News article:

FILE - In this Oct. 27, 2012 file photo, Christopher Kennedy Lawford appears at the LA Friendly House Luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. Patrick Kennedy says Lawford died of a heart attack on Tuesday,... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Oct. 27, 2012 file photo, Christopher Kennedy Lawford appears at the LA Friendly House Luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. Patrick Kennedy says Lawford died of a heart attack on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in Vancouver. He was 63. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Invision for LA friendly House/File) (Associated Press)

 PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Author and actor Christopher Kennedy Lawford, who was born into political and Hollywood royalty, sank into substance abuse and addiction and rose to become a well-known advocate for sobriety and recovery, has died.

 Lawford died of a heart attack Tuesday in Vancouver, Canada, his cousin, former U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, told The Associated Press. He was 63.

 Lawford was in Vancouver living with his girlfriend and working to open a recovery center. He had been doing hot yoga, which he did often, but the strain of it "must have been too much for him at that point," Kennedy said.

 Lawford was the only son and oldest child of Patricia Kennedy — sister of John, Robert and Ted Kennedy — and Peter Lawford — the English actor and socialite who was a member of Frank Sinatra's "Rat Pack."

 "I was given wealth, power and fame when I drew my first breath," Lawford wrote in his 2005 book, "Symptoms of Withdrawal: A Memoir of Snapshots and Redemption," the first of several books he wrote about his substance struggles.

 He wrote that his parents got telegrams predicting big things for him from Bing Crosby and Dean Martin and said he once got a lesson in doing "The Twist" from Marilyn Monroe. The cover of his books shows him sitting poolside as a child with his uncle and soon-to-be-president John F. Kennedy looming behind him.

 He spent his youth frolicking with Hollywood stars on one coast and rubbing shoulders with political stars on the other, living between libertine Los Angeles and the hyper-competitive Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, where he was a big-brother figure to John F. Kennedy Jr.

 "You can't get much more fawned over than being a Kennedy male," Lawford wrote.

 His life with drugs began with LSD while at boarding school at age 14. In the years before he had experienced the assassinations of his two uncles and his parents' divorce in 1966.

 With heroin and other opioids as his substances of choice, Lawford leapt into deeper substance abuse in drug-heavy 1970s Hollywood, where his father also abused drugs and alcohol as his career faded. Peter Lawford died in 1984. Patricia Kennedy died in 2006.

 In his memoir, Christopher Lawford told tales of mugging women for money, panhandling in Grand Central Station and getting arrested twice for drug possession before getting sober at 30.

 "There are many days when I wish I could take back and use my youth more appropriately," Lawford told The Associated Press in 2005. "But all of that got me here. I can't ask for some of my life to be changed and still extract the understanding and the life that I have today."

 Patrick Kennedy, the former congressman from Rhode Island whose father is Edward M. Kennedy, said his cousin "did something very difficult," airing family secrets and temporarily hurting his relationships within the Kennedy clan when he wrote his book.

 "He had the courage to know that he had to find himself, and he wasn't going to be able to do it while holding on to the old family narrative," Kennedy said.

 Lawford was "tormented by the fact" that for a time he was estranged from his sisters, Patrick Kennedy said.

 "Over the years of recovery, he ended up reconciling with his sisters, happiest I ever saw him," Kennedy said.

 His life's work became helping others recover — including his cousin.

 "He was the absolute cornerstone to my sobriety, along with my wife," Patrick Kennedy said (the former politician had been addicted to drugs and alcohol). "He was the one who walked me through all the difficult days of that early period."

 After his memoir, Lawford authored several more books on addiction and recovery, most recently 2015's "What Addicts Know."

 He worked steadily as an actor, with moderate success. He had a small part in 2003's "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," made appearances on TV shows including "Frazier" and "The O.C." and had recurring roles on the soaps "All My Children" and "General Hospital," playing a senator in the latter.

 He told the AP in 2005 that his famous dual identities both helped and hurt him in Hollywood.

 "The names give you entree, absolutely, but it's a kind of a double-edged sword," he said. "People do pay attention to you, but nobody gets ahead in Hollywood unless they are really lucky or they deserve it."

 He is survived by his sisters, Sydney, Victoria and Robin, and his children, David, Savannah and Matt.

 ___

 Dalton reported from Los Angeles. ||||| JFK's Nephew Christopher Lawford Dead at 63 After Yoga Studio Emergency

 JFK's Nephew Christopher Lawford Dead at 63 After Yoga Studio Emergency

 EXCLUSIVE

 10:45 AM PT: Law enforcement sources tell TMZ, Lawford was at a yoga studio Tuesday night when he had a medical emergency and later died. Our sources say the death appears to be from "natural causes." The coroner is performing an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.

 Actor Christopher Lawford, the son of Peter Lawford and Patricia Kennedy, has died ... TMZ has confirmed.

 Christopher -- a longtime Hollywood actor -- appeared on "General Hospital," "Terminator 3," "All My Children," "Fraiser" and various other TV series. He was also a correspondent on "EXTRA."

 Lawford's uncle was John F. Kennedy and his family often hung out with the First Family during JFK's presidency.

 Lawford, who got a J.D. at Boston College School of Law, was very politically active all his life. He was active with the Democratic National Committee and worked for his Uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy. He also worked with the Special Olympics, the org his Aunt Eunice Shriver created.

 He was also a New York Times best selling author with his book, 'Symptoms of Withdrawal.'

 Lawford had battled addiction issues back in the '70s and '80s. He was reportedly arrested in 1980 for allegedly impersonating a doctor to score prescriptions.

 TMZ got Lawford out in 2013, when he talked candidly about addiction.

 Lawford was 63.

 RIP. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Christopher Kennedy Lawford, an actor, author, and nephew of John F. Kennedy, died of a heart attack Tuesday. The 63-year-old, who became an advocate for sobriety after his own substance abuse issues, was in Vancouver, Canada. He was there working to open a recovery center, his cousin, former US Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, tells the AP, adding Lawford's hot yoga habit "must have been too much for him at that point." TMZ reports Lawford was at a yoga studio at the time of the heart attack. In addition to appearing on General Hospital, All My Children, and Frasier, per People, the oldest child of Patricia Kennedy also wrote several books, including 2005's Symptoms of Withdrawal. The AP reports that in that memoir, he wrote of what preceded his getting sober at age 30: mugging women for money, begging for change in Grand Central Station, and two arrests for possession. "There are many days when I wish I could take back and use my youth more appropriately," he said in 2005. "But all of that got me here. I can't ask for some of my life to be changed and still extract the understanding and the life that I have today."


SAN ANTONIO -- In a viral Facebook post, a woman claims a man became angry at her teenage son and his friends because one of them was wearing what appears to be a "Make America Great Again" slogan hat.

 The San Antonio Police Department announced late Thursday that 30-year-old Kino Jimenez has been arrested and charged with theft. SAPD says that Jimenez was arrested at his home in Universal City without incident.

 The altercation reportedly happened at a Whataburger location near Thousand Oaks and Nacogdoches Road, according to the post.

 In her post Wednesday, Patricia Spittler asks Facebook users to help identify the "scum bag of the year."

 The man in the video is shown throwing his drink at the table and shouting a racial slur.

 Her video was since removed or changed to a private setting. However, the video has also been posted on other social media accounts.

 WARNING: The video contains graphic language.

 Teen attacked at @Whataburger in San Antonio on the 4th of July for wearing a MAGA hat. Disgraceful ... #WalkAway #DemocratsUnhinged2018 pic.twitter.com/aZk3nHDvyX — JoBerg (@icejoberg) July 5, 2018

 "His friend was wearing a patriotic hat, and this happened! It would be nice to know who he is for someone to let him know his actions are not okay! Real tough guy... approaches a group of teenagers minding their own business just having a burger! He kept his hat, too," she wrote in the original post.

 Whataburger released the following statement Thursday morning:

 “We were shocked to see this video and certainly don’t condone this type of customer behavior in our restaurants. To be clear, no Whataburger employees were involved or witnessed the incident, and we ask that questions be directed to San Antonio PD as we continue supporting their efforts.”

 The man in the video has reportedly been fired from his job and the San Antonio Police Department is investigating the incident.

 Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign manager commented on the incident Thursday afternoon on Twitter:

 I would love to send this teenager a signed @realDonaldTrump hat and stand with him in #SanAntonio. There are hundreds of thousands that will stand with you there. Don’t let a few left bullies stop you from showing your #MAGA! @FoxNewshttps://t.co/nTC3HcnfaE — Brad Parscale (@parscale) July 5, 2018

 “I would love to send this teenager a signed @realDonaldTrump hat and stand with him in #SanAntonio. There are hundreds of thousands that will stand with you there. Don’t let a few left bullies stop you from showing your #MAGA! @FoxNews”

 © 2018 KENS ||||| This will appear next to all of your comments

 This will NOT appear anywhere on Newser ||||| Footage of man taking a teenager's "Make America Great Again" hat at a Whataburger went viral on Wednesday. brxpug/Twitter

 The teenager who had his "Make America Great Again" hat stolen and a drink thrown in his face at a Whataburger on Wednesday appears to have responded to the incident on Instagram.

 A video filmed early Wednesday at a Whataburger in San Antonio, Texas, showed a man throwing a drink and then walking away from a group of teens while holding a "Make America Great Again" hat.

 The video has been viewed more than 2 million times and sparked outrage online. The teenager whose hat was taken has identified himself as Hunter Richard, 16.

 Hunter Richard/Instagram

 On Thursday, Richard appeared to respond to the incident on his Instagram account. Business Insider reached out to the account @hunter.richard_ via direct message for comment and to confirm the owner's identity but did not receive a response.

 Richard appears to have posted a photo of himself in a "MAGA" hat with the caption: "HAD A BOMB ASS 4th OF JULY! ALTHOUGH MY HAT GOT JACKED BUT ITS ALL GOOD THE LIBTARD THAT TOOK IT CAN HAVE IT #MAGA #AmericaFirst #242 #HuntersHat."

 The photo has been liked more than 1,700 times, including by Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son. Trump Jr. now follows the Instagram account.

 "I support my president, and if you don't, let's have a conversation about it instead of ripping my hat off," Richard told the local news station WOAI-TV on Wednesday. "I just think a conversation about politics is more productive for the entire whole rather than taking my hat and yelling subjective words to me."

 A 30-year-old named Kino Jimenez has been arrested and charged with theft of a person, San Antonio police confirmed to Business Insider. Jimenez was believed by many on social media to be the man in the video, with people circulating his name and photo.

 "We were shocked to see this video and certainly don't condone this type of customer behavior in our restaurants," Whataburger said in a statement to Business Insider. "To be clear, no Whataburger employees were involved or witnessed the incident, and we ask that questions be directed to San Antonio PD as we continue supporting their efforts." |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– A Texas man has been arrested for allegedly snatching the MAGA hat right off a Trump supporter's head at a fast-food chain restaurant. Police say 30-year-old Kino Jimenez was arrested Thursday in connection with the incident at a Whataburger in San Antonio, where he's accused of throwing a drink in the face of 16-year-old Hunter Richard before walking off with the hat, the AP reports. The suspect reportedly yelled profanity at the teen and his friends, and video taken during the encounter went viral after it was posted by one of their mothers. The mom took to Facebook asking for help identifying the "scum bag of the year," per KENS 5. San Antonio police say they arrested Jimenez at his home without incident and that he faces a theft charge. Jimenez has reportedly also been fired from his job at a local bar. According to Business Insider, Hunter Richard posted to Instagram following the incident and appeared to have gotten over any trauma it may have caused. "HAD A BOMB A** 4TH OF JULY!" the post reads. "ALTHOUGH MY HAT GOT JACKED BUT ITS ALL GOOD THE LIBTARD WHO TOOK IT CAN HAVE IT." Among the thousands to like the post was the president's son, Donald Trump Jr. The campaign manager for Trump 2020 also spoke out after the controversy. "I would love to send this teenager a signed @realDonaldTrump hat and stand with him in #SanAntonio," Brad Parscale tweeted. "There are hundreds of thousands that will stand with you there. Don’t let a few left bullies stop you from showing your #MAGA!"


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Domain crawl of the Luxembourg web domain (.lu) performed by Internet Archive on behalf of the National Library of Luxembourg / Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg

 in June and July of 2017. ||||| This homeless man stays under the 8 Mile overpass on I-75 and accepts credit card donations. (Photo: Mike Campbell/WWJ)

 DETROIT (CBS Detroit) Volunteers in Detroit and across the nation spent the night counting the homeless, and one of those men who lives in the cold is dealing with it in a, shall we say, unusual way.

 He calls himself “Honest Abe” and he panhandles not just for pocket change, but also for the donor’s credit and debit cards. He accepts cards with a reader attached to his cell phone.

 His real name is Abe Hagenston and he’s been homeless in Detroit for seven years or so. The 8 Mile overpass on I-75 is home.

 Looking at that bleak, gray freeway facade with the wind whipping through, one could imagine he’s happy about the relatively mild winter metro Detroit has experienced so far this year.

 Not so fast.

 “It’s not really that easy, what we’re lacking is snow,” Abe told WWJ’s Mike Campbell. “Of course, there’s no snow removal. I used to look forward to that, doing some shoveling.”

 Without the extra cash, he hasn’t made enough money this winter to buy new eyeglasses, he said, and he could use a new prescription.

 But as a bonus, with the extra time Abe says he and a group of fellow homeless have organized themselves “like a union” to panhandle in shifts. He also used the extra time to figure out a way to make donations more efficient. Don’t have any change in your pocket? No problem.

 “I take VISA, MasterCard, American Express,” Abe told Campbell. “I’m the only homeless guy in America who can take a credit card. It’s all done safely and securely through square.com.”

 Square readers attach to credit cards and basically turn a smartphone into a card reader. They cost about $10 and square providers charge vendors a fee per transaction. In the case of itunes, the charge is 2.75 percent per transaction.

 It’s unknown how many homeless occupy Detroit — or how many people have trusted Abe with their credit card information — but last year’s count of people who live on the streets of Detroit included a rough estimate of 2,700.

 This year’s count isn’t ready yet, but people like Stacy Brackins, a case manager with mental health agency Detroit Central City spent the night cruising around town with gloves, hats, sleeping bags to count homeless men and women and try to encourage them to seek shelter.

 Hundreds of volunteers were involved in the count. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the number of homeless in Michigan had declined 6 percent in the most recent report. There were an estimated 578,424 people experiencing homelessness across the country in 2014.

 How many homeless were ready to accept offers of warmth and shelter in Detroit Wednesday night? Some were, others were not.

 “Some, they just don’t want to come inside — they want their freedom,” Brackins told the Detroit Free Press. ||||| (CNN) Forget the old "I don't have change" excuse you give panhandlers. Abe Hagenston has an app for that.

 Well, more like a card reader. He takes credit cards through Square as he works the corner of Woodward Avenue and 8 Mile Road in Detroit.

 Oh, and he has a website too.

 "Being homeless is my business now," Hagenston told CNN affiliate WDIV . "My business is being homeless."

 On the web

 Through his website, people can make contributions to a collection of homeless people, hire them for odd jobs or even report fake panhandlers who drive from the suburbs.

 "I'm trying to turn this situation into something that will not only help me but help others," he said.

 Hagenston's been on the streets for 10 years and goes by the name "Honest Abe."

 "I've rebuilt my life a few times but this time I'm not getting it," he said. "People don't realize how tough it is to come from nothing when you don't have any family or any friends." ||||| 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. |||||

– It's been a mild winter in Detroit, which means less snow for Abe Hagenston to shovel, and he could certainly use the income, CBS Detroit reports. Instead, Hagenston—who's been homeless for a decade—used his free time to set up a website and buy a credit-card reader, according to CNN. “Being homeless is my business now,” the 42-year-old tells WDIV. “My business is being homeless.” CBS reports the card reader from Square costs about $10 and works with any smartphone. It means Hagenston now accepts Visa, MasterCard, and American Express while panhandling, so people who tell him they don't have any change need a new excuse. Visitors to Hagenston's website get a welcome video from "Honest Abe" and can make donations to him or other homeless people who've signed up on the site or hire them for odd jobs, CNN reports. According to WDIV, Hagenston updates the site at the public library. "I’ve rebuilt my life a few times," he says. "People don’t realize how tough it is to come from nothing when you don’t have any family or any friends." In addition to the website and card reader, Hagenston is trying to organize fellow panhandlers "like a union," CBS reports.


News article:

A Georgia mother found out her son died in a car crash after she pulled up to the scene of the wreck unaware of what had unfolded.

 Nicole Bahret of Cumming said she was on her way home in mid-July when she saw her son’s car had been involved in an accident.

 “I knew when I saw his car,” Bahret told WSB-TV. “So, I actually pulled up to the scene. That’s how I found out.”

 GEORGIA WOMAN CELEBRATES 104TH BIRTHDAY

 Mackean Robertson, 18, was the only one killed in the wreck. The other drivers and passengers were transported to the hospital to be treated for injuries.

 “When deputies arrived, they determined a white 2010 Mercedes SUV, being driven by a 17 year-old Natalie D’Allen from Suwanee... collided with a white 2005 Honda Accord driven by an 18-year-old male from Cumming,” the Forsyth County Sheriff’s office said in a press release on July 17.

 “The Honda slid sideways into the path of a westbound green Nissan Pathfinder," the statement said. "The driver of the 2005 Honda Accord, Mackean Robertson of Cumming, Georgia was pronounced deceased at the scene.”

 A fundraising page for Robertson's family to help cover funeral costs has raised more than $15,000 as of Wednesday.

 Bahret said she had a conversation with her son just an hour prior to the crash.

 “He actually asked and said, ‘Can I hang out with some friends tonight?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that sounds great,’” Bahret said.

 Hundreds of people attended Robertson’s funeral.

 “The day he died was probably one of the happiest days of his life because everything was going his way,” Bahret said. “You never think it’s going to be you and everything changes,” she said. “He was precious."

 GEORGIA FIRE THAT KILLED MOM, SON CAUSED BY TOSSED CIGARETTE, OFFICIALS SAY

 Bahret said friends and family have been helping her cope.

 “In time you deal with it better, but the pain doesn’t go away,” Bahret said.

 Forsyth Central High School, which Robertson attended, has scheduled a memorial for the teenager on Aug. 12.

 D'Allen turned herself in to law enforcement on July 23 and posted bond, the sheriff's office told Fox News.

 CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that police said Robertson caused the crash. In fact, the sheriff's department tells Fox News that D'Allen caused the crash. ||||| Please report potential fraud and Terms of Service violations only. Personal disputes will not be reviewed.

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 Subject * Choose One Suspicious activity This fundraiser is offensive, vulgar, or divisive Money not being used as the fundraiser states This is a duplicate fundraiser This fundraiser contains copyright information Violates Terms of Service Other ||||| 0 Mother drives up to fatal crash scene unaware victim was her teenage son

 FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. - A grieving mother says she came across a wreck not knowing her teenage son was killed.

 Nicole Bahret told Channel 2’s Chris Jose that she was heading home from running errands when she noticed her son’s car in the wreckage.

 Police say a teen driver failed to yield and caused a three-car wreck just past the entrance to the Sawnee Mountain Preserve in Forsyth County, killing Mackean Roberston.

 Bahret shared several photos of Mackean with Jose Sunday evening, and said one of the things she is going to miss most about her son is his smile.

 “He was just full of joy,” Bahret said. “He was always smiling. always laughing.”

 Bahret said she will hang on to the good times but the past two weeks haven't been easy since losing Mackean.

 “You never think it's going to be you and everything changes. He was precious,” Bahret said about her son.

 Bahret told Jose that she saw Mak an hour before the crash.

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 “He actually asked and said, ‘Can I hang out with some friends tonight?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah that sounds great,” Bahret said.

 It would be the last conversation she would have with her son.

 Bahret said she came across the accident after running some errands.

 “I knew when I saw his car. So, I actually pulled up to the scene. That's how I found out,” Bahret said.

 Last weekend, hundreds of people attended Mak's funeral. The Forsyth Central marching band escorted his body from the church.

 “The day he died was probably one of the happiest days of his life because everything was going his way,” Bahret told Jose.

 And that is how Bahret said she is finding comfort, surrounded by close friends and family.

 “In time you deal with it better but the pain doesn't go away,” Bahret said.

 Forsyth Central will host a memorial for Mak on August 12.

 © 2019 Cox Media Group. ||||| “When deputies arrived, they determined a white 2010 Mercedes SUV, being driven by a 17-year-old Natalie D’Allen from [south Forsyth] and passenger 17-year-old Alexandra Parker, of [south Forsyth], collided with a white 2005 Honda Accord driven by an 18-year-old male from Cumming,” he said. “The Honda slid sideways into the path of a westbound green Nissan Pathfinder.

 “The Pathfinder, driven by a 22-year-old Michael Norwood from Dahlonega, also had a front-seat passenger, 37-year-old James Lewis, from Cumming. The occupants of the Pathfinder were transported to area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries.”

 Norwood was the only non-Forsyth resident involved in the crash.

 Rainwater said no charges have been filed yet but are pending the results of an investigation, which remains ongoing.

 Robertson attended Forsyth Central High School from 2013 through 2016, after which he withdrew to attend Georgia Cyber Academy, according to Jennifer Caracciolo, a spokeswoman for Forsyth County Schools.

 Mitch Young, Central’s principal, said Robertson’s mother, Nicole Robertson Bahret, also taught at the school for several years prior to him becoming principal in 2014.

 “It’s hard – I’m a parent and I’ve got two teenagers; it’s just so [sad],” he said. “I think one of the biggest things is his mom taught here as a special [education] teacher for several years and was loved by the faculty, so our faculty and staff’s hearts just break for his mom and their whole family.

 “We’re all really hurting for Nicole.”

 Robertson’s aunt, Baylee Robertson, told the Forsyth County News her nephew graduated from Georgia Cyber in May.

 “MacKean recently graduated from high school and had just started a job that he was very excited about – at just 18 years old, he had his whole life ahead of him,” she said. “He was an amazing person who was liked by everyone he came into contact with. His passions included music, spending time with family and friends, and traveling.

 “We miss our boy more than words can begin to express.”

 Prior to attending Central, Robertson attended Otwell Middle and Mashburn Elementary schools, Caracciolo said.

 In a social media post the FCN was given permission to use, Bahret said she was “devastated” and “numb” in the wake of the tragedy.

 “My first heartbeat outside my body, the boy that gave me purpose and saved me from heading down the wrong path at an early age … MacKean has always been such a force of nature,” she wrote. “He's always been so special, so very unique, so very mine. He was my mini me in so many ways.

 “My heart is in a million pieces and I don't know a way to put into words how this feels. I just keep waiting for him to come up the driveway, music thumping, and I keep being told that's not going to happen. I want to wake up from this nightmare so badly, but there is no end in sight.”

 Jackson Starling, one of Robertson’s closest friends, said the teen was like a brother to him.

 “MacKean is one of my best friends, and we are close enough to be brothers,” he said. “I'll miss him every day, [but] I know that someday I'll see him again and we'll get to finish everything we always talked about.”

 A fundraising page to help pay for Robertson’s funeral expenses was set up by Starling’s sister, Emily Starling.

 To donate, visit youcaring.com/nicolebahret-877362. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– There was no heartbreaking visit from police. Instead, Nicole Bahret learned of the death of her son when she unknowingly came upon the scene of the crash in which he'd died. While driving home from running errands in Forsyth County, Ga., Bahret immediately recognized one of three vehicles at the scene. "That's how I found out," she tells WSB. "I knew when I saw his car." Bahret's son, 18-year-old MacKean Robertson, had died when a 17-year-old driver failed to yield at an intersection and collided with Robertson's 2005 Honda Accord, sending it into the path of another car on July 14, according to police. He was the sole fatality, though others were taken to hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, reports the Forsyth County News. "You never think it's going to be you and everything changes," says Bahret, who'd spoken to her son just an hour before the crash. "In time you deal with it better but the pain doesn't go away." Still, she takes solace in the fact that Robertson was happy. "The day he died was probably one of the happiest days of his life because everything was going his way," she says. The recent high school graduate "had just started a job that he was very excited about," adds his aunt. "He had his whole life ahead of him." Natalie D'Allen, 17, surrendered to police on July 23 and has since been charged with vehicular homicide, per WSB and Fox News. Meanwhile, a YouCaring page has raised $15,000 to pay for Robertson's funeral expenses. (Cops say this teen driver livestreamed the crash that killed her sister.)


Nicki Minaj is all about giving back.

 On Wednesday, the "MotorSport" rapper revealed on her Beats 1 Queen Radio show that she is donating $25,000 to former Cosby Show actor Geoffrey Owens after he was shamed for working at Trader Joe's. ET caught up with Minaj at the Daily Front Row Fashion Awards in NYC, where she explained why she wanted to help out the actor.

 "Some people are on the internet and seeking attention, and he’s just the antithesis of that. So I felt like, 'Oh my God, could you imagine?'" she told ET during the event's red carpet. "We all have done jobs like that and I just thought, what if that were me? Or a family member and they were minding their own business, working to feed their family and somebody tried to humiliate them? I don’t like the way that feels."

 Minaj, meanwhile, confirmed to ET that she was going to reach out to Owens, who is best known for playing Sondra Huxtable's doctor husband, Elvin Tibideaux, on The Cosby Show. "Tell him that I’m going to have my team contact him because I hope he doesn’t take it the wrong way," she said. "I just want to help him in any way I can."

 Gary Gershoff/WireImage

 During her radio show, the rapper was upset someone would take a photo of the actor while he was "bagging groceries to feed his family."

 "That man is now getting so many opportunities," Minaj expressed. "I personally want to donate on behalf of Queen Radio $25,000 to Geoffrey Owens. You know why? Imma tell you something. This man is a whole f**king legend in these streets."

 Owens made headlines this week after a woman snapped photos of him while he was working at the grocery store. The pictures were later published by multiple outlets. The 57-year-old actor then appeared on Good Morning America to talk about the attention he had received after being shamed for having a job at Trader Joe's. Owens, however, also received a slew of positive and supportive messages from fans and fellow actors.

 Tyler Perry even tweeted that he was offering Owens a role on one of his OWN shows. ET sat down with Owens this week, where the actor expressed his gratitude and thanked Perry for the offer.

 "That was kind of cool. I mean, that kind of sounded like he was saying, 'Come work with me.' I'm so, like, skeptical. Like, really?" Owens told ET. "Are you actually saying come work with me? Because we've never worked together before. So, that's a very, very generous thing for him to say. And we'll see what happens with that. But, that's encouraging."

 Owens has actually stopped working at Trader Joe's for now but is thankful for the outpouring love and support.

 "When I quit, the guys at the store said, you know, 'Don't quit, let's keep it open, let's have it like an indefinite leave of absence,'" he shared. "OK, that's cool, that's great, but basically I left at that point because I felt like, just for my personal sake, my dignity and my emotional wellbeing, I didn't want to be in the store while I felt like people might be staking out the place as they did, actually. People came to the store and they were staking it out and stuff. I didn't feel like that was going to be good for my spiritual being, so I felt like I needed to at least temporarily step out, and I think that was the wise thing to do, actually."

 For more on Owens, watch below.

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 Woman Who Took Photo of Geoffrey Owens at Trader Joe's Says She Meant No Ill Will, Talks Intense Backlash

 Keshia Knight Pulliam Surprises 'Cosby Show' Co-Star Geoffrey Owens During ET Interview -- Watch!

 Geoffrey Owens Responds to Tyler Perry Offering Him a Job After Being Shamed for Bagging Groceries (Exclusive)

 Related Gallery ||||| It's been a full week since the 'Cosby Show' star was shamed for working a traditional job, and while the experience was devastating, it has also been a blessing, he says.

 The first person Geoffrey Owens contacted after discovering an article would be published in which he would be shamed for his job at Trader Joe's was his 19-year-old son — to apologize.

 "He was the first person I thought of, and I texted, 'I am really sorry if this embarrasses you.' And he texted me back a beautiful response that made me cry. And I knew I was going to be OK," said the former Cosby Show star.

 Granting an interview to The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, exactly one week after a story about Owens working as a cashier in a New Jersey Trader Joe's appeared in The Daily Mail, the actor called the entire experience a "blessing," albeit a painful one.

 "I don't want to be presumptuous and say because of my situation, we've started a change, but I think it is certainly less shameful to admit that we are all working people who do what we need to do," said the 57-year-old Owens, whose shaming incited a massive backlash toward those who took his picture and the few outlets that ran with the gossip.

 "It was mean-spirited," he told THR. "I am a very private person, but I chose this life, so I accepted it. I didn't feel any impulse to lash out, but I was devastated. Fortunately, that didn't last very long when all the support came in."

 And now, the jobs offers are also rolling in. Owens revealed that, even though he made it clear in previous interviews he was not looking for a handout just because of the situation, he has been offered, and is mulling over, a "whole handful" of television offers. "It's been a real generosity of spirit and a generosity of action where that is concerned," he said.

 Owens said he knew the gossip piece was coming when he was contacted by the reporter a few days before it was published. So, he texted his son, talked to his wife, quit his job at Trader Joe's ("I felt like I had to leave the store") and prepared for the fallout.

 "I imagined the worst-case scenario to brace myself, and it somehow managed to be worse than I expected," he said. "The pictures of me, the words that were used to describe me, were so demeaning. It was humiliating, acutely, for a very short time — and then there was this amazing rescue from the world."

 Social media came alive with outrage when the gossip was posted. Stars immediately came to Owens' defense, many sharing their own stories of less-than-glamorous jobs they did between scripts to make ends meet. Others, including some old friends, reached out directly.

 "Keshia Knight Pulliam, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Sabrina Le Beauf [all Cosby Show alum] have all been in touch and all have been lovely, as you would expect friends to be," said the actor.

 As to whether he would go back to Trader Joe's if he needed to in the future, Owens didn't hesitate in answering: "Yes. They said, 'Don't consider it leaving, consider it an indeterminate leave of absence.' So they wanted to hold my place open in case I ever wanted to come back, which I thought was really cool." ||||| Geoffrey Owens is feeling the love.

 The former Cosby Show actor expressed his gratitude for the amount of support he’s received after the world learned he was working at a Trader Joe’s grocery store between acting gigs.

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 “It’s been surreal,” he said on Good Morning America. “It’s been nonstop contact and emails, phone calls, texts and interviews. It’s actually bizarre — a lot of fun though.”

 Last week, the Daily Mail and Fox News published photos — snapped by a shopper — of Owens bagging groceries at a Trader Joe’s in New Jersey.

 Robin Marchant/Getty; Robin Marchant/Getty

 Owens, who worked at the grocery store for 15 months, first took the job because he wanted “flexibility” in order to stay in the entertainment business; he’s since quit over all the attention.

 Following the photos going viral, filmmaker Tyler Perry offered Owens, 57, a job on an OWN drama.

 Outpouring of support for "Cosby Show" actor: https://t.co/0wZJnpowI9 @ABonTV has Geoffrey Owens' message this morning pic.twitter.com/d8nXVC3YHH — Good Morning America (@GMA) September 5, 2018

 “#GeoffreyOwens I’m about to start shootings OWN’s number one drama next week! Come join us!!!” Perry tweeted.

 “I have so much respect for people who hustle between gigs,” he continued. “The measure of a true artist.”

 #GeoffreyOwens I’m about to start shootings OWN’s number one drama next week! Come join us!!! I have so much respect for people who hustle between gigs. The measure of a true artist. — Tyler Perry (@tylerperry) September 4, 2018

 Owens said he was touched by the offer.

 “It’s certainly very generous of him,” said Ownes. “To even just put that out there is very encouraging.”

 And while Owens, who played Elvin Tibideaux on The Cosby Show from 1985-92, said he was “really devastated” at first after the photos came out, he has now seen the humor in the situation.

 “I never would have imagined this in my wildest dreams,” he said. “What’s a way to get publicity? Take a job at Trader Joe’s!” ||||| # GeoffreyOwens I’m about to start shootings OWN’s number one drama next week! Come join us!!! I have so much respect for people who hustle between gigs. The measure of a true artist. ||||| After a customer took a photo of Geoffrey Owens working at Trader Joe’s in New Jersey, the former Cosby Show star’s first thought was of his son, as he feared the 19-year-old would be humiliated when people found out his dad worked at a supermarket.

 “My wife and I were together when we saw it,” Owens, 57, exclusively tells PEOPLE. “It made me think of my son. I texted my son and warned him about the story breaking. I actually apologized to him for embarrassing him, because I knew that he’s in school away from us. I knew his classmates would see it and he’d be humiliated and embarrassed. I apologized to him.”

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 Adding, “Even before the wave of support rolled in within an hour or two, he sent me a beautiful text back about how proud he was of me. I cried, I just broke down. He felt the opposite of embarrassment. He was so proud that I had taken the job. It was beautiful.”

 “With my wife’s support and my son’s reactions, all before the counter-reaction came in, I felt very supported and loved. Then, the encouragement from all over the world started to come in and that was unbelievable and overwhelming.”

 Larry Busacca/Getty Images

 Though the actor says the attention he’s been receiving since the photo was published by some tabloids has been overwhelming, he’s grateful for the support.

 “It really hurt,” Owens says of the photo. “I felt really humiliated. From the time that I heard that the article might be done to the time it came out, I tried to envision the worse case scenario just to prepare myself and then it was just a little bit worse. If that was possible. They went out of their way to find the very worst picture of me, in the worst shirt and the worst posture. The words they used to describe me were so demeaning. It hurt.”

 RELATED ARTICLES: Woman Who Took Geoffrey Owens’ Photo at Trader Joe’s Says She Didn’t Mean to Shame Him

 But, Owens hasn’t allowed that hurt to hold him down.

 “I’ve learned to never give up,” he says. “A lot of times I was on the verge of quitting the job at Trader Joe’s, but I didn’t because I couldn’t. But it was sufficiently awkward and uncomfortable to be in that kind of job recognized from time to time. For me to want to get out of it, I wanted to leave at times even though I was grateful for it as work. But if I had done that, none of this would’ve happened.

 “It’s because I kind of hung in there and persevered that all of this amazing stuff has now happened. I am someone who generally does persevere, but this confirmed to me how important it is to just hang in there. I think that’s so important for so many people in my industry. You just have to hang on!”

 Owens played Elvin Tibideaux on The Cosby Show from 1985 to 1992. He has since appeared on a number of shows, including Divorce, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Built to Last. ||||| 'Cosby' Star Geoffrey Owens Accepts Offer from Tyler Perry 10-Episode Run!!!

 Geoffrey Owens Accepts Offer From Tyler Perry and Will Appear on 10 Episodes

 EXCLUSIVE

 Geoffrey Owens is about to get a hell of a lot of screen time thanks to Tyler Perry -- he's accepted the mega producer's offer for an acting gig -- and it's a big one!

 Owens, who starred on "The Cosby Show," was recently photographed working as a cashier at Trader Joe's. Geoffrey was shamed by many for the cashier job and Tyler reached out via Twitter, saying, "I'm about to start shooting OWN's number one drama next week! Come join us!!!"

 Sources familiar with the deal tell us joining Tyler is exactly what Geoffrey will do. We're told he's going to appear on Perry's hit, "The Haves and the Have Nots." Even bigger ... it's not a one shot deal. We're told he'll have a recurring role and appear on 10 episodes.

 The show -- on it's 6th season -- shoots in Atlanta, and we're told Owens will fly there next week to begin filming.

 As for his salary ... that's unclear, but working one job is always better than two. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– The swelling tide of well wishes for the Cosby Show actor who was job-shamed by multiple media outlets may have just turned into something more lucrative. Sources tell TMZ that Geoffrey Owens has accepted a job offer by filmmaker and producer Tyler Perry, who tweeted earlier this week that the 57-year-old actor should "join us" on OWN's The Haves and the Have Nots, which Perry writes for and directs. TMZ reports that Owens is said to be slotted into a recurring role and will appear on 10 episodes, and that he's set to fly to Atlanta next week to begin filming. Owens had previously spoken on Perry's offer, though he simply called it a "generous" one and didn't indicate whether he'd take it, per People. In fact, Owens tells the Hollywood Reporter he's considering "a whole handful" of TV offers. "It's been a real generosity of spirit and a generosity of action," he says. Owens, who has since spoken on the "honor of the working person and the dignity of work," says his first concern when the photo of him broke was his 19-year-old son, People notes. He says he texted his son, who's away at school, to warn him and to apologize for the embarrassment—but his son texted right back to say how proud he was of Owens. "I cried, I just broke down," Owens says. "It was beautiful." One other person is stepping up to do right by Owens: Nicki Minaj, who told Entertainment Tonight she wants to donate $25,000 to the actor. "Some people are on the internet and seeking attention, and he's just the antithesis of that," she says. She notes she's having her rep reach out to Owens' people so he "doesn't take it the wrong way." (The woman who took the Owens photo is now speaking.)


News article:

Former Model Poses in Bikini with Colostomy Bags

 Sofia Bouzidi / Cater News

 A lot of women out there have, at one time or another, worried about how they look in a bikini. And Bethany Townsend was no different.The British makeup artist, who suffers from Crohn's disease, thought her two-piece days were behind her after she was fitted with two colostomy bags in 2010, but on a Christmas vacation in Mexico, her husband, Ian, persuaded her to strip down."My husband always said to me, 'If we go on holiday, I want you to wear a bikini. You've got a great body,' " Townsend, 23, told BBC Midlands Today "The first day I was like, 'Okay, let's do it.' I'm not gonna see these people again, that's how I looked at it."Townsend, who's battled the intestinal disease since she was 3, had given up modeling after she had the bags fitted when her bowel burst and she nearly died. "My confidence was totally knocked," she says.So finding the courage to strip down was a transformative experience, and she decided to share a bikini pic with the Crohn's and Colitis UK Facebook page "I felt like I finally had the confidence after three-and-a-half years of having them that I wanted to give other girls the confidence, the guys the confidence, to be like, we have nothing to be ashamed of," she says.She was surprised when the photo went viral, being viewed by millions, and says the response has been so positive that she's now planning to return to modeling part-time."I never thought it would get a response like that," Townsend admits. "For me it's just a picture, but to so many other people, it's so much more." ||||| A former model struck down by Crohn’s disease plans to return to the profession after bravely posing for pictures which exposed her colostomy bags.

 The photo - which shows the first time Bethany Townsend, 23, dared to bare after being fitted with two of the bags - has now been viewed be over an incredible nine million people.

 Bethany, a make up artist from Worcester, has been so overwhelmed by the response that she now feels confident enough to resume her dream career of becoming a full-time model.

 Bethany Townsend now has the confidence to resume modelling

 Bethany said: "I didn't expect this kind of reaction at all.

 "The photo has been seen by millions of people and it's had 190,000 likes and over 10,000 comments on Facebook - it's just gone ballistic.

 "I'm just so glad that it's brought about more awareness of Crohn's disease and it's made me feel so much more confident about the colostomy bags.

 "If I can inspire or help other people in my position to feel a little more comfortable in their own skin then I'm really happy.

 "When I first had the bags fitted I was devastated - the reaction to this photo has really helped me accept them."

 Bethany was fitted with her colostomy bags after having suffered from Crohn's disease since the age of three.

 It is a condition that causes inflammation of the digestive system, affecting the sufferer's ability to digest food, absorb nutrients and eliminate waste.

 Bethany was diagnosed with Crohn's disease when she was just three

 In extreme situations, like Bethany's, it becomes necessary to remove the damaged section of the intestine and bring the healthy part out as a stoma - known as a colostomy.

 After almost dying when her bowel ruptured in 2010, Bethany woke from a life saving operation to find she had been fitted with two colostomy bags.

 Bethany said: "Growing up I'd had various surgeries to try and combat the Crohn's.

 "I'd go in and have sections of my intestine cut out, but I'd only be in remission for a couple of weeks before it came back again.

 "Then, four years ago I woke up in the morning and couldn't move because I was in so much agony. I had to break a glass on the floor to alert my mum who called on ambulance.

 "When the paramedics came they lifted up my top to see that my surgery scar had split open.

 The 23-year-old has been fitted with two colostomy bags

 "I was rushed to intensive care where they doctors told me family I would need more surgery as my intestines had become infected and inflamed again.

 "I had no idea when I woke up that I would have the bags.

 "When I first woke up and my mum told me about them I was just relieved as I'd thought I was going to die.

 "When I came out of hospital and everything finally sunk in, I remember going upstairs into my bedroom and just bursting into tears.

 "I'd known a colostomy bag might have been an option but it was always something that I had wanted to avoid.

 "I had a really good cry that day, and since then I haven't shed another tear - I've just got on with it I suppose."

 It was only after Bethany met and married her husband, Ian, 33, and jetted off to Mexico last Christmas that she finally felt ready to accept the colostomy bags.

 Townsend credits her husband's support with boosting her self-esteem

 Bethany said: "When I met Ian I showed him my bags straight away, but he didn't bat an eye lid - I actually felt like I was over reacting.

 "He taught me that there was more to me than the bags and would always encourage me to show off my figure.

 "I wasn't sure but in Mexico I finally realised he was right, and decided to wear my bikini.

 "At first I was nervous and worried that people would stare but it was fine. I realised that the colostomy bags didn't control me or define who I am.

 "The staff at the hotel asked me about the bags on the last day of the holiday, but rather than being offended I was glad because it meant I could talk to them about Crohn's and tell them what it is.

 "Ian's always been my rock and supported me no matter what, we've had a tough few years but I know he'll always be there for me."

 But it wasn't until six months after their dream holiday in Mexico that Bethany finally felt ready to share her colostomy bags with the world.

 Bethany said: "When you're on holiday you're in a bit of a bubble and it's much different to when you're back at home.

 "I'd posted a few pictures to Instagram and Facebook but only my friends could see them.

 "But after looking on the internet I saw a few other pictures of girls like me showing off their bags so I thought why not.

 "I decided to get in touch with Crohn's and Colitis UK Facebook group to see if they would let me post something on their page.

 "I sent them the picture and my information, and it all blew up from there."

 Bethany still suffers with her Crohn's disease and hopes ones day for a cure.

 She said: "Doctors had hoped that the colostomy bags would put an end to the Crohn's but four weeks later it was back.

 "I then underwent a stem cell transplant but unfortunately I caught MRSA of the skin and the blood and it nearly killed me twice.

 "Since then my Crohn's has still been extremely active, I've lost more weight and now I'm waiting for the NHS to fund a drug that hasn't really been in the UK.

 "If this doesn't work a bowel transplant is in talks as I can't have anymore of my intestine out as I haven't got much left.

 "But I'm still really hopeful and after everything I've been through I know I'm a strong person."

 Bethany is now considering getting back into modelling - a career she gave up on after she was fitted with the bags.

 Bethany said: "I feel confident enough now to put myself out there and pursue modelling again.

 "I did a little bit of work here and there before I had the colostomy bags, but once I had them fitted I thought that was the end of the dream.

 "I'm looking forward to chasing my goals, and I know now that nothing can hold me back. I won't let the Crohn's control me anymore." ||||| See more of Crohn's & Colitis UK on Facebook ||||| Bethany Townsend is a make-up artist from Worcester, England. She's also an aspiring model. But what makes her different from most girls who dream of seeing their faces in Vogue is that she was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease at three years old. And in 2010, had to be fitted with two colostomy bags. What makes her even more different is that instead of isolating herself, abandoning her dreams, or shutting herself away from the love and attention of others, she has embraced her condition — and redefined beauty along the way.

 Crohn's Disease in is an inflammatory bowel condition. Normally, the intestines suffer most, and in extreme cases (like Townsend's) the intestine actually needs to be partially removed in order to bring the healthy part out as a stoma (or artificial opening). It is in these cases that patients are fitted with colostomy bags in their lower abdomens to facilitate digestion and bowel movements. The surgery in and of itself is life changing. It is traumatic. It makes it so for the rest of their lives, people will have an extra weight to carry, physically and emotionally. And so what Townsend did by posing in photos with her bags in full view, and then sharing them with the world via social media, isn't just brave; it's beautiful. Now seen by over nine-million people, and liked over 190,000 times on Facebook, it's no surprise that viewers are gravitating to this young woman who has dared show off what makes her unique.

 The average age for stomate surgeries is 68. Townsend is only 23. To have to undergo such a difficult operation whilst still so young is undoubtedly more difficult than most of us can ever imagine. But with the help of her now husband, Ian, Townsend found a renewed sense of confidence despite the colostomy. She told Huffington Post UK, "When I met Ian I showed him my bags straight away, but he didn't bat an eye lid... He taught me that there was more to me than the bags and would always encourage me to show off my figure." Looking at photos of Townsend, there is life in her eyes. And she really is stunning — with the petite, angular figure so many agencies would die to have in their books.

 In a world so focused on aesthetics, where differences and "flaws" are rejected rather than embraced, Townsend is the type of person really making a change. Her courage is reminiscent of that of Elly Mayday, plus-size model and cancer survivor who has posed with scars and shaven head in full view. It is these individuals — unapologetically bold individuals — who will inspire change and encourage those with scars or imperfections to proudly showcase their bodies, and themselves.

 Despite being devastated post-surgery, waking up to find the bags already in place unexpectedly, Townsend has truly turned things around. She told HuffPost, "If I can inspire or help other people in my position to feel a little more comfortable in their own skin then I'm really happy." But the thing is, I can't imagine her photos will only inspire Crohn's patients; they'll inspire everyone. They'll inspire everyone feeling bad about their bodies. They'll inspire those suffering through the same condition to not shut the world out. They'll inspire anyone who deviates from the expected norm. They'll inspire those who see beauty everywhere, not just in the "traditional" model or "perfect" body.

 Some might claim all Townsend has done is post a photo of herself on her Facebook page — something we all do on a daily basis. But most of us don't have colostomies. Most of us hide away our flaws, because we're too scared to show our raw selves to the public eye. And that's what truly makes this woman different, and a genuine emblem of body positivity and self love. ||||| Bethany Townsend is already a role model, and soon she will be a successful model too. The Daily Mail reported on the aspiring model from Worcester, England, after a photo of her posing with her colostomy bags in a bikini went viral.

 Bethany suffers from Crohn’s disease. She was diagnosed with the condition at the age of three and had two colostomy bags fitted in 2010, after her bowel ruptured. Initially, she felt insecure about the devices, but on holiday in Mexico with her husband, she decided to proudly show them off and wear a bikini.

 Six months after her trip, she contacted Crohn’s and Colitis UK to see if they would be interested in featuring her story. After Bethany’s story was posted on their Facebook page, it went viral. It received almost ten MILLION likes (and counting).

 Bethany, who is currently a makeup artist, says that the positive feedback gave her the encouragement to pursue a modelling career again. She had originally considered the career path, but stopped after she was initially fitted with the colostomy bags.

 Despite only recently returning to modelling, Bethany has already booked a job. She posted on her Instagram account that she had been asked to model for a lingerie label that designs for people with colostomy bags:

 “So excited to be asked to be a model for Vanilla Blush. An amazing lingerie company that specialises in “sexy” underwear for people with colostomy bags etc.”

 It’s no surprise that Bethany’s career is taking off. Not only does she have the gorgeous features and beautiful tattoos that make her a good “traditional” model, but she also has an interesting story with an important message to get across.

 It’s too bad that true models like Bethany don’t pose on magazine covers and billboards more often. We should stop with the photoshopped versions of supposed ideal beauties and start embracing a wider definition of beauty. With the impact Bethany’s had so far, she might be the right woman to kick-start the change. Paging Vogue!

 To read more on Bethany’s story check out The Daily Mail and Crohn’s and Colitis UK.

 (Photo: bethyt_/Instagram) |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Bethany Townsend thought her modeling days were done for good three years ago when she got fitted with two colostomy bags, a result of her lifelong fight with Crohn's disease. But after a hiatus as a makeup artist, that modeling career might just be getting started, thanks to a viral photo of herself posing in a bikini with those colostomy bags in full view, reports People. The 23-year-old shared the photo with Crohn's and Colitis UK Facebook page after deciding that "my colostomy bags shouldn't control my life," she explains in the post. Townsend tells the Huffington Post that she has been floored by the global reaction and hopes she can inspire others in similar positions to "feel a little bit more comfortable in their own skin." She's going to do that and more, writes Marie Southard Ospina at Bustle. "In a world so focused on aesthetics, where differences and 'flaws' are rejected rather than embraced, Townsend is the type of person really making a change." Her decision to share the photo "isn't just brave; it's beautiful." Agreed, writes Heather Cichowski at the Gloss. She's "already a role model, and soon she will be a successful model too."


Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic; AP Photo / Tammie Arroyo

 She's 18. He's 36.

 But the laws of celebrity attraction apparently knew no boundaries when it came to Demi Lovato secretly connecting with her most recent boyfriend...Ryan Phillippe!

 MORE: Ryan Phillippe's Pregnant Ex: I Don't Need His Help!

 E! News has learned exclusively that Lovato has been quietly dating Phillippe, the actor and divorced dad of three (including 2-week-old daughter Kai with ex-girlfriend Alexis Knapp), over the last couple of months.

 A source says Phillippe and Lovato started seeing each other casually, but it quickly heated up, with the source revealing that things have cooled a bit since the birth of Phillippe's daughter.

 "It was really hot and heavy for a while," says a source close to the casual couple, adding that Lovato didn't know for sure that Phillippe was going to be a father again "until it basically happened. It kind of threw her for a loop."

 But the reason for slowing things down with the former Mr. Reese Witherspoon wasn't all about the new baby, but also about Lovato's baby of her own. The promotion of her new single "Skyscraper" and video, which premiered last week on E! News, has been consuming most of her attention in the last few weeks.

 In other words, only time will tell if these two will eventually evolve into a full-fledged item.

 Reps for the stars have not yet responded to E! News' request for comment, though a source close to Phillippe denies that any relationship with Lovato took place and says that the actor is currently "totally single."

 (Originally published July 18, 2011 at 11:18 a.m. PT)

 WATCH: Demi Lovato Opens Up About Addictions ||||| Is Demi Lovato, 18, Hooking Up With Ryan Phillippe, 36?

 He may be twice her age, but according to E! News, that didn't stop Ryan Phillippe, 36, from hooking up with Demi Lovato, 18.

 "It was really hot and heavy for a while," a source tells the site.

 PHOTOS: More May/December romances

 An insider confirms the news to Us Weekly, pointing out that "they were just hooking up" and "it was nothing serious."

 PHOTOS: Shocking celebrity hookups

 E! News adds that the "Skyscraper" singer didn't know the Lincoln Lawyer actor was going to be a father again "until it basically happened. It kind of threw her for a loop."

 (Phillippe's ex-girlfriend Alexis Knapp welcomed daughter Kai at L.A.'s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on July 1; the actor has yet to take a DNA test to prove his paternity. Phillippe also has two children -- Ava, 11, and Deacon, 7 -- from his first marriage to Reese Witherspoon.)

 PHOTOS: Ryan and other hunky, shirtless dads

 After seven months together, Phillippe split with on-off girlfriend Amanda Seyfriend in June 2011. Lovato's past loves include Wilmer Valderrama, Joe Jonas and Trace Cyrus. |||||

Write a summary.

– He's twice her age, but when has that ever mattered in Hollywood? Ryan Phillippe, 36, is apparently hooking up with troubled Disney starlet Demi Lovato, 18. The two have been secretly dating for months, a source tells E!, adding that "it was really hot and heavy" until Phillippe's daughter with an ex-girlfriend was born two weeks ago, which "kind of threw [Lovato] for a loop." Another insider tells Us the two "were just hooking up," not engaging in anything "serious." TMI alert: Phillippe's eldest, daughter Ava, is just seven years younger than Lovato.


Article:
CIA Director John Brennan took an extraordinary step Thursday to contain the roiling controversy over his agency’s past use of aggressive interrogation techniques: inviting journalists and cameras to the spy agency’s secretive headquarters and conducting a full-scale press conference that was carried on live television around the world.

 But he struck a largely defensive tone, praising the integrity of the agency’s workforce while conceding that some of its personnel used techniques that “had not been authorized, were abhorrent and rightly should be repudiated by all.”

 Story Continued Below

 Brennan threaded a needle on the effectiveness of tactics that many view as torture, such as waterboarding. He insisted that detainees subjected to what the agency calls “enhanced interrogation techniques” gave up “useful and valuable” information, but conceded that it can’t be said whether the harsh treatment yielded that information.

 That is “unknown and unknowable,” he said.

 Asked if torture helped draw out information that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden, Brennan demurred, saying only that individuals who were subjected to the techniques “provided information that was useful and was used” in the hunt for the Al Qaeda leader.

 (Also on POLITICO: John Brennan's zigzag on torture)

 Brennan’s news conference came two days after the release of a Senate Intelligence Committee report blasted the Central Intelligence Agency for abusing detainees and severely mismanaging its interrogation program in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

 According to agency officials, Brennan spoke to the CIA’s work force on Wednesday, trying to quell concern about the Senate report’s impact on the agency’s personnel, their reputations and morale. Thursday’s press conference was clearly intended as an effort to convey a similar message of support to a wider audience.

 Projecting an image of solidarity, about 30 senior agency officials sat directly in front of the director as he spoke. They also served as a buffer of sorts between Brennan and a larger number of reporters who traveled to the Langley, Va. complex to question the director about the report that rocked the agency this week and the conduct it details, including tactics President Barack Obama has banned and described this week as “brutal.”

 Brennan began his appearance with a 20-minute speech that opened with a dramatic description of the 9/11 attacks and attempted to invoke the sense of fear in which the harsh interrogation program was devised.

 Regardless of one’s views on enhanced interrogation techniques, “our nation and, in particular, this agency did a lot of things right during this difficult time to keep this country safe and secure,” he said.

 The “overwhelming majority” of the agency’s workforce “carried out their responsibilities faithfully,” he argued. “They did what they were asked to do in the service of our nation.”

 (POLITICO Magazine: Michael Hayden is not sorry)

 Brennan also said that the agency’s people have been “touched by the outpouring of support” from outsiders as the CIA came under withering criticism in recent days.

 Despite his clear desire to elicit sympathy for CIA personnel, he conceded that some officers had gone too far in their interrogations and that the agency didn’t do enough to supervise them.

 “In many ways this was uncharted territory for the CIA and we were not prepared,” he said. “We fell short when it came to holding some officers accountable for their mistakes,” Brennan said.

 Throughout his remarks, Brennan described his agency’s conduct as enhanced interrogation techniques or EITs, and not as “torture” — the term that Obama has used. Pressed on his avoidance of that characterization, Brennan said he “will leave to others how they might want to label” the CIA’s practices.

 He also declined to say whether he supported the release of the Senate summary report on the interrogation techniques, but indicated that he believes too much been revealed.

 “I think there is more than enough transparency that has happened over the last couple of days,” he said, in what seemed to be an exasperated and heartfelt aside. “I think it’s over the top.”

 At another point, the director made plain his distaste for the events of the past few days.

 “There is a lot of exaggeration, misrepresentation of the facts, and therefore I think certain agendas are being pursued,” he said while discussing international reaction to the report. “I certainly wish that this would not be happening.”

 Brennan’s appearance represented the first on-camera response by a current Obama administration official to some of the central claims in the Senate report: namely that the CIA misled Congress, the White House and the public about the program, and that the interrogations were not effective in producing intelligence that saved lives by heading off terrorist plots.

 While the CIA’s written response to the Senate report disputed those conclusions, the White House and the president have repeatedly refused to say whether they agree with the Senate panel on those points or with the spy agency.

 Brennan seemed most exercised Thursday about the Senate panel’s suggestion that agency personnel repeatedly and likely intentionally gave false information to their overseers about the interrogation effort.

 Meanwhile, Senate Intelligence panel Chairman Dianne Feinstein’s staff ran a real-time fact-check of Brennan’s remarks through her Twitter account, @SenFeinstein, adding the hashtag #ReadTheReport.

 “We gave the committee our full support” as it started its study in 2009, Brennan said. But, he noted, Feinstein’s staff did not interview CIA staff. “It was unusual,” he said.

 While the report is “flawed,” much of it is “consistent with our own internal findings,” Brennan said.

 White House news secretary Josh Earnest would not say whether Brennan — who was at the White House on Thursday morning for the President’s Daily Briefing — had discussed the rare press conference with the president.

 “This is a decision that Director Brennan made,” Earnest said. “It’s one that he should make.”

 Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and other critics of the techniques have called for Brennan’s resignation, but none of the 11 reporters who questioned him over roughly 25 minutes asked about the status of his job or whether he is the best person to lead the agency at this time due to the fact he was also in CIA leadership during the post-9/11 years. The White House has repeatedly said that Obama has full confidence in Brennan.

 Brennan did say, in response to a question, that he was aware of aspects of the interrogation program at the time it took place.

 “I was not in the chain of command; I did not have authority over the implementation of that program or the management oversight of it,” he added.

 The CIA director did not answer a portion of a question about whether he “expressed reservations” about the interrogation effort while it was underway. He told the Senate Intelligence Committee in a 2013 questionnaire that he “had significant concerns and personal objections” to some of the techniques and shared those thoughts with others at the agency.

 By speaking out now, Brennan appeared to be making a decisive bid to extinguish the public firestorm that engulfed the spy agency this week. Debate over the interrogation program in the media seems certain to continue at a fairly intense level at least through the Sunday television talk shows, one of which will feature former Vice President Dick Cheney defending the use of techniques like waterboarding and confining suspects in small spaces.

 The CIA, Obama and his close aides have made abundantly clear that they’re eager to put this particular flurry of news coverage behind them. The decision to have Brennan speak out definitively and at length on the subject Thursday could diminish media interest in dogging him about the subject at any future public speeches or interviews. ||||| 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 ||||| Washington (CNN) -- CIA Director John Brennan on Thursday defended harsh interrogation techniques as providing "useful" information to authorities, including in the raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden. But he said it is "unknowable" what information could specifically be attributed to those techniques.

 "It is our considered view that the detainees who were subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques provided information that was useful and was used in the ultimate operation to go against Bin Laden," Brennan said.

 Brennan's comments, in a rare news conference, come two days after a Senate panel released a blockbuster 528-page report detailing "enhanced interrogation techniques" -- including mock executions, "rectal rehydration," sleep deprivation and beatings -- in interrogations in the mid-2000s.

 He admitted that some CIA officers' actions were "not authorized, were abhorrent and rightly should be repudiated by all. And we fell short in holding some officers accountable for their mistakes."

 Brennan acknowledged that the agency sometimes exceeded its legal authority during interrogations of terrorism suspects.

 RELATED: CIA feared for future of interrogation program, report shows

 He said detainees who faced "enhanced interrogation techniques" did provide some information that provided useful -- as well as other information that didn't. He said whether those interrogations had anything to do with that information is "unknowable."

 "Let me be clear: We have not concluded that it was the EITs within that program that allowed us to obtain useful information from the detainees subjected to them," he said.

 But he staunchly defended the agency during the 45-minute news conference, adding: "CIA officers' actions that did comport with the law and policy should neither be criticized nor conflated with the actions of the few who did not follow the guidance issued."

 Brennan opened his remarks with a vivid depiction of the events of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and described the atmosphere going into fighting terrorism and collecting intelligence in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.

 "There were no easy answers, and whatever your views are on [enhanced interrogation techniques], our nation and in particular this agency did a lot of things right during this difficult time to keep this country strong and secured," Brennan said.

 RELATED: Who is John Brennan?

 Brennan praised those who worked with him but he added the agency was "unprepared to conduct a detention and interrogation program, and our officers inadequately developed and monitored its initial activities."

 Brennan never used the word "torture" to describe the CIA's tactics. And he deflected a question about whether, in the interest of transparency, he supported the Senate Intelligence Committee's decision to release its report.

 "I think there's been more than enough transparency that's happened over the last couple days," he said. "I think it's over the top."

 Brennan said it's "lamentable" that the Senate panel didn't conduct interviews with CIA agents -- a contrast, he said, with its handling of a report on Iraq's lack of weapons of mass destruction, which included interviews with more than 200 officers.

 His strongest criticism of the report was with its contention that the CIA misled the public and government officials -- including then-President George W. Bush. That, Brennan said, is untrue -- a stance former Vice President Dick Cheney backed up in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday night.

 Still, he didn't fault the report's finding that the CIA's tactics were harsh and, at times, went beyond the legal authority Bush's Justice Department said the agency had.

 "Many aspects of their conclusions are sound and consistent with our own prior findings," Brennan said. "Over the years, internal agency reviews, including numerous investigations by our office of the inspector general, found fault in the CIA's running of the program. We have acknowledged these mistakes."

 Brennan was the CIA's deputy executive director while the tactics were being used. He said he had "some visibility" into what was happening, but that he wasn't in the chain of command for that program, and didn't say whether he had made any effort to push for changes at the time.

 He also noted that the program for using "enhanced interrogation techniques" was ended in 2007.

 "In light of the fact that these techniques were banned seven years ago, however, my fervent hope is that we can put aside this debate and move on to issues that are relevant to our current national security challenges," Brennan said.

 Meanwhile, one of Brennan's sharpest critics, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman of the committee behind the report, live-tweeted along with the press conference and sharply rebutted several points throughout his press conference.

 This story was updated to include additional information ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee is launching a barrage of tweets against CIA complaints about the report on Bush-era interrogation techniques.

 CIA Director John Brennan is holding a news conference to lay out objections to the committee's report. At the same time, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office is tweeting a series of messages defending the accuracy of the study.

 Feinstein's office began tweeting even before Brennan began speaking.

 One tweet says "every fact" in the committee's report was based on CIA records, cables or other evidence.

 The committee's report concludes the CIA engaged in brutal interrogation techniques and misled the White House and the public about what it was doing. |||||Summary:

– CIA Director John Brennan offered up a spirited defense of his agency's torture program today, saying that "our nation and, in particular, this agency did a lot of things right during this difficult time to keep this country safe and secured" in the aftermath of 9/11, and that most agents "carried out their responsibilities faithfully," obtained "useful and valuable" information, and "did what they were asked to do in the service of our nation." He acknowledged that techniques were used that "had not been authorized, were abhorrent, and rightly should be repudiated by all," notes Politico, and that "we fell short when it came to holding some officers accountable for their mistakes." Speaking at a rare press conference, Brennan took questions, including one about whether more information would be forthcoming, notes CNN. "I think there's been more than enough transparency that's happened over the last couple days. I think it's over the top," responded the nation's top spy. Brennan bashed the "flawed" report for the "unusual" choice of not talking to CIA agents, but said that ultimately many "conclusions are sound and consistent with our own prior findings." The AP notes that Senate Intelligence Committee chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office began a lively and real-time Twitter fact-check defending the report's accuracy, using #ReadTheReport. Read one: "Brennan: 'unknowable' if we could have gotten the intel other ways. Study shows it IS knowable: CIA had info before torture. #ReadTheReport"


Article:

Scientists are shedding new light on a massive solar storm that narrowly missed impacting Earth two years ago.

 "If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces," Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado said in a statement released by NASA this week.

 The solar storm, which happened on July 23, 2012, was the strongest one ever recorded -- more than twice as powerful as any solar storm recorded in the last 15o years. Scientists say it was actually two storms that combined their energy into one superstorm and followed the track of another storm days earlier.

 It was a close call for Earth -- the solar storm tore through Earth orbit only a week after our planet had passed by that segment of space. If we had been in its path, NASA says it would have had a "catastrophic effect," blowing out electrical systems, GPS, radio systems and other technology worldwide, plunging billions of people into a blackout that could take years to repair.

 A study by the National Academy of Sciences estimates that the total economic impact of such a disaster could exceed $2 trillion.

 Baker told NASA, "I have come away from our recent studies more convinced than ever that Earth and its inhabitants were incredibly fortunate that the 2012 eruption happened when it did ... If the eruption had occurred only one week earlier, Earth would have been in the line of fire."

 Solar storms do not pose a physical threat to people or animals or plants, just to our way of life. The real danger is a disruption of our electrical grid, satellite systems and use of modern electronics devices.

 Baker and his colleagues published a study of the event in the December 2013 issue of the journal Space Weather. The storm cloud was recorded by NASA's sun-orbiting STEREO-A spacecraft.

 In the February 2014 edition of Space Weather, physicist Pete Riley of Predictive Science Inc. warned that the odds of a serious geomagnetic storm hitting Earth in the next ten years was 12 percent. Riley told NASA, "Initially, I was quite surprised that the odds were so high, but the statistics appear to be correct. It is a sobering figure."

 Space weather

 Scientists have been tracking space weather, including solar breezes and storms, for at least 150 years.

 Sunspots and solar flares lead a few hours later to a bright display of the Northern Lights. A solar wind bathes Earth all the time with a gentle, steady stream of particles. But solar storms, like analogous Earth storms, are more violent. The sun is on an 11 year solar storm cycle, with a peak for this cycle reached in 2013.

 Storms have two components: large areas of violent activity called coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that are somewhat analogous to hurricanes; and powerful, focused high-speed solar flares you might think of as the solar equivalent of a tornado. Both send large numbers of high energy particles shooting away from the sun.

 The Earth is surrounded by its own large magnetic field, the same field that makes a compass needle point north. Earth 's magnetic field deflects solar particles to a certain extent, but the strength of the Earth's magnetic field is decreasing, affording us less protection decade by decade.

 Scientists calculate the force of a solar storm on the Earth in units called nanoTeslas (nT), with small, harmless storms hitting values near -50 nT. Prior to the July 2012 event, the most powerful known solar storm, in 1859, was estimated at -800 nT to -1750 nT, although modern measurement techniques were not available then. It knocked out telegraph machines across America.

 The worst geomagnetic storm since then knocked out power across Quebec in March 1989 and registered at -600 nT. The July 2012 event would have delivered a whopping -1200 nT.

 Geomagnetic storms of that magnitude could cause widespread electrical blackouts. Transformers would be destroyed if they absorbed large, sustained blasts of solar radiation that pushed them to temperatures for which they were not designed. Older transformers and those in urban areas worry experts the most since they are most sensitive to electromagnetic overloads and are hardest to replace.

 Any satellite in the path of a strong solar flare could be damaged. A less serious storm harmed a pair of Canadian communications satellites in 1994; it took 6 months to repair the damage.

 How do we prepare?

 The U.S. National Academy of Sciences convened a workshop in 2008 to address the question: "Are our institutions prepared to cope with the effects of a 'space weather Katrina,' a rare, but according to the historical record, not inconceivable eventuality?"

 By that point, many industries were already thinking about the impact of adverse space weather on their assets and operations. Since then, more technologies and procedures have been implemented. For example, the FAA can route flights away from the poles during a solar storm, and electrical grid managers can ratchet down power flow through vulnerable equipment.

 The NASA spacecraft STEREO-A was able to withstand a full blast of solar radiation near the sun without harm. But not all satellites currently in use would survive. And STEREO will need to take a planned breather from its daily detailed forecasts as it moves into an unfavorable alignment with the sun this year. NASA notes there are other instruments to track solar activity, and flares should be at their low point in the solar cycle. Nonetheless, this year space weather will not be tracked in as much detail as it had been since 2006 when the pair of sun observing satellites STEREO-A and STEREO-B were launched.

 But at least for the next few days, we don't have to worry. The space weather prediction is quiet, with a slight chance of a few small flares. ||||| While you didn’t see it, feel it, or even read about it in the newspapers, Earth was almost knocked back to the Stone Age on July 23, 2012. It wasn’t some crazed dictator with his finger on the thermonuclear button or a giant asteroid that came close to wiping out civilization as we know it, though — no, what nearly ended us was a massive solar storm. Almost two years ago to the day, our most bounteous and fantastical celestial body — the Sun — kicked out one of the largest solar flares and coronal mass ejections ever recorded. And it missed Earth by a whisker. “If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces,” says Daniel Baker, who led the research into the massive solar storm.

 A solar storm is a generic term for increased activity in the Sun. In this case, the solar storm of July 2012 consisted of a massive solar flare, followed by a colossal coronal mass ejection (CME). A solar flare is initiated by the sudden release of energy stored in the Sun’s corona, causing the Sun’s plasma to heat up to tens of millions of degrees, accelerating and kicking out all sorts of radiation, and often creating a solar prominence or filament (eruption). In a large solar storm, the same energy from the corona can also cause a coronal mass ejection — a much slower-moving billion-ton cloud of plasma (electrons and protons).

 Suffice it to say, but it’s bad news if the energy and plasma from a big solar flare or CME hits the Earth. Much like a man-made electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon, the solar energetic particles strike the Earth with such force that it ionizes the atmosphere, creating a vast cloud of energetic electrons that bounce around inside the atmosphere destroying electronics and fusing conductive wires everywhere. It would probably take out a few satellites in Earth orbit, too.

 Prior to the July 2012 storm, the largest recorded storm was the Carrington Event of 1859. A massive solar flare and CME struck Earth, destroying much of the Victorian telegraph network in Europe and North America. Other solar storms have hit Earth since then, but fortunately we’ve only been hit by one large storm during modern times, which caused the 1989 Quebec blackout. The July 2012 storm was roughly twice as large as the event that caused the Quebec blackout — but fortunately, thanks to the sheer expanse of space and the Earth’s relatively large orbital distance, we dodged the bullet. “In my view the July 2012 storm was in all respects at least as strong as the 1859 Carrington event,” says Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado. “The only difference is, it missed.” [Read: Finally confirmed: An asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs.]

 Rather luckily for science, though, the July 2012 solar flare and CME did hit NASA’s STEREO A satellite square on the nose. STEREO A and B are solar observation satellites that have been orbiting the Sun since 2006, providing us with all sorts of delicious imagery and science. The video above uses footage captured by the two STEREO satellites. The image at the top of the story, of a solar flare with the Earth photoshopped in for scale, was captured by NASA’s newer Solar Dynamics Observatory. Using data from these satellites, and from historical solar storms,

 If the solar storm had hit Earth back in 2012, the total economic impact is estimated to be around $2 trillion, or 20 times the cost of Hurricane Katrina. It’s not just about money, though: As I covered in our feature story The Machine Stops, it would take time to fix up the world’s power grid. You can’t just magically replace dozens of giant transformers and substations. There are only so many diesel generators to fill the gap. If a giant solar storm hit the Earth, large parts of society could be without power for months or years.

 Pete Riley, a physicist who looked at extreme space weather events for the last 50 years, says there’s a 12% chance that a Carrington-level storm will hit Earth in the next 10 years.

 It isn’t all bad though: When we inevitably get hit by a large solar event, the resultant geomagnetic storm that wipes out most of Earth’s electronic systems will also generate some beautiful Aurorae. The Carrington Event was so powerful that the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) were seen as far south as Cuba, and the Southern Lights (aurora australis) were seen in Queensland, Australia.

 At least the anarchic post-apocalyptic Earth will have a nice backdrop, then… |||||

 July 23, 2014: If an asteroid big enough to knock modern civilization back to the 18th century appeared out of deep space and buzzed the Earth-Moon system, the near-miss would be instant worldwide headline news.

 Two years ago, Earth experienced a close shave just as perilous, but most newspapers didn't mention it. The "impactor" was an extreme solar storm, the most powerful in as much as 150+ years.

 "If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces," says Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado.

 A ScienceCast video recounts the near-miss of a solar superstorm in July 2012. Play it

 Baker, along with colleagues from NASA and other universities, published a seminal study of the storm in the December 2013 issue of the journal Space Weather. Their paper, entitled "A major solar eruptive event in July 2012," describes how a powerful coronal mass ejection (CME) tore through Earth orbit on July 23, 2012. Fortunately Earth wasn't there. Instead, the storm cloud hit the STEREO-A spacecraft.

 "I have come away from our recent studies more convinced than ever that Earth and its inhabitants were incredibly fortunate that the 2012 eruption happened when it did," says Baker. "If the eruption had occurred only one week earlier, Earth would have been in the line of fire.

 Extreme solar storms pose a threat to all forms of high-technology. They begin with an explosion--a "solar flare"—in the magnetic canopy of a sunspot. X-rays and extreme UV radiation reach Earth at light speed, ionizing the upper layers of our atmosphere; side-effects of this "solar EMP" include radio blackouts and GPS navigation errors. Minutes to hours later, the energetic particles arrive. Moving only slightly slower than light itself, electrons and protons accelerated by the blast can electrify satellites and damage their electronics. Then come the CMEs, billion-ton clouds of magnetized plasma that take a day or more to cross the Sun-Earth divide. Analysts believe that a direct hit by an extreme CME such as the one that missed Earth in July 2012 could cause widespread power blackouts, disabling everything that plugs into a wall socket. Most people wouldn't even be able to flush their toilet because urban water supplies largely rely on electric pumps.

 Before July 2012, when researchers talked about extreme solar storms their touchstone was the iconic Carrington Event of Sept. 1859, named after English astronomer Richard Carrington who actually saw the instigating flare with his own eyes. In the days that followed his observation, a series of powerful CMEs hit Earth head-on with a potency not felt before or since. Intense geomagnetic storms ignited Northern Lights as far south as Cuba and caused global telegraph lines to spark, setting fire to some telegraph offices and thus disabling the 'Victorian Internet."

 A report by the National Academy of Sciences details the consequences of extreme solar storms. More

 A similar storm today could have a catastrophic effect. According to a study by the National Academy of Sciences, the total economic impact could exceed $2 trillion or 20 times greater than the costs of a Hurricane Katrina. Multi-ton transformers damaged by such a storm might take years to repair.

 "In my view the July 2012 storm was in all respects at least as strong as the 1859 Carrington event," says Baker. "The only difference is, it missed."

 In February 2014, physicist Pete Riley of Predictive Science Inc. published a paper in Space Weather entitled "On the probability of occurrence of extreme space weather events." In it, he analyzed records of solar storms going back 50+ years. By extrapolating the frequency of ordinary storms to the extreme, he calculated the odds that a Carrington-class storm would hit Earth in the next ten years.

 The answer: 12%.

 "Initially, I was quite surprised that the odds were so high, but the statistics appear to be correct," says Riley. "It is a sobering figure."

 In his study, Riley looked carefully at a parameter called Dst, short for "disturbance – storm time." This is a number calculated from magnetometer readings around the equator. Essentially, it measures how hard Earth's magnetic field shakes when a CME hits. The more negative Dst becomes, the worse the storm. Ordinary geomagnetic storms, which produce Northern Lights around the Arctic Circle, but otherwise do no harm, register Dst=-50 nT (nanoTesla). The worst geomagnetic storm of the Space Age, which knocked out power across Quebec in March 1989, registered Dst=-600 nT. Modern estimates of Dst for the Carrington Event itself range from -800 nT to a staggering -1750 nT.

 In their Dec. 2013 paper, Baker et al. estimated Dst for the July 2012 storm. "If that CME had hit Earth, the resulting geomagnetic storm would have registered a Dst of -1200, comparable to the Carrington Event and twice as bad as the March 1989 Quebec blackout."

 The reason researchers know so much about the July 2012 storm is because, out of all the spacecraft in the solar system it could have hit, it did hit a solar observatory. STEREO-A is almost ideally equipped to measure the parameters of such an event.

 "The rich data set obtained by STEREO far exceeded the relatively meagre observations that Carrington was able to make in the 19th century," notes Riley. "Thanks to STEREO-A we know a lot of about the magnetic structure of the CME, the kind of shock waves and energetic particles it produced, and perhaps most importantly of all, the number of CMEs that preceded it."

 It turns out that the active region responsible for producing the July 2012 storm didn't launch just one CME into space, but many. Some of those CMEs "plowed the road" for the superstorm.

 A paperin the March 2014 edition of Nature Communications by UC Berkeley space physicist Janet G. Luhmann and former postdoc Ying D. Liu describes the process: The July 23rd CME was actually two CMEs separated by only 10 to 15 minutes. This double-CME traveled through a region of space that had been cleared out by yet another CME four days earlier. As a result, the storm clouds were not decelerated as much as usual by their transit through the interplanetary medium.

 "It's likely that the Carrington event was also associated with multiple eruptions, and this may turn out to be a key requirement for extreme events," notes Riley. "In fact, it seems that extreme events may require an ideal combination of a number of key features to produce the 'perfect solar storm.'"

 "Pre-conditioning by multiple CMEs appears to be very important," agrees Baker.

 A common question about this event is, how did the STEREO-A probe survive? After all, Carrington-class storms are supposed to be mortally dangerous to spacecraft and satellites. Yet STEREO-A not only rode out the storm, but also continued taking high-quality data throughout.

 "Spacecraft such as the STEREO twins and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (a joint ESA/NASA mission) were designed to operate in the environment outside the Earth's magnetosphere, and that includes even quite intense, CME-related shocks," says Joe Gurman, the STEREO project scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center. "To my knowledge, nothing serious happened to the spacecraft."

 The story might have been different, he says, if STEREO-A were orbiting Earth instead of traveling through interplanetary space.

 "Inside Earth's magnetosphere, strong electric currents can be generated by a CME strike," he explains. "Out in interplanetary space, however, the ambient magnetic field is much weaker and so those dangerous currents are missing." In short, STEREO-A was in a good place to ride out the storm.

 "Without the kind of coverage afforded by the STEREO mission, we as a society might have been blissfully ignorant of this remarkable solar storm," notes Baker. "How many others of this scale have just happened to miss Earth and our space detection systems? This is a pressing question that needs answers."

 If Riley's work holds true, there is a 12% chance we will learn a lot more about extreme solar storms in the next 10 years—when one actually strikes Earth.

 Says Baker, "we need to be prepared."

 Credits:

 Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA |||||
What is a summary?

– Imagine life without electricity or running water, and you'll understand what nearly befell our planet two years ago. Scientists say that on July 23, 2012, the sun belched its biggest solar flare in more than 150 years and barely missed us, CBS News reports. A week earlier and the storm would have struck Earth on its orbit with "catastrophic" effects, NASA says, blacking out radios, damaging satellite communications and GPS, and "disabling everything that plugs into a wall socket." Such a flare wouldn't hurt human life directly, and the Southern and Northern Lights would be gorgeous, but the blast's mix of X-rays, extreme UV radiation, energetic particles, and massive clouds of magnetized plasma would cause an estimated $2 trillion in damage. It would also leave "large parts of society" crippled for months or years while workers replaced major transformers and substations, ExtremeTech reports. The sun, on an 11-year solar-storm cycle, has nearly done this before: A massive storm called the "Carrington Event" struck Earth in 1859 but couldn't inflict much electrical damage in the age of steam engines (telegraph lines did spark and set fire), and a pretty powerful storm caused blackouts across Quebec in 1989. One physicist says there's a 12% chance of a big solar blast hitting us over the next decade, which he calls a "sobering figure." Another is quoted in the Guardian saying how lucky we are that the blast wasn't in sync with our orbit: "Earth and its inhabitants were incredibly fortunate that the 2012 eruption happened when it did," he says. "We'd still be picking up the pieces." (Read about the sun's newly discovered "long-lost brother.")