars platform.

 PayPal representatives said they were giving Infowars 10 days to switch payment processors, after which all services would be terminated.

 The ban was handed down just weeks after George Soros-funded group Right Wing Watch published an article demanding that PayPal terminate its agreement with Infowars for “egregious violations of the platform’s own terms of service.”

 Right Wing Watch routinely violates copyright by uploading entire sections of other people’s videos to YouTube without any pretense of fair use, yet the group’s channel has not been deleted.

 Right Wing Watch is owned by People For the American Way, which is funded by George Soros’ Open Society Initiative.

 In addition, the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post published an article less than two weeks ago that served as a dog whistle for PayPal to ban Infowars.

 Entitled As Alex Jones rails against ‘Big Tech,’ his Infowars stores still thrive online, the article bemoaned the fact that despite Alex Jones being banned by every other Big Tech platform, the censorship had, “left intact key elements of his moneymaking machinery — digital storefronts.”

 The article then specifically mentions how Infowars uses PayPal to generate a “high rate of sales”.

 This is yet another example of a competing media outlet abusing its dominant position to lobby to shut down a smaller media outlet.

 PayPal banning Infowars is the ultimate culmination of what represents a de facto Communist Chinese-style social credit score, where first you are demonized, then censored, before your basic ability to operate freely in the marketplace is withdrawn.

 The decision is also blatantly political given the fact that the mid-terms are now just weeks away.

 The crusade to ban Alex Jones and Infowars from a myriad of other platforms was amplified by Democratic Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL), who demanded to know why Facebook and YouTube hadn’t banned Jones. Both companies complied with Deutch’s demand within weeks.

 As Breitbart reported, the mass deplatforming of Jones occurred, “One week after Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, led a charge threatening new regulation of social media companies who cannot stop bad actors from using their platforms.”

 This illustrates how lawmakers are colluding with Big Tech to silence conservative voices.

 The argument that PayPal, like the plethora of other Silicon Valley giants that banned Infowars and Alex Jones, is “just a private company” is wearing increasingly thin.

 To what degree will conservatives allow themselves to be punished for their political opinions?

 Will it get to the stage where conservatives are banned from having bank accounts or making credit purchases because of their personal beliefs? This is absolutely chilling.

 People like David Horowitz and Robert Spencer have already had their access to the marketplace restricted because of their criticism of Islam.

 Are we now to understand that questioning an often violent and intolerant belief system is all it takes to have your basic right to engage in commerce withdrawn?

 PayPal is akin to the public square of transactional commerce. It could be legally argued that their decision represents tortious interference, interference in interstate commerce and racketeering.

 The ban represents nothing less than politically motivated financial discrimination by a giant corporation abusing its monopolistic status to attack the basic right to engage in commerce.

 PayPal still offers its services to all kinds of unsavory groups and organizations, including groups linked to Palestinian terrorists and extremists like Louis Farrakhan. Why aren’t they banned? Who decides what constitutes “hate”?

 Infowars was also tipped off by sources in DC that payment processors would be the next target, with Infowars being the first victim, after which leftists would attempt to bring down the NRA and more mainstream conservative groups.

 Just as Wikileaks’ ability to process payments was sabotaged after it angered the deep state, the financial attack on Infowars is being orchestrated by ‘resistance’ holdovers who are still in government positions.

 Other prominent conservatives and political groups must realize that while this is happening to Infowars today, they are next.

 This is election meddling writ large. This is giant corporations taking their orders from the deep state and mobs of leftists and then destroying people’s livelihoods by restricting their access to the marketplace.

 This is an echo of how authoritarian regimes throughout history eviscerated either political adversaries or minority groups by removing their right to engage in commerce. Now instead of the government taking that role, it’s giant monopolistic corporations who are able to get away with it because conservatives have their heads buried in the sand.

 This is why it is imperative that President Trump pass an executive order that offers protection for conservatives whose rights are being violated on a regular basis by Big Tech monopolies.

 With PayPal now buying up global credit card payment processors, Trump must surely look at blocking such activity under anti-trust laws.

 This sets off a horrific domino effect and an awful precedent for free speech and freedom of commerce.

 PayPal must reconsider this atrocious decision.

 Infowars is currently considering all legal options in response to PayPal’s announcement.

 Please support Infowars by purchasing the products while you still can. Subscribe to the podcast or donate directly.

 SUBSCRIBE on YouTube:

 Follow on Twitter: Follow @PrisonPlanet

 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71

 *********************

 Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com.

 All Conservatives To Be Purged From The Internet After PayPal Ban Of Alex Jones ||||| PayPal will no longer do business with Infowars, according to a post on the conspiracy theory site this morning. PayPal broke the news in an email to Infowars yesterday, saying the company had conducted a comprehensive review of the Infowars site and found that it “promoted hate and discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions,” a violation of PayPal’s acceptable use policy. Infowars had used PayPal to process transactions for its on-site store; the site will have ten days to find new payment processors.

 The move comes after a string of bans, which have effectively barred Infowars from distributing content on the internet’s major platforms. Facebook banned a number of Infowars pages in August after public pressure. YouTube, Twitter, the iOS App Store, and others followed Facebook’s lead in the weeks that followed. Infowars and its founder Alex Jones have drawn increasing criticism for harassment of the parents of Sandy Hook victims (whom Jones described as “crisis actors”) and persistent conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Clinton staffer Seth Rich.

 PayPal’s partnership with the site was highlighted in August by Right Wing Watch’s Jared Holt, who described “highly publicized and egregious violations of the platform’s own terms of service.” Reached by The Verge, Holt said today’s move had been a long time coming. “Removing PayPal from the Infowars platform inhibits Jones’ ability to make money from his malice,” Holt said, “but it’s a bit odd it took so long given how egregiously Infowars violated the platform’s terms of service.”

 Reached by The Verge, PayPal confirmed the ban, and said it extended to all Infowars-related sites. “Our values are the foundation for the decision we made this week,” a PayPal spokesperson said in a statement. “We undertook an extensive review of the Infowars sites, and found instances that promoted hate or discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions, which run counter to our core value of inclusion.” |||||
What is a summary?

– Another day, another digital banishment for Alex Jones and InfoWars. This time, it's PayPal, which informed InfoWars of the ban on Thursday, saying the site violated "acceptable use policy" by promoting "hate," The Verge reports. Among other digital platforms that have recently banned Jones—infamous for promoting conspiracy theories, harassing the parents of Sandy Hook shooting victims, and hectoring journalists and politicians—are Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. PayPal has given InfoWars 10 business days to find another payment processing platform before it pulls the plug, according to the New York Times noting that PayPal handles all of the InfoWars store's transactions (it sells things like vitamins and InfoWars merch), including donations from supporters. In a blog post, InfoWars accused PayPal of seeking to "financially sabotage an influential media outlet just weeks before the midterm elections."


Article:
The U.S. Census Bureau reported Wednesday that 16 million children living in America received food stamps in 2014, or about one out of every five kids.

 Census said that number is up dramatically from 2007, before the Great Recession, when 9 million kids were receiving food stamps, or about one in eight. The data comes from Census’ 2014 survey on families.

 “The rate of children living with married parents who receive food stamps has doubled since 2007,” Census said.

 The findings are likely to bolster claims from some Republicans that the Obama administration seems to have a goal of putting more people under government aid programs. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 2012 called President Barack Obama the “food stamp president,” which led some to say his comment was racist.

 The debate over food stamps has led to a sort of chicken-and-egg argument between Republicans and Democrats. The GOP has said the end of the recession should allow Congress to reduce spending on food stamps.

 While Democrats have tried to give President Barack Obama credit for a rebounding economy, they also note that millions of additional people are using food stamps, and that the program should not be cut yet. The total number of people using food stamps has almost doubled since the start of the Great Recession, to nearly 48 million in 2013.

 The number finally dipped from that peak in 2014, but just a little, to about 46 million people.

 Republicans have tried since 2013 to cut food stamp spending, as part of their overall plan to slow spending and get control of the budget deficit. In 2013, the House voted to cut $39 billion from food stamps over a decade, and almost a year ago, President Barack Obama signed a final deal that will cut just $8.7 billion from the program over ten years.

 That cut was estimated to reduce food stamp benefits by about $90 per month for the hundreds of thousands of homes that use them. ||||| WASHINGTON The number of children in the United States relying on food stamps for a meal spiked to 16 million last year, according federal data, signaling a lopsided economic recovery in which lower income families are still lagging behind.

 The roughly one in five children who received food stamps in 2014 surpassed pre-recession levels, when one in eight or 9 million children were on food stamps, according to the U.S. Census survey of American families released on Wednesday

 Republicans in Congress have sought to cut back on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program or food stamp program as part of a larger plan to balance the budget.

 Early last year lawmakers proposed $40 billion in cuts from the program over 10 years. The final farm bill signed into law trimmed $8.6 billion from the program, eliminating benefits for about 850,000 people, according to estimates by anti-hunger advocates.

 Other findings of the survey show a rapidly changing America in which more children are being raised in single-parent homes and more young people are delaying marriage.

 Of the 73.7 million children under 18 in the United States, 27 percent were living in single parent homes last year, tripling the 9 percent in 1960.

 The number of marriages also dwindled last year with less than half of households in America made up of married couples, compared to three-quarters in 1940, the survey found.

 The median age for people first getting married in 2014 was 29 for men and 27 for women up from 24 and 21 respectively in 1947.

 (Reporting by Elvina Nawaguna; Editing by Sandra Maler) ||||| The number of children receiving food stamps remains higher than it was before the start of the Great Recession in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual Families and Living Arrangements table package released today.

 The rate of children living with married parents who receive food stamps has doubled since 2007. In 2014, an estimated 16 million children, or about one in five, received food stamp assistance compared with the roughly 9 million children, or one in eight, that received this form of assistance prior to the recession.

 These statistics come from the 2014 Current Population Survey’s Annual Social and Economic Supplement, which has collected statistics on families and living arrangements for more than 60 years. Today’s table package delves into the characteristics of households, including the marital status of the householders and their relationship to the children residing in the household. The historical data on America’s families and living arrangements can be found on census.gov. |||||Summary:

– There are roughly 73.7 million kids running around America, and about 16 million, or nearly one in five, of them are doing so fueled by food stamps, according to US Census data out yesterday. That number is particularly alarming when compared to pre-recession levels: In 2007, some 9 million, or one in eight, kids were on food stamps. There are currently about 46 million Americans total on food stamps, down from the 2013 peak of 48 million. The jump signals what Reuters says is a "lop-sided" economic recovery that has left low-income people behind, but it also underscores a fundamental partisan divide over social welfare programs. As the Blaze notes, Republicans want to scale back the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program—arguing that the end of the recession should indicate less need—and trimmed $8.6 billion and 850,000 people from its rolls with last year's farm bill. Democrats, meanwhile, argue that it's too soon to scale back the program. Meanwhile, some other highlights from the Census numbers: 27% of children live in single-parent homes, three times the 9% who did in 1960 10% of kids live with a grandparent, 15% have a stay-at-home mom, 0.6% have a stay-at-home dad, and 38% have at least one foreign-born parent 48% of households are made up of married couples, down from 76% in 1940 Americans are continuing to marry later, at a median age of 29 for men and 27 for women; that's up from 24 and 21 in 1947


Article:

The other half of the proposed bill creates a package of incentives and new programs aimed at improving prison conditions and preparing prisoners for re-entry into their communities. It would require the Justice Department to create a risk and need assessment system to nudge prisoners toward better outcomes. And it would expand time credits that reward good behavior and create new ones for participating in job-training and other programs that allow offenders to reduce their time behind bars.

 The legislation would also improve conditions for incarcerated women, prohibiting the shackling of female inmates while pregnant, and would require the Bureau of Prisons to locate prisoners in facilities close to their homes, if possible.

 The Fraternal Order of Police, the country’s largest police organization, said last Friday that it would support the bill, and the National Sheriffs’ Association appeared to have dropped some previous objections after exceptions were made to block certain fentanyl offenders from eligibility for “good-time credits” included in the prison overhaul portion of the bill.

 But powerful pockets of opposition remain among some law enforcement officials and conservative lawmakers — like Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas — who argue that sentencing changes like those proposed pose a risk to public safety. However, they lost a powerful ally within the administration when Mr. Trump fired his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, last week. Mr. Sessions’s temporary replacement, Matthew G. Whitaker, has signaled that he is more open to the changes.

 Mr. Trump himself is leery of appearing weak on crime, and he has been susceptible to arguments from opponents of a sentencing overhaul that endorsing one could arm his critics. Still, Mr. Kushner has pressed the issue for months, and some of the president’s advisers say they think the effort could help improve his anemic standing with African-American voters, even if only marginally.

 In his remarks on Wednesday, Mr. Trump tried to address both points, saying that the legislation would be tougher on hardened criminals. But in a reference to the tough-on-crime policies embraced by President Bill Clinton, Mr. Trump also said that the legislation would begin to roll back portions of the “Clinton crime bill” that had a “very disproportionate and very unfair” effect on black Americans. ||||| Donald Trump boosted hopes of federal criminal justice reform on Wednesday by announcing his support for the First Step Act, which seems increasingly likely to get a floor vote in the Senate before the end of the year.

 California rethinks life sentences for thousands of non-violent third-strike offenders Read more

 “We’re all better off when former inmates can re-enter society as law-abiding, productive citizens,” Trump said at the White House. “Americans from across the political spectrum can unite around prison reform legislation that will reduce crime while giving our fellow citizens a chance at redemption.”

 The act would expand rehabilitative opportunities for people in prison; ban some of the most startling correctional practices, such as the shackling of pregnant women; and reduce mandatory minimum sentences for a number of drug-related crimes.

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 The rare bipartisan effort was bolstered by a letter to senators from public figures including Van Jones, Mark Cuban, Patricia Arquette, Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West. A copy obtained by the Guardian called on Congress to “recognize the humanity” of inmates and declared that “186,000 people in federal prison and their family members” were counting on elected representatives to act.

 “The time is now,” the letter said.

 The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, must now decide whether to bring the bill up for a vote. He has promised to do so if 60 votes for it can be expected – the amount needed to clear a filibuster. He also said, however, that he will have to see how the legislation “stacks up” with other priorities in the limited time before recess.

 As with previous iterations of the bill – which has been in the works since 2015 – negotiations have concerned two components: prison reform and sentencing reform.

 Prison reform, which focuses on improving conditions in federal prisons and programs to facilitate re-entry into society, enjoys broad bipartisan support. Sentencing reform, which would remove some harsh sentencing minimums imposed in the 1990s, is favored by Democrats but has fractured Republicans.

 First Step passed the House in May with only prison reform included, earning support from virtually all Republicans and more than two-thirds of Democrats. Generally speaking, those Democrats who held out did so on the principle that criminal justice reform legislation must include sentencing reform.

 A number of prominent senators, including the Republican judiciary committee chairman, Chuck Grassley, and progressive Democrats, blasted the bill for not including sentencing reform. But the bill had its all-important supporter: Trump. Early in his administration, Trump tasked his top aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner with orchestrating the administration’s work on the issue. At a bipartisan forum on criminal justice reform at the White House, the president promised he would sign the First Step Act.

 In the six months after the passage of the House bill, Senate lawmakers led by Grassley set about drafting their own version that could include sentencing reform without alienating Trump or Republican supporters.

 That effort appears to have been successful. Late last week the bill earned the support of the national Fraternal Order of Police, which may have helped convince otherwise wavering Republicans.

 “We could not have gotten here without the support and feedback of law enforcement,” Trump said on Wednesday.

 While conservatives have largely joined progressives in seeking criminal justice reform – it is now a significant plank in the platform promoted by mega-donors Charles and David Koch – many on the right nonetheless remained fearful of being seen as anti-law enforcement.

 Jessica Jackson-Sloan, national director for reform advocacy group Cut50, said the process of earning diverse endorsements was delicate and involved substantial concessions on all sides.

 “They say bipartisanship is dead and they say working with unlikely allies is dead,” she said. “But I think this bill really shows that when you roll up your sleeves, you negotiate, and you both compromise, this is what can happen.”

 The conservative case for criminal justice reform Read more

 The proposed sentencing reform would get rid of so-called “three strikes” mandatory life sentences for defendants facing a third drug conviction, except for those with a prior “serious violent felony”, and eliminate “stacking” regulations that make it illegal to posses a firearm while committing a crime, even if the firearm is not used. It would also effectively reduce a slew of federal mandatory minimum sentences by allowing judges to circumvent them for non-violent offenders when they see fit.

 The bill would also retroactively extend the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act, a move that could affect thousands of drug offenders serving disproportionately long sentences for crack cocaine versus the powder variant.

 Some advocates say the prison reform could release 4,000 people currently serving long sentences, give elderly and terminally ill inmates a path home and invest tens of millions in re-entry programming. ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on a rewrite of criminal justice sentencing laws (all times local):

 4:45 p.m.

 President Donald Trump says he's "thrilled" to support a bipartisan bill to reform federal sentencing guidelines.

 The legislation is the first major rewrite of the nation's criminal justice sentencing laws in a generation. Lawmakers reached agreement this week on legislation that would boost rehabilitation efforts for federal prisoners and give judges more discretion when sentencing nonviolent offenders, particularly for drug offenses.

 Trump says he's "thrilled to announce my support for this bipartisan bill."

 Speaking in the Roosevelt Room to announcing his backing for the bill, he joked: "Did I hear the word bipartisan? Did I hear that word? That's a nice word."

 It is unclear whether the Senate will move to take up the bill during the lame-duck session.

 __

 1:40 p.m.

 President Donald Trump is planning to support the first major rewrite of the nation's criminal justice sentencing laws in a generation.

 That's according to a senior White House official familiar with the president's plans who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

 Lawmakers reached agreement this week on legislation that would boost rehabilitation efforts for federal prisoners and give judges more discretion when sentencing nonviolent offenders, particularly for drug offenses.

 The official said Trump was briefed on the deal and plans to support it publicly during an event at the White House Wednesday afternoon.

 Criminal justice reform has been a priority of Trump's son-in-law, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner.

 Trump is expected to push for swift passage of the legislation, potentially during the lame-duck session of Congress. |||||
What is a summary?

– "Did I hear the word bipartisan?" President Trump asked Wednesday as he announced his support for a major reform of prison and sentencing laws. The First Step Act, which the AP calls the "first major rewrite of the nation's criminal justice sentencing laws in a generation," was created by a bipartisan group of senators and will remove some of the harsher minimum sentencing laws passed in the 1990s. "We're all better off when former inmates can re-enter society as law-abiding, productive citizens," Trump said. "Americans from across the political spectrum can unite around prison reform legislation that will reduce crime while giving our fellow citizens a chance at redemption." The bill, which builds on one the House passed in May, includes a boost to rehabilitation efforts for federal prisoners and bans practices including the shackling of pregnant women, the Guardian reports. It's not clear whether it will go to a vote during the lame-duck session of Congress, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says it will go to the floor if 60 votes can be guaranteed—depending on how it "stacks up" with other priorities. The bill is opposed by some conservatives, though its broad range of support includes both the ACLU and the Koch brothers, the New York Times reports. It earned the support of the national Fraternal Order of Police last week. (Last year, Jeff Sessions brought back tougher drug sentences.)


Vili Fualaau has filed for legal separation from Mary Kay Letourneau, RadarOnline.com has confirmed. However, the infamous teen lover said he’s still totally head over heels for his former teacher!

 Fualaau confirmed the news to Radar, and Washington State court records filed on May 9 show that he asked a judge for a legal separation on that date.

 But Fualaau told Radar that the filing does not mean the marriage is over.

 PHOTOS: Don’t Get Mad, Get Everything! Inside The 16 Most Expensive Celebrity Divorces Of All Time

 “It’s not necessarily what you think,” Fualaau, 33, claimed. “Everything is fine between us.”

 “All the rumors that you hear between us. It’s fine,” he said. “Of course [we are still in love]. A piece of paper doesn’t break someone’s feelings!”

 According to Fualaau, he’s made the move to protect his business interests.

 After working as a DJ – DJ Headline – for years, Fualaau is now looking to get licensed as a distributor for “Cigaweed” marijuana cigarettes, he said.

 PHOTOS:Nasty Feuds, Divorce Drama & More! ‘Ghostbusters’ Cast Top 10 Secrets & Scandals EXPOSED

 “When you want to get licensend, they do background checks on both parties,” Fualaau explained. “If I decide to be a part of it I have to be licensed and I have to be vetted and so does a spouse. She has a past. She has a history.”

 Indeed, Letournea, now 55, served more than seven years in prison for having sex with Fualaau when he was her sixth grade student back in 1996.

 They married in 2005, and have two children. Letourneau has four kids from a previous marriage.

 Story developing.

 We pay for juicy info! Do you have a story for RadarOnline.com? Email us at tips@radaronline.com, or call us at 800-344-9598 any time, day or night. ||||| Mary Kay Letourneau Not So Fast, Vili I'm Getting Your Separation Petition Dismissed!!!

 Mary Kay Letourneau Says Not So Fasts Vili, Moves to Dismiss His Separation Docs

 EXCLUSIVE

 Mary Kay Letourneau is nothing if not true to form ... she's now filed a bizarre petition with the court to have her husband's separation case dismissed.

 TMZ has obtained a document filed just hours after we broke the story Vili Fualaau filed documents declaring the couple has separated after 12 years of marriage.

 Mary Kay's documents do not cite any basis for her move to dismiss the case. We spoke with Vili's lawyer and she said he will move forward with his petition and has done nothing to suggest he wants it dismissed.

 We also asked Vili's lawyer if his separation petition was a prelude for divorce, but she had no comment.

 Unless we're missing something ... Mary Kay has no basis to object to Vili's decision to separate.

 She served 7 years for having sex with Vili, who was her 13-year-old student when she was a 34-year-old teacher. The couple has 2 kids. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Vili Fualaau says he and wife Mary Kay Letourneau are still in love, despite the fact that he recently filed for legal separation. Fualaau says he's only separating from Letourneau—who spent more than seven years in prison for having sex with Fualaau when he was her 12-year-old student and who is still a registered sex offender—to protect his business interests. He's looking to become a licensed marijuana cigarette distributor, he tells Radar, and "when you want to get licensed, they do background checks on both parties ... I have to be licensed and I have to be vetted and so does a spouse. She has a past. She has a history." He says the couple is still in love. Meanwhile, TMZ reports that Letourneau has filed what the gossip site calls "a bizarre petition" to have her husband's separation filing dismissed.


Write an article based on this summary:

– A little girl in Milwaukee is safe after what must have been the most terrifying few hours of her and her parents' lives. Aubri Degeffered, who turned 3 a few weeks ago, was in a Volvo SUV that was carjacked at around 6:50pm on Sunday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. The suspect, who forced the driver out of the vehicle and took off with the little girl still inside, is believed to have tried to rob a gas station in nearby Brookfield, Wis., less than an hour later. An Amber Alert was issued and the suspect was captured in Lake Mills, Wis., around 50 miles west of Milwaukee, after police acted on information from citizens, Fox6 reports. Police announced at 11pm that Aubri was safe. (An Ohio man did more than call 911 when he heard an Amber Alert about the car right in front of him.)

SHARE Police released this security camera photo of the suspect during a strong-arm robbery of a Brookfield gas station. Aubri Degeffered Milwaukee Police Department

 By of the

 A girl who celebrated her 3rd birthday two weeks ago and was abducted in a carjacking Sunday was found safe later in the evening in Jefferson County with the suspect.

 Aubri Degeffered was inside a red 2014 Volvo sport utility vehicle when the driver was forced out of the SUV by a carjacker in the 4900 block of W. Chambers St. around 6:50 p.m., according to Milwaukee police.

 Later Sunday night, Milwaukee police reported that the vehicle was used in an attempted robbery in the Town of Brookfield. The suspect, whom police believed to be the carjacker who took Aubri, arrived in the same red Volvo at a gas station at 19600 W. Blue Mound Road around 7:35 p.m. and tried committing a strong-arm robbery.

 Shortly after 11 p.m., Milwaukee police tweeted that Aubri was found safe and the suspect was in custody. They did not release details of how the child and suspect were found. ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video

 MILWAUKEE -- An Amber Alert was issued on Sunday night, November 15th for a critically missing three-year-old girl -- who went missing when the SUV she was in was stolen on the city's north side. Police said shortly after 11:00 p.m., the Amber Alert had been CANCELLED, and the girl was FOUND SAFE. A 32-year-old suspect is in custody.

 Three-year-old Aubri Degeffered was found in Lake Mills, Wisconsin by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office -- acting on information from citizens.

 Police say the suspect vehicle, that red Volvo SUV, was located and recovered in Jefferson County.

 We're told the three-year-old girl's family was en route to Jefferson County late Sunday to be reunited with the girl.

 Police said earlier Sunday the SUV involved in this Amber Alert situation was later involved in an attempted strong armed robbery in Brookfield.

 Milwaukee police said three-year-old Aubri Degeffered was inside that SUV when it was stolen near 49th and Chambers around 6:50 p.m. on Sunday.

 Police released photos of the red Volvo SUV Degeffered was in when it was stolen, and the suspect in this case:

 Police say the suspect approached the red Volvo SUV and forced the driver out -- fleeing in the car with the child inside.

 The vehicle that was stolen was described as a red, four-door, 2013 Volvo XC60 SUV.

 Brookfield police said later they're investigating an attempted strong armed robbery that occurred on W. Bluemound Road on Sunday evening -- and police said the suspect in that crime is believed to be the same suspect who stole the Volvo SUV near 45th & Chambers.

 Brookfield police say the attempted strong armed robbery occurred near Bluemound and Janacek Road around 7:30 p.m.

 That's about 50 minutes after the SUV was stolen near 45th and Chambers.

 Brookfield police say the attempted strong armed robbery suspect arrived and left in the Volvo SUV with Wisconsin plates: 409-XBP.

 Again -- the Amber Alert has been cancelled, and the three-year-old girl has been found safe. A suspect is in custody -- and the red Volvo SUV was located in Jefferson County.

 This investigation is ongoing -- and charges are expected to be presented to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office.

 Please enable Javascript to watch this video

 Monitor FOX6 News and FOX6Now.com for updates on this developing story. |||||


A car exploded in the hotel parking lot, although it was unclear whether the cause was a bomb, a rocket-propelled grenade or some kind of missile. Local officials said later that at least one of the assailants had killed himself with a grenade or a suicide vest.

 The hotel, one of the most luxurious in Tripoli, the capital, is a hub for foreign tourists and businesspeople visiting Libya, and it also houses the offices of several foreign embassies. But most foreigners have fled as the country has descended into chaos and armed conflict since last summer. Libyans who do business in the hotel said it was largely empty when the attack began.

 Photo

 An unidentified hotel employee told The Associated Press that guests, including British, Italian and Turkish visitors, had fled out the back as the attackers entered the lobby. There were initial reports that some of the attackers had taken hostages. By midday, however, security officials interviewed on Libyan television said that there were no hostages and that at least two of the attackers had been killed.

 A group calling itself the Tripoli Province of the Islamic State, the extremist group that has seized territory in Syria and Iraq, issued a statement on social media taking responsibility for the attack just as it was beginning, and the timing added credibility to the claim. The group portrayed the assault as retaliation for the abduction last year by American commandos of a Libyan Qaeda operative, Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, also known as Abu Anas al-Libi.

 Mr. Ruqai, 50, died this month in a New York hospital of complications from liver surgery as he was waiting to stand trial for a role in the Qaeda bombings of the American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

 Accompanying a picture of smoke rising from the hotel parking lot, the statement called the attack “an inside operation” by “the heroes of the caliphate,” and called the hotel a “headquarters that includes diplomatic missions and the crusader security companies.” The group later released the names and pictures of at least two fighters it said had been killed during the attack, one Tunisian and one Sudanese.

 Libya has struggled to build a coherent and functional government to replace the one led by Colonel Qaddafi. Regional and ideological militias have battled for power and territory, often competing to coerce or intimidate the feeble institutions of the transitional government. Last summer, the rival militias broke into two warring coalitions based on opposite sides of the country.

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 Tripoli has come under the control of a coalition calling itself Libya Dawn, which includes moderate Islamist politicians, extremist Islamist fighters, the powerful militias from the city of Misurata and ethnic Berber groups in the West. Proclaiming its own “government of national salvation,” the Dawn coalition’s government rested its claims to legitimacy on the rump of a disbanded transitional Parliament reconvening in Tripoli.

 Opponents of the Libya Dawn coalition routinely refer to it as a terrorist collaborator, happy to cooperate with extremists like Ansar al-Shariah, the Benghazi group linked to the killing of Ambassador Stevens, or the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

 The attack on the Corinthia tested Libya Dawn’s leadership, all but forcing it to either denounce some of its militant allies or appear to countenance the violence.

 300 miles Mediterranean Sea TUNISIA Tripoli EGYPT LIBYA NIGER CHAD

 Instead, the Libya Dawn’s Tripoli government tried to dodge the question, denying that the local Islamic State group was responsible and attempting, implausibly, to blame Qaddafi loyalists or the rival faction.

 It was “elements of the old regime,” Omar Khadrawi, a Tripoli security official, said on Libyan television, accusing Qaddafi loyalists of “tampering with the security situation that Tripoli is blessed with.”

 In a statement, the Libya Dawn government in Tripoli called the attack an attempt to assassinate its prime minister, Omar al-Hassi, who resides in the hotel but evacuated safely as the attack began.

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 “Fingers point at the enemies of the revolution” and the military leader of the rival faction, the statement said.

 The rival coalition, under the banner Operation Dignity, is now based in the Eastern cities of Tobruk and Bayda, but it includes fighters from the Western city of Zintan, along with fighters and officers who were loyal to Colonel Qaddafi and those who renounced him. Its military effort is led by Gen. Khalifa Hifter, who tried last year to stage a military takeover, promising to rid Libya of Islamists.

 Under his protection, the leaders and a slight majority of a new Parliament elected last year have moved from Tripoli to Tobruk, where they have lent formal legitimacy to his battle against Libya Dawn and its allies.

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 In a statement on Monday, the Tobruk-Bayda government said that the Libya Dawn forces in Tripoli “ally themselves with extremist groups who use violence to achieve political aims.” It said the attack demonstrated “the increasing levels of violence affecting civilians in Tripoli” under Libya Dawn.

 In the chaos, three Libyan militant groups have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State — one based in Derna in the east, one based in the southern desert and the group based in the region around Tripoli that carried out the attack.

 In December, the Tripoli group claimed responsibility for a bombing near the headquarters of the Foreign Ministry, in retaliation for a senior official’s Merry Christmas message, which the group deemed heretical. It has also claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of about 20 Egyptian Christians who were in Libya as migrant workers in the coastal city of Surt. ||||| TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — A Libyan affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group claimed responsibility Wednesday for an attack on a Tripoli luxury hotel that killed 10 people, including an American and four Europeans.

 In this image made from video posted by a Libyan blogger, the Cortinthia Hotel is seen under attack in Tripoli, Libya, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Gunmen stormed the luxury hotel in the Libyan capital of... (Associated Press)

 The group, calling itself "Islamic State in Tripoli Province," said it launched the attack Tuesday to avenge the death of Abu Anas al-Libi, who was snatched off a Tripoli street by U.S. special forces in 2013 and died in U.S. custody earlier this month due to complications from liver surgery. Al-Libi had been indicted in U.S. federal court over his alleged role in the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

 The group identified the attackers as Abu Ibrahim al-Tunsi and Abu Suleiman al-Sudani, noms de guerre that suggest the attackers were Tunisian and Sudanese. The claim of responsibility was dated Tuesday but first appeared on jihadi forums Wednesday.

 "The operation is not the last one on the lands of Tripoli... Let the enemies of God, the crusaders and their allies await what would harm them," the message read.

 The affiliate previously claimed responsibility for an attack on the Algerian Embassy that wounded three guards. It also previously posted pictures of fighters touring markets and distributing pamphlets. Wednesday's posting matched previous messages posted on Twitter and social media, but it was not immediately possible to confirm the claim.

 Since the 2011 uprising that ousted longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi the country has been awash in armed militias, including several Islamic extremist groups. A group of Islamist militias control Tripoli, and the internationally recognized government convenes in the far east of the vast, oil-rich country.

 In addition to the foreigners, five guards were killed in the attack Tuesday on the seaside Corinthia Hotel. Two attackers were killed following an hourslong standoff that included a car bombing.

 A senior U.S. State Department official confirmed that an American citizen was among those killed. Cliff Taylor, the CEO of a Virginia security company, Crucible LLC, identified the slain American as David Berry, a contractor with his company.

 The online message said that those killed were American, French, South Korean and Filipino. Earlier, Essam al-Naasa, a spokesman for a Tripoli security agency, said the dead included an American, a French citizen and three others from the former Soviet Union. ||||| The attack, which included a car bombing, struck the Corinthia Hotel, which sits along the Mediterranean Sea.

 Mahmoud Hamza, commander of the so-called Special Deterrent Force, told private satellite television station al-Nabaa that the situation was "under control" Tuesday afternoon, though he couldn't confirm the whereabouts of the gunmen. He also said five foreigners were killed, without elaborating.

 Another security official earlier said the gunmen killed three guards and took hostages, but had no further information on the captives' identities. He also said that two commercial landmark towers behind the hotel were evacuated out of security concerns. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

 A hotel staffer said the attack began when five masked gunmen wearing bulletproof vests stormed the hotel after security guards at the hotel's gate tried to stop them. He said they entered the hotel and fired randomly at the staff in the lobby.

 The staffer said the gunmen fired in his direction when he opened his door to look out. He said he joined the rest of the staff and foreign guests fleeing out the hotel's back doors into the parking lot.

 When they got there, he said a car bomb exploded in the parking lot, only a hundred meters (yards) away. He said this came after a protection force entered the lobby and opened fire on the attackers. He said two guards were immediately killed. The staffer spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared being targeted later by militants. He said the car bomb left at least five cars in the parking lot burned and damaged some windows in the hotel's facade.

 He said the hotel had Italian, British and Turkish guests, but the hotel was largely empty at the time of the attack. He said the militia-backed Prime Minister Omar al-Hassi usually resides at the hotel, but was not there Tuesday. Al-Hassi's security guards also weren't there, he said. The hotel previously came under attack in 2013 when a former prime minister was abducted there.

 Since the ouster and 2011 killing of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, the country has been torn among competing militias and tribes vying for power. Libya's post-Gadhafi transition has collapsed, with two rival governments and parliaments — each backed by different militias — ruling in the country's eastern and western regions. Tripoli has been hit with series of car bombs and shootings amid the turmoil.

 The Malta-owned hotel is also where the United Nations support mission in Libya holds its meetings. The mission is currently hosting political talks with rival Libyan groups in Geneva. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– More details are emerging in yesterday's deadly attack on a luxury hotel in Tripoli. Four or five gunmen are believed to have entered the Corinthia in the early morning, shouting "God is great" as they fired at guards and civilians. Ten people were killed, including American David Berry, an ex-Marine and contractor with security company Crucible, and four Europeans, the New York Times reports. The AP adds the "Islamic State in Tripoli Province," a Libyan affiliate of ISIS, has claimed responsibility for the assault, seen as retaliation for the death of alleged al-Qaeda leader Abu Anas al-Libi in US custody. Al-Libi, seized by US forces in Tripoli in 2003, died earlier this month of complications from liver surgery. Five guards were also killed in the chaos, which the Times calls the "deadliest attack on Western interests in Libya since the assault on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi." A hotel employee tells the AP that British, Italian, and Turkish guests fled out a back entrance to a parking lot, where a car bomb exploded 100 yards away. No hostages were taken. Two of the assailants were killed after an hours-long standoff with police loyal to the Tripoli government; one is believed to have killed himself with a grenade or suicide vest. "The operation is not the last one on the lands of Tripoli," a post on jihadi forums today reads. "Let the enemies of God, the crusaders, and their allies await what would harm them."


Article:
Just One More Thing...

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 Close ||||| And then there were none.

 Toughie, the world's last Rabbs' fringe-limbed tree frog and a symbol of the extinction crisis, has died at his home in the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

 The famed frog's age is unknown, but he's at least 12 years old, and likely older, because he was an adult when collected in 2005.

 Mark Mandica, who worked with Toughie for seven years, says the frog's story isn't entirely unique. “A lot of attention had been paid to him in captivity, so he even has his own Wikipedia page,” Mandica, head of the Amphibian Foundation, notes. “But there are plenty of other species out there that are disappearing, sometimes before we even knew that they were there.”

 In fact, Toughie's own species (Ecnomiohyla rabborum) wasn't described until 2008, a few years after Toughie was found during a 2005 frog rescue mission by the Atlanta Botanical Garden and Zoo Atlanta. He was one of many frogs scientists raced to collect as the deadly chytrid fungus closed in on central Panama.

 “It was likened to just rescuing things from a burning house,” Mandica says.

 The species occurred in a very small range, at an elevation where the fungus proved especially deadly. Field studies suggest up to 85 percent of all the amphibians on Toughie's home turf were wiped out. It's unlikely that any of his kind survived in the wild, where they were incredible climbers and also graceful gliders—toe webbing allowed them to soar from one tree to the next. (Learn about the increasing pace of extinctions.)

 Watch: This tree frog's death marks the end for a species.

 Naming a Survivor

 Mandica's son, then a two-year-old, dubbed the last survivor Toughie. Naming animals isn't the norm among scientists, but the frog's popularity as the last of his kind meant that people (and the press) kept demanding a name—and Toughie stuck.

 Although he gave voice to the plight of endangered species, Toughie was silent for all the years he lived at the botanical garden, until one fateful morning in 2014 when Mandica captured the only existing example of the Rabbs' fringe-limbed tree frog's call.

 “I heard this weird call coming out of the frog [area], and I knew it had to be him, because I knew what all the other species sounded like. I was able to sneak in and record him on my phone.” (Hear Toughie's call.)

 View Images Toughie was photographed in his captive home at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Photograph by Joel Sartore, National Goegraphic Photo Ark

 Atlanta Botanical Garden

 Photographing the Last of a Kind

 Photographer Joel Sartore recalls a curious, baseball-size creature with amazing eyes that actually hopped up onto his camera while being photographed for the Photo Ark project. Photo Ark aims to showcase our planet's incredible biodiversity and inspire people to help fight the extinction crisis while there is still time. So far, Sartore has photographed more than 6,000 species. Unfortunately, many others also represent the end of the line for their kind.

 “About once a year I photograph something that's the last of its kind or close to it,” he says. “I get sad and angry because I can't imagine that this won't wake the world up and get people to care about extinction. I keep thinking, OK, this is the one. This animal's story is going to do it and get people to care more about extinction than about what's on TV.

 “They can't care if they don't know these animals,” he adds. “They have to meet them and fall in love with them the way that I have and so many others have.”

 Watch: Scientists rush to save other tree frogs in Central America.

 Toughie, indeed, had lots of admirers. Last year his image was even projected onto St. Peter's Basilica, and his call played, so that the world could see and hear him.

 The frog met race car drivers and movie directors, Sartore recalls. “A lot of people were moved to tears when they saw him. When you have the very last of something it's a special deal.”

 Now he's gone, and with him an entire species. And as large numbers of animals and plants continue to vanish, their loss increasingly compromises the healthy ecosystems necessary for everyone's survival—including our own. (Can extinct species ever be brought back?) |||||Summary:

– A frog named Toughie, likely the last of his species, died quietly in his enclosure at the Atlanta Botanical Garden this week, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "He will be missed by Garden staff and visitors alike," the Garden posted on Facebook. The Rabbs' fringe-limbed tree frog wasn't even discovered until 2005 when scientists were attempting to rescue specimens of any amphibian they could before a deadly chytrid fungal infection hit Panama. According to National Geographic, Toughie made it out of Panama, but it's estimated that the chytrid fungus killed up to 85% of all amphibians left behind in his natural habitat. He had lived in isolation at the Garden since 2008. A cause of death is unknown, but Toughie was believed to be at least 12 years old. In his final years, Toughie became a "symbol of the extinction crisis." His photo was projected onto St. Peter's Basilica, and he was visited by film directors and race car drivers. "A lot of people were moved to tears when they saw him," a photographer who worked with Toughie says. "When you have the very last of something it's a special deal.” While some scientists are holding out hope for the Rabbs' tree frog, it's likely Toughie was the last, Scientific American reports. His species hasn't been seen in the wild since 2007. It's rare for humans to actually witness an extinction when it happens and not just learn about it years later. (For the first time, bees have been put on the endangered species list.)


Here is a news article: Ursula Coyote for Netflix Hackers could be selling lifetime access to your Netflix subscription for just $0.50.

 A recent report by McAfee Labs revealed you can buy access to "many online streaming entertainment" services, like Netflix and Spotify, in Dark Web marketplaces. These marketplaces can be accessed only by using a special internet browser called TOR that hides your IP address.

 According to McAfee Labs, stolen HBO NOW and HBO GO accounts, as well as other cable streaming services, can be bought for less than $10. Premium pro sports services will run you about $15.

 Do the accounts work?

 You might assume that if you buy access to someone else's Netflix account, it will get shut down fairly quickly, but this is not necessarily the case.

 Raj Samani, the CTO of Intel Security, told Tech Insider that these marketplaces are highly competitive for sellers, and some provide a "guarantee" you'll have a lifetime subscription.

 "I don't want to call it a risk-free transaction but they try to make it as risk-free as they possibly can," Samani told Tech Insider. He says one marketplace actually has its own help desk.

 Samani says these accounts are probably based on both stolen credit-card and account information.

 When Tech Insider's Tim Stenovec checked the prices for himself, he found Netflix accounts going for $0.50 for lifetime access and Spotify for $1.95.

 Here is a sample listing for a Netflix account: ||||| REUTERS / Samantha Sais When you think of marketplaces on the so-called "Dark Web," that place on the internet that you can only access with special browsers that anonymize your IP address, you probably think of sites that sell drugs, weapons, and other illicit products and services.

 But it's also full of cheap subscriptions to some of the most popular legitimate streaming video and music services, like Netflix, Spotify, and HBO.

 "We found pretty much everything possible available for sale," Raj Samani, the vice president and CTO at Intel Security, who last month wrote a report on the Dark Web, told Tech Insider in an interview. "Every possible service and every possible flavor you could think of was being made for sale."

 Indeed, a recent visit to one of these marketplace on the Dark Web by Tech Insider found that he could easily buy lifetime subscriptions to Spotify and Netflix for a fraction of the price of a monthly subscription.

 What's remarkable about this is that buying legitimate subscriptions to these services is both easy and relatively inexpensive, yet a marketplace still exists for these.

 A lifetime subscription to Spotify is only $1.95. Screenshot/Tech Insider Samani said that these accounts are likely based on both stolen credit card data as well as stolen account information.

 Here's a lifetime subscription to Netflix for just $0.50:

 Screenshot/Tech Insider It's highly competitive for these sellers, and many are somehow able to guarantee that you'll have lifetime access to these services, even if there are issues with that original account you buy. That is, the sellers say they'll give you working account information if the account credentials you buy are shut down.

 "It's remarkable," Samani said. This marketplace "actually has its own help desk."

 "I don't want to call it a risk-free transaction but they try to make it as risk free as they possibly can," he said.

 As Samani outlined in his report last month, having one of your own accounts end up on a Dark Web marketplace could be a huge headache. The account could be closed because of malicious activity, and you may have to endure hours on the phone with technical support.

 That's why it's important to keep your own data safe. Use unique, strong passwords for all of your services, and use two-factor authentication whenever possible. Two-factor authentications requires people to have a second form of credentials, like a code from a text message, when they login to an account.

 In this outtake from our Codebreaker podcast, former US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff tells host Ben Johnson what scares him about the dark web:

 The Dark Web: Is it evil? Listen to the whole episode to find out.

 Samani also recommends taking proactive steps, like using a credit monitoring service, to stay vigilant.

 "Just be really conscious about who you're sharing your data with," he said.

 The Dark Web is the subject of the latest episode of Marketplace and Tech Insider's new Codebreaker podcast. You can listen to it here and subscribe to all the episodes in iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Digital moochers are using Netflix and HBO Go accounts that don't belong to them without even having the decency to suck up to their family and friends to do so. Business Insider reports hackers are selling accounts to digital streaming services—everything from Netflix to Spotify to Marvel Unlimited—for mere cents on the Dark Web, that shady region of the Internet accessed via the TOR browser. "Every possible service and every possible flavor you could think of was being made for sale," Raj Samani at Intel Security tells Tech Insider. According to McAfee, some Netflix accounts were being sold for as low as 50 cents, while accounts for premium sports streaming services top the list at $15. Not only are these prices incredibly low, but many sellers are offering a lifetime guarantee, Tech Insider reports. That means if the account you bought for a buck gets shut down, the seller will simply give you another one. According to McAfee, this illicit marketplace isn't just bad news for the streaming services themselves; it can have repercussions for the actual account holders, too. Your account could be closed because of something the Dark Web buyer does, or the buyer could make purchases using your stored credit card information. Plus you don't want some jabroni screwing up your Netflix recommendations. Tech Insider recommends protecting accounts from interested buyers by using strong passwords and "two-factor" authentication. (This girl will sell you a nearly unbreakable password for $2.)


Summarize this article:

Media caption Folkestone Triennial curator Lewis Biggs said no-one would ever know if all the gold had been found

 A gold-rush has started at a beach in Kent where a German artist buried £10,000 worth of bullion as part of an arts festival.

 Michael Sailstorfer has hidden 30 24-carat gold bars on Folkestone's Outer Harbour beach.

 More than 150 people started digging for gold when low tide exposed the beach. Organisers say prospectors can keep any bars they find.

 The Folkestone Digs project is part of the town's triennial arts festival.

 The event, which takes place every three years and runs from 30 August to 2 November, will also feature work by Yoko Ono.

 Lewis Biggs, curator of Folkestone Triennial said: "There are 30 gold bars buried there, along with a lot of washers, so if you bring your metal detector you will find a lot of washers before you find any gold.

 "We will never know if the gold has been found or not."

 He said it was hoped people digging on the beach would create a work of art by making sand castles at the same time. ||||| It is an artwork that has been shrouded in secrecy for obvious reasons: there are 30 gold bars worth a total of £10,000 buried on the beach in Folkestone and once the tide is out at 4pm on Thursday it's finders keepers.

 Organisers of the Folkestone Triennial on Thursday afternoon revealed details of a project it has been desperately trying to keep under wraps. The German artist Michael Sailstorfer has buried gold bullion in the sand of the Outer Harbour beach and once the sea is out, people will be able to come and dig for it.

 "I think we might well have a lot of people," said the Triennial curator, Lewis Biggs, with understatement. "It is a participatory artwork. It is about people coming to the beach and digging and possibly finding hidden treasure. Some people will get lucky, some people will not get lucky – and that's life."

 The bars are of different sizes and standard gold bullion marked Made in London, although anyone expecting the kind of gold bars you see in heist films may be disappointed. Nevertheless, each bar could be worth several hundred pounds and if you find one – it's yours.

 Biggs said the work raised intriguing questions about what people would do with any gold they found. "An interesting part of the artwork is considering whether it is going to be worth more as an artwork. Do you take it to the pawnbrokers or do you take it to Sotheby's? Or do you keep it on the mantlepiece because you think it is going to be worth more later? Will its price increase as an artwork or as a piece of gold?"

 The piece, called Folkestone Digs, has been commissioned by the Bristol-based arts producers Situations, an organisation trying to change the perception of what public art can be, its director, Claire Doherty, said.

 "So often public art funding is spent on a static sculpture or a bauble on a roundabout and part of what we do is to say, actually sometimes a temporary project can have as much impact in the collective memory as something that has been there a long time." Possibly nothing more so than free gold on the beach.

 Doherty said she had no idea who or how many people would respond to the buried gold. Would, she said, the slickly suited art critics down from London for the day be digging alongside members of the public? "What happens will happen. Maybe nobody will go and look."

 As well as the fun of finding gold, organisers believe the mass digging of the beach will create its own piece of land art, washed away when the tide comes back in. The next day it can start all over again.

 "The piece lasts forever because no one will ever know if all the pieces have ever be found or not," said Biggs. "A lot of people won't admit to having found one even if they have. Would you? We see no end to the artwork. It is meant to be a lot of fun."

 The Berlin-based Sailstorfer has chosen not to be in Folkestone for what could become remembered as the great bucket and spade gold rush of 2014. He wants to let "the work unfold," said Doherty. "As simple as that."

 Sailstorfer is interested in changing the way people view a place and his previous work includes collecting fallen autumn leaves, painting them green and reattaching them to a tree so it looks like spring. Another involved him feeding the rotting wooden walls of a chalet to a wood burner over the course of a day until nothing remained in the landscape except the wood burner.

 Doherty said the Folkestone project fitted in with Sailstorfer's aim of making art "that comes less from the head and more from the stomach". She said the Folkestone work evoked thrilling gold rush stories. "Plus it is childlike, children search for treasure and the seaside is absolutely about that. The digging today will be no different to what has been happening all summer."

 There are safety plans in place should it get extremely busy and a number of metal washers have also been buried to fox those who decide to get the metal detector out of the loft.

 The Folkestone Triennial itself is in its third edition, a celebration of contemporary art that began in 2008, a way of using culture to help a fading seaside town which said goodbye to its heyday long ago.

 Biggs, formerly in charge at the Liverpool Biennial and curating his first Folkestone Triennial, said the town had enthusiastically embraced the concept and this year more than 20 artists had been commissioned including Yoko Ono, Andy Goldsworthy and Pablo Bronstein.

 The overall title is Lookout, exploring ideas of looking at the town's past and seeing where its future might emerge. One way of looking at the harbour beach project is that it is the place on which Folkestone was once reliant – it is where tourists sat in their deckchairs, where hovercrafts once went from. Now culture is becoming more important to the town.

 Biggs said the Triennial, which officially runs from 30 August to 2 November, was now a focus of interest from around the world. "Artists and visitors are being invited to engage with the history of Folkestone in order to view take a view on what the future might bring." |||||

– It's the kind of art project that even people who hate art projects can love: A German artist has hidden about $16,000 worth of gold bars on a beach in Folkestone, England, reports the Guardian. Lucky treasure hunters can keep any they find. Artist Michael Sailstorfer calls the project Folkestone Digs, and the curator of the Folkestone Triennial art festival, of which the project is a part, says he's interested in seeing what people do with the gold. "Do you take it to the pawnbrokers or do you take it to Sotheby's?" he asks. "Or do you keep it on the mantlepiece because you think it is going to be worth more later?" It's likely too late for any curious Americans to take up the hunt. The art project was unveiled Thursday, and about 150 people began digging for the 30 gold bars when the tide went out, reports the BBC. It's not clear how many have been found, however, because participants don't need to report in. "We will never know if the gold has been found or not," says the curator. He adds that organizers are hoping diggers will create art—in the form of sandcastles—while searching. "It is a participatory artwork," he says. "Some people will get lucky, some people will not get lucky—and that's life." (Americans who want to search for hidden treasure should check this mysterious book out.)


Summarize this article:

Since posting our first update, we have been working as quickly as possible to establish the facts of last week’s accident. Our hearts are with the family and friends who have been affected by this tragedy.

 The safety of our customers is our top priority, which is why we are working closely with investigators to understand what happened, and what we can do to prevent this from happening in the future. After the logs from the computer inside the vehicle were recovered, we have more information about what may have happened.

 In the moments before the collision, which occurred at 9:27 a.m. on Friday, March 23rd, Autopilot was engaged with the adaptive cruise control follow-distance set to minimum. The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision. The driver had about five seconds and 150 meters of unobstructed view of the concrete divider with the crushed crash attenuator, but the vehicle logs show that no action was taken.

 The reason this crash was so severe is because the crash attenuator, a highway safety barrier which is designed to reduce the impact into a concrete lane divider, had been crushed in a prior accident without being replaced. We have never seen this level of damage to a Model X in any other crash.

 Over a year ago, our first iteration of Autopilot was found by the U.S. government to reduce crash rates by as much as 40%. Internal data confirms that recent updates to Autopilot have improved system reliability.

 In the US, there is one automotive fatality every 86 million miles across all vehicles from all manufacturers. For Tesla, there is one fatality, including known pedestrian fatalities, every 320 million miles in vehicles equipped with Autopilot hardware. If you are driving a Tesla equipped with Autopilot hardware, you are 3.7 times less likely to be involved in a fatal accident.

 Tesla Autopilot does not prevent all accidents – such a standard would be impossible – but it makes them much less likely to occur. It unequivocally makes the world safer for the vehicle occupants, pedestrians and cyclists.

 No one knows about the accidents that didn’t happen, only the ones that did. The consequences of the public not using Autopilot, because of an inaccurate belief that it is less safe, would be extremely severe. There are about 1.25 million automotive deaths worldwide. If the current safety level of a Tesla vehicle were to be applied, it would mean about 900,000 lives saved per year. We expect the safety level of autonomous cars to be 10 times safer than non-autonomous cars.

 In the past, when we have brought up statistical safety points, we have been criticized for doing so, implying that we lack empathy for the tragedy that just occurred. Nothing could be further from the truth. We care deeply for and feel indebted to those who chose to put their trust in us. However, we must also care about people now and in the future whose lives may be saved if they know that Autopilot improves safety. None of this changes how devastating an event like this is or how much we feel for our customer's family and friends. We are incredibly sorry for their loss. ||||| EMBED More News Videos A 38-year-old man was killed when his Tesla crashed and caught on fire in Mountain View.

 The investigation into the fatal #Tesla crash continued today with the #CHP & #NTSB digging through the scorched EV 🎥 https://t.co/rfdgY88bn7 pic.twitter.com/vd2YzFmAZ0 — Dean C. Smith (@DeanCSmith) March 29, 2018

 Family of Apple engineer who died Friday in Tesla crash tells me he had complained to dealer that auto-pilot veered toward that same barrier on multiple occasions. #ABC7now See more in my investigation here: https://t.co/ZU6yOP8ZuE pic.twitter.com/cMUa0v4c3o — Dan Noyes (@dannoyes) March 29, 2018

 "Walter was just a straight up, caring guy," Shawn Price told the ABC7 News I-Team. Friends and family are mourning the death of Apple engineer Walter Huang after he crashed in his Tesla in Mountain View Friday.The ABC7 I-Team has word of a major development in the investigation. His family says Huang complained about the Tesla's Autopilot "before" the accident. Dan Noyes has an exclusive report.Walter Huang's family tells Dan Noyes he took his Tesla to the dealer, complaining that -- on multiple occasions -- the Autopilot veered toward that same barrier -- the one his Model X hit on Friday when he died.ABC7 News Photographer Dean Smith captured exclusive video today of investigators from the CHP's Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team and National Transportation Safety Board at a San Mateo tow yard, inspecting the wreckage of the Tesla Model X involved in that fatal crash on southbound 101 Friday. We spotted them taking a control module out of the vehicle, tucking it into an evidence bag.The NTSB told Dan Noyes from their Washington headquarters, they recovered both the restraint control module and infotainment module on Wednesday.NTSB Spokesman Christopher O'Neil said, "We're going to work with CHP and Tesla to download the information from those modules and then see what data is available to us that might give insights into what was going on during the accident sequence."We're learning much more about the victim -- 38-year-old Walter Huang had a wife and two kids, lived in Foster City, worked for 13 years as a programmer at Electronic Arts. This past November, he got a job as an Apple engineer and bought his new Tesla, posting a picture on his Facebook page.He showed the SUV to his friends and former co-workers; we spoke with two outside Electronic Arts on Wednesday."He was proud," said Shawn Price. "He was showing the gull wings, I remember going, a little bit of jealousy, like well."Dan Noyes also spoke and texted with Walter Huang's brother, Will, today. He confirmed Walter was on the way to work at Apple when he died.He also makes a startling claim -- that before the crash, Walter complained "7-10 times the car would swivel toward that same exact barrier during Autopilot. Walter took it into dealership addressing the issue, but they couldn't duplicate it there.""The family is telling me they provided an invoice to investigators, that the victim took the car in because it kept veering at the same barrier. How important is that information?""That information has been received by the CHP, they've been acting on it for some time now."Tesla would not comment on the information we've learned, and directed us to last night's blog post, "Our data shows that Tesla owners have driven this same stretch of highway with Autopilot engaged roughly 85,000 times since Autopilot was first rolled out in 2015. ... There are over 200 successful Autopilot trips per day on this exact stretch of road."Tesla also posted these photos that raise another important question: they show what's called a "crash attenuator" or safety barrier in the proper condition ... and the way it was the day before Walter Huang's crash ... collapsed after a different accident.Will Huang texted us, "That ultimately should've saved my brother's life. We've seen videos of similar crash with cushion and the driver walked out of it unharmed."Walter Huang's friends are remembering his contributions to the gaming world. "He did some good stuff on some great games that I know some viewers out there will know him for," Shawn Price told the I-Team.And they're missing his friendship during trips to the gym."We would get together just work it out and he would be there keeping you safe," said Price. "I mean that's what spotters do keep you safe and I know very much that he did the same thing for his family.""He slept with his kids when they had nightmares," Travis Hoffstetter told us. "He painted his daughters nails, he let his daughter paint his nails, just did like everything awesome that you should do as a dad he did."We called, but no word from CalTrans about that collapsed safety barrier that Walter Huang hit. His friends are raising money for Walter's wife and kids, to handle the expenses of the funeral and life after his death. If you're interested, click here for the link.Caltrans offered a statement:Tesla did not comment. ||||| The fatal crash last week involving a Tesla did take place while the vehicle was on autopilot, the company confirmed late Friday.

 The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is still investigating the accident, which took place March 23 and killed the driver.

 "In the moments before the collision, which occurred at 9:27 a.m. on Friday, March 23rd, Autopilot was engaged with the adaptive cruise control follow-distance set to minimum," Tesla said in a statement. "The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision."

 AP

 Walter Huang, 38, died in the accident when his Tesla Model X slammed into a barrier on the 101 Highway near Mountain View, California. Huang worked as an engineer at Apple.

 In its statement, Tesla blamed the seriousness of the accident on the barrier, which was not repaired after a previous accident.

 "The reason this crash was so severe is because the crash attenuator, a highway safety barrier which is designed to reduce the impact into a concrete lane divider, had been crushed in a prior accident without being replaced," Tesla said in its statement. "We have never seen this level of damage to a Model X in any other crash."

 Huang's brother, Will, told San Francisco ABC station KGO that Walter had complained "seven to 10 times the car would swivel toward that same exact barrier during auto-pilot."

 "Walter took it into the dealership addressing the issue, but they couldn't duplicate it there," Will said.

 Rich Fury/Getty Images for Citi

 The California Department of Transportation (CalTrans), which is responsible for maintaining the barriers, released a statement to KGO saying "replacement work was scheduled."

 "Once our Maintenance team has been notified, the Department's goal is to repair or replace damaged guardrail or crash attenuators within seven days or five business days, depending on weather," CalTrans told KGO. "These are guidelines that our Maintenance staff follow. However, as in this case, storms can delay the fix."

 KGO reported the previous accident that damaged the barrier took place 11 days before Huang's fatal crash.

 Autopilot and autonomous vehicles have come under increased scrutiny recently after a women was killed by one of Uber's autonomous vehicles in Tempe, Arizona. Arizona's governor suspended Uber's license to test autonomous vehicles on public roads last week.

 Telsa said on Friday its autopilot "unequivocally makes the world safer for the vehicle occupants, pedestrians and cyclists." |||||

– The Tesla Model X that slammed into a highway barrier in California last week and killed the 38-year-old Apple engineer at the wheel had been on autopilot at the time of the crash, Tesla confirms in a blog post. But the company says driver Walter Huang "received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive," adding that "the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision." Tesla also laid some blame on state highway officials, asserting that "the reason this crash was so severe is because the crash attenuator, a highway safety barrier which is designed to reduce the impact into a concrete lane divider, had been crushed in a prior accident without being replaced." The fact that the vehicle was on autopilot is likely to be controversial because, as ABC News notes, driver Huang had reportedly been concerned about it. His brother told KGO that Huang had brought his Model X back to the dealership complaining that when he used the feature, the car kept swerving toward the very same barrier that it eventually struck in the fatal collision. The NTSB is investigating the crash, including the fire that broke out after the collision. The accident follows another in Arizona in which a self-driving Uber struck and killed a pedestrian.


Here is a news article: Sarasota, Fla.-(Newsradio 970 WFLA)-The incident happened at approximately 3:15 Sunday afternoon, at High Noon Gun Range in Sarasota.

 William Brumby was positioned in the last shooting lane where there was a solid wall on his right-hand side. After firing a round, the spent shell casing struck the wall causing it to deflect and fall into the back of Mr. Brumby's shirt. Brumby then used his right hand, which was holding the handgun, in an attempt to remove the casing. While doing so, he inadvertently pointed the firearm directly behind him and accidentally fired. The round struck his 14-year-old son, Stephen, who was transported to Sarasota Memorial Hospital and later died as a result of his injuries.

 Based on witness statements as well as video obtained from inside the business, detectives determined that Brumby died as a result of an accidental gunshot by his father.

 At this time there are no charges pending against Mr. Brumby. The investigation is ongoing. ||||| A 14-year-old boy was killed Sunday in an accidental shooting at the High Noon Guns shooting range at 4583 Bee Ridge Road, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Department. Richard Dymond rdymond@bradenton.com ||||| SARASOTA - UPDATE: A memorial fund has been set up to help the family of a boy who was accidentally shot and killed Sunday at a gun range.

 Authorities say Stephen J. Brumby, 14, was accidentally shot by his father, William C. Brumby, 64, at about 3:15 p.m. at High Noon Gun Range, 4583 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota. Stephen Brumby was home-schooled and one of seven Brumby children.

 Here is the post for the Stephen J. Brumby Memorial Fund on GoFundMe:

 Stephen Brumby, the fourth of seven children and the son of Clayton and Elizabeth Brumby died tragically July 3rd 2016. In his 14 years of life he was described as “a meteor that couldn't be contained” by his family or anyone that knew him. He loved fishing, tennis music, archery, and knife throwing. He had an insatiable appetite to learn and was constantly sharing his wisdom with those around him. He was passionate about his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and dedicated his life to sharing his hope with everyone he met. The families' only comfort is knowing that He is communing with the heroes of his faith and rejoicing in paradise.

 Your generous gifts and donations will help with the expenses the family is now faced with.

 Help spread the word!

 The site: www.gofundme.com/stephenbrumby.

 PREVIOUSLY: The victim in the accidental shooting death has been identified as 14-year-old Stephen J. Brumby, according to a report from the Sarasota County Sherriff's Office.

 The boy's father, William C. Brumby, fired a round in the last shooting lane at High Noon Gun Range in Sarasota, officials said. After he fired, the spent shell casing hit a wall on his right-hand side, deflecting back and falling into the back of his shirt, said the report.

 Using his right hand which was holding the gun, Brumby tried to remove the casing, according to the report. He accidentally pointed the gun behind him, accidentally firing it, officials said. The round hit his son.

 Brumby was also at the gun range with his 24-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter at the time of the incident. Neither were injured.

 There are currently no charges against Brumby. The investigation is ongoing.

 PREVIOUS: A 14-year-old boy died Sunday after he was accidentally shot in the neck at an indoor gun range. The incident occurred at about 3:15 p.m. at High Noon Guns, 4583 Bee Ridge Road, according to a Sarasota County Sheriff's Office report.

 The boy, whose name was not released by authorities Sunday, was taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital with serious injuries, the report said. He later died, authorities said, and the investigation is ongoing. Workers at the gun shop declined to talk to the media Sunday, as did law enforcement.

 An October 2013 Herald-Tribune article described the High Noon gun range as possibly being one of the safest indoor shooting ranges ever designed.

 High Noon Guns owner John Buchan reportedly traveled the country, examining other indoor ranges, before building his own. The nine-lane operation he designed is quieter than most, the Herald-Tribune reported, thanks to sound-dampening panels, and safer than most, thanks to strategically placed armored steel plates, which are concealed behind wooden walls. Bullets are absorbed by a large mound of granulated rubber material heaped into a pile downrange, which is backed up by more steel plating capable of stopping a 20mm cannon, although High Noon limits the range to handguns and .22 rifles, the story said. The dividers between the shooters feature more armor, concealed by wood — a feature Buchan chose to increase safety. The walls are lined with sound-dampening panels that are built to both reduce noise and absorb a stray round, preventing ricochets. “It's as safe as we could make it,” the story quoted Buchan as saying.

 Sunday's accidental shooting is the second death at an area gun range in the past year.

 Last August, sheriff's deputies were called to the Take Aim Gun Range after a customer killed himself on the firing line with a rented pistol. The man, in his 70s, came to the range in the afternoon to target shoot with two friends. After the three men finished shooting and as the victim's two friends were walking out, the man turned the handgun on himself and fired. He was pronounced dead a short time later. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Tragedy in Sarasota, Fla., where police say a father accidentally shot and killed his son at a shooting range Sunday afternoon, WFLA reports. William Brumby was firing in the last shooting lane at High Noon Gun Range, where there was a solid wall to his right, when a spent shell casing hit that wall and ricocheted into the back of Brumby's shirt. Brumby, who was holding the handgun he was using in his right hand, used that same hand to try and get the casing out, accidentally pointing the gun behind him and firing it while doing so. The bullet hit his 14-year-old son, Stephen, who was brought to a local hospital but could not be saved. The Herald-Tribune notes that, in 2013, the newspaper described High Noon as "possibly ... one of the safest indoor shooting ranges ever designed," thanks to armored steel plates embedded in the dividers between lanes and sound-dampening panels that were designed to both make the range quieter than most other ranges and to prevent ricochets by absorbing stray rounds. According to the Bradenton Herald, High Noon's website states that shooters younger than 14 shoot for free as long as a parent is with them. No charges are currently pending against Brumby.