Write an article based on this summary:

– At least one person was killed and multiple others injured Friday by a gunman inside New York City's Bronx Lebanon Hospital, the AP reports. The shooter, a doctor who used to work at the hospital, also apparently killed himself. A law enforcement official anonymously named Dr. Henry Bello as the suspect; it's not clear when he left the hospital. The AP says six others were injured while CNN puts the number at five, three of them with serious injuries. Per CNN, the victim who was killed is a woman. The New York Times says three of the people shot are doctors.

Story highlights The shooter was a former doctor at the hospital, officials tell CNN

 The shooter died at the scene of apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police say

 New York (CNN) A gunman identified as a doctor opened fire with an assault rifle inside the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital in New York City on Friday, killing a woman and wounding at least six other people before killing himself, law enforcement officials said.

 The shooter was identified as Dr. Henry Bello, who previously worked at the hospital, two law enforcement officials told CNN.

 Police officers found the gunman, who was wearing a white lab coat and carrying ID, dead on the hospital's 17th floor. He died of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill said at a news briefing.

 The body of a woman who was shot was found near his body, O'Neill said. The woman's name was not immediately released.

 Six people were wounded on the 16th floor, and five of those are in serious condition from gunshot wounds, O'Neill said.

 Read More ||||| NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on a shooting at Bronx Lebanon Hospital (all times local):

 4:35 p.m.

 A law enforcement official says the gunman who opened fire at a New York City hospital was a doctor who formerly worked there.

 The official says Dr. Henry Bello walked into Bronx Lebanon Hospital at about 2:50 p.m. Friday with a rifle concealed in his lab coat and opened fire, killing at least one person and injuring six others. He then apparently killed himself.

 The official was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

 Bello was listed on the hospital's website as a family medicine physician. It's not clear when he left the hospital. Calls there rang unanswered.

 — By Associated Press writer Colleen Long

 ___

 4:10 p.m.

 A New York City police spokesman says the gunman inside the Bronx Lebanon Hospital is dead after killing at least one person.

 New York Police Department spokesman J. Peter Donald said Friday afternoon that the shooter had died. At least one other person was dead and several others were shot.

 According to a law enforcement official, the shooter was wearing a lab coat and had the rifle concealed inside it. The official was not authorized to speak on an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

 Police were still trying to identify how many people had been shot. Emergency crews had been kept from going inside the hospital while the shooter was at large.

 — By Associated Press writer Colleen Long

 ___

 4:05 p.m.

 A New York City police spokesman says the gunman inside the Bronx Lebanon Hospital is dead.

 New York Police Department spokesman J. Peter Donald tweeted Friday afternoon that the shooter had died. Police say at least two victims have been shot.

 According to a law enforcement official, the shooter was wearing a lab coat and had the rifle concealed inside it. The official was not authorized to speak on an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

 Police were still trying to identify how many people had been shot. Emergency crews had been kept from going inside the hospital while the shooter was at large.

 — By Associated Press writer Colleen Long

 ___

 3:40 p.m.

 Police say at least two people have been shot at a New York City hospital and the gunman is still at large.

 The gunfire broke out at 2:50 p.m. Friday inside the Bronx Lebanon Hospital in the Bronx.

 Television images showed the hospital surrounded by police cars and fire trucks. Police could be seen on the roof of the building, at one point, with their guns drawn.

 Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center describes itself as the largest voluntary, not-for-profit health care system in the south and central Bronx.

 The 120-year-old hospital claims nearly 1,000 beds spread across multiple units. Its emergency room is among the busiest in New York City.

 The hospital is about a mile and a half north of Yankee Stadium.

 ___

 3:25 p.m.

 Police say multiple people have been shot at a New York City hospital.

 The gunfire broke out at 2:50 p.m. Friday inside the Bronx Lebanon Hospital in the Bronx.

 Police had no immediate information on whether anyone was killed.

 Television images showed the hospital surrounded by police cars and fire trucks. ||||| A disgruntled doctor armed with an AR-15 rifle and wearing a lab coat went on a rampage on Friday in the Bronx hospital where he had worked, killing a doctor and wounding six other people — five of them seriously — before setting himself on fire and shooting himself in the head, the authorities said.

 The furious attack by the doctor — identified by the police as Henry Bello, 45 — sent workers at the hospital, Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, diving behind desks and doors as gunshots and smoke filled the hallways of a place devoted to healing. Witnesses described medical workers ripping a fire hose from the wall to use as a tourniquet on one victim’s leg, while others recalled the horrific sight of the gunman, his torso aflame, running down a hallway.

 Dr. Bello had a troubled past, having worked at the hospital for about six months before quitting after being accused of sexual harassment, officials said. And years earlier, he was arrested and charged with sexual abuse after assaulting a woman in Manhattan.

 Image Henry Bello

 The attack appeared to be the type of mass shooting by a lone gunman that has struck communities around the United States.

 “He’s shooting! He’s shooting!” one woman yelled in the frantic initial moments of the afternoon assault, as recounted by a mother in the pediatric emergency room who had cowered with her five children, ages 1 to 10.

 Some believed that the death toll would have been far higher had the shooting occurred anywhere but where it did — a hospital filled with state-of-the-art medical equipment, and with doctors and nurses who rushed to victims and performed triage where they fell, in staircases and hallways, even as the gunman was still at large.

 “The situation unfolded in the middle of a place that people associate with care and comfort,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters outside the hospital, on the Grand Concourse in the Claremont Village neighborhood. The gunman acted alone, Mr. de Blasio said, adding that it appeared to be a workplace dispute that ended when the gunman committed suicide — “but not before having done horrible damage,” the mayor said. |||||


A 12-year-old Arkansas girl who has been battling a rare and often-fatal infection caused by a brain-eating amoeba is now able to say a few words.

 Traci Hardig, mother 12-year-old Kali Hardig, discusses her daughter's medical condition in a hallway at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, Ark., Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013. The girl who has been... (Associated Press)

 In this photo taken Monday, Aug. 12, 2013, Traci Hardig displays plastic bracelets with her daughter's name at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, Ark. The child has a rare brain infection. (AP... (Associated Press)

 In this photo provided by the Hardig family Monday, Aug. 12, 2013, at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, Ark., Kali Hardig, 12, poses in an undated family photo. The child suffers from a rare... (Associated Press)

 This April 2013 photo provided by the Hardig family on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013, shows Kali Hardig. Hardig, 12, who has been battling a rare and often-fatal infection caused by a brain-eating amoeba,... (Associated Press)

 In this photo provided by the Hardig family Monday, Aug. 12, 2013, at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, Ark., Kali Hardig, 12, poses in an undated family photo. The child suffers from a rare... (Associated Press)

 Kali Hardig was diagnosed last month with an infection caused by an amoeba called Naegleria fowleri.

 There were 128 such infections reported in the United States between 1962 and 2012, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Before Kali, doctors could only point to one known survivor in the U.S. and another in Mexico.

 So it's remarkable that Kali is alive, let alone able to say anything.

 "She's not speaking normal, but she is doing wonderful trying to pronounce stuff," Kali's mother, Traci Hardig, said Wednesday. "She can say `yes' and `no.'" She's also been able to say "Hi mama," "daddy" and "nanny."

 Health officials believe Kali got sick after a trip to a now-shuttered Arkansas water park that features a sandy-bottomed lake.

 Naegleria fowleri (pronounced nuh-GLEER'-ee-uh FOW'-lur-ee) often is found in warm bodies of freshwater, such as lakes, rivers and hot springs. The amoeba typically enters the body through the nose as people are swimming or diving. It can then travel to the brain, causing a devastating infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM.

 That's what Kali has been battling.

 Initial symptoms usually start within one to seven days and may include headache, fever, nausea and vomiting. The disease progresses rapidly, and other symptoms can include stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, seizures and hallucinations.

 Moreover, the infection destroys brain tissue and can cause brain swelling and death.

 Doctors say Kali's success is due in large part to experimental treatment and early detection and diagnosis.

 Traci Hardig brought Kali (pronounced KAY'-lee) to Arkansas Children's Hospital with a nasty fever on July 19.

 Doctors cooled Kali's body down to try to reduce the swelling, and they won clearance to treat her with a breast-cancer drug.

 Now, tests show no sign of the parasite in her system.

 "It's still a concern that she could certainly have some deficits long-term and not function entirely as she would have if this had never happened," one of her doctors, Dr. Vikki Stefans, said.

 But, for now, Kali is making progress.

 "She's up and participating in all her therapy," Stefans said. "She's saying more, and things are basically looking good."

 Kali also is able to take a few steps with help at the hospital.

 "She'll walk across the room to her wheelchair," Traci Hardig said. "It's a real slow walk ... but we're really proud of her."

 Kali will likely stay at the hospital for at least a few more weeks, and she'll be dealing with therapy for months.

 But with support from her family and doctors, she's expected to do well.

 "She's got half the world praying for her, too, which can't hurt," Stefans said.

 ___

 Online:

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Prayers-For-Kali-Le-Ann/279567398852251

 ___

 Follow Jeannie Nuss at http://twitter.com/jeannienuss ||||| The South Florida boy who has been battling a very rare infection at Miami Children's Hospital is brain dead and will be taken off life support Sunday night, according to his family.

 Zachary Reyna, 12, was knee-boarding in ditch water in Glades County when he contracted Naegleria fowleri, brain-eating amoeba, through his nose.

 Although antibiotics had successfully fought off the infection, Reyna suffered extensive brain damage.

 The family indicated that Reyna has already "passed" after showing negative brain activity for days, but he will be kept on a ventilator until Sunday night so that his organs can be donated.

 Saturday on Pray4Number4, the Facebook tribute for Reyna referencing the small number of primary amebic meningoencephalitis survivors, his father wrote:

 The infection that claimed the young boy's life is very rare.

 Center For Disease Control officials say there have been only 128 people infected with PAM since 1962. Only three have survived, including another Florida 12 year old who recently contacted the amoeba from a freshwater spring.

 The CDC recommends diminishing risk by limiting water contact with nose (hold nose shut, use nose clips, or keep head above water), avoid water-related activities in warm freshwater during periods of high water temperatures and low water levels, and avoid stirring up bottom sediment in shallow, warm freshwater areas.

 There have also been cases from use of Neti pots, in which contaminated water is used to irrigate the nose.

 Clarification: A headline that appeared on another part of our website on Sunday morning indicated that Reyna was deceased, based on a family statement that he had "passed." As of Sunday afternoon, the Associated Press is reporting that the family says he has no brain activity but remains on a ventilator. |||||

Write a summary.

– Zachary Reyna, the 12-year-old Florida boy who was battling a brain-eating amoeba, has "passed," according to his family, and will be taken off life support later today. Reyna has shown negative brain activity for days, but is being kept on a ventilator so his organs can be donated, reports the Huffington Post. " Even though Zac has passed, he will still be saving many lives," his family wrote on his Facebook page. The boy had fought off the infection with antibiotics, but was left with brain damage. In happier news, the 12-year-old girl battling a brain-eating amoeba in Arkansas, is doing better, reports the AP. Kali Hardig has now recovered some speech, according to her parents. "She's not speaking normal, but she is doing wonderful trying to pronounce stuff," says her mother. Hardig can reportedly say "yes," "no," "hi mama," "daddy" and "nanny." "It's still a concern that she could certainly have some deficits long-term and not function entirely as she would have if this had never happened," says one of her doctors, but, she adds, "She's up and participating in all her therapy. ... She's saying more, and things are basically looking good."


News article:

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 CAMDEN, N.J. — Food companies tinker with the signature products in their portfolios at their own risk — and few products are as classic as Campbell’s chicken noodle soup.

 Now, Campbell Soup is altering its famous broth. The new recipe appears first in a limited-edition line in cans festooned with Chewbacca and other figures from the coming “Star Wars” film. The new version of its chicken noodle soup contains 20 ingredients, most of which can be found in the average home kitchen, compared with 30 in its previous incarnation (sold last year in cans featuring the Avengers).

 “We’re closing the gap between the kitchen and our plants,” said Denise M. Morrison, chief executive of Campbell.

 Under Ms. Morrison’s leadership, which began in 2011, Campbell has moved quickly to address changing trends in food and to try to stanch the gradual decline in unit sales, a measurement of the number of cans of soup sold.

 The company is banishing ingredients that today’s consumers don’t like and using advertising and social media to have a conversation with consumers about what it is doing. Acquisitions have also given Campbell toeholds in new markets and brought new ideas to the organization.

 “Before, when we talked about our business, we talked about how many cases we shipped,” Ms. Morrison said in an interview here in her office. “Today, we’re talking about our food” — as in what’s in it, where it comes from and what impact it has on the environment.

 Changing those traditional recipes carries quite a bit of risk.

 “It’s a delicate balance because these products are beloved,” said Charles Vila, vice president for consumer and customer insights at Campbell. “Their profile has become very defined in the consumer mind over the years, so any change we make is very carefully considered.”

 The company also has an incentive to bolster the anemic sales of soup, its core product.

 Globally, soup sales peaked in 2012 at $16.2 billion and have stagnated since, last year ringing up $16 billion, according to Euromonitor, a consumer research firm. Euromonitor estimates that sales will fall further this year, to a little over $15 billion.

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 Continue reading the main story What’s New in Campbell’s Chicken Soup? The new version of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup contains just 20 listed ingredients, most of which can be found in the average home kitchen, compared with 30 in its previous incarnation. Items in green appear on the new label but not on the old. Bryan Thomas for The New York Times Chicken stock

 Enriched pasta (wheat flour, egg whites, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid)

 Carrots

 Chicken meat

 Chicken fat

 Salt

 Modified food starch

 Potassium chloride

 Monosodium glutamate

 Chicken flavor

 Maltodextrin

 Water

 Dehydrated mechanically separated chicken

 Celery

 Onions

 Vegetable oil Flavoring

 Yeast extract

 Cornstarch

 Dehydrated chicken broth

 Sugar

 Beta carotene for color

 Dehydrated onions

 Soy protein isolate

 Sodium phosphate

 Disodium inosinate

 Disodium guanylate

 Lactic acid

 Spice

 Flavoring (soybean oil, soy lecithin)

 Dehydrated chicken

 Onion extract

 Garlic extract

 Reasons for soup’s slump are hard to pin down, said Emily Balsamo, a research analyst at Euromonitor. “It’s a similar situation in a lot of categories, I would say, where I think there’s just a lot of distrust of larger, established food companies,” Ms. Balsamo said. Within the soup category, and even within the canned soup category, smaller brands like Annie’s and Amy’s Kitchen or Hain Celestials are doing relatively better, she said. “Maybe it has something to do with them being largely organic.”

 In fact, Ms. Balsamo said, early sales of Campbell’s new line of organic soup sold in cartons are strong.

 But Campbell, which largely relies on the United States market for its soup sales, has more to lose than most other big companies selling soup. Campbell Soup accounted for almost three-quarters of the $1.6 billion in condensed soup sales here last year, but its unit sales fell more than 5 percent, according to IRI, a data and research firm. The company also dominates the ready-to-eat soup business, but there, too, it lost more than 5 percent of market share last year. (Campbell has attributed some of the decline to reductions it made in promotional deals with grocery chains.)

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 Other big soup producers like General Mills, which makes the Progresso brand, and private-label soup brands also declined in sales. IRI data shows, on the other hand, that Pacific Foods of Oregon, a maker of organic soup, is gaining market share.

 Ms. Morrison speaks more candidly than most of her peers about the impact that changing consumer preferences and demographics are having on Campbell and other large food companies, which she described as “seismic shifts.”

 Photo

 “There are 80 million millennials now, and they’re shopping and thinking differently about food and in a way that is influential,” she said.

 She said changes in the family are also challenging food companies. “Families now are multicultural, multigenerational, single-parent, same-sex, mixed and traditional,” Ms. Morrison said.

 She also noted that the numbers of middle-class consumers, who powered sales for so long, were shrinking. “Food companies largely serve the mainstream, but there’s a shrinking middle class in the U.S., a widening chasm between the haves and have-nots,” Ms. Morrison said.

 About a year after Ms. Morrison took the helm, Campbell shocked its peers by buying Bolthouse, a maker of juice and salad dressings, and overnight became one of the world’s largest carrot growers. Bolthouse gave Campbell entree to the coveted perimeter of the grocery store at a time when consumers were increasingly shunning the middle aisles that were long home to the company’s products.

 The next year, Campbell bought Plum Organics, a fast-growing producer of pouched baby and children’s foods that deftly uses social media to connect with consumers. In the last year, 40 percent of Campbell’s advertising budget has gone to social media and digital advertising, in large part based on what it has learned from Plum, according to Mark Alexander, president of the company’s United States business.

 Photo

 Campbell then opened an avenue into China with the purchase of the Kelsen Group, a Danish maker of cookies and snacks with an impressive footprint in Asia. And this year, Campbell acquired the tiny Garden Fresh Gourmet, a purveyor of refrigerated salsas and dips, in a nod to the growth of snacking.

 At the same time, Campbell has added new products like Skillet Sauces, sold in pouches, and Slow Kettle soups in tubs — just heat and eat. Such products play the same role in America’s kitchen as Campbell’s soup did in the past, offering kitchen cooks shortcuts and busy consumers a quick meal.

 “We’ve really accelerated our innovation program,” Mr. Alexander said, referring to the company’s simple meals and beverage business in the United States. “About 11 or 12 percent of our sales last year came from products launched in the last three years, compared to mid-single digits in the past.”

 Campbell is retooling its traditional portfolio as rapidly as it can. “The biggest challenge was time,” said Jesse Fellows, a senior technologist for product development at Campbell, who was charged with simplifying chicken noodle soup.

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 It took two months of intense work to come up with the balance of ingredients that would produce a broth and noodles that tasted the same or better than the soup that had been produced the same way since 2011, when Campbell’s adjusted the spices and reduced the beta carotene used to impart color.

 Photo

 Those were relatively simple changes. Mr. Fellows was asked for a more thorough overhaul aimed at getting rid of ingredients that are out of favor, things like monosodium glutamate, or MSG, and disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate, which enhance flavor, as well as things like vegetable oil and cornstarch. (Celery was eliminated because child taste-testers didn’t like the flavor, a spokeswoman said.)

 By changing the proportion of yeast extract and other flavorings, Mr. Fellows said, he was able to offset the loss of the chemical flavor enhancers.

 And working with Campbell’s chefs, he added and subtracted things like water and dehydrated chicken broth. “The culinary department owns the flavor, and we worked hard to uphold the reputation of chicken noodle soup,” said Bryan Cozzi, a test chef at Campbell.

 But the process does not end when Mr. Fellows and Mr. Cozzi finish their work. They may be sent back to the drawing board if the new formulation adds cost to a product. “Often the biggest challenge is affordability,” said Jeff George, vice president for research and development. “In some cases, we can pass on the cost, but often, we can’t.”

 Campbell may even tinker with shipping cases and labels to bring the cost in line.

 Photo

 This fall, Campbell began a new advertising campaign, “Made for Real, Real Life,” which aims to reintroduce consumers to the idea that soup can be a staple in the kitchen. The first spot in the series, which features a gay couple feeding their young son Campbell’s Star Wars chicken noodle soup, kicked up a controversy, but Campbell’s shrugged it off.

 “No one has seen the whole campaign,” Mr. Vila said. “There are a variety of families in it, reflecting the mosaic of families we have in America today.”

 The second ad in the series features a mother and father preparing an organic tomato soup for their son. “At least we know what he’s eating,” the young father says to his wife — oblivious to his son, licking a glue stick at the table.

 In the kitchens here, food scientists and chefs are gingerly tinkering with Campbell’s classic tomato soup.

 Mostly, that is about replacing high-fructose corn syrup with sugar. But that changes the taste and texture slightly — one test version was less sweet, more tangy and slightly less silky in the mouth.

 “Will that make a difference to consumers who’ve eaten this soup for years and love it just the way it is?” Mr. George said. “That’s the question we ask ourselves over and over again.” ||||| Update: Campbell's Is Rethinking Its Chicken Soup Recipe

 Campbell Soup is changing the recipe of one of its chicken soups, but says it isn't quite ready to tinker with its classic chicken noodle version.

 NPR's Allison Aubrey contacted the company, which clarified that it is changing the ingredient list of the Healthy Kids Shaped Pasta with Chicken in Chicken Broth — in cans with Star Wars- and Frozen-themed labels.

 "This is the first step in our journey and we are currently working on a number of our recipes, but it's too soon to give any definite timing on when changes may be made to the classic red & white chicken noodle soup," spokeswoman Anna Burr says.

 Earlier, we reported that Campbell was tinkering with the recipe for its chicken noodle soup in the red-and-white cans.

 Our earlier post continues:

 Campbell eliminated 13 ingredients, including a number of flavoring chemicals, such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), but also left out celery and onions, The New York Times reports. The new recipe also cuts potassium chloride, maltodextrin and disodium guanylate, among other ingredients. It adds water, dehydrated onions and dehydrated chicken broth.

 "We're closing the gap between the kitchen and our plants," Denise M. Morrison, chief executive of Campbell, told the newspaper.

 Calls to Campbell Soup's corporate communications office were not returned.

 The move, which the Times says cut the number of ingredients from 30 to 20, comes as consumers are increasingly aware of what they're eating and how it affects the environment.

 "Before, when we talked about our business, we talked about how many cases we shipped," Morrison said, according to the Times. "Today, we're talking about our food" — as in what's in it, where it comes from and what impact it has on the environment."

 The change also comes at a time when both global soup sales and Campbell's soup sales have lagged.

 The newspaper adds: |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Campbell's is tinkering with its chicken soup recipe to appeal to millennials, multicultural families, and same-sex parents—among others, the New York Times reports. The company is removing ingredients that have fallen out of favor with customers—potassium chloride, monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate, and, um, celery, to name just a few—in an effort to shore up flagging sales. “We’re closing the gap between the kitchen and our plants,” Campbell Soup CEO Denise Morrison tells the Times. While most of the changes were made with an eye on more natural ingredients, celery apparently fell victim to child taste-testers. All told, the new recipe includes only 20 ingredients to the old recipe's 30. But don't worry if you're a fan of classic Campbell's chicken soup in all its disodium guanylate goodness. NPR reports the changes will only affect children's chicken soup containing noodles shaped like Star Wars and Frozen characters. After a minor change to the recipe in 2011, this more complete overhaul took Campbell's chefs two months of tinkering, according to the Times. NPR reports the company may or may not make similar changes with its classic chicken soup recipe. But company chefs are already attempting to remove high-fructose corn syrup from Campbell's tomato soup, according to the Times. “It’s a delicate balance because these products are beloved,” one Campbell Soup executive says. (If fewer ingredients can't save Campbell's, maybe instant soup pods can.)


Article:
A Maryland man faced murder charges on Friday after accidentally shooting his friend while testing out a bulletproof vest, a shooting reportedly recorded on a video camera.

 Baltimore police arrested Mark Ramiro, 30, after he fatally shot Darnell Mitchell, 28, late on Wednesday.

 The Baltimore Sun reported on Friday the shooting was recorded on a video camera by a third person.

 In that video, Mitchell brags that he is about to take a “deuce deuce in the chest” - a shot from a .22-caliber bullet - before Ramiro, who is seen standing in front of Mitchell, fired the handgun once. He struck Mitchell just above the vest, the newspaper said.

 Police would not comment on specific evidence.

 Ramiro drove Mitchell to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to police. Ramiro is being held on homicide charges and weapons violations.

 (Reporting by John Clarke; Editing by Bill Trott) ||||| A 30-year-old man has been arrested in the fatal shooting of a victim who was wearing a bulletproof vest and bragging he was about to take a "deuce deuce in the chest" in video recorded by a third person at the scene, according to court documents.

 City police make shooting arrest City police arrested and charged a 40-year-old man in connection with an attempted murder. More

 Police said Mark-Anthony Sandang Ramiro was arrested and charged in the shooting death of Darnell Mitchell, 28, during an incident in Ramiro's basement at 2208 Cedley Street in south Baltimore on Wednesday.

 Mobile users, tap here for video

 Police said the incident was filmed as Mitchell, who had been wearing a ballistics vest, was shot one time by Ramiro. The victim suffered a gunshot wound above the vest.

 According to court documents, police were called when Mitchell walked into the Shock Trauma with Ramiro around 4 a.m. Wednesday. Despite medical efforts, police said Mitchell was pronounced dead at 4:07 p.m.

 After getting a search warrant and processing the scene, police said they discovered a Cannon E07 digital camera with video on it of the shooting.

 In that video, Mitchell was bragging that he was about to take a “deuce deuce in the chest” -- a shot from a .22-caliber bullet -- before Ramiro, who is seen standing in front of Mitchell, discharged the handgun one time, striking Mitchell just above the vest, according to charging documents.

 The documents said Mitchell collapsed onto the floor and Ramiro dropped the gun. Ramiro and the person taking the video helped the victim, and then the video ended, according to court documents.

 Investigators said they determined Ramiro was the suspect responsible for the fatal shooting by his clothing and unique tattoos on his left hand.

 Police said Ramiro has been charged with first- and second-degree murder and handgun violations and is being held at the Baltimore City Central Booking and Intake Facility.

 Detectives said they're still trying to identify the third man in the video.

 Case could come down to definition of murder

 A first-degree murder charge is generally defined as an unlawful killing that is deliberate and planned, but a big question in the case is whether Ramiro meant to kill his friend.

 "I can't speak for the State's Attorney's Office. What I can tell you is this is an unfortunate situation that could have been avoided," said Sgt. Jarron Jackson, who would not say if police believe the shooting death may have been intentional.

 An official at the State's Attorney's Office told 11 News that prosecutors felt the appropriate charge was second-degree murder, which is defined generally as an intentional killing that is not planned or premeditated, or a killing caused by dangerous conduct with a lack of concern for human life.

 Byron Warnken, a long-time defense attorney and a University of Baltimore law professor, read the police report.

 "I can't believe that this case would be first-degree murder," he said, but he explained that it is possible to prove it was planned. "Premeditation -- this computer (points toward the brain) works very rapidly. Premeditation can happen in a split, split second."

 The court commissioner decided to add first-degree murder to the list of charges, not the State's Attorney's Office, 11 News learned.

 11 News reporter George Lettis contributed to this article ||||| Man charged with shooting friend in botched test of bulletproof vest

 Victim proclaimed on video he was ready to be shot before errant bullet

 Officers were called to the hospital around 4 a.m., police said. Detectives found the Cannon EO7 video camera in the basement and got a warrant for the footage, which showed the incident described in charging documents against Ramiro.

 The video ends as Ramiro dropped the gun and both friends rushed to Mitchell's aid. They drove from Ramiro's apartment in the 2200 block of Cedley St. to University of Maryland Medical Center, where Mitchell was pronounced dead within minutes, police said.

 But, police said, Mark Ramiro missed the body armor when he pulled the trigger on the .22 caliber handgun, and he now faces murder charges in the 28-year-old's death.

 Three people stood in the basement of a Westport home before 4 a.m. Wednesday to film a stunt in which they planned to test a bulletproof vest. Darnell Mitchell put it on, looked into a video camera and proclaimed himself ready to take "deuce deuce in the chest."

 Ramiro's mother referred a reporter to his attorney, Christopher Flohr, who could not be reached Thursday night.

 Ramiro faces first- and second-degree murder and two gun charges, police said.

 A spokesman for the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office referred questions about the severity of the charges to the city court comissioner's office. Representatives there could not be reached for comment Thursday night.

 The state's attorney's spokesman, Mark Cheshire, said city prosecutors had sought the second-degree murder charge, but the court commissioner imposed an additional first-degree charge. Asked why prosecutors sought the murder charge at all, Cheshire said only that, after an investigation, "we thought that was the appropriate charge."

 In a separate case, a 40-year-old Baltimore man was charged Thursday with shooting a man in the leg and groin after the two got into a knife fight in the 800 block of N. Belnord Ave. in East Baltimore Tuesday night.

 When a heated argument escalated between Nathaniel Jerome McElveen Jr. and the victim, who was not identified, the two pulled out pocket knives and began to fight, police said.

 Nursing a cut to his head, McElveen retrieved an automatic .45 caliber handgun from his nearby home and shot the 33-year-old man twice, police said. The man knocked the gun from McElveen's hand, picked it up and hit McElveen with it, police said. The two continued to struggle as someone in a crowd of onlookers grabbed the gun and left the scene, police said.

 Officers and medics were called to the scene, and both men were taken to the emergency room at Johns Hopkins Hospital. McElveen was treated for the cut on his head, and the second man awaits surgery on a fractured right femur, police said.

 McElveen faces attempted first- and second-degree murder, assault, reckless endangerment and several gun charges, police said.

 ccampbell@baltsun.com

 twitter.com/cmcampbell6 |||||Summary:

– Ready, aim—shoot and kill a friend who's wearing a bullet-proof vest. Police say that very tragedy unfolded in Baltimore on Wednesday when Mark Ramiro, 30, shot Darnell Mitchell, 28, with a .22-caliber bullet, Reuters reports. A third friend apparently recorded Mitchell on video boasting that he was going to take a "deuce deuce in the chest" to test his bulletproof vest. But Ramiro aimed too high, the video ended, and Mitchell was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Ramiro now faces first- and second-degree murder along with two gun charges, the Baltimore Sun reports. Why first-degree? A veteran defense attorney told WBAL-TV that he questioned the charge, but added, "Premeditation—this computer (points toward the brain) works very rapidly. Premeditation can happen in a split, split second."


News article:

“The Giver” was ahead of its time as a book. But as a movie, it’s too late.

 Published in 1993, Lois Lowry’s young-adult novel was a deeply felt, kid-centered dystopian fantasy. Its world of children learning what their “perfect” society had lost was both archetypal yet new.

 But on screen, 21 years later, “The Giver” will feel too familiar after two editions of “The Hunger Games,” as well as “Ender’s Game” and “Divergent” — plus “The Maze Runner” and the third “Hunger Games” coming later this year.

 As a result, “The Giver” is a bland also-ran in a world it helped create.

 The story is set in our distant future. To avoid war, humans built solitary communities that follow restrictive but polite rules. “Sameness” is crucial (art, love and animals are not).

 “Parental units” can apply for one boy and one girl. At 18, after being watched their whole lives by omnipresent elders and their leader (Meryl Streep), kids are assigned a job for life. (The elderly have an annual ceremony of being “released to Elsewhere,” a euphemism for death.)

 Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) is chosen to be the community’s new Receiver — the one person allowed to have books, and the person designated to receive all the memories of what the world was like before the antiseptic civility. To learn it, Jonas becomes the apprentice to the Giver (Jeff Bridges), the elder who possesses all the world’s collective memories. Jonas is chosen because he sees things differently, like the red hair of Fiona (Odeya Rush), a girl he likes.

 Brenton Thwaites and Odeya Rush exist in a conformist society in ‘The Giver.’ (David Bloomer) Jeff Bridges and Taylor Swift in ‘The Giver’ (David Bloomer) Katie Holmes and Alexander Skarsgard in ‘The Giver’ (David Bloomer) Jeff Bridges mentors Brenton Thwaites in ‘The Giver.’ (twc)

 The Giver shares with Jonas memories of snow and rainbows, of dissent and bravery, of cruelty and war and love. When Jonas wants to tell his friends about how the world used to be — and save a newborn boy from being killed — he makes his first real choice.

 Director Philip Noyce’s decision to (mostly) avoid the slam-bang action scenes or banal romance of other blockbusters is laudable. Through Bridges’ gruff but appealing guidance, young audiences may become aware of touchstones — Nelson Mandela, for example, or Tiananmen Square, both of which are glimpsed in the Giver’s memory — that they might normally have tuned out.

 But that doesn’t mean the film works as it should. The “Brave New World”/“Logan’s Run” society it depicts seems to have influenced the acting, most notably of Katie Holmes, who we can guess was channeling memories of Scientology to play Jonas’ dutiful mother.

 Streep, meanwhile is an angry matriarch figure, but she’s wasted in an underwritten role. Taylor Swift pops up in an unnecessary cameo as a previous Receiver who didn’t work out.

 Like the character of the Giver, this is the elder YA tale the others learned from. Too bad the movie is less than the sum of its parts.

 jneumaier@nydailynews.com

 Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! ||||| CLOSE In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.

 Philip Noyce's film, based on the much-loved Lois Lowry young-adult novel, boasts a good cast but falls flat on the screen.

 Brenton Thwaites in a scene from “The Giver.” (Photo: On Screen Entertainment) Story Highlights Critic's review: 2 stars

 The cast is game but given little to do.

 It's not a bad movie, just one that falls flat.

 In a crowd of young-adult works about dystopian futures, the film doesn't stand out.

 The future doesn't look bright.

 Not if you judge by movies based on young-adult novels, anyway. Whether it's "The Hunger Games" or "Divergent" or now "The Giver," one would surmise that we are heading toward a dystopian future in which various of our freedoms will be curtailed or taken away completely. It'll be up to a teenager to save the day, or at least bridge the gap between sequels.

 "The Giver," a rather lackluster, too-obvious effort, is no different in any of those regards. Based on the much-loved, oft-taught book by Lois Lowry, director Phillip Noyce's film is set in a near future that would seem to be a utopia. There is no pain, no war, no class distinction. Everything is black and white. No joke; the scenes at the beginning of the film are monochrome.

 Of course, there is also no freedom of choice, or freedom of anything, really. No love, no romance, no hugging and kissing. Makes you wonder where all the people come from. Everyone dresses in the same drab, white outfits. All the kids ride the same kind of clunky, white, one-speed bicycles. (Hills seem to have been removed from the equation.) Mention words like "love" and you get smacked down with a "precision of language!" admonition.

 Brenton Thwaities and Odeya Rush star in a scene from “The Giver.” (Photo: On Screen Entertainment)

 Once a year there is a ceremony in which all of the kids who are becoming adults are assigned jobs by the Chief Elder (Meryl Streep, no less). They have no say in the matter, of course; it's all decided for them by the Elders. Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) awaits anxiously as his friends Fiona (Odeya Rush) and Asher (Cameron Monaghan) are given their jobs.

 Jonas won't get one. He is chosen to be the Receiver of Memory. He alone will know man's real history, with all of its ugliness and — duh — beauty, and will use this wisdom to help the Elders run the place. The current Receiver (Jeff Bridges) thus becomes the Giver; during sessions at his bunker-like library (the only books left in society are housed here), he passes everything, good and bad, to Jonas.

 These scenes are among the film's strongest. It's a crash course in what a 15-year-old would probably string together as history's most important events, along with life's experiences. Flowers bloom, people die. They could have said "circle of life" and been done with it, but Disney would doubtless protest.

 Whatever the case, the visual mash-up as Jonas receives the information (by clasping hands with the Giver) is exciting, if somewhat rushed. (There's a lot of history to cover, if you're going for all of mankind.)

 Jonas begins to see in color, and to realize that maybe this seemingly perfect society isn't so perfect after all. What transpires deviates from the book but surprise anyone who has seen this type of movie before (and, given the glut of them, that group probably includes ... I don't know, every girl 16 and younger, probably).

 Jeff Bridges and Brenton Thwaities star in a scene from “The Giver.” (Photo: On Screen Entertainment)

 The cast is good but not given much to do in terms of real acting. Alexander Skarsgard is so muted as Jonas' father, for instance, that he's practically somnambulant. Katie Holmes, as Jonas' super-strict mother, meanwhile, is ... well, Katie Holmes.

 This isn't a terrible movie. It just falls flat, in almost every way. It exists and not much else.

 It's all too predictable, and way too heavy-handed. Movies like this don't trust their audience enough, as opposed to, say, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" or "The Spectacular Now," two young-adult films based on books that let their audiences discover what they're trying to say, instead of hitting them over the head with it.

 For "The Giver," you might as well wear a helmet.

 Review: 'The Giver,' 2 stars

 Director: Philip Noyce.

 Cast: Brenton Thwaites, Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep.

 Rating: PG-13 for a mature thematic image and some sci-fi action/violence.

 Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/Vnb9w8 ||||| 2 out of 4 stars Written by Michael Mitnick and Robert B. Weide Directed by Phillip Noyce Starring Brenton Thwaites, Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges Classification PG Country USA Language English Year 2014

 Another week, another movie about a special adolescent who saves society from the forces of darkness. Lois Lowry's popular 1993 novel, The Giver, was a trendsetter in the juvenile dystopia genre, but 21 years later, in the wake of The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Lego Movie, another movie about a kid rebelling against socially imposed "sameness" is a case of the same old, same old.

 Lowry's slender 180-page book, which spawned three sequels, offered a middle-school readership the grim pleasures of the totalitarian fictions of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Ray Bradbury, and the novel became a curriculum favourite. The Giver was also frequently banished from reading lists by conservative parents' groups who objected to material they considered too mature and ethically ambiguous. The movie version, adapted by screenwriters Michael Mitnick and Robert Weide, puts those concerns to rest.

 The novel's 12-year-old protagonist, Jonas, is now a teenager (played by poster-boy-handsome 25-year-old Australian actor Brenton Thwaites), and the movie's conclusion has all the ambiguity of a sparkly Christmas card.

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 Jonas lives in a closed community on a cloud-ringed plain, surrounded by the off-limits "Elsewhere." Books, music, weather, even memories and colour, have somehow been stripped from daily life. The first half-hour is shot in flat black and white, with elements of colour leaking into the frames gradually, as Jonas's consciousness expands. In Gary Ross's 1998 film Pleasantville, that technique was mischievously charming; here it's a blunt metaphor.

 The community where Jonas lives resembles a well-regulated campus or gated resort, with boxy modern houses, fountains and manicured lawns. He lives with his assigned family unit, a mild-mannered father (Alexander Skarsgard), tensely proper mother (Katie Holmes) and little sister Lily (Emma Tremblay). They share "feelings" every night, and begin each day with an injection to maintain "sameness." Each year, the big event is a ceremony where the Chief Elder (Meryl Streep, looking like an aging hippie in long hair and bangs) assigns a new group of graduates their life work. Jonas's friend Asher (Cameron Monaghan) becomes a pilot, while the pretty girl, Fiona (Odeya Rush), will become a caregiver.

 Jonas has a special role: He will become the Receiver, the sole member of his generation allowed to know the group's collective history, and to offer advice to the elders' council. For his training, he goes to the edge of the known world and meets the Giver, an old man in a cottage played by Jeff Bridges, speaking in orotund tones. Bridges, who spent 18 years trying to get this film made (he originally intended his role to be played by his late father, Lloyd Bridges), brings a world-weary crackpot charisma to the part, but he can't really rescue a film that's undermined by self-righteous gaucheness. The Giver's interactions with Jonas set off all kinds of unintended alarm bells: intimate contact, wrist-grabbing, talk of pain, secrecy and giving and receiving.

 If their data-transmitting encounters eventually prove to be benign, they're also banal, as Lowry's serious but simplified ideas get reduced to a barrage of visual kitsch. Some images are innocuous (a sleigh ride, folk dancing) but the memory flashes graduate to a reel of world events (Vietnam, Berlin Wall, Tiananmen Square) that feels like a parody of a CNN promo.

 As Jonas learns about the joys and horrors of the past, he also has his eyes opened to the falseness of the world he lives in, a loveless system where unwanted babies and old people are euphemistically "released" (it sounds like a Tea Party paranoid fantasy of Obamacare). Eventually, in the film's third act, director Phillip Noyce gets a chance to show off his action chops with a chase scene across wild terrain involving fancy drone airplanes, cross-cutting dramatic scenes of Jonas's escape with violent events on the home front. In the process, the movie jettisons the eerie uncertainty of Lowry's novel, which ended where an adolescent story should – at the edge of the unknown. ||||| “The Giver” brings to life Lois Lowry’s 1993 novel about a dystopian community. And, according to the Post's Ann Hornaday, if you liked the book, you'll like the movie adaptation. (Jayne W. Orenstein/The Washington Post)

 “The Giver” brings to life Lois Lowry’s 1993 novel about a dystopian community. And, according to the Post's Ann Hornaday, if you liked the book, you'll like the movie adaptation. (Jayne W. Orenstein/The Washington Post)

 “The Giver,” an adaptation of Lois Lowry’s Newbery Medal-winning young adult novel, may seem like it’s riding on the coattails of such dystopian action hits as “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent.” But in reality, Lowry’s book may qualify as the ur-text of the form, a slim, futuristic allegory that, since it was published in 1993, has sold more than 10 million copies.

 In its own way, the movie version — handsomely directed by Phillip Noyce and featuring an appealing, sure-footed cast of emerging and veteran actors — aptly reflects “The Giver’s” pride of place as the one that started it all, or at least the latest wave. Ironically, it wasn’t until its imitators became box office bonanzas that “The Giver” was seen potentially profitable enough to produce for the big screen. Far less noisy and graphically violent than those films, this mournful coming-of-age tale feels like their more subdued and introspective older sibling, even as it trafficks in the self-dramatizing emotionalism and simplistic philosophizing that are so recognizably symptomatic of the YA genre.

 Set in an indeterminate future long after a vaguely drawn catastrophe called The Ruin, “The Giver” chronicles the story of Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), a teenager who has grown up in the Communities, where the all-seeing, all-hearing Council of Elders controls everything from domestic arrangements and careers to climate and sexual “stirrings,” which are carefully regulated by way of daily morning injections.

 Jonas’s world, which he navigates with his best friends, Fiona (the stunning Israeli actress Odeya Rush) and Asher (Cameron Monaghan), is one in which all conflict, hatred and distinction has been erased by cultural values of conformity and obedience. This is a literally color-blind society, its black-and-white contours reflecting not only the Elders’ monotonously authoritarian sensibility, but Lowry’s own conveniently Manichean imagination, in which emotions and empiricism are at constant zero-sum odds.

 As “The Giver” begins, Jonas and his contemporaries are about to find out what jobs they’ve been assigned by the chief Elder, played by Meryl Streep in a long gray wig that recalls Holly Hunter’s blunt-spoken separatist leader in the series “Top of the Lake.” It turns out that Jonas — who, unlike his friends and family, is able to see color — has been chosen to be a Receiver of Memory, meaning that he will soon learn all that happened before the world became the reassuringly predictable and consistent bubble in which he grew up.

 Jeff Bridges and Brenton Thwaites in “The Giver,” an adaptation of the young adult novel by Lois Lowry. (The Weinstein Company)

 His guide in this endeavor is the title character of “The Giver,” a bearded sage living in an isolated mountaintop aerie played with shamanic gruffness by Jeff Bridges. As it happens, Bridges himself was the prime engine in getting “The Giver” made after a decades-long struggle, during which he intended that his father, Lloyd, play the part he ultimately took as his own. That commitment and seriousness of purpose suffuse a production that will surely please the millions of people who read “The Giver” in middle school, and for whom it became much more than a good book and more like a potent talisman of their own emerging notions of individuation, moral choice and transcendent self-sacrifice.

 Although Jonas is only 12 in the book, in the filmed version of “The Giver” he is 16 — and played by an Australian in his mid-20s, a digression from novelistic detail that has already sent Lowry’s partisans into howls of how-dare-they distress. But Thwaites, who was recently seen as a handsome prince in “Maleficent,” acquits himself well in a role that makes the most of his sober, Gary Cooper-esque good looks. Filmed in silvery tones of black and white, “The Giver” gradually gives way to a color scheme that is lurid or muted, depending on what experiences Jonas is accessing with the help of his grizzled mentor.

 Although those memories will eventually send him on a genuine physical adventure, replete with a shattering revelation and high-stakes drone chase, most of the film traces a young man’s dawning awareness that, the ease and peacefulness of his world notwithstanding, there’s something frighteningly toxic at its core. (One quibble with “The Giver” is that, at a sleek hour-and-a-half, some of its most dramatically ripe scenes play too quickly and perfunctorily to convey the impact they’re having on Jonas; no sooner has he witnessed an unspeakable horror than it swiftly disappears, filed away in his burgeoning internal archive.)

 Like its fellow YA movies — which with the current juggernaut of comic-book adaptations represent the dominant culture in Hollywood — “The Giver” perceptively caters to its teenaged fans’ own cardinal desires and anxieties. Messy feelings, youthful curiosity and unruly physical impulses are valorized and elevated, in sharp contrast to the Elders’ Stalinistic attempts at social control. As a Receiver of Memory, and in one of the film’s most obvious nods to teenaged wish fulfillment, Jonas is given permission to ask questions, no matter how rude, and to lie — and he never has to apologize.

 Meanwhile, what he hears from parents and other authority figures is portrayed as the stuff of dehumanizing soul-murder. “Precision of language!” Jonas’s mother scolds him when he shares his feelings one night over dinner. Mom, by the way, is played by Katie Holmes in a suitably chilly performance as a rule-obsessed judge, intimations of the actress’s own recent brush with Scientology hovering over her scenes like a teasing, troubling mist.

 Jonas’s father, equally skillfully portrayed by Alexander Skarsgard, features prominently in “The Giver’s” most disturbing sequence, in which Jonas witnesses one of the grisly realities beneath the anodyne double-speak that he’s now beginning to question.

 That double-speak, of course, recalls George Orwell at his most anti-totalitarian, as well as Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451,” which may be “The Giver’s” most direct ancestor. Like “The Fault in Our Stars” earlier this summer, young people have once again been given their generation’s version of a message that, although not necessarily new, nevertheless may feel urgent and uniquely timely to its core audience. “The Giver” has been made with deep respect for that experience, and for the book that so powerfully predicted the grim universe movie teenagers now inhabit — for worse and, in this case, for better as well.

 ★ ★ ★

 PG-13. At area theaters. Contains a mature thematic image and some sci-fi action/violence. 94 minutes. |||||
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– Excited to head back to your school reading days with the new flick The Giver? You may not be after reading what the critics have to say. Despite big names like Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges, the film adaptation of Lois Lowry's classic 1993 novel has just a 29% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Here's why: "Another week, another movie about a special adolescent who saves society from the forces of darkness," writes Liam Lacey at the Globe and Mail. The Giver is too much of "the same old, same old" in which "Lowry’s serious but simplified ideas get reduced to a barrage of visual kitsch." "The Giver was ahead of its time as a book. But as a movie, it’s too late," writes Joe Neumaier at the New York Daily News. He's one of several critics to note the similarity to recent flicks like The Hunger Games and Divergent. He acknowledges, however, "young audiences may become aware of touchstones" like Nelson Mandela or Tiananmen Square "that they might normally have tuned out." Oh, and Taylor Swift appears in "an unnecessary cameo." "The cast is good" and there are strong scenes when the Giver, played by Bridges, passes his knowledge on to Receiver Jonas, played by Brenton Thwaites. But the movie "just falls flat, in almost every way. It exists and not much else," writes Bill Goodykoontz at the Arizona Republic. "It's all too predictable, and way too heavy-handed." Ann Hornaday at the Washington Post apparently didn't get the memo. Lowry's novel "comes to life," she writes. It's "handsomely directed" with "an appealing, sure-footed cast," including strong performances from Alexander Skarsgard and Katie Holmes, who play Jonas' parents. Overall, it "perceptively caters to its teenaged fans' own cardinal desires and anxieties," she writes.


Washington (CNN) The Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's request Friday to stop a lawsuit brought by youths who are seeking to hold the government accountable for failing to do enough to fight climate change.

 The administration had asked the court to halt the lawsuit, saying it was "misguided" and a "radical invasion of the separation of powers."

 In its unsigned order, the court said the administration had not reached the high bar necessary to halt the lawsuit for now. But the justices suggested that the government might be able to seek relief at the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals at a later stage of the litigation.

 The vote total was not released, Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch said they would have ruled in favor of the administration.

 "The court went out of its way to stress that the government can still try to stop this case from going forward," said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and a professor at the University of Texas law school. "The court appears to have coalesced around a narrow compromise to defuse, for the moment, major litigation against the Trump administration."

 Read More ||||| Willamette University student Arabella Wood, right, rallies with others in Eugene, Ore., on Oct. 29, 2018, to support a climate change lawsuit brought by 21 young people against the federal government in 2015. On Nov. 2, the U.S. Supreme Court refused a federal government request to disallow the lawsuit. (Andy Nelson/AP)

 The Supreme Court on Friday night refused to halt a novel lawsuit filed by young Americans that attempts to force the federal government to take action on climate change, turning down a request from the Trump administration to stop it before trial.

 The suit, filed in 2015 by 21 young people who argue that the failure of government leaders to combat climate change violates their constitutional right to a clean environment, is before a federal judge in Oregon. It had been delayed while the Supreme Court considered the emergency request from the government.

 Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch would have stopped the suit. The other justices did not indicate how they voted on the government’s request.

 The court’s three-page order said the government should seek relief from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. It noted the government’s assertion that the “suit is based on an assortment of unprecedented legal theories, such as a substantive due process right to certain climate conditions, and an equal protection right to live in the same climate as enjoyed by prior generations.”

 The justices acknowledged that the 9th Circuit had previously turned down the government but said those decisions came when there was a “likelihood that plaintiffs’ claims would narrow as the case progressed.” That no longer seems the case, the unsigned opinion said, suggesting the possibility that the 9th Circuit might see things differently now.

 And it left open the possibility that the government could return to the Supreme Court.

 The goal of the lawsuit is to compel the government to scale back its support for fossil fuel extraction and production and to support policies aimed at reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

 “We’ve been confident throughout this case that we would get to trial, and I believe we will get to trial,” Julia Olson, the attorney for the youths and executive director of Our Children’s Trust, said in an interview with The Washington Post on Friday evening. “We have overcome everything the government has thrown at us. It is not luck. It is the strength of the case and the strength of the evidence and the strength of the legal arguments we are making.”

 The Obama and Trump administrations had repeatedly asked lower courts to dismiss the lawsuit, questioning its merits, saying discovery requests were “burdensome” and arguing that the suit would usurp the authorities of Congress and federal agencies.

 The plaintiffs “seek nothing less than a complete transformation of the American energy system — including the abandonment of fossil fuels — ordered by a single district court at the behest of ‘twenty-one children and youth,’ ” Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco wrote in a brief to the Supreme Court.

 “As the government has maintained since first moving to dismiss this suit in 2016, [the] assertion of sweeping new fundamental rights to certain climate conditions has no basis in the nation’s history and tradition — and no place in federal court.”

 Francisco acknowledged that he was asking for “extraordinary relief” by asking the high court to intervene before a trial began. But he said the unique nature of the lawsuit deserved such an exception.

 If the long trial were allowed to proceed, “it could well be years into the future” before the government could “seek relief from such an egregious abuse of the civil litigation process and violation of the separation of powers.”

 The government has made similar arguments in lower courts, but time and again, judges allowed the case to proceed. The government also went to the Supreme Court this summer seeking a stay, but the court in an unsigned opinion called the request “premature.”

 In a 103-page filing this week intended to keep the trial on track, the plaintiffs argued that the Trump administration would not suffer “irreparable” harm in having to go through with the case.

 “This case clearly poses profoundly important constitutional questions, including questions about individual liberty and standing, the answers to which depend upon the full evaluation of evidence at trial,” the lawyers wrote, adding: “These young plaintiffs, mere children and youth, are already suffering irreparable harm which worsens as each day passes with more carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere and oceans.”

 The young activists also used the chance to once again demand that the courts compel the government to “cease their violation of plaintiffs’ rights, prepare an accounting of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, and prepare and implement an enforceable national remedial plan to cease the constitutional violations by phasing out fossil fuel emissions and drawing down atmospheric CO2.”

 Olson said the youth plaintiffs were filing a request with the district court in Oregon for a hearing soon in hopes of moving toward the long-awaited trial.

 Officials at the Department of Justice could not be reached immediately for comment Friday. ||||| A group of children and young people are suing the US government (shown here with lawyer Julia Olson) to force stronger action on climate change.Credit: Robin Loznak/ZUMA Wire

 A landmark climate-change lawsuit brought by young people against the US government can proceed, the Supreme Court said on 2 November. The case, Juliana v. United States, had been scheduled to begin trial on 29 October in Eugene, Oregon, in a federal district court. But those plans were scrapped last month after President Donald Trump's administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene and dismiss the case.

 The plaintiffs, who include 21 people ranging in age from 11 to 22, allege that the government has violated their constitutional rights to life, liberty and property by failing to prevent dangerous climate change. They are asking the district court to order the federal government to prepare a plan that will ensure the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere falls below 350 parts per million by 2100, down from an average of 405 parts per million in 2017.

 By contrast, the US Department of Justice argues that “there is no right to ‘a climate system capable of sustaining human life’” — as the Juliana plaintiffs assert.

 Although the Supreme Court has now denied the Trump administration's request to the dismiss the case, the path ahead is unclear. In its 2 November order, the Supreme Court suggested that a federal appeals court should consider the administration's arguments before any trial starts in the Oregon district court.

 Lawyers for the young people said they would push the district court to reschedule the trial next week.

 “The youth of our nation won an important decision today from the Supreme Court that shows even the most powerful government in the world must follow the rules and process of litigation in our democracy,” said Julia Olson, co-counsel for the plaintiffs, in a statement reacting to the Supreme Court decision.

 A new generation

 Although climate change is a global problem, lawyers around the world have brought climate-change-related lawsuits against local and national governments and corporations since the late 1980s. These suits have generally sought to force the sort of aggressive action against climate change that has been tough to achieve through political means.

 Many of the cases have failed, but in 2015, a citizen’s group called the Urgenda Foundation won a historic victory against the Dutch government. The judge in that case ordered the Netherlands to cut its greenhouse-gas emissions to at least 25% below 1990 levels by 2020, citing the possibility of climate-related damages to “current and future generations of Dutch nationals” and the government’s “duty of care … to prevent hazardous climate change”. A Dutch appeals court upheld the verdict last month.

 Over the past few years, the Dutch case has emerged as a model for climate lawsuits in other countries, says Gillian Lobo, a lawyer who specializes in climate-change-related cases at ClientEarth in London. More recently, she says, the Juliana lawsuit has inspired its own copycats — some of which have progressed further than Juliana itself. “It is a global phenomenon,” Lobo says.

 One case modelled on the Juliana lawsuit has already produced a striking victory. In January, 25 young people sued the Colombian government for their right to a healthy environment, in a case called Demanda Generaciones Futuras v. Minambiente.

 The Colombian Supreme Court found in the plaintiffs’ favour in April. Not only did it order the government to take steps to reduce deforestation and climate change, it also ruled that the Colombian Amazon rainforest is “a subject of rights” that is entitled to “protection, conservation, maintenance and restoration”.

 Fuzzy future

 The young plaintiffs in the Juliana case allege that they have already suffered harm as a result of climate change. Seventeen-year-old Jaime and her family left their home on the Navajo Nation Reservation in Cameron, Arizona, in 2011 because the natural springs on which they depended for water were drying up. Fifteen-year-old Jayden’s home in Louisiana was severely damaged by flooding in 2016, and 19-year-old Vic’s school in White Plains, New York, closed temporarily in 2012 after Hurricane Sandy hit.

 US climate hawks hope that the Juliana plaintiffs will ultimately prevail, but President Donald Trump’s administration is mounting a multipronged defence. The Justice Department denies that the district court in Oregon has jurisdiction over the broad sweep of federal policies at issue, and that the rights to life, liberty and property set out in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution translate into the right to a stable climate.

 In any case, the department argues, no meaningful redress is possible, given that drastically reducing emissions in the United States might not move the needle on climate change much if other countries’ greenhouse-gas output grows. This echoes the argument made in 2007 by the Supreme Court's chief justice, John Roberts, when he dissented from the court’s decision in a pivotal climate case, Massachusetts vs. Environmental Protection Agency. The court’s ruling, which Roberts protested, forced the agency to regulate carbon emissions as a pollutant.

 Andrea Rodgers, co-counsel for the Juliana plaintiffs, says that the Trump administration hasn’t challenged the fact that humans are changing the climate. “They haven’t presented experts to contest what our scientists are saying about ice melt or sea-level rise or terrestrial impacts or how climate change happens or ocean acidification,” she says.

 To win, Rodgers says, “we have to show that the United States government is liable, but also that there is a remedy that the judge can order”. The United States has seen its greenhouse-gas emissions drop in recent years, as the country shifts its energy mix away from coal and towards renewable sources, but as of 2016, it remains the second-largest emitter after China.

 James Hansen, a climatologist at Columbia University in New York City and a long-time climate activist, is an expert witness in the case — but he is also a plaintiff, representing “future generations” not yet born. (His 20-year-old granddaughter, Sophie Kivlehan, is also a plaintiff.)

 Hansen has been fighting for action on climate change since he first testified on the subject before the US Senate in 1988. He says that if the Juliana plaintiffs lose their case, he will simply try another way. “We need to win as soon as possible,” Hansen says, “but if we lose, we don’t give up — we come back with a stronger case.” ||||| Focused crawls are collections of frequently-updated webcrawl data from narrow (as opposed to broad or wide) web crawls, often focused on a single domain or subdomain. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– The Supreme Court has refused to block a lawsuit by young Americans seeking to combat climate change, the Washington Post reports. With a trial date approaching in Oregon, the Trump administration asked the high court to intervene—but justices issued a three-page order Friday saying the government could try seeking relief with the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which has already turned them down. Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch backed Trump's case, while other votes weren't revealed. "We've been confident throughout this case that we would get to trial, and I believe we will get to trial," says Julia Olson, attorney for the 21 young people who filed suit in 2015. "We have overcome everything the government has thrown at us. It is not luck." Plaintiffs say the failure to address climate change is depriving them of their right to life, liberty, and property, and leaving essential resources unprotected, per CNN. A Trump administration legal brief calls the suit an "invasion of the separation of powers" and questions any "fundamental right" to "a climate system capable of sustaining human life." But with the Supreme Court punting on the issue—at least for now—plaintiffs for Juliana v. United States will likely ask that the case proceed in a federal district court in Eugene, Oregon. Similar lawsuits have failed worldwide, but Nature notes that one succeeded in the Netherlands, forcing the Dutch government to significantly reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020. (An ocean study has horrific implications for the climate change fight.)


U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) chat during at the Chralottenburg Castle in Berlin June 19, 2013.

 A man wears a mask of U.S. President Barack Obama during a protest in support of former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden in front of Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, July 4, 2013.

 BERLIN/WASHINGTON German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a phone call with Barack Obama on Wednesday night that she believed the U.S. president took Germany's concern over reported U.S. spying very seriously, and she hoped coming talks would bring answers.

 Obama sought to allay the anger in Germany and other European allies in his call with Merkel, during which the chancellor said she made clear to him spying was not what she expected from countries considered friends.

 They agreed to high level bilateral talks, in addition to planned talks between the European Union and the United States, to investigate reports that Washington spied on European allies.

 German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich will travel to the United States at the end of next week, a spokesman said.

 The reports came to light amid the imbroglio over former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked details of surveillance activities by Washington. He is currently in limbo in a transit area of Moscow's airport as the United States pressures Moscow to expel him home.

 "I want to see the facts established," Merkel said on Thursday during a press conference in Berlin. "I hope to gain information and draw important conclusions."

 She added: "I made clear spying on institutions within the European Union is not how we would expect those we consider friends to treat us. We are no longer in the Cold War."

 Her comments come at the same time as a poll, published by ARD-DeutschlandTrend, showing only 49 percent of Germans consider the Americans trustworthy partners in the wake of the row - a low not seen since the presidency of George W. Bush - and down from a previous level of 65 percent.

 In a statement, the White House said Obama assured Merkel the United States took the concerns seriously and officials would discuss intelligence and privacy issues as early as July 8.

 WITNESS PROTECTION?

 Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the SPD, said German authorities should quickly contact Snowden and consider giving him witness protection, German news magazine Spiegel said on Thursday.

 Two days earlier, Germany's Foreign and Interior Ministries released a statement saying they had rejected Snowden's request for asylum, faxed to the German embassy in Moscow.

 "The first step must be that the federal prosecutors office travels to Moscow to examine him as a witness," Gabriel was quoted as saying, adding if he was reliable Germany should consider whether to put him into a witness protection program.

 The White House said Obama and Merkel reiterated their strong support for the launch of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations, welcoming the soon-to-begin first round of discussions.

 Obama promised on Monday to supply all the information requested by European allies on the allegations, which he said Washington was still evaluating.

 "Every intelligence service, not just ours, but every European intelligence service, every Asian intelligence service, wherever there's an intelligence service, here's one thing they're going to be doing: they're going to be trying to understand the world better and what's going on in world capitals around the world from sources that aren't available through the New York Times or NBC News," Obama said.

 (Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington, Michelle Martin in Berlin; Writing by Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Michael Roddy) ||||| Story highlights European lawmakers approve in-depth inquiry into U.S. surveillance programs

 European Union ambassadors meet to discuss allegations of U.S. spying

 The meeting comes ahead of talks on a huge American-EU trade deal next week

 Ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked details of alleged U.S. spying on allies

 Allegations that the United States is spying on its European allies topped the agenda for European Union ambassadors who met Thursday in Brussels, Belgium, as the fallout from claims made by U.S. leaker Edward Snowden widened.

 The meeting of the ambassadors to the European Union came ahead of talks due to begin Monday on a huge American-EU free trade deal.

 They were expected to discuss the spying allegations as well as revelations about PRISM, the mass U.S. surveillance program, and a proposal to establish an EU-American working group to improve cooperation, EU spokesman Michael Mann said ahead of the meeting.

 Allegations that the United States has been conducting surveillance on its European allies have prompted wide concern among European nations.

 The issue dominated a conversation Wednesday between President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

 JUST WATCHED Official: NSA spying on EU 'out of control' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Official: NSA spying on EU 'out of control' 02:07

 JUST WATCHED Snowden documents: U.S. spied on EU Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Snowden documents: U.S. spied on EU 01:41

 "The president assured the chancellor that the United States takes seriously the concerns of our European allies and partners," a White House statement on the phone call said.

 Joint EU-American discussions are to be held on the collection and oversight of intelligence, and questions of privacy and data protection, starting as soon as Monday, it said.

 Condemnation, concerns

 The European Parliament voted Thursday in favor of launching an in-depth inquiry into the U.S. surveillance programs, including the alleged bugging of EU premises.

 In the resolution, approved 483-98 with 65 abstentions, European lawmakers expressed concern over PRISM and other surveillance programs, strongly condemned spying on EU representations and called on U.S. authorities to provide full information on the allegations without further delay, according to a statement from the European Parliament.

 The inquiry by the body's Civil Liberties Committee will gather evidence from U.S. and EU sources and present its results by the end of this year, it said.

 The lawmakers also urged European authorities to "consider recourse to all levers at their disposal in negotiations" with the United States, including suspending the current deals on air passenger and bank data.

 EU data protection standards should not be undermined as a result of the EU-American trade deal, the resolution warned.

 Lawmakers also voiced "grave concern" over allegations that similar surveillance programs are run by several of the 28 EU member states, such as the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland, the statement said.

 France calls for delay

 French government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said Wednesday that France believes it would be wise to delay American-EU trade talks for two weeks in light of the allegations.

 She was echoing remarks made by French President Francois Hollande this week after the allegations first appeared in German and British media.

 But the European Commission, which will lead the negotiations for the EU, said the talks would go ahead as planned despite worries about potential snooping.

 "Whilst the beginning of EU-U.S. trade negotiation should not be affected, the EU side will make it clear that for such a comprehensive and ambitious negotiation to succeed, there needs to be confidence, transparency and clarity among the negotiating partners," it said in a statement.

 German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said the reports of spying would influence the planned talks, according to his spokesman, Adrian Toschev.

 But the spokesman declined to back the French call for a delay to the negotiations.

 Sweep for listening devices

 German news magazine Der Spiegel reported Sunday that classified leaks from Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, detailed how the agency bugged EU offices in Washington and New York as well as conducting an "electronic eavesdropping operation" that tapped into an EU building in Brussels.

 Obama said Tuesday he needed more information on the specific programs cited in the report but made clear such spying was commonplace.

 "I guarantee you that in European capitals, there are people who are interested in, if not what I had for breakfast, at least what my talking points might be should I end up meeting with their leaders," Obama said. "That is how intelligence services operate."

 The European Commission will sweep its offices for electronic listening devices and other security breaches, a spokeswoman said Monday.

 A comprehensive EU-American trade deal would be the biggest of its kind and could add $160 billion to annual European income, $125 billion to U.S. income and $133 billion to other economies.

 Together, the United States and EU account for about half of global economic output and trade some $1 trillion in goods and services each year, supporting about 13 million jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– President Obama and Angela Merkel have discussed US spying allegations by phone, the White House says, and they're organizing a meeting between US and German security officials on the issue. "The president assured the chancellor that the United States takes seriously the concerns of our European allies and partners," the White House notes, per Reuters. Germany plans to send envoys to Washington; a meeting could come within days. EU and US officials are also set to meet as soon as July 8. Merkel and Obama both continue to support a new transatlantic trade deal, the White House adds; talks on the matter are set to begin next week. Though France has suggested delaying the talks until after spying claims are addressed, the European Commission says the discussions will go forward on schedule. Meanwhile, European Union ambassadors are reviewing the surveillance issue amongst themselves at a meeting today in Brussels, CNN reports. They'll also talk about PRISM and the possibility of creating a US-EU working group.


Some household items have remained exactly the same for so long that you never really imagine that they could be improved upon, even if they have some pretty obvious flaws. Wine bottles fall perfectly into that category. Sure, they’re not perfect, but they’re so simple and have gone without significant improvement or changes for so long that there’s little chance they’ll ever evolve, right? Not so fast. An extremely bright gentleman by the name of Daniel Perlman set his sights on improving the wine bottle, and seems to have succeeded wildly by inventing a wine bottle that doesn’t drip when pouring.

 Perlman, an inventor and patent holder who also happens to be a biophysicist at Brandeis University, studied how wine hugs the edge of bottle spouts after being poured. It typically results in wine running down the neck of the bottle and dripping onto whatever is beneath. Perlman figured out that by adding one small groove around the lip of the bottle opening he could change the behavior of the liquid at the end of the pour. Instead of hugging the bottle, the wine fails to bridge the gap and simply falls directly into its intended vessel until it stops coming out entirely.

 The grooved tip is just two millimeters wide, but a video showing Perlman’s alteration in action shows just how well it really works in comparison to the original, very basic wine bottle design. According to Brandeis University, Perlman is currently shopping his invention to wine bottle manufacturers who may adopt the idea. ||||| For some reason, wine dripping down the side of the bottle when you pour it has become as accepted an inevitability as death and taxes (both of which some people probably consider preferable to dripping wine). Wine accessory companies sell products specifically built to address this problem. Even highly-trained sommeliers resort to wrapping a napkin bandana around the bottle’s neck as if that Cabernet Sauvignon is some Wild West outlaw up to no good. But a Brandeis University physicist believes he has solved the problem – and all it took was a two millimeter tweak in the bottle itself.

 In looking to solve this issue, Daniel Perlman – a biophysicist at the Massachusetts university – wondered if the bottle might be the cause. According to the school, the modern wine bottle design has been around since the 1800s, meaning it was ripe for innovation – and hopefully an end to 200 years of drips. “I wanted to change the wine bottle itself,” Perlman said. “I didn't want there to be the additional cost or inconvenience of buying an accessory.”

 He began by studying slow-motion videos of wine being poured, eventually attributing some of the blame to the fact that glass is hydrophilic, meaning it attracts water. His solution: Build what is essentially a miniature moat between the lip of the bottle and the neck. This small circular groove, only two millimeters in width, is apparently enough to prevent wine from heading towards a pourer’s hand instead of the glass. “For a drop of wine to make it across Perlman's groove, it would have to travel up inside the groove against the force of gravity or have enough momentum to jump from one side of the groove to the other,” BrandeisNOW explains. “After many tests, Perlman found the perfect width, roughly 2 millimeters, and depth, roughly 1 millimeter, for the groove so that the wine stream can't get passed it.”

 Perlman reportedly already has over 100 patents to his name, though for wine drinkers, this one might stand as his crowning achievement. However, in fixing the bottle itself, Perlman does create one major hurdle to bringing his solution to the masses: Unlike an accessory, which anyone can purchase, Perlman’s innovation would have to be built-in by bottle manufacturers. This would likely increase basic production costs, not to mention Perlman and his cohorts getting their cut. But innovation has swept through the beverage industry before – remember when not all cans were wide-mouths? – so maybe a drip-free future is within our reach.

 “Perlman is currently speaking with bottle manufacturers about adopting his design,” Brandeis writes. So I guess the process is in early enough stages that we can’t say goodbye to those napkin bandanas quite yet. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– It may be a first-world problem—that little drip of wine that slides annoyingly down the neck of a bottle after it's been poured—but to one scientist, it was simply a physics challenge waiting to be overcome. Biophysicist Daniel Perlman at Brandeis University, an inventor with more than 100 patents under his probably well-designed belt, says he's solved the age-old problem by etching a small groove into the bottle itself, per Phys.org. (You can see a demonstration via this video.) To arrive at his solution, Perlman studied slow-mo videos of wine being poured, then calculated precisely how large of an edge would be required to catch the offending drip. The answer: 2mm wide, 1mm deep. Gizmos already are on the market to stop the spills, while sommeliers might use a napkin to deftly wipe the bottle after a pour, but Perlman wanted to simplify things. "I wanted to change the wine bottle itself," thus avoiding the need for an accessory, he says. Bloggers sound intrigued. The drip issue is a "pretty obvious" flaw that has been allowed to linger for as long as wine bottles have been made, complains a post at BGR. Another at Food & Wine notes that an industry-wide fix would likely raise manufacturing costs. "But innovation has swept through the beverage industry before—remember when not all cans were wide-mouths?—so maybe a drip-free future is within our reach." (How does neon-blue wine sound?)


Write an article based on this summary:

– A go-to builder for celebrity Hamptons getaways is feared dead after a plane went down off the coast of Amagansett, Long Island on Saturday. Ben Krupinski, whose clients included Martha Stewart and Billy Joel, was aboard the Piper PA-31 Navajo along with his wife, Bonnie, and grandson Will Maerov, 22. The pilot was 47-year-old Jon Dollard, who authorities say flew the Krupinski's plane into an unexpected storm, per ABC 7. However, the NTSB has not yet determined the exact cause of the crash. Two bodies were recovered and the Coast Guard on Sunday resumed the search for the other two people before suspending it, the AP reports. It was not immediately clear which of the four passengers had been recovered. Bernard Krupinski grew up in East Hampton before starting his business, Ben Krupinski Builders, there. He and Bonnie were prominent members of the community, where they were beloved for their well-known philanthropy. According to the New York Post, the couple owned a real-estate empire worth some $150 million. Eastern Long Island is known for its celebrity presence, with many wealthy and prominent individuals spending time there, particularly in the summer months. Small planes and helicopters are popular, as a way to avoid the bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Long Island Expressway.

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) — A prominent builder for celebrities' homes was identified by authorities Sunday as being one of four people on board a small plane that crashed off the coast of Long Island, killing two and leaving two missing.

 East Hampton Town Police identified the people as 70-year-old builder Bernard Krupinski, 70-year-old Bonnie Krupinski, 22-year-old William Maerov and 47-year-old Jon Dollard.

 The Federal Aviation Administration said the Piper PA31 aircraft that the four people were in went down about 3 p.m. Saturday. The crash scene was about a mile and a half (2.4 kilometers) south of East Hampton. Saturday's weather included severe thunderstorms in the area.

 Two bodies were recovered, and the Coast Guard on Sunday resumed the search for the other two people before suspending it. It was not immediately clear which of the four passengers had been recovered.

 The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the crash.

 Eastern Long Island is known for its celebrity presence, with many wealthy and prominent individuals spending time there, particularly in the summer months.

 Small planes and helicopters are popular, as a way to avoid the bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Long Island Expressway.

 Bernard Krupinski grew up in East Hampton before starting his business, Ben Krupinski Builders, there. As a builder, his clients included Martha Stewart and Billy Joel. ||||| Roadblock at Indian Wells Beach as search continues offshore for two victims of #Amagansett, LI plane crash. Two male bodies recovered amid debris field. Police not confirming identities of those onboard Piper twin-engine turboprop. @ABC7NY pic.twitter.com/r42Dc7xy6w — N. J. Burkett (@njburkett7) June 3, 2018

 The bodies of two men were recovered amid floating wreckage after a small plane crashed off of a Long Island beach.The FAA reports the aircraft crashed two miles off the shore of Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett just before 3 p.m. Saturday.The plane was a Piper PA31 Navajo twin-engine aircraft with four people on board including the pilot, reports the Coast Guard.The plane was en route to East Hampton Airport, when it appears to have flown directly into a thunderstorm. When the plane fell off the radar screens, controllers called police.The NTSB has yet to determine the exact cause of the crash.Authorities are refusing to identify the victims who were pulled from the water.The Coast Guard will continue to search throughout the night for the two missing passengers on board the plane.---------- ||||| Four people were presumed dead after a private plane — carrying a prominent East Hampton builder who crafted luxury mansions for Martha Stewart, Billy Joel and others — crashed into the Atlantic off Amagansett, LI, on Saturday.

 Hamptons “Builder to the Stars” Ben Krupinski, 70, was feared among the dead, along with his wife, Bonnie Bistrian Krupinski, 70, and their 22-year-old grandson, Will Maerov. East Hampton police confirmed the trio were aboard the flight, along with 47-year-old pilot Jon Dollard.

 All are believed to have perished in the crash, sources said.

 The Piper PA-31 Navajo plane went down about a mile off shore near Indian Wells Beach at about 2:50 p.m., officials told The Post.

 The cause of the crash is under investigation, but local pilot Bill Gardiner noted that the weather had turned stormy.

 “There was a very nasty thunderstorm going on. It was unexpected. There were very strong downdrafts.”

 The Krupinskis had owned the plane since at least the 1980s, Gardiner added.

 The couple’s real-estate empire is worth a reported $150 million, and included the popular East Hampton restaurant Citta Nuova, where grieving workers and patrons gathered Saturday night in shock, some in tears.

 see also Bodies recovered from plane crash off Long Island coast A plane with four people aboard crashed into the Atlantic...

 The couple, known and loved by locals as “Bennie and Bonnie” — high-school sweethearts well known for their charitable endeavors — had been expected there for dinner that night.

 Instead, the restaurant was shuttered, a sign explaining that the closing was “due to a family emergency.”

 “They were generous beyond belief,” sobbed longtime employee Jeanne Nielsen.

 “They were very philanthropic . . . their grandson Will had worked here for the summer in the past. He was a student at Georgetown,” she said.

 “Their granddaughter, Charlotte, is 15 or 16. She was not on the plane. She was going to work here this summer.”

 The family “flew all the time,” Nielsen said. “They were coming here for dinner tonight, and then going to the movies. Their plane was supposed to land at 3.”

 She added, still crying, “They were together forever. They were the couple that was together forever.”

 As for the restaurant’s workers, Nielsen said, “We’re broken. All of us.”

 Cops blockading the couple’s home on Three Mile Harbor Road asked a reporter to give the family privacy.

 Two bodies were recovered by Saturday night, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

 One was recovered by an East Hampton lifeguard using a Jet Ski, and the other by the Coast Guard, an agency spokeswoman for the Coast Guard told Newsday.

 A pocketbook was plucked from the water by commercial fisherman Dave Aripotch, who told Newsday he responded to the scene after mariners were given notice of the crash.

 “I wish we could have got there sooner,” he said of seeing a piece of the plane’s nose in the water.

 Ben Krupinski, an East Hampton native, pilot and golf lover, rose to prominence building lavish homes for Stewart, Joel and rocker Roger Waters of Pink Floyd.

 He counted moguls such as Leon Black among his clients — but would pitch in and repair a broken sidewalk out of his own pocket, said those who knew him.

 Fellow developer Joe Farrell called Krupinski “a legendary builder.”

 “Truly a great builder that built the biggest and most expensive homes,” Farrell said. “I admired and respected him very much.

 “His wife Bonnie was a Bistrian, and a huge land owner. Bonnie sold me many lots,” Farrell recalled.

 “Ben used to lend me his helicopter. He was very nice to me even though we were competitors.”

 Famous adman Jerry Della Femina once told The New York Times, “In East Hampton, Ben’s the star. You walk into a restaurant and everyone’s looking up and saying, ‘It’s Ben! It’s Ben Krupinski!’”

 East Hampton gallery owner Terry Wallace said Ben Krupinski would often be at the controls of the plane.

 “A lot of times he flies his own plane. He does a lot of things in the village,” Wallace said.

 “He just finished the Ladies’ Village Improvement Society. If there’s a problem like the sidewalks, he’ll just fix it for nothing. He does a lot of things for nothing,” Wallace said.

 “They’re good people.”

 Krupinski was so close with lifestyles queen Stewart, “he took his plane and got her” when she was released from prison in 2005, Wallace added.

 Local resident Bob Miller said, “It’s so sad. It was Ben and Bonnie? That’s so sad. He’s been very involved for decades. Incredibly highly regarded. He’s been a builder out here for a long, long time. I’ve never heard a bad thing about him out here.”

 “We are stricken by this loss,” said Coast Guard Capt. Kevin B. Reed, commander Sector Long Island Sound.

 “Our deepest sympathies go out to the families and loved ones of the two recovered individuals.”

 Krupinski’s only child, Laura Krupinski, 52, is a former Wilhelmina model who once publicly accused her father of having an affair with Stewart.

 Grandson Maerov had just started a job with ad agency Chandelier Creative, according to a post on his Facebook page.

 The crown jewel of Ben Krupinski’s real-estate empire was East Hampton Point, a five-acre property with a 400-seat restaurant facing Three Mile Harbor.

 It included a full-service marina, boatyard, 14 guest houses, a pool and tennis courts.

 In 2015 he began building for Waters a 14,000-square-foot house with a swimming pool, a pool house and a sunken tennis court.

 Among the properties on which Ben worked for Stewart was a cottage and a 24-room manse, for which he was said to have created a hidden kitchen-exhaust system.

 In 1989, Krupinski renovated Bill Joel’s 12,000-square-foot Amagansett home.

 Saturday’s tragedy was the second small-plane crash on Long Island in less than a week. On Wednesday, a World War II-era plane plummeted into the woods of Melville, killing its only occupant. |||||