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Web series have famously become an outlet for creators for whom it affords opportunities and freedom of expression that they can’t get in traditional media—Joss Whedon, Felicia Day, Issa Rae of Awkward Black Girl. But now the Web has also attracted the attention of stars who have all the freedom and attention they need. Tom Hanks went online this week to launch Electric City, his so-far pulpy and enigmatic dystopian animation series. And Thursday night, Jerry Seinfeld premiered his series of webisodes, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, about, well, that.

 Let us be clear: Jerry Seinfeld does not need the Web. Seinfeld could walk into any major broadcast network today, say he wanted to make a new show about, say, vacuum cleaner repair, and executives, after fainting, would rush to get the checkbook lest he change his mind. Jerry Seinfeld, let me remind you, got NBC to make The Marriage Ref.

 Seinfeld does not need the Web, but that doesn’t mean that the Web might not, in many ways, be better suited to what he wants to do now: drive around, have some coffee and talk to his comedian buddies about comedy, while you watch.

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 That’s pretty much what there is to Comedians in Cars—available at Crackle and the series’ own website—in which Seinfeld’s first guest is Larry David, co-creator of the Seinfeld sitcom. Well, no: his first guest is his antique 1952 VW Beetle, a gorgeous collectors’ item that Seinfeld described lovingly but with a dry observation about its meekness: “If, like me, you feel that true humility is always in short supply, this is the car for you.”

 It’s a curious statement to introduce the series with, since there is something arguably… un-humble about making a show, the premise of which is showing off your fantastic car collection en route to picking up your old collaborator and reminding us of one of the greatest triumphs in TV history. But it’s never not interesting to get the Beatles back together, and when David slides into the car, the observations start flying: about David’s fussy dietary habits, about the car’s peculiar (and awesome!) “semaphore” style turn flags, about the etiquette of ordering tea when your companion is having coffee.

 There’s something appealing about the idea of Seinfeld, a guy who could command the legions of Hollywood at the slightest command, deciding instead that he already has a pretty good life, opting to do low-stakes comedy and schmooze with his pals in a state of semi-retirement. It’s fun, and it can be intriguing, especially when David and he get not just to making jokes, but to discussing, in a sidelong way, how and why jokes work.

 Toward the end, they talk about why David would opt to smoke a cigar rather than a cigarette when working on Seinfeld and ruminating on the show. Trying to get at the difference, David pantomimes the act of smoking both: a cigarette is fast and nervous (he mimes sucking at his fingers tetchily), while a cigar is contemplative (he takes a slow, thoughtful fake drag). “A cigar takes time!” Jerry pipes in, in what could either be a documentary conversation moment or a scripted exchange from the show Seinfeld.

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 The show feels it’s meant to be casual and spur-of-the-moment, but it sure doesn’t look that way. The video is crisp, rich looking and edited within an inch of its life. It cuts quickly, every second or few, to a different perspective on the comedians, to a luxurious-looking crema on a cup of coffee, to a detail on the car or a plate of pancake. Seinfeld has put as much meticulous energy into making a casual conversation look highly produced as David, with Curb Your Enthusiasm, puts into making a highly planned operation look utterly casual.

 The whole aesthetic is a little distancing, and it gives the show a feel of watching a 13 1/2-minute long commercial. But for what? Just for how good a time these guys are having, being themselves, being with each other, having coffee and breakfast at God knows what hour in the day.

 “You continue to have one of the finest minds I’ve ever met,” Seinfeld tells David, earnestly, after the cigar analysis. “You know I take that as a great compliment,” returns David warmly. Adds Seinfeld: “Here’s an analysis of something by two idiots that no one else is doing.” Aren’t they? Or maybe they are, in diners and on YouTube channels, and simply not issuing highly produced and promoted video of their doing it.

 Regardless, talent is talent, and I can’t blame Seinfeld and David for knowing and acknowledging how much they have. But by the end of that exchange, it feels like we’ve receded away as viewers rather than having been brought into their intimate circle; I feel like I should ask if anyone needs me to freshen up their coffee or if I should just clear the table.

 None of which is to argue that they’re not right: these guys really are the Lennon-McCartney of comedy, and still it’s intriguing and fun in any format to watch them get together and jam. If you’re not interested—well, no harm, no foul is the attitude of this webisode. Jerry Seinfeld doesn’t need the Web, he doesn’t need TV either, and if you find other ways to spend your time than with him, his coffee and his cars, he’ll do just fine. ||||| Hollywood types and TV observers are fond of bemoaning that there’s no such thing anymore as a Seinfeld-style megahit — the culture has become far too fractured for 35 million people to agree to tune into anything on network television at the same time (save events like the Oscars and the Super Bowl). But watching the first episode of Jerry Seinfeld’s new web series on Crackle Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, I began to spin a highly speculative What If in my head: Had Seinfeld wanted to make Seinfeld in 2012 instead of 1990, would he have made 22-minute episodes for TV? Or 13-minute episodes for the Web?

 Given how much fun he seems to be having here, and how much fun I had watching it, I suspect it would’ve been the latter. CICGC‘s first episode features Seinfeld picking up his Seinfeld co-conspirator Larry David in a 1952 azure blue Volkswagen Bug, and taking him out for coffee and breakfast at the Los Angeles diner John O’Groats. To a light, jazzy underscore, the two old friends proceed to dither and debate over day-to-day minutiae like the contemplative power of cigars over cigarettes, the freeing quality of boxer briefs over standard briefs, and David’s fastidious dietary philosophy. They occasionally graze past weightier topics — David reveals that his decision to stop drinking coffee helped lead to his divorce — but for the most part, the episode feels like Seinfeld boiled down to its essential spirit: Highly entertaining talk about the trivialities of life, with no silly “plot” to get in the way. David pretty much says as much to Seinfeld at the end of their meal: “You’ve finally made a show about nothing.”

 Check out the full episode below:

 There’s a real pleasure in watching good friends enjoy each other’s company so deeply, but it will be interesting to see how this web series develops when Seinfeld is hanging out with someone he’s known for far less time, like Ricky Gervais. What did you make of this first episode? What was your favorite line? (Mine: “You cannot parade in briefs.”) Will you check out the show next week?

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 Watch new trailer for Jerry Seinfeld’s web series ‘Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee’

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 ‘Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee': Seinfeld taking Monk’s Cafe on the road? ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| "You have finally done the show about nothing." So proclaims Larry David during the first episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Jerry Seinfeld's return to the comedy treadmill after an absence spanning a little over a decade.

 The show, which launched on Thursday, follows a basic format: each episode will see Seinfeld pick up a chum in a vintage car, then drive to a restaurant for a hot drink and perhaps a snack. Cameras follow them, fly-on-the-wall style. They talk. Hilarity ensues.

 Next week, the show will co-star Ricky Gervais; later in the season, Alec Baldwin. If you're a fan of Seinfeld, or its awkward stepchild Curb Your Enthusiasm, you'll be charmed. If not, you may find things meander. For better, or worse, the 15-minute show seems to be unscripted.

 There is, of course, a ring of familiarity about this. In fact, judging by the first episode (all others are top secret for now), Seinfeld might almost be accused of stealing the format of his "show about nothing".

 How so? Well the car journey portion, filmed with Go-Pro dashboard cameras, is essentially a rip-off of Robert Llewellyn's series Carpool. The restaurant scenes recall Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan's semi-improvised gastronomic travel documentary The Trip. At times, the resemblance is positively eerie.

 For all that, there's at least a whiff of innovation about Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. It's nothing to do with the format, or punch lines, but revolves around the way people are supposed to view it. Put simply: it's a TV show you can't see on TV; it can only be watched over the internet.

 Seinfeld's decision to forgo television – in favour of Crackle.com, a Sony-owned site – comes at a watershed moment for television's relationship with the internet. For years pigeon-holed as an experimental medium, used mostly for discovering fresh talent, online TV projects are now attracting blue-chip Hollywood stars. Tom Hanks launched his new project – a dystopian science-fiction animation called Electric City that he created and voices – via Yahoo. And the veteran TV anchor Larry King announced he was coming out of retirement to launch a weekly chat-show on Hulu. Netflix is venturing into TV production, with shows such as Lillehammer and Arrested Development, while Will Ferrell these days seems to spend most of his time online in Funny or Die sketches.

 The online trend is partly driven by money, since the web accounts for a growing portion of overall ad spending, and partly by changing viewer habits, since the growing ubiquity of smartphones and tablet computers helps draw eyeballs to digital programming from traditional media.

 But the Hankses and Seinfelds of this world, who have enough money for this lifetime, appear to also be drawn to the internet for artistic reasons. It allows them to experiment creatively without having to worry about interfering network executives, clunky TV timeslots, spiralling budgets and the other Hollywood blights.

 "When I work with established TV stars, they're often interested by the freedom the internet provides," says Justin Gayner, the founder of ChannelFlip, a British online TV network that has made shows with Harry Hill, David Mitchell, and Richard Hammond. "The bigger the star, the more confident they are to experiment online. If they have conquered the Everest of TV then the internet is a new mountain. And the spontaneity of it all seems to remind them of their roots in stand-up comedy."

 Seinfeld, then, is returning to comedy so he can play around. Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is primarily a show about wasting time. (As David observes, early in the debut episode, "nobody can waste time like you and me".) And what is the internet, if not the perfect medium for wasting time? |||||

– Looks like Jerry Seinfeld has trumped himself in his quest to make a show about "nothing." His new Web series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, has Seinfeld chatting with comedy buddies (like Larry David and Ricky Gervais) while driving, snacking, and—you guessed it—having coffee. Reviews are mixed after the first episode: "If you're a fan of Seinfeld, or its awkward stepchild Curb Your Enthusiasm, you'll be charmed," writes Guy Adams at the Independent. "If not, you may find things meander." Still, "there's at least a whiff of innovation" because the show "can only be watched over the Internet." "The whole aesthetic is a little distancing, and it gives the show a feel of watching a 13 1/2-minute long commercial," writes James Poniewozik at TIME. "But for what? Just for how good a time these guys are having, being themselves, being with each other, having coffee and breakfast at God knows what hour in the day." Seinfeld and David "occasionally graze past weightier topics—David reveals that his decision to stop drinking coffee helped lead to his divorce—but for the most part, the episode feels like Seinfeld boiled down to its essential spirit: Highly entertaining talk about the trivialities of life, with no silly 'plot' to get in the way," writes Adam Vary at Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch blog. "The first episode has enough for car and comedy fans alike to come back for next week," writes Travis Okulski at Jalopnik. "However, will Seinfeld have the same rapport with comics he isn't as close to he does with David? And will the cars be as interesting? I hope." See the show's first episode on Crackle. (Or see what happened to "Seinfeld the chicken.")


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TEHRAN Iran's morality police are cracking down on the sale of Barbie dolls to protect the public from what they see as pernicious western culture eroding Islamic values, shopkeepers said on Monday.

 As the West imposes the toughest ever sanctions on Iran and tensions rise over its nuclear program, inside the country the Barbie ban is part of what the government calls a "soft war" against decadent cultural influences.

 "About three weeks ago they (the morality police) came to our shop, asking us to remove all the Barbies," said a shopkeeper in a toy shop in northern Tehran.

 Iran's religious rulers first declared Barbie, made by U.S. company Mattel Inc, un-Islamic in 1996, citing its "destructive cultural and social consequences." Despite the ban, the doll has until recently been openly on sale in Tehran shops.

 The new order, issued around three weeks ago, forced shopkeepers to hide the leggy, busty blonde behind other toys as a way of meeting popular demand for the dolls while avoiding being closed down by the police.

 A range of officially approved dolls launched in 2002 to counter demand for Barbie have not proven successful, merchants told Reuters.

 The dolls named Sara, a female, and Dara, a male arrived in shops wearing a variety of traditional dress, with Sara fully respecting the rule that all women in Iran must obey in public, of covering their hair and wearing loose-fitting clothes.

 "My daughter prefers Barbies. She says Sara and Dara are ugly and fat," said Farnaz, a 38-year-old mother, adding that she could not find Barbie cartoon DVDs as she was told they were also banned from public sale.

 Pointing to a doll covered in black long veil, a 40-year-old Tehran toy shop manager said: "We still sell Barbies but secretly and put these in the window to make the police think we are just selling these kinds of dolls."

 Iran has fought a running battle to purge pervasive western culture from the country since its Islamic revolution overthrew a western-backed king in 1979, enforcing Islamic dress codes, banning Western music and foreign satellite television.

 As another swipe at the West, Iranians will soon be able to buy toy versions of the U.S. spy drone that it captured in December, Iranian media reported.

 Models of the bat-wing RQ-170 Sentinel - which Iran's military displayed on TV after it was downed near the Afghan border - will be mass produced in a variety of colors, reports said.

 (Editing by Paul Casciato) ||||| State radio says an Iranian company is sending the United States a model of the American surveillance drone captured by the Islamic Republic.

 Tuesday's report said the company will send the miniature of the RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone to the Obama administration in response to a formal request from Washington last month asking Tehran to return the aircraft that went down over Iran in December.

 State radio said the model will be one eightieth the size of the original aircraft. The report says the company also plans to sell the models on the Iranian market for about 70,000 rials, or around $4.

 The Iranian government has rejected Washington's request to return the drone, calling the aircraft's incursion of Iranian airspace an "invasion" and a "hostile act." |||||

– As the US tries to crack down on Iran, Iran is doing some cracking down of its own—on that oh-so-American symbol, the Barbie doll. The country's morality police have begun enforcing a Barbie ban issued in 1996. (Authorities blasted the doll's "destructive cultural and social consequences" at the time.) Reuters reports that the doll had been stocked on Tehran shops' shelves all the same, until about three weeks ago, when the morality police "came to our shop, asking us to remove all the Barbies," says one shop owner. Of course, some Barbies are being tucked behind other toys, rather than removed all together, to keep up with demand. If seems that Sara and Dara, two government-OKed dolls released in 2002, haven't grabbed the hearts and minds of Iranian children. One mother says her daughter "prefers Barbies. She says Sara and Dara are ugly and fat." (Barbie, clearly, to the rescue.) But what should obedient parents buy for their kiddies instead? How about a toy soon to hit shelves: a mini RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone ... a replica of the one that went down in Iran last month. The AP notes that the manufacturer plans to send the US one of the models, in response to Washington's demand that the drone be returned. Iranian kids can get theirs for about $4.


Here is a news article: Images from the NBC 7 archive showing the crime scene on Torrey Pines State Beach in 1984.

 Thirty years after a teenager’s body was found on the sand at Torrey Pines State Beach, San Diego homicide investigators say they have identified two suspects in her killing, one of whom was a San Diego Police criminalist.

 Claire Hough, 14, was the victim of a brutal murder on Friday, Aug. 24, 1984.

 The teenager had been staying with her grandparents who lived near the beach.

 When she was found by police officers, she had been beaten, strangled and stabbed, and one of her breasts had been severed.

 Claire Hough's grandparents lived near the beach where her body was found.

 Using DNA evidence collected at the scene, homicide investigators were able to identity two potential suspects in her murder in November 2012.

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 Detectives say they spent the following two years putting together a case for prosecution. They were preparing to make an arrest when on Tuesday, Oct. 21, Kevin Charles Brown was found dead at Cuyamaca State Park on Highway 79.

 Brown, 62, worked as a criminalist for the San Diego Police Laboratory from 1982 to April 2002.

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 Homicide investigators say they do not believe Brown had any association with the murder investigation or the process of evidence.

 His death has initially been ruled a suicide.

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 The second suspect, Ronald Clyde Tatro, died in a boating accident in 2011. Tatro was 40 years old at the time of the killing.

 According to homicide investigators the two men were identified as suspects in the case through DNA analysis.

 Tatro was identified as a suspect in the killing in August 2014.

 Anyone with information related to this incident is encouraged to call the San Diego Police Department’s Homicide Unit or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

 San Diego's Unsolved Cold Cases ||||| SAN DIEGO — A one-time San Diego police criminalist who died in an apparent suicide in the East County highlands this week was due to be arrested on suspicion of taking part in the gruesome murder of a teenage girl 30 years ago, authorities reported Thursday.

 Kevin Charles Brown, 62, was found dead at Cuyamaca State Park on Tuesday afternoon. Brown evidently had killed himself, SDPD Lt. Paul Rorrison said, declining to disclose what led to that conclusion.

 In November 2012, cold-case homicide detectives uncovered DNA evidence that allegedly linked Brown and a second man to the slaying of 14-year-old Claire Hough, who was found dead at Torrey Pines State Beach on Aug. 24, 1984.

 The girl, who was visiting and staying with her grandparents at the time, had been beaten, strangled and stabbed, and one of her breasts had been cut off, according to San Diego County Crime Stoppers.

 The other suspect, Ronald Clyde Tatro, died at age 67 in a boating accident in Tennessee the year before investigators got the break in the case.

 Brown was civilian lab worker for the San Diego Police Department from 1982 until his retirement in 2002.

 “The investigation confirmed Kevin Brown had no association with any of the evidence processed in this case; nor was he assigned to any part of the murder investigation,” Rorrison said.

 Since the DNA evidence surfaced in the case two years ago, homicide detectives had “conducted extensive investigative follow-ups to bring forward a prosecutable case,” the lieutenant said.

 At the time of Brown’s death, “preparations were being made” for his arrest, Rorrison said.

 The murder occurred six years after a highly similar one at the same northern San Diego beach. In August 1978, 15-year-old Barbara Nantais was found slain with one of her breasts severed. Her boyfriend was nearby, suffering from severe head wounds that had left him semiconscious and with no memory of the attacks.

 It was unclear if Brown and Tatro were considered suspects in the earlier murder as well. ||||| — A retired San Diego police criminalist apparently killed himself after being linked to the murder of a 14-year-old girl three decades ago, authorities said Thursday.

 The body of Kevin Charles Brown, 62, was found Tuesday at Cuyacama Ranch State Park in the San Diego County town of Julian and his death was being investigated as a suicide, police said, although details were not immediately released.

 Police had been working with the county district attorney's office and were planning to arrest Brown, who had been informed that he was under investigation, homicide Lt. Paul Rorrison said.

 "I can only surmise that was part of the reason" that Brown apparently committed suicide, Rorrison said.

 In November 2012, cold-case detectives used DNA evidence to link Brown and another man to the killing of Claire Hough, a 14-year-old girl who was found at Torrey Pines State Beach in August 1984, police said. She had been beaten and strangled, sand was stuffed in her in her mouth and one of her breasts had been cut off.

 Hough, from Cranston, Rhode Island, was visiting her grandparents in the area when she was killed.

 Brown was a civilian criminalist in the San Diego police laboratory from 1982 to his retirement in 2002 but he never worked on the Hough case, Rorrison said.

 Brown was a "generalist" whose job would have included analyzing narcotics and performing other types of evidence work, Rorrison said.

 The other suspect, Ronald Clyde Tatro, was 67 when he died in a boating accident in 2011 in Surgoinsville, Tennessee, Rorrison said.

 The transient's body was found down a river and there was no evidence of foul play, he said.

 Rorrison declined to say whether the two men knew the girl or had earlier been suspects in her death. However, he said DNA testing — which didn't exist at the time of the girl's death — proved to be a crucial piece of evidence.

 Police are still investigating the similar killing of a 15-year-old Lakewood girl six years earlier.

 The naked body of Barbara Nantais was found at Torrey Pine State Beach in August 1978. She had been beaten and strangled and one breast had been sliced.

 Nantais and some friends had been sleeping on the beach. Her boyfriend was struck in the head and badly injured.

 Rorrison said there was no direct evidence linking the two killings.

 "We are not treating them as related cases," he said. ||||| Brown had been interviewed and knew he was a suspect in the killing and would soon be arrested, Rorrison said. He had no criminal history and an investigation showed that he had no role in processing evidence from the 1984 crime scene, Rorrison said. |||||
A summary of this is?

– San Diego police have named two suspects in a teen girl's cold-case murder, including a former San Diego Police Department criminologist. DNA evidence found in November 2012 led police to Ronald Clyde Tatro and Kevin Charles Brown—though as of Tuesday, both men are dead. Claire Hough, 14, was found strangled with sand pushed into her mouth at Torrey Pines State Beach on Aug. 24, 1984, the Los Angeles Times reports. One of her breasts had been cut off. Brown, who processed evidence for the force from 1982 to 2002 but was not "assigned to any part of the murder investigation," knew he was a person of interest, FOX 5 reports. The 62-year-old was found dead in a state park on Tuesday, and his death has been ruled a suicide. Tatro was 67 when he died in a 2011 boating accident in Tennessee. Officers had been building a case against Brown over the last two years and were planning an arrest, NBC San Diego reports. "I can only surmise that was part of the reason" he killed himself, a police rep says. Authorities aren't saying what kind of DNA evidence led them to the suspects, how the two men knew each other, or their relationship to the victim. The Rhode Island teen had been visiting her grandparents at the time of her death; it's unclear why she went to the beach that night. Police continue to investigate a similar killing at the same beach in August 1978. The body of Barbara Nantais, 15, was found beaten and strangled, with one breast cut. Police say there's no evidence to link the murders. "We are not treating them as related cases," a rep tells the AP. (A TV show helped bring about an arrest in a 1997 murder.)


More than 200 people attended an unveiling ceremony for a new Confederate monument Sunday afternoon in Alabama's Crenshaw County.

 The modest stone marker commemorates the "unknown Confederate soldiers" who died in the Civil War but have been forgotten by history, particularly those from Crenshaw County and the surrounding area.

 The memorial now stands in a confederate memorial park first opened in May 2015 on private land in an unincorporated area next to Dry Creek RV Park about three miles north of Brantley. It sits among existing monuments, replica cannons and tall flagpoles flying Confederate and other flags.

 "That's why we're here is to honor our Confederate dead, to honor our ancestors," David Coggins, a Sons of Confederate Veterans member who operates both the RV Park and the adjacent memorial park, told the energetic crowd during introductory remarks he made from a wooden stage.

 "That's why I'm in it, that's what it's all about. We should all be proud of our Confederate ancestors."

 Speakers and attendees repeatedly stated that the memorial and ceremony were not responses to the racial discord currently gripping the nation. They said it was just a coincidence that the date of the event was announced online shortly after a white nationalist ran over and killed a woman in Charlottesville, Virginia, following violent demonstrations there earlier this month.

 "We have been really scrutinized for the past two weeks," Jimmy Hill, commander of the Alabama division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said. "This has been in the works for nine months, but because we put it on the website two days after [the Charlottesville clashes], the media put that together."

 Slapout resident Vann Royal said he has been a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Tallassee, Alabama, for more than 20 years. He said he was there to remember the soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the Confederacy and support the ongoing movement to do so.

 "The thing is nowadays everyone wants to take the monuments down, so we're just glad that they're down here doing this [ceremony]," Royal said. "It's to let people know that what our ancestors did was not in vain."

 Dozens of attendees wore Confederate T-shirts, black-leather motorcycle jackets or similar attire, while some men dressed up for the occasion in Confederate soldier uniforms and several women wore period costume dresses. Many in attendance waved Confederate flags and other banners associated with the Confederacy and the South.

 About 10 members and affiliates of the right-wing Three Percenters militia movement stood in the back, wearing camouflage fatigues and body armor and carrying large guns; a member said they were there "in case anything were to happen." Coggins asked for donations to support the construction of a future monument to the Confederate Navy.

 The event - which AL.com was barred by organizers from bringing video cameras or cameras other than cellphones into - kicked off with a series of speeches followed by a flag-raising ceremony and an approximately 10-minute period during which attendees called out names of Confederate veterans who lost their lives in battle and where and how they died.

 The gathering then moved to the unveiling stage, when Coggins and Hill pulled a piece of red cloth off the memorial and three men dressed as Rebel soldiers fired blanks into the air. The memorial resembles a standard stone gravestone and bears the words "Unkown AL Soldier CSA" and the quote "Mother, I have been found, I am home."

 Once the ceremony concluded, members of the crowd mingled for a time as more blanks were fired from multiple replica Civil War cannons.

 Wendy Osborne, a Tallassee resident and member of the Talisi Cotton Belles, a local chapter of the Order of Confederate Rose, said she was glad to see so many people come out in support of the Confederacy in a time when such groups face widespread derision and criticism.

 "We are proud of our ancestors and we want to remember our history and where we came from, and that keeps us stronger as a people and brings us closer together," Osborne said. "We stick together as a people." ||||| Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans kneel down in front of the monument after an unveiling of a Confederate monument called "Unknown Alabama Confederate Soldiers" in the Confederate Veterans Memorial... (Associated Press)

 Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans kneel down in front of the monument after an unveiling of a Confederate monument called "Unknown Alabama Confederate Soldiers" in the Confederate Veterans Memorial Park in Brantley, Ala., Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) (Associated Press)

 BRANTLEY, Ala. (AP) — As cities across the country are tearing down and relocating Confederate monuments, a county in southern Alabama on Sunday unveiled a new one.

 Several hundred people attended a dedication ceremony for the "Unknown Alabama Confederate Soldiers" at Confederate Veterans Memorial Park in Crenshaw County, Alabama, 55 miles (88 kilometers) south of Montgomery.

 The memorial park's owner and developer, David Coggins, said the groups in attendance weren't white nationalists or racists, but were acknowledging their heritage and honoring Confederate soldiers everywhere.

 "It's important that we remember our heritage and it's very important we remember our history, for those people that forget their heritage ... are doomed to repeat it again," he said.

 The monument was surrounded by a black metal fence and flanked by two other monuments. As a red cloth was pulled to reveal it, five cannons were fired.

 Confederate flags were flown throughout the park and several attendants were dressed in Confederate garb.

 The Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans attended the ceremony, along with re-enactors dressed in period clothing.

 Coggins said the ceremony was not planned in response to recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this month, when white nationalists who objected to the proposed removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee clashed with counter protesters. A woman was killed and several others injured when a car plowed into the counter-protesters. Two state troopers also died when their helicopter crashed.

 The Alabama ceremony was scheduled months ago and the monument was ordered last year, Coggins told The Associated Press.

 Debbie Weir, a retired attendee, said the monument stands for everything her ancestors endured, adding that she enjoyed people from different states coming together "to prove that we are one nation."

 "It's always a good day when Confederates come together," Weir said. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Alabama just got a new Confederate memorial, even as similar monuments have sparked protests and violence elsewhere. AL.com reports that more than 200 people attended the unveiling Sunday of a stone dedicated to "Unknown [Alabama] Soldiers" with the Confederacy at Confederate Veterans Memorial Park in Crenshaw County. "That's why we're here is to honor our Confederate dead, to honor our ancestors," David Coggins, a Sons of Confederate Veterans member, told the crowd. Five cannons fired as a red cloth was lifted to reveal the monument, the AP reports. Coggins, who owns the land on which the park was built two years ago, says the ceremony was planned months ago and was unrelated to the deadly protest in Charlottesville, Va. "We have been really scrutinized for the past two weeks," a commander of the state chapter of the SCV tells AL.com. Dozens of attendees wore Confederate dress and waved Confederate flags. Sporting camouflage and body armor, about 10 members of the Three Percenters militia stood watch "in case anything were to happen." There was no reported violence. Organizers barred reporters from using video and other cameras apart from cellphones. A local resident says he turned out to honor soldiers who died fighting for the South. "The thing is nowadays everyone wants to take the monuments down, so we're just glad that they're down here doing this," he says. "It's to let people know that what our ancestors did was not in vain." (Cops "never moved" after gunshot in Charlottesville.)


CLOSE Jake Tibbetts, brother of Mollie Tibbetts, encouraged students to meet a new person while they attended the vigil for his sister. Iowa City Press-Citizen

 Jake Tibbetts, the brother of Mollie Tibbetts, speaks during a vigil for Mollie Tibbetts on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, in Hubbard Park on the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City. (Photo: Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen)

 Mollie Tibbetts' older brother had a request of the hundreds gathered on the University of Iowa campus for his sister's vigil: Meet someone you didn't know before, and make a friend .

 This, Jake Tibbetts told the crowd, is what Mollie would have done, and what she did do on a regular basis.

 "You can always attribute that friendship you just made to my sister, and that would mean the world to her," he said. "Knowing that a thousand people just made a friend tonight in her name."

 Tibbetts would have begun her sophomore year at the University of Iowa this Monday. Instead, her would-be colleagues gathered at Hubbard Park on Wednesday, candles in hand, to honor their fellow Hawkeye "family" member.

 MORE MOLLIE TIBBETTS COVERAGE:

 The event put on by students came together in the span of a day.

 A little more than 24 hours earlier, investigators announced that Tibbetts' body had been found and that her suspected killer had been charged with first-degree murder. An hour later, an event was created on Facebook by students from the University of Iowa Student Government and UI Dance Marathon.

 The vigil, which lasted 20 minutes, focused not on the way Tibbetts died, but on the way she chose to live.

 A University of Iowa student talked about how Tibbetts gave her the courage and confidence to go from a graduating high school class of 37 to a university class of thousands.

 The student, Breck Goodman, said Tibbetts seemed to have that effect on people. Tibbetts studied psychology when she was at UI; she was an advocate for mental health and genuinely cared about how people thought, Goodman said.

 Maybe most noticeably, Goodman said, Tibbetts always had a smile for the people she saw when walking across campus.

 The friend had her own request of the gathered students: Do the same.

 CLOSE Mollie Tibbetts' friend Breck Goodman speaks at a vigil on the University of Iowa campus. Iowa City Press-Citizen

 "Even if she was just passing on the way to class, she would smile, and you would feel some sort of comfort," she said. "That was kind of the embodiment of Mollie."

 Jake Tibbetts described his sister as "goofy" and "a little clumsy." He said she strong-willed; she "wouldn't stay silent" about the things she was passionate about.

 MORE:

 He added that the family will never have the life of normalcy that existed before her death, but that's not what he wanted students to focus on during the vigil.

 "This should not be remembered for one terrible act; this should be remembered by all the countless good acts that happened following it," Tibbetts' brother said. "The town of Brooklyn, Iowa, waking up at 5 in the morning to search cornfields, creeks and ditches. A thousand students coming to a park to hear someone speak about someone they've never met before."

 CLOSE Mollie Tibbetts' brother Jake Tibbetts says to remember the good acts that happened in the community following her death. Iowa City Press-Citizen

 One such student, Kaitlyn Bay, said she and her friends went to the event to show support for the Tibbetts family.

 “Knowing that Mollie was a classmate of all of ours, it just hits really close to home, knowing that it could have been anyone,” Bay said.

 Another student, Chris Levine, said he found out about the event through a friend during class, and decided to show up to support the UI community.

 “It’s special when everyone drops everything that they are doing to come out here,” he said. “Especially on the first week of school.”

 In promoting the vigil, organizers brought up this sense of community or, in their words, family, among UI students.

 Charlie Ellis, executive director of Dance Marathon, in which Tibbetts participated, said she left a lasting touch on more people than she likely knew. Though he added that the vigil was also a chance to reflect on the many current and former students who have passed away.

 “Although we organized the vigil tonight to honor Mollie Tibbetts," he said. "We recognize all the other members of the Hawkeye community who have passed away."

 Student government president Hira Mustafa urged any students struggling to cope with the news of Tibbetts' death to seek out university resources.

 In Tibbetts' honor, she asked students to practice kindness when interacting with their colleagues.

 Jake Tibbetts said his family has been on the receiving end of such kindness since his sister went missing.

 He pointed to the nationwide attention his sister's case received and the calls to his family from across the U.S. as a better memory to associate with his sister's life.

 "Remember this as a time that a country came together for just one girl," he said. "One girl that loved everyone, loved everything."

 Read or Share this story: https://icp-c.com/2LiDA8Z ||||| CLOSE Dane and Craig Lang say they received threats after revealing they employed Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the man charged in the murder of Mollie Tibbetts. Rodney White, rodwhite@dmreg.com

 Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, is lead from the courtroom after making his initial appearance on a charge of first-degree murder during at the Poweshiek County Courthouse in Montezuma, Iowa, on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018. Rivera is accused of killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts. (Photo: Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette/Pool)

 When the Lang family watched the news about Mollie Tibbetts unfold on Tuesday, a familiar face flashed on the screen.

 They were shocked. The face of the suspect was familiar to them as one of their employees at Yarrabee Farms, but the name that went with the picture was completely different.

 "What we learned within the last 24 hours is that our employee was not who he said he was," said Dane Lang, manager of Yarrabee Farms.

 Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the 24-year-old immigrant accused of abducting and killing Tibbetts, allegedly used a different name and provided false identification when he applied for employment at the farm just outside of Brooklyn, his employer said Wednesday.

 Rivera worked at Yarrabee Farms in rural Poweshiek County for four years, Lang said. Yarrabee Farms is owned by multiple generations of the Lang family, including Craig Lang, former Farm Bureau President and prominent Iowa Republican.

 Rivera was charged with first-degree murder Tuesday in the July 18 disappearance of Tibbetts, whose remains were found in a cornfield in rural Poweshiek County. A criminal complaint released Tuesday said Rivera directed law enforcement to Tibbetts' body.

 Rivera worked on day-to-day operations with the cows. He was introduced to the Lang family and gained employment there through a former girlfriend.

 He also lived on the property in a mobile home, said Mitch Mortvedt, assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

 "We continue to cooperate with the investigation, and we have provided information about our former employee, including his hiring records, to authorities," Craig Lang said during a press conference on the farm on Wednesday. "There will be plenty of time later to discuss immigration. However, now is not that time."

 COMPLETE COVERAGE:All the latest Mollie Tibbetts information here

 Dane Lang is Craig's son. He said Rivera provided a state-issued government ID and social security number when applying for employment. The information is required to file a Form I-9, which verifies the identity and employment eligibility of a person in the U.S.

 As a voluntary second verification step, the business put Rivera's information through the Social Security Administration’s number verification service, but Dane Lang said he and others assumed it was E-Verify.gov.

 E-verify.gov allows employers to check if the information on a Form I-9 matches Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security records.

 Employment verification officials consider E-Verify a more robust backgrounding system, because it includes immigration status and eligibility to work in the United States. A check of only a social security number verifies that the number, name and birth date an employee provided match information that exists in the federal Social Security database.

 Dane Lang said Rivera provided a different name when he applied for employment, but he would not share it on Wednesday, citing the investigation.

 "This employee was considered in good standing," Dane Lang said. Rivera showed up to work on time, cooperated with the other employees and showed up every day, he said.

 Over the last month, the younger Lang said he didn't notice any changes in Rivera's behavior. He said he always worked well with his colleagues.

 "I wish I had seen a difference, but I didn't," Dane Lang said.

 About 10 full-time and part-time employees work on the farm. He said the family was consulting with their immigration attorney on whether they can use E-Verify to check existing employees’ background.

 Dane Lang would not confirm whether there were any non-U.S. citizens employed at the farm.

 He said the farm's employees are a part of the community and some of their kids have gone on to become homecoming king or a valedictorian.

 At least 100 threatening voicemail messages have been sent to Dane Lang since Tuesday, he said. People have threatened to burn down buildings and even kill his dog after learning Rivera was employed at the farm.

 "This is a really scary situation," he said. "And the unfortunate thing is, people are paying attention to me and we’re forgetting about the heartbroken family in Brooklyn and the heartbroken community."

 The Register's Donnelle Eller contributed to this report.

 Read or Share this story: https://dmreg.co/2o37jcM ||||| Cristhian Bahena Rivera is escorted into the Poweshiek County Courthouse for his initial court appearance, Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, in Montezuma, Iowa. Rivera is charged with first-degree murder in the... (Associated Press)

 Cristhian Bahena Rivera is escorted into the Poweshiek County Courthouse for his initial court appearance, Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, in Montezuma, Iowa. Rivera is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Mollie Tibbetts, who disappeared July 18 from Brooklyn, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) (Associated Press)

 BROOKLYN, Iowa (AP) — For years, the young man from Mexico presented himself as a legal U.S. resident and reliable worker at a family dairy farm in small town Iowa, his employer said.

 But this week, the image of Cristhian Bahena Rivera transformed in a matter of hours. Now he's a man accused of illegally living and working in the U.S. on fraudulent documents, of being a predator who kidnapped and killed a beloved young woman, and to some, the monstrous face of a lax immigration system.

 Rivera made his initial court appearance Wednesday in a rural Iowa courthouse on a first-degree murder charge in the death of 20-year-old college student Mollie Tibbetts. He sat stone-faced and handcuffed in a striped jail jumpsuit as he said through an interpreter that he understood he faced life in prison if convicted. He was ordered jailed on a $5 million cash-only bond after a prosecutor said he was a danger to the community who was accused of a "heinous crime."

 The turn of events stunned the prominent farm family that employed him for the last four years. They said the 24-year-old worked under a different name and was a good employee who helped take care of their cows and got along with co-workers.

 Even after Tibbetts disappeared on July 18 while out for an evening run in the small central Iowa town of Brooklyn, Rivera kept coming to work and "nobody saw a difference" in his demeanor, said Dane Lang, the manager of Yarrabee Farms. His colleagues were stunned Tuesday to learn that he was not only the suspect in Tibbetts' death, but that he had a different real name than what he went by on the farm, Lang said.

 "Our employee is not who he said he was," Lang said at a news conference at the farm. "This was shocking to us."

 When Rivera was hired in 2014, he presented an out-of-state government-issued photo identification and a matching Social Security card, Lang said. That information was run through the Social Security Administration's employment-verification system and checked out, he said.

 Rivera's defense attorney, Allan Richards, acknowledged Wednesday that his client received his paycheck under a different name and that he was uncertain of his immigration status. He said he was prepared to argue that his client was in the country legally, noting that he came to the U.S. as a minor and had worked and paid taxes for years.

 "He showed up every day and he did his job. He was patted on his back. They turned a blind eye to the reality of documentation," Richards said.

 Investigators say they believe Rivera abducted Tibbetts as she went on an evening jog, killed her and dumped her body in a cornfield. A judge on Wednesday agreed to increase Rivera's bond to $5 million from $1 million after prosecutor Scott Brown noted he was a potential flight risk who was charged with a "heinous crime."

 His attorney, Richards, lashed out at President Donald Trump for publicly declaring his client guilty at a rally Tuesday night. He said his client was a hard worker with the equivalent of an eighth-grade education, had no prior criminal record and deserved the presumption of innocence and a fair trial.

 "Sad and Sorry Trump has weighed in on this matter in national media which will poison the entire possible pool of jury members," Richards wrote in a court filing.

 Trump noted the arrest at the rally in West Virginia: "You heard about today with the illegal alien coming in, very sadly, from Mexico and you saw what happened to that incredible, beautiful young woman. Should've never happened. Illegally in our country."

 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have lodged an immigration detainer for Rivera, a move that means the agency has probable cause to believe he is subject to deportation. No hearing has been held yet on his status.

 Yarrabee Farms is a small family farming operation that dates back to 1860 and has been owned for six generations by the Lang family, which is prominent in the community, farming circles and Republican politics. Dane Lang said the farm had received dozens of disturbing phone calls and messages since the employee's arrest, including threats to kill his dog and burn down his buildings.

 "This is a scary situation," he said.

 His father and farm co-owner Craig Lang, a former president of the Iowa Farm Bureau who ran earlier this year for state agriculture secretary, said the farm was cooperating with investigators and had already turned over Rivera's hiring records. He said now was not the time to debate immigration but to grieve the loss of Tibbetts, who was studying psychology at the University of Iowa.

 Rivera led investigators Tuesday to a body believed to be Tibbetts in a cornfield about 12 miles (19 kilometers) southeast of Brooklyn, where she was last seen, police said.

 Rivera allegedly confessed to following her and then panicking when she threatened to call police. He told authorities that he blacked out and then dumped her bloody body in the secluded location.

 Investigators have not released the cause and manner of Tibbetts' death, and didn't release any information following an autopsy conducted Wednesday.

 Rivera's Facebook page described him as being from Guayabillo, a community of less than 500 people in the Mexican state of Guerrero. It's about a three-hour drive from the resort city of Acapulco.

 Investigators said they zeroed in on Rivera after obtaining footage from surveillance cameras in Brooklyn. The footage showed a Chevy Malibu connected to Rivera that was driving back and forth as Tibbetts was running in the area. The farm where he worked was just a couple miles away from that location.

 A conviction on first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole in Iowa, which does not have the death penalty.

 ___

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What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– One of roughly 10 employees at Yarrabee Farms in rural Poweshiek County, Iowa, the 24-year-old lived in a mobile home on the property, always showed up for work, and got along with his co-workers as he took care of the cows over the course of four years. It was only Tuesday that his employers learned his real name. Cristhian Rivera, accused of killing 20-year-old University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, used a different name associated with an out-of-state government ID and matching Social Security card when he got a job at the dairy farm through a former girlfriend in 2014, reports the Des Moines Register. When the information was run though the Social Security Administration's verification service, everything checked out, farm manager Dane Lang tells the AP. But "our employee was not who he said he was," adds Lang, son of farm co-owner and prominent Republican Craig Lang. "This was shocking to us." Immigration officials now suspect Rivera was in the US illegally. Per the AP, a Facebook page in his name gives his hometown as Guayabillo, Mexico, a community of less than 500. The AP adds Rivera's attorney, Allan Richards, on Wednesday said he might argue his client was here legally, saying Rivera had been in the US since he was a minor and paid taxes. But Richards did say he hadn't verified Rivera's immigration status. At a vigil at the University of Iowa where Tibbetts would've started her sophomore year on Monday, her brother had one request for the hundreds gathered: make a friend. "You can always attribute that friendship … to my sister, and that would mean the world to her," he said, per the Register.


News article:

CHICAGO—The death of a woman whose bicycle collided with a truck on Friday is believed to be the first fatality involving the rapidly growing bike-share programs in the U.S., industry officials said.

 Such programs—which typically involve renting a bike from an automated station by paying a daily fee, or using a keychain token for annual members—have been spreading rapidly in recent years and can now be found in at least 40 U.S. cities.

 ... ||||| PUBLICATION

 MTI Report 12-54

 Principal Investigator: Elliot Martin, Ph.D.

 ABSTRACT

 The growth of bikesharing in the United States has had a transformative impact on urban transportation. Major cities have established large bikesharing systems, including Boston, Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, New York City, Salt Lake City, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Washington DC, and others. These systems began operating as early as 2010, and no fatalities have occurred within the US as of this writing. However, three have happened in North America—two in Canada and one in Mexico. Bikesharing has some qualities that appear inherently unsafe for bicyclists. Most prominently, helmet usage is documented to be quite low in most regions. Bikesharing is also used by irregular bicyclists who are less familiar with the local terrain. In this study, researchers take a closer look at bikesharing safety from qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Through a series of four focus groups, they discussed bikesharing usage and safety with bikesharing members and nonmembers in the Bay Area. They further engaged experts nationwide from a variety of fields to evaluate their opinions and perspectives on bikesharing and safety. Finally, researchers conducted an analysis of bicycle and bikesharing activity data, as well as bicycle and bikesharing collisions to evaluate injury rates associated with bikesharing when compared with benchmarks of personal bicycling. The data analysis found that collision and injury rates for bikesharing are lower than previously computed rates for personal bicycling. Experts and focus group participants independently pointed to bikesharing rider behavior and bikesharing bicycle design as possible factors. In particular, bikesharing bicycles are generally designed in ways that promote stability and limited speeds, which mitigate the conditions that contribute to collisions. Data analysis also explored whether there was evidence of a “safety in numbers benefit” that resulted from bikesharing activity. However, no significant impact from bikesharing activity on broader bicycle collisions could be found within the regions in which they operate. Discussion and recommendations are presented in the conclusion.

 ABOUT THE AUTHORS

 Elliot Martin, Ph.D.

 Elliot Martin conducts research in shared-use mobility, public and freight transportation, transportation energy, and life-cycle assessment. He has conducted advanced research that measures the impact of shared mobility systems on greenhouse gas emissions, modal shift, and household vehicle holdings. He has led a major research-deployment project on truck parking availability within California, analyzed data from urban parking systems, and supported research in advanced- and alternative-fuel vehicles. He specializes in research instrument design and applies statistical approaches to the analysis of freight movement, sensor performance, vehicle activity data, and travel behavior surveys. Elliot earned a PhD In transportation engineering following a dual Masters in transportation and city planning, all at UC Berkeley. He completed his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University. He previously was an assistant economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

 Adam Cohen

 Adam Cohen is a research associate at the Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC) at the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Since joining the group in 2004, he has focused his research on worldwide carsharing and public bikesharing. He has co-authored numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. In 2008, he completed a dual Masters degree in city and regional planning and international affairs from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a dual Bachelor’s degree in urban studies and legal studies.

 Jan Botha, Ph.D.

 Jan Botha is a professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at San Jose State University. Dr. Botha has nine years’ experience in transportation engineering practice and has been a faculty member at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and at SJSU for 24 years. Dr. Botha received a PhD and MS in transportation engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BSc (Honors) in civil engineering from the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

 Susan Shaheen, Ph.D.

 Susan Shaheen is an adjunct professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department at the University of California (UC), Berkeley and is a research engineer with the Institute of Transportation Studies-Berkeley. She teaches a graduate-level course in CEE on transportation sustainability. In October 2007, Susan became a research director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC) and was later named TSRC co-director in Fall 2008. She served as the Policy & Behavioral Research Program leader at California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways from 2003 to 2007, and as a special assistant to the Director’s Office of the California Department of Transportation from 2001 to 2004. She was honored as the first Honda Distinguished Scholar in Transportation at the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis in 2000 and served as the endowed chair until 2012.

 She has served as the principal investigator on approximately 60 projects at UC Berkeley on travel behavior, shared mobility, intelligent transportation systems, and alternative fuels. Her research projects on carsharing, smart parking, and older mobility have received national awards. She has co-edited one book and authored 55 journal articles, over 100 reports and proceedings articles, and four book chapters. She has also served as guest editor for Energies and the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation (IJST). She has served on the ITS World Congress program committee since 2002 and was the chair of the Emerging and Innovative Public Transport and Technologies Committee of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) from 2004 to 2011. She is on the editorial board of IJST (2011 to present), was a member of the National Academies’ Transit Research Analysis Committee (2011 to 2013), and named to the ITS Program Advisory Committee of US DOT advising the Secretary of Transportation in 2014.

 She holds a PhD in ecology, focusing on technology management and the environmental aspects of transportation, from the University of California, Davis (1999) and an MS in public policy analysis from the University of Rochester (1990). She completed her post-doctoral studies on advanced public transportation systems at UC Berkeley in July 2001.

 TECHNICAL

 Authors: Elliot Martin, Ph.D., Adam Cohen, Jan Botha, Ph.D., and Susan Shaheen, Ph.D.

 Published: March 2016

 Keywords: Bikesharing, Safety, Bicycle, Collisions ||||| A 25-year-old woman riding a Divvy bike who died Friday morning following a crash involving a flatbed truck in Chicago's Avondale neighborhood is believed to be the first person killed while riding a bike-sharing bicycle in the United States.

 The crash happened about 9 a.m. near Sacramento and Belmont avenues, said Officer Jose Estrada, a police spokesman, citing preliminary information. The truck and the bicyclist were both traveling north on Sacramento, when both turned east at Belmont and collided, Estrada said.

 The woman was taken in critical condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center and later pronounced dead, Estrada said. She was identified by the Cook County medical examiner’s office as Virginia Murray, 25, of the 1200 block of North Marion Court in the Wicker Park neighborhood.

 The woman's death is believed to be the first bike-share fatality in the United States since the first bike-share program started in Tulsa, Okla., in 2007, according to Paul DeMaio, principal of Washington, D.C.-based MetroBike, a bike-share consulting business.

 Brandon Chew / Chicago Tribune Flowers lay where a women was killed while riding her bike the day before at the corner of Sacramento and Belmont avenues on July 2, 2016. Flowers lay where a women was killed while riding her bike the day before at the corner of Sacramento and Belmont avenues on July 2, 2016. (Brandon Chew / Chicago Tribune) (Brandon Chew / Chicago Tribune)

 “This is really unfortunate. My heart goes out to the family members and friends of the person who was killed. Hopefully this will lead to the hastening and the growth of networks of bike infrastructure not only in Chicago but throughout North America.”

 In a joint statement, the Chicago Department of Transportation and Divvy expressed their “deepest condolences to the rider’s family and loved ones.”

 Nearly 8 million rides have been taken on the Divvy system since the bikes were brought into Chicago in June 2013.

 “It’s a tragic reminder that we still have work to do to make our streets safe for everyone,” said Jim Merrell, advocacy director for the Active Transportation Alliance, which promotes safe biking, walking and transit. He said the Alliance looks forward to the release this fall of the city’s “Vision Zero” plan, the goal of which is eliminating traffic fatalities.

 “We believe all fatalities on our roadways are preventable,” said Merrell.

 The police department’s Major Accident Investigation Unit was investigating.

 A Mineta Transportation Institute study released in March found the rates of collision and injury among bike-sharing participants were lower than the rates among regular bicyclists.

 Transportation experts have attributed the lower collision and injury rate to a number of factors, including the shared bike’s bulky, heavy design, which cuts speed, discourages risky maneuvers and increases visibility.

 Bike-share programs have proliferated to over 32,000 bikes in about 100 U.S. cities over the last nine years, including Evanston and Oak Park, which got Divvy bikes this week. There have been bike-share deaths in other countries, including Canada and Mexico. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– A 25-year-old woman taking advantage of Chicago's bike-sharing service died Friday morning after she and a flatbed truck turned at the same time and crashed— reportedly making her the first bike-share fatality in the US since the service first debuted in Oklahoma in 2007, a bike-sharing consultant tells the Chicago Tribune. Per DNAinfo, the woman on the Divvy bike, IDed by the Cook County medical examiner as Virginia Murray, tried to make a turn east from Sacramento Avenue to Belmont Avenue and smashed into the truck making the same turn; a witness says she was thrown 6 feet into the air before crashing to the ground. Murray suffered severe injuries to her upper body and was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Bike-sharing programs—where riders pay a fee to pick up a bike at a self-serve station, then drop it off at another location when they're done—are increasing in popularity around the US, with the Wall Street Journal noting there are about 40 currently in existence. And while the Mineta Transportation Institute has noted bike sharing can be seen as being "inherently unsafe" for bicyclists (including riders not using helmets and not being familiar with a city's landscape), a study found "collision and injury rates for bikesharing are lower" than rates for regular cyclists. (Police say Murray was wearing a helmet, per the Journal.) Still, an Active Transportation Alliance director tells the Tribune that Murray's death is "a tragic reminder that we still have work to do to make our streets safe for everyone." In a statement, Divvy and Chicago's DOT shared their "deepest condolences to the rider's family and loved ones," per the Tribune, with the paper noting that Divvy has provided almost 8 million rides since it was introduced in the Windy City three years ago. (A GOPer thinks bike sharing is a conspiracy.)


Write an article based on this summary:

– Violent protests in Cairo have reached a pitch not seen since the days of Egypt's recent revolution, the Wall Street Journal reports: Tens of thousands of demonstrators battled on the streets yesterday, with the AP reporting five dead and more than 600 injured as some threw rocks and Molotov cocktails. The Egyptian army deployed tanks outside the presidential palace today, as Mohamed Morsi conducted business as usual inside. The AP notes that all appeared calm this morning, with thousands of Morsi supporters camping outside the palace after driving away opposition activists. The fighting had centered around the palace, where police established a barrier between the groups. Supporters of Morsi stormed an encampment of 200 protesters, ripping down their tents, the Los Angeles Times reports. "The problem is that these people could say no" in an upcoming constitutional referendum, "but they don't want a referendum," said one Morsi backer. "They don't want a democracy." Meanwhile, three of Morsi's non-Brotherhood aides have quit: "Egypt is bigger than a narrow-minded elite," said Seif Abdel Fattah. "We can no longer stay silent because (the Brotherhood has) harmed the nation and the revolution."

Tens of thousands march to the presidential palace in Cairo, undeterred by riot police and tear gas.

 CAIRO — Anger between Egypt’s rival political camps erupted into street battles Wednesday after Islamist supporters of President Mohamed Morsi tore down tents of anti-government demonstrators, raising the possibility of widening violence over the nation’s proposed constitution.

 Pro-Morsi factions overran about 200 protesters camped outside the presidential palace in north Cairo. The clashes came after the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party called thousands of its members into the streets in a counter-demonstration to drive opposition movements from the presidential palace.

 Shoving and punching spilled down a boulevard as hurled stones, swinging sticks and firebombs filled the dusk in one of the capital’s wealthiest neighborhoods. Pro-Morsi contingents, including Brotherhood followers and ultraconservative Salafis, chased opposition activists shouting: “God is great. The people support the president’s decision.”

 More than 125 people were injured on a cityscape that had the charged air of a flourescent-lit battlefield with competing banners, bandaged men and dinner trays used as shields to block barrages of rocks.

 Police were slow to react but eventually arrived and attempted to separate the two sides even as the skirmishes raised fears that animosity between Islamists and the mainly secular opposition were a dangerous foreshadowing. Both camps threatened to march against each other and there appeared little compromise in a battle over the nation’s future that symbolizes the larger struggle over political Islam rising from the Arab Spring.

 “Vicious attack vs. peaceful protesters in front of presidential palace,” tweeted Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader. “Regime leading Egypt into violence and bloodshed.”

 The clashes revealed new cracks in Morsi’s government from officials disturbed by the power and meddling of the Brotherhood. Three presidential advisors resigned, including Seif Abdel-Fattah, who told the Egyptian media: “Egypt is bigger than a narrow-minded elite .... We can no longer stay silent because they [the Brotherhood] have harmed the nation and the revolution.”

 Tensions began two weeks ago when Morsi, a former Brotherhood leader, issued a decree that expanded his powers and protected the Islamist-dominated constitutional assembly from judicial oversight. The country’s highest court was expected to dissolve the assembly but delegates quickly finished a draft constitution that Morsi ordered be put to a national referendum Dec. 15.

 Opposition factions marched on the presidential palace Tuesday to protest Morsi’s authority and the charter, which they say would open the country to Islamic law and a scaling back of civil rights. The demonstration angered the Brotherhood, which on Saturday avoided confrontation with the opposition by holding a massive rally miles away from Tahrir Square, where anti-Morsi movements have made their base.

 But the Brotherhood on Wednesday was more aggressive: “The president will not retreat, and if the state apparatus is weakened by the wounds of the previous period, then the people can impose their will and protect legitimacy,” said Essam Erian, deputy head of the Freedom and Justice Party.

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 Israel moves forward with controversial West Bank development

 Indian Olympic officials defy IOC, pick corruption suspect as leader

 Special correspondent Gaser El Safty contributed to this report. ||||| CAIRO—Tens of thousands of supporters and opponents of Egypt's president clashed Wednesday, hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails and brawling in Cairo's streets, in the largest violent battle between Islamists and their foes since the country's revolution early last year.

 The confrontation started in the evening after Islamist protesters marching in support of President Mohammed Morsi, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, moved to break up a demonstration by the president's non-Islamist opponents outside the presidential palace in Cairo, where Mr. Morsi has his offices.

 Supporters of the rival camps, spurred by public defiance by influential figures on each side, waged back-and-forth battles in side streets outside the palace walls as night fell, shutting down major thoroughfares. Around midnight, police formed a barrier between the camps, with thousands of demonstrators on each side, as gunshots rang out and each side accused the other of firing live rounds.

 Those allegations couldn't be confirmed. More than 120 people were wounded, Egyptian medics said late Wednesday. The Muslim Brotherhood said at least one of its supporters had been killed, while opposition officials said two of their supporters had died. A local television channel, ONTV, showed images of two people it said were killed in the clashes, and said violence was spreading elsewhere in Cairo.

 The Obama administration exhorted the sides to respect each other and refrain from bloodshed. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking in Brussels, called for a two-way dialogue. She also expressed dismay at the constitutional process, saying Egyptians "deserve a constitutional process that is open, transparent and fair and does not unduly favor one group over any other."

 Also in Cairo, crowds besieged the Brotherhood headquarters in the al Moqatam neighborhood, ONTV said. Protesters also burned down a Brotherhood headquarters in the Suez Canal town of Ismailiya, Egyptian media reported.

 The conflict between Islamists and their opponents has been behind some of the Middle East's bloodiest civil wars. Those who battled in the shadow of Cairo's presidential palace mirrored Egypt's secular-Islamist divide—with a crowd of mixed-gender and mainly young Egyptians, many in tight jeans and hipster haircuts, facing off against men in conservative dress shirts or robes and skullcaps.

 Egypt's opposition was galvanized last month when Mr. Morsi issued a decree granting him nearly unrestricted powers and placing him above the judiciary. The decree paved the way for hurried approval of a constitution that was drafted by an Islamist-dominated body that the opposition says was working illegitimately and produced a charter weighted with Islamic law. The government has set a referendum on the draft for Dec. 15.

 Anti-Morsi Egyptians took to the streets. On Tuesday, they marched on the presidential palace to denounce Mr. Morsi, the first time in recent memory that protesters made it to the palace walls. On Wednesday, Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam El-Eryan, speaking on al-Jazeera, called on millions of Egyptians to go to the presidential palace to "defend the state and its legitimacy."

 Mohamed ElBaradei, one of the leaders of the opposition, countered on Wednesday that Mr. Morsi had lost all legitimacy. The president, he said, bears full responsibility for the current violence and is in danger of drawing Egypt into "something worse."

 Speaking in a televised press conference, Mr. ElBaradei was flanked by Egypt's top opposition leaders, including ex-Arab League chief Amr Moussa and Hamdeen Sabahi, both former presidential candidates. It was a rare show of unity by Egypt's historically fractured opposition forces.

 "We will not enter any dialogue until the constitutional decree is rescinded and the constitutional referendum is postponed," said Mr. ElBaradei, adding that they will pursue "any means necessary" to restore democracy and dignity to Egypt.

 A Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, Gehad al-Haddad, accused Mr. ElBaradei and other opposition leaders of inciting violence. He wouldn't rule out that Mr. Morsi could order their arrest on those grounds.

 Egypt's public prosecutor, who was appointed by Mr. Morsi, on Tuesday ordered an investigation into allegations by a private citizen that Messrs. ElBaradei, Sabahi and Moussa, among other opposition leaders, were conspiring with Zionists to overthrow Mr. Morsi's government. The three didn't address the allegations.

 At the palace early Thursday, police fired tear gas into a crowd that was divided by the newly erected cordon.

 Many in the anti-Morsi camp accused the Muslim Brotherhood supporters who arrived Wednesday evening of inciting violence against peaceful protesters. Islam Hassan, a 26-year-old clothing-store manager, said he would stay at the site until Mr. Morsi rescinded his extraordinary powers.

 On the other side of the cordon, a larger group of men who characterized themselves as Muslim Brotherhood supporters also said they would remain at the site. They characterized the anti-Morsi protesters as thugs paid by former regime insiders to bring down an elected leader.

 "The problem is that these people could say no in the [Dec. 15 constitutional] referendum, but they don't want a referendum," said Morsi supporter Ahmed Abdel Khaleq, a 29-year-old accountant. "They don't want a democracy."

 Early Thursday, hundreds of pro-Morsi protesters had spread blankets on the hard pavement in front of the palace, preparing to spend a night in the rough to hold their territory. Members of the pro-Morsi crowd were also seen pummeling and dragging a man they characterized as an opposition thug.

 The administration of Mr. Morsi, who hasn't appeared in public since he left the presidential palace after protesters descended on Tuesday, has sent out confused messages about how the conflict could be resolved. His vice president, Mahmoud Mekki, in remarks to reporters Wednesday, offered to sit down and negotiate with the opposition. He later said the proposal was his own, not a formal government offer. He said the referendum on the constitution would go forward as planned.

 As the crisis deepened, three of Mr. Morsi's aides, tapped from outside the Muslim Brotherhood, quit in protest. "Egypt is bigger than a narrow-minded elite," one of the aides, Seif Abdel Fattah, told Egyptian television. He added that he could "no longer stay silent because the Muslim Brotherhood had harmed the nation and the revolution."

 —Sam Dagher in Cairo

 and Stephen Fidler in Brussels contributed to this article.

 Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A1 ||||| Egyptian Army deploy near the presidential palace to secure the site of overnight clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The Egyptian... (Associated Press)

 The Egyptian army deployed tanks outside the presidential palace Thursday following fierce street battles between supporters and opponents of Mohammed Morsi that left five people dead and more than 600 injured in the worst outbreak of violence between the two sides since the Islamist leader's election.

 The intensity of the overnight violence, with Morsi's Islamist backers and largely secular protesters lobbing firebombs and rocks at each other, signaled a turning point in the 2-week-old crisis over the president's assumption of near-absolute powers and the hurried adoption of a draft constitution.

 Opposition activists defiantly called for another protest outside the palace later Thursday, raising the specter of more bloodshed as neither side showed willingness to back down.

 Morsi was in the palace Thursday conducting business as usual, according to a presidential official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to address the media.

 Egypt has seen sporadic clashes throughout nearly two years of political turmoil after the ouster of autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak. But Wednesday's street battles were the worst between Morsi's supporters and followers and came after an implicit call by the Muslim Brotherhood for its members to go to the palace and evict anti-Morsi protesters who had camped out there.

 Unlike Mubarak, Morsi was elected in June after a narrow victory in Egypt's first free presidential elections, but many activists who supported him have jumped to the opposition after he issued decrees on Nov. 22 that put him above oversight and a draft charter was later rushed through by his Islamist allies despite a walkout by Christian and liberal factions.

 Compounding Morsi's woes, four of his advisers resigned Wednesday, joining two other members of his 17-member advisory panel who have abandoned him since the crisis began.

 Six tanks and two armored vehicles belonging to the Republican Guard, an elite unit tasked with protecting the president and his palaces, were stationed Thursday morning at roads leading to the palace in the upscale Cairo district of Heliopolis. The guard's commander, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Zaki, sought to assure Egyptians that his forces were not taking sides.

 "They will not be a tool to crush protesters and no force will be used against Egyptians," he said in comments carried by the official MENA news agency.

 The situation was calm Thursday morning, with thousands of Morsi supporters camping outside the palace after driving away opposition activists who had been staging a sit-in there, prompting fierce street battles that spread to residential areas.

 "I don't want Morsi to back down," said Khaled Omar, a Brotherhood supporter. "We are not defending him, we are defending Islam, which is what people want."

 Other Brotherhood supporters outside the palace accused opposition protesters of being Mubarak loyalists or foot soldiers in a coup attempt.

 "They want to take over power in a coup. They are conspiring against Morsi and we want him to crack down on them," said one, Ezzedin Khoudir. "There must be arrests."

 The violence began when the Brotherhood called on its members to head to the presidential palace to "defend legitimacy" and protect it against what a statement termed attempts by the opposition to impose its will by force. In response, thousands descended on the area, chasing away some 300 opposition protesters who had been staging a peaceful sit-in outside the palace's main gate. Clashes later ensued with the two sides using rocks, sticks and firebombs.

 State television quoted the Health Ministry as saying Thursday that five people were killed and 644 injured by beatings, gunshot wounds and tear gas inhalation.

 Morsi, meanwhile, seemed determined to press forward with plans for a Dec. 15 constitutional referendum to pass the new charter. The opposition, for its part, is refusing dialogue unless Morsi rescinds the decrees giving him near unrestricted powers and shelves the controversial draft constitution, which the president's Islamist allies rushed through last week in a marathon, all-night session shown live on state TV.

 Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading opposition reform advocate, said late Wednesday that Morsi's rule was "no different" than Mubarak's.

 "In fact, it is perhaps even worse," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate told a news conference after he accused the president's supporters of a "vicious and deliberate" attack on peaceful demonstrators outside the palace.

 "Cancel the constitutional declarations, postpone the referendum, stop the bloodshed, and enter a direct dialogue with the national forces," he wrote on his Twitter account, addressing Morsi.

 Wednesday's violence spread to other parts of the country. Anti-Morsi protesters stormed and set ablaze the Brotherhood offices in Suez and Ismailia, east of Cairo, and clashes broke out in the industrial city of Mahallah and the province of Menoufiyah in the Nile Delta north of the capital.

 Rival demonstrations also were held outside the Brotherhood's headquarters in the Cairo suburb of Moqatam and security officials said senior Brotherhood official Sobhi Saleh was hospitalized in Alexandria after being severely beaten by Morsi opponents. Saleh, a former lawmaker, played a key role in drafting the disputed constitution. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. |||||


Add a location to your Tweets

 When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more ||||| This Baltimore mom saw her son throwing rocks at police on television.

 That didn't sit well with her.

 The video shows the mother repeatedly striking her boy, chasing him as he tries to walk away.

 RELATED HEADLINES:

 The story behind the viral video, told by the photographer who captured the images shared millions of times across the world: ||||| Baltimore TV station WMAR reported that a mother saw her son on television taking part in protests and went to confront him, slapping him. (AP)

 A woman seen berating and hitting a black-clad teenager, later confirmed to be her son, has been hailed as “mom of the year” after her intervention on the streets of Baltimore was caught on video. As violence flared up across the city on Monday, the woman, who was identified as Toya Graham on Tuesday afternoon, was filmed telling her child to “take that f—— mask off.”

 [I was knocked to the ground by Freddie Gray rioters, then helped to my feet]

 Graham spoke to CBS News about the video, which initially went viral with little context. In the interview, the single mother of six tells the network that she intervened out of concern for her 16-year-old son’s safety.

 “That’s my only son, and at the end of the day, I don’t want him to be a Freddie Gray,” Graham said. “But to stand up there and vandalize police officers, that’s not justice.”

 Fox Business contributor Charles Payne drew attention to the video in a tweet on Monday. (Fair warning, basically every video in this article will contain profanity.)

 Mom of the year in Baltimore…my mother would have did same thing…https://t.co/vjxpD7hNwq — Charles V Payne (@cvpayne) April 28, 2015

 By late Monday, videos of the incident were so widespread that Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts brought it up in an overnight news conference.

 “And if you saw in one scene, you had a mother who grabbed their child who had a hood on his head and she started smacking him on the head because she was so embarrassed,” Batts told reporters. “I wish I had more parents who took charge of their kids tonight. I think these were youth coming out of the high school and they thought it was cute to throw cinder blocks at the police department and address it that way.”

 [About that Baltimore mom…]

 Baltimore’s ABC affiliate, WMAR, caught the encounter on camera but initially provided only this as an explanation:

 This Baltimore mom saw her son throwing rocks at police on television. That didn’t sit well with her. The video shows the mother repeatedly striking her boy, chasing him as he tries to walk away.

 The clip emerged alongside widely broadcast images of violence that dotted some sections of Baltimore on Monday afternoon and evening.

 https://instagram.com/p/1_jHvQJfGC/

 As The Washington Post has reported, it doesn’t appear that the violence stemmed from organized protests over the death of Freddie Gray, who died of a severe spinal injury suffered while in police custody. His funeral was held Monday.

 [A Freddie Gray primer: Who was he, how did he die, why is there so much anger?]

 Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said late Monday that the day’s violence was the result of “thugs who always want to incite violence and destroy our city. Too many people have spent generations building up this city for it to be destroyed by thugs who, in a very senseless way, are trying to tear down what so many have fought for.”

 Although the video of one mom expressing frustration over the violence may stand out as a positive moment in an increasingly grim situation, there have been others. On Tuesday morning, volunteers took to the streets to help clean up the mess left behind.

 Large group of volunteers cleaning up that burnt out CVS in Baltimore pic.twitter.com/84BVzu7SWS — justin jouvenal (@jjouvenal) April 28, 2015

 [This post, initially published at 8:22 a.m., has been updated to include information from a CBS interview with Toya Graham]

 For live coverage of the unrest and events in Baltimore, follow The Post’s live blog here.

 MORE READING: ‘Wire’ creator David Simon: Baltimore violence ‘needs to cease’

 At Freddie Gray’s funeral, outrage over way in which he died

 Why didn’t #FreddieGray trend on Twitter?

 Friends and neighbors remember Freddie Gray: He ‘was our family’

 As Baltimore mayor, critics say, O’Malley’s police tactics sowed distrust ||||| Please enable Javascript to watch this video

 BALTIMORE, Maryland -- A woman in Baltimore is being praised for what she did after she spotted her son taking part in the rioting in the streets of Baltimore.

 A WMAR news photographer videotaped her berating her son for taking part in the violence.

 The woman can be seen repeatedly slapping her son and yelling at him. The woman was reportedly watching TV when she saw her son throwing rocks at police.

 The woman got the attention of Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Watts.

 "If you saw on one scene, you had one mother who grabbed her child who had a hood on his head and she started smacking him on the head because she was so embarrassed," Watts said. "I wish I had more parents that took charge of their kids out there tonight."

 Fox News contributer Charles Payne called the woman "Mom of the year" in a tweet. It was retweeted dozens of times and favorited by more than 100 people. ||||| Police have called on help from the media after seven officers were injured in Baltimore on Monday in riots following the death of Freddie Gray.

 But some residents aren’t having it with the protestors, including a woman who is featured in four Instagram videos as she’s removing from the trouble a young man dressed in all black.

 Here’s the first video, where she confronts him. (Editor’s note: Strong language and violence):

 Another angle:

 That awkward moment your mom catches you rioting #baltimore #baltimoreriots #prayforthiskid A video posted by Karla H. (@ine3) on Apr 27, 2015 at 2:07pm PDT

 Then there’s this:

 Finally:

 #prayforbaltimore #baltimorepurge #baltimoreriots A video posted by Keezy (@yaasss_keez) on Apr 27, 2015 at 12:33pm PDT

 The first video inspired a Twitter user to comment that the woman was the “Mom of the year”.

 More users chimed in:

 THIS is how you stop "protests". Call his mama. https://t.co/GmPkUsRseS — Bristradamus (@BHugh_215) April 27, 2015

 @sectionsix way to go Lady — Vietnam Veteran (@Seabee40Carl) April 27, 2015

 More video from #baltimore #freddiegray mom stopping her child from acting up https://t.co/z9p8b32ytz — andresflava (@andresflava) April 27, 2015

 The demonstrations, riots and other fallout after the death of resident Freddie Gray has inspired a hashtag called #PrayForBaltimore. |||||

Write a summary.

– A Baltimore woman who reportedly saw a young man she knew (some speculate it's her son) on TV throwing rocks at police during city protests took matters into her own hands—literally, per WMAR. A video shows her yesterday dragging a teen sporting a face-covering sweatshirt away from the crowds, hitting him in the face, and yelling, "Take that f---ing mask off!" and "You wanna be out here doing this stuff?!" The kid skulks away with her hot on his tail, and the video—shown from various angles at Independent Journal Review—went viral on social media, with some, like Fox News contributor Charles Payne, calling her the "mom of the year," per WGN. "My mother would have done the same thing," Payne tweeted. Meanwhile, at a press conference last night, Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said, per the Washington Post, "She started smacking him on the head because she was so embarrassed. I wish I had more parents who took charge of their kids tonight." (The Orioles COO has his own controversial take on the protests.)


Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| From the first hours of Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union, the propagandists on both sides of the conflict portrayed the struggle in stark, Manichaean language. The totalitarian nature of both regimes made this inevitable. On one side stood Hitler, fascism , the myth of German supremacy; on the other side stood Stalin, communism, and the international proletarian revolution. — Anne Applebaum , New York Review of Books ,

 Consider what happened during the crisis of global fascism . At first, even the truth about Hitler was inconvenient. Many in the west hoped the danger would simply go away. — Al Gore , An Inconvenient Truth ,

 He collected stories about groups similar to his—Aryans, other Nazis, the KKK. Lately, he'd been flagging many stories from Germany and Eastern Europe, and was quite thrilled with the rise of fascism there. — John Grisham , The Chamber ,

 the rise of Fascism in Europe before World War II ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Many of us will remember 2016 for a few words that will forever echo somewhere in the pits of our brains.

 "Trump," for one, but also "bigly," "alt-right," and others we constantly heard during the presidential election season and its aftermath. But Merriam-Webster has a less discussed word on its mind that is apparently also on the minds of many dictionary users: Fascism.

 Fascism, as of Nov. 29, was Merriam-Webster's most-looked-up word of the year, which means it's the leading candidate for the dictionary's annual "word of the year."

 The folks behind the Merriam-Webster Twitter account are not happy with this, and on Tuesday they tried to get followers behind a campaign to look up other words.

 'Fascism' is still our #1 lookup.

 # of lookups = how we choose our Word of the Year.

 There's still time to look something else up. — Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) November 29, 2016

 Merriam-Webster fans could, of course, just look up any word they wanted in hopes that one of their favorites would rise to the top.

 However, the team are trying to streamline support to dethrone "fascism."

 @MerriamWebster @samanthavicent I've searched "puppies" 523 times in the past 30 minutes. Anything change? — Carter Bryant (@CarterthePower) November 29, 2016

 No, "What if everyone committed to looking up 'flummadiddle' twice a day?" is the most desperate-sounding tweet https://t.co/JpyFvSrrgf https://t.co/FsEIN63hnl — Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) November 29, 2016

 'Flummadiddle' is now in our top lookups!🙌

 Not as many as 'fascism'.

 But more than that phrase from Gilmore Girls. https://t.co/3dfrQzVUGp — Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) November 29, 2016

 So there we are: Flummadiddle is perhaps your underdog candidate to defeat fascism in 2016. Bet you never thought you'd read a sentence that included those two words.

 Flummadiddle, if you're wondering, is defined by Merriam-Webster as "something foolish or worthless." |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Merriam-Webster sent out a tweet this week subtly asking for help from the public in fixing the situation surrounding the lead contender for its "word of the year" honors. "'Fascism' is still our #1 lookup," it informed Twitter. "There's still time to look something else up." Without spelling out why that word has attracted so much attention in 2016, Mashable reports that several words "that will forever echo somewhere in the pits of our brains" have entered the vernacular this year at a brisk pace, including, per the online dictionary, "bigot, resurgence, diatribe, socialism, misogyny, [and] xenophobe." However, "fascism" has vaulted to the fourth-most-searched word in the site's history, per the Washington Post. "Guys, 2016 is so bad it made the dictionary sad," one Twitter user noted. But MW apparently doesn't want to leave 2016 with fond thoughts of "a political philosophy, movement, or regime … that exalts nation and often race above the individual and stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition." And the internet came to the rescue, with people flooding the lookup tool with searches for "puppies," "squirrels" (that was a dog's request), and, finally, a word that could soon overtake "fascism" if people keep up the campaign. "'Flumadiddle' is now in our top lookups. Not as many as 'fascism.' But more than that phrase from Gilmore Girls," the MW account tweeted, referencing the "in omnia paratus" ("ready for all things") term used on the show. (Merriam-Webster made a controversial decision about hot dogs earlier this year.)