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– Winemakers have long understood that things like the soil in which grapes are grown can affect the flavor of the grapes and, ultimately the wine. Now scientists have proof that a microbial component of "terroir"—wine lingo for the individual regional conditions—has an impact, too. Reporting in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers say they isolated the six major related strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast is a microbe, which the AFP describes as a "brainless, single-celled organism") found at all six of New Zealand's wine-producing regions and inoculated those 36 strains into sterilized Sauvignon Blanc grape juice to begin the process of fermentation. "We controlled for absolutely everything else other than these microbes," one researcher tells The Scientist, "and then we asked: What are the wines that result from those strains?" The intention was to see whether the genetic differences in the strains had an impact on the wine's taste and smell, but instead of using subjective taste testing, the researchers chemically profiled the resulting wines. And while these signatures showed tons of overlap, they also betrayed regional distinctiveness, with the profiles of wines produced by yeast strains from the same region clustering together. It wasn't the result study co-author Matthew Goddard was expecting. "The idea that microbes might play a role in terroir is new," he tells AFP, "and we think this is the first time that it has been experimentally shown that this is the case." The researchers further determined that "most of the 'fruity' notes in wine are in fact derived from yeast not the fruit." (Read about three really detestable wine habits.)

Selection of S. cerevisiae genotypes

 Recently Knight and Goddard17 isolated 3,900 S. cerevisiae from native forests, vineyards, and the spontaneous ferments of Vitis vinifera var Sauvignon Blanc fruit from six major regions in NZ (Hawke’s Bay, Martinborough, Nelson, Wairau Valley, Awatere Valley and Central Otago). Microsatellite genotype profiling of these isolates revealed the presence of 295 different genotypes. Bayesian population structure methods, and statistical analyses of the resulting ancestry profiles29, showed significantly distinct sub-populations residing in each of these regions17. Here we use the genetic ancestry profiles produced from Bayesian analysis, in combination with regional allele frequencies, to select S. cerevisiae genotypes from each of these regional sub-populations that span and represent the genetic diversity within each region. Genotypes that belong to the main inferred population correlating with each region, that also maximize the diversity of alleles present in each region, were selected, including at least one genotype that harbored regionally unique alleles. Supplementary Table S1 shows the Bayesian ancestry profiles for the genotypes originally analyzed by Knight and Goddard17: the inferred sub-populations common in each regions are noted and the genotypes selected for use in this study are highlighted. The allele frequencies within each regional population are shown in Supplementary Table S2 with the alleles harbored by the selected genotypes in this analysis highlighted. Due to the large diversity of alleles observed in each regional population, and the constraints on the number of ferments we could perform and analyze here, clearly not every allele could be represented. Rather, we included those genotypes harboring the more common alleles in each region: genotypes selected ensured that the average proportion of each population that harbored the represented alleles was no lower than 60% (Supplementary Table S2).

 Ferment Performance

 All ferments were conducted using the same commercially derived batch of homogenized and sterilized Sauvignon Blanc juice from Marlborough in NZ. Six individual S. cerevisiae genotypes from each region, and co-inoculations of all six genotypes representing regional populations, were fermented in triplicate across three separate batches totaling 126 ferments. The extent to which sugars were fermented was analyzed by weight loss30, and most lost approximately 25 g indicating complete fermentation given the 220 g of sugar in the juice initially. One genotype from the Wairau Valley failed to ferment at all and was removed from all analyses. Eleven single genotype ferments, all in the third batch, displayed significantly less weight loss than the remaining ferments (F 1, 108 = 905.9, P < 0.0001), indicating incomplete fermentation which is known to affect the volatile profiles of wines31. Also consistent with incomplete fermentation, the final concentration of ethanol in these ferments reduced (Dataset S1). It would also be expected that these ferments would have higher residual sugar but curiously the residual sugar reported for all of these ferments is below 2.5 g/L suggesting the majority of the sugar has been consumed (Dataset S1). To confirm this observation the wines from the third batch were also analyzed for residual sugar using an alternate enzymatic assay (Megazyme D-Fructose/D-Glucose assay kit), which confirmed the low residual sugar levels, reporting concentrations between 0–1.1 g/L. This suggests these ferments may not have had as much sugar at the start of fermentation, potentially caused by incomplete mixing of the initial juice before allocation into flasks. We therefore conservatively removed these ferments from all further analyses. Lag phase, the time taken for fermentation to initiate, differed significantly between batches (F 2, 89 = 7.73, P = 0.0008), and since each batch contained one replicate of each sample, this was controlled for in subsequent statistical analyses by introducing a “batch” factor.

 Chemical profiles produced by single genotype ferments correlate with region of microbe origin

 We quantified the concentrations of 39 volatile compounds and wine quality parameters produced in each of the 112 successful ferments using targeted GC-MS and FTIR analyses. First we analyzed the volatile profiles deriving from ferments conducted by single yeast genotypes only. A Permutational Multivariate Analysis of Variance (PERMANOVA) employing a full factorial model with “region” and “batch” as main effects, and where permutations kept replicates of each genotype together, revealed that both factors significantly affected volatile profiles (both P = 0.001), but provided no evidence of an interaction between these main effects (Table 1a). The R2 value for the region effect was greatest reporting the geographic origin of the S. cerevisiae genotypes explained approximately 10 % of the total variation in the chemical profiles (Table 1a). The lack of significance for the interaction term indicates this result is not confounded by the differences between batches. In addition, we analyzed these differential chemical profiles by accounting for human perception thresholds of compounds. Where available, we used empirically determined odor activity values (OAVs) to standardize the various chemical concentrations in these ferments32,33. The results of the subsequent PERMANOVA agreed with the initial analyses and again revealed a highly significant effect of the region of S. cerevisiae isolation on these wine phenotypes (Region: R2 = 0.127, P = 0.002; Table 1b). Thus, we can categorically reject the null hypothesis, and move to accept that there is a significant correlation between the region of isolation of S. cerevisiae and aroma profiles in wine.

 Table 1: Summary of all PERMANOVA analyses. Full size table

 Regional pairwise PERMANOVA analyses revealed different degrees of distinction between the chemical profiles produced by S. cerevisiae genotypes originating from different regions (Supplementary Table S3). P-values can be misleading when multiple comparisons are performed34, and it has been argued that more emphasis should be placed on the magnitude of the effect when dissecting differences35: we therefore examined the magnitude of the F-statistics from these multiple comparisons as a measure of the strength of evidence for a regional effect (i.e. the higher the F-statistic, the stronger the support for a regional effect). The chemical profiles of yeasts originating from Nelson are the most distinct compared to other regions with the mean of the pairwise F-statistics involving this region being the highest at 3.20 (Fig. 1; Supplementary Table S3). Nelson’s similarity to all regions is low with the exception of the Awatere Valley (Fig. 1). The Awatere and Wairau Valleys are the most similar to other regions (Fig. 1) and report the least distinct chemical profiles compared to other regions with mean F-statistics of 1.19 and 1.73 respectively (Supplementary Table S3). Central Otago, Martinborough and Hawke’s Bay are intermediate with a mix of both highly similar and more distinct relationships with other regions (Fig. 1; Supplementary Table S3).

 Figure 1: A map of the regions the tested genotypes of S. cerevisiae were isolated from and the strength of regional differentiation in the chemical profiles as indicated by F-statistics from pairwise PERMANOVA analyses (Supplementary Table S3). Wider lines indicate weaker regional distinctions in the chemical profiles produced (i.e. less distinct chemical profiles), while thinner lines indicate stronger regional distinction (i.e. more distinct chemical profiles). The inset indicates the portion of NZ highlighted in the larger map. The outline of the map of NZ was obtained from www.spraypaintstencils.com, where it is freely available, and all modifications were performed by the Authors in Microsoft Power Point. Full size image

 To effectively visualize the differences in chemical profiles, the data were transformed and plotted using Constrained Correspondence Analysis (CCA)36. Overall a large overlap is observed between chemical profiles derived from genotypes from different regions (Fig. 2); however, the chemical profiles of Central Otago genotypes cluster in the upper half and those from Nelson mostly toward the lower left quadrant, with the exception of the three replicate samples from one genotype that are located in the upper right quadrant (Fig. 2a). The genotypes from Wairau and Awatere Valleys have the largest ellipses indicating a larger variability in the chemical profiles of these samples (Fig. 2b).

 Figure 2: CCA of the 105 single genotype ferments analyzed. (a) All sample points colored by region. (b) Regional averages and 50 % ellipses. Full size image

 Chemical drivers of regional differentiation in single ferment samples

 Next we evaluated which components of the volatile profiles might be driving these differences in wine phenotype. Individual ANOVA analyses were performed for each of the chemical properties measured. As explained above, F-statistics are reported here in place of P-values as they are a more appropriate measure of support for multiple comparisons. We designate F-statistics larger than two as having a sizeable effect (i.e. region explains more the twice the variation in the model compared to the residuals), and thus 29 of the 39 compounds vary with respect to the region of origin of the yeast genotype (Supplementary Table S4). R2 values range from zero to 38% of the variation being explained by the S. cerevisiae genotype region of isolation, but no one class of chemical compound is exclusively responsible for the regional signal for wine phenotypes (Supplementary Table S4).

 CCA additionally provides vectors indicating the direction and magnitude of influence that each chemical property has on the positioning of the sample aroma profiles within the plot, and potentially provides a mechanism to infer which chemicals differentiate each region. Four compounds (three esters and one fatty acid) have the greatest impact on the distribution of these wine phenotypes generally with vectors of a magnitude larger than 0.25 (Fig. 3a); however these chemical compounds are not necessarily correlated to the differentiation calculated between regions. To focus on and visualize the vectors of the chemical properties most important to the differences in chemical profiles between ferments conducted by yeasts derived from different regions we identified those chemicals that reported R2 values above 0.25, and F-statistics above 5 in the individual ANOVA analyses (Fig. 3b,c; Supplementary Table S4). This reveals that concentrations of ethyl isobutyrate and ethyl-2-methyl butanoate, which have apple and sweet fruit sensory descriptors, are on average both greatest in the ferments conducted by the genotypes deriving from Nelson and least in those from Central Otago and Martinborough. In addition, concentrations of ethyl butanoate (sensory descriptors of peach, apple and sweet) are on average greatest in ferments conducted by genotypes derived from Martinborough, and least in ferments conducted by genotypes derived from Nelson (Fig. 3). β-damascenone (sensory descriptors of apple, honey and floral) concentrations are on average greater in the ferments conducted by yeast genotypes derived from the Awatere and Wairau Valleys comprising the larger Marlborough region, and least from the ferments conducted by genotypes deriving from the Hawke’s Bay. Together this paints an intuitively sensible picture and reveals that the differential wine phenotype signatures driven by yeasts derived from different regions are not one-dimensional but multi-faceted.

 Figure 3: Visualization of the chemicals that individually explain more than 25% of the regional variation as calculated by ANOVA analyses. (a) The direction and magnitude of all chemical loading vectors, with labels for the chemicals that reported a magnitude above 0.25. The blue circles represent the position of 0.1 and 0.25. (b) The chemical loading vectors in the CCA plot for those that reported an R2 value for region larger than 0.25 and an F-statistics larger than 5 in the ANOVA analyses (Supplementary Table S4). The blue circles represent the position of 0.1 and 0.25. (c) The same chemical loading vectors reported in b with respect to the regional centers of the chemical profiles. Full size image

 The genetic basis for differences in chemical profiles

 While not exclusively genetically determined, the types and concentrations of metabolites produced by S. cerevisiae are significantly influenced by yeast genotype37,38,39. It is thus not surprising that a Mantel test evaluating the correlation between S. cerevisiae genotype genetic distance (using microsatellite profiles)17 and volatile chemical profile distance (calculated using Jaccard dissimilarity) reveal they are significantly correlated (R2 = 0.189; P < 0.0001). This formally allows us to accept the alternate hypothesis at the core of this study: that there is a significant correlation between the genetic relatedness of natural S. cerevisiae sub-populations and their effect on resulting wine phenotypes. Additionally, PERMANOVA analysis using the assignment of genotypes to inferred genetic clusters calculated using InStruct17 as a factor, as opposed to region of origin, increased the R2 value by 0.051 to 0.151 or 15% (P = 0.007). Some of the genotypes do not have a high proportion of ancestry to any one inferred population, and thus have mixed ancestry to different regions (Dataset S1). If these hybrid genotypes are removed and only those genotypes with a ‘clean’ geographic signal are analyzed, the PERMANOVA analysis reveals an increase in the R2 for the factor “region” to 0.198 (P = 0.006), double that of the original analysis (Table 1c).

 The effect of regionally co-fermented genotypes and blended wines on volatile profiles

 There is evidence to show that the presence of other yeasts during fermentation, be they conspecifics or other species, may affect the subsequent volatile profiles of wine compared to the profiles produced when genotypes ferment in isolation25,40,41,42. We moved to evaluate whether interactions between genotypes from each region may affect and potentially alter regional signals for wine phenotypes. We compared the volatile profile of regional co-ferments, produced by inoculating all six genotypes from a region together in equal proportions, to regional blends, created by mixing the final wine produced by single genotypes from each region in equal proportions. PERMANOVA reveals that the type of ferment (co-ferment or blend) has a significant effect on chemical profiles (R2 = 0.061, P = 0.014; Table 1d). Again CCA was used to visualize the differences between the chemical profiles, and while overlap between the blends and co-ferments is evident, the blended ferments show less variability than the co-ferments, and are typically placed in the lower right of the plot (Supplementary Fig. S1a). Individual chemical ANOVA and the resulting CCA plot show the main differences between the co-ferments and blends are driven by ethyl decanoate, ethyl dodecanoate, ethyl octanoate and ethyl acetate (Supplementary Fig. S1b).

 While the co-fermentation of multiple genotypes significantly affects the phenotype of wine compared to blending, it appears to erode signal for wine phenotype regionality, as PERMANOVA analysis reveals no strong regional co-ferment effect on volatile profiles (R2 = 0.346, P = 0.073; Table 1e). However, this may be an issue of statistical power—only three replicates of regional co-ferments and blends were implemented compared to the six volatile profiles from each of six genotypes from each region in the initial analysis. It is worth noting that the P-value for the effect of region reported by the co-ferments is marginal (P = 0.073), but the value for blends is not (P = 0.196) (Table 1 e,f), and might suggest that blending more greatly erodes any signal for regional wine phenotype than co-fermentation does. ||||| Wine (Shuttershock)

 Being a winemaker is a specialised calling, requiring intimate knowledge of soil composition, seasons and weather, chemistry, flavour, even marketing and sales.

 Yet the distinctive bouquet and flavour of a Chablis or chardonnay could not be achieved without the input of a brainless, single-celled organism, said a study Thursday.

 The previously overlooked vintner, a type of yeast called Saccharomyces cerevisiae, makes a “small but significant” contribution to a wine’s flavour and taste, scientists reported in the journal Scientific Reports.

 This makes the fungus a key to that enigmatic wine concept “terroir” — everything from the soil, topography, climate and agricultural processes that go into producing your favourite Bordeaux.

 “I was surprised that we detected any signal at all from these geographically different yeast populations in the aroma profile of the wine — I thought we would not,” co-author Matthew Goddard of the University of Lincoln in England told AFP.

 “The signal is small, but detectable,” he said by email.

 Geographic differences in wines were previously ascribed mainly to plant genetics, local soil and climate, and farming methods.

 – ‘Fruity notes’ are mostly yeast –

 “The idea that microbes might play a role in terroir is new, and we think this is the first time that it has been experimentally shown that this is the case,” said Goddard.

 For the study, the team first showed genetic differences between populations of S. cerevisiae found in sauvignon blanc grapes in six major wine-growing regions of New Zealand.

 Then they tested whether these genetic differences influenced the taste and smell of wine.

 They found that roughly half of the chemical compounds that determine a wine’s unique traits came from yeast during fermentation — “most of the ‘fruity’ notes in wine are in fact derived from yeast not the fruit,” Goddard said.

 The compounds are a by-product of fermentation.

 Some winemakers add yeast to grape juice for fermentation, but many rely on microbes naturally found in the fruit, he added.

 “I note that many (but not all) premium wines are made by spontaneous fermentation, and I think the microbes contribute something to the distinctness (and thus value) of these.”

 Wine is still mainly a product of terroir, said Goddard — “we just have to widen our concept of what is included in terroir to the other living things in the region — like the microbes.”

 Further study is needed to determine whether other fungi and bacteria may also be contributing to regional wine characteristics, the authors said. ||||| MAT GODDARDThe distinct regional conditions, or terroir, in which grapes are grown are thought to shape a wine’s character. But strict scientific evidence of this phenomenon has been lacking. Now, researchers in Auckland, New Zealand, have confirmed that at least one aspect of terroir—local differences in yeast strains—does indeed alter the outcome of Sauvignon Blanc fermentation. Their findings were published today (September 24) in Scientific Reports.

 “The take-home message of this paper is that different strains of yeast used to ferment grapes impart a specific chemistry to the wine,” said microbiologist Jack Gilbert of the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois who was not involved in the work. “The wine community understands that yeast play a role [in terroir]—that the yeast on the plant could be giving a particular strain of Merlot grown in two different locations two different flavors,” he added, but there was no formal proof. “This is just a wonderful piece of evidence that shows the types of metabolites those different strains of yeast can actually generate in the ferment.”

 Grape must—the freshly crushed fruit, seeds, skins, and stems of harvested vines—can be turned into wine either by inoculating with a pure yeast culture or by allowing the microbes naturally present on the fruit to carry out spontaneous fermentation. It is well known that these naturally occurring microbes exhibit regional variations, said Matthew Goddard of the University of Auckland and the University of Lincoln in the UK. But it was unclear whether these differences translated to distinct wine flavors and aromas, he said. “This study attacks that question.”

 Goddard’s Auckland-based team first identified and isolated the six major related strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae present at each of six New Zealand wine-producing regions. The researchers then inoculated these 36 strains individually into sterilized Sauvignon Blanc grape juice to begin fermentation. “We controlled for absolutely everything else other than these microbes,” he said, “and then we asked: What are the wines that result from those strains?”

 The wines were tested for the presence and quantity of 39 volatile compounds and other standard quality parameters such as ethanol, acidity, and sugar. The researchers found that the chemical signatures of the wines showed a large degree of overlap, but that the profiles of those produced by yeast strains from the same region tended to cluster—indicating the wines did indeed exhibit a regional character.

 The most distinct regional signature, the team discovered, belonged to those wines produced by strains of yeast from Nelson—located at the northern end of New Zealand’s South Island. The wines shared “a collection of compounds that stood out,” said Goddard. “Putting my subjective and less scientific hat on,” he added, “this wouldn’t be a massively unexpected result for tasters [because] wines from Nelson do tend to have a certain something about them. They have a different profile.”

 The lab-generated Nelson wines had particularly high concentrations of compounds that are known to impart apple and sweet fruit sensory effects. However, the wines’ actual tastes were not verified, in part because of health and safety restrictions, explained Goddard.

 The effects of the microbes on the wines’ chemical profiles were statistically significant, “but the size of that effect was still relatively small,” said Goddard. But that would be expected, he said, because presumably the local differences in yeast are just one of numerous factors contributing to a wine’s terroir.

 “This is the first quantitative demonstration of a microbial component of terroir,” said oenologist Vladimir Jiranek of the University of Adelaide, who did not participate in the study. “It starts to explain the basis for that uniqueness [which] is nice to know,” he said, “but of course from a wine research point-of-view, what we want to do is to manipulate that profile of microbes to favor a particular wine-making outcome.”

 For instance, Gilbert suggested, “we could add in yeast . . . of our own particular design to create particular desired organoleptic properties for the wine.” If microbial manipulation were combined with other terroir-contributing factors, he added, “you could theorectically create the ideal year every year.”

 S. Knight et al., “Regional microbial signatures positively correlate with differential wine phenotypes: evidence for a microbial aspect to terroir,” Scientific Reports, 5:14233, doi:10.1038/srep14233, 2015. |||||


Article:
Han's colleagues became concerned about his whereabouts when he uncharacteristically failed to show up Wednesday morning for a meeting in Los Angeles, Brown said. Two associates later went to Han's home, a gated 7-acre ranchette at the top of a hill off the 101 Freeway. ||||| THE BIG SCENE: IN CONCERT: The Watch List The 34th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival is nearly upon us and like many, that catalog of films is going to be a big blur soon. If one has limited time and not a full pass, what are the must see films this year? There are eleven days, ... More»

  ||||| SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — The "horrific" slaying of a practitioner of Chinese herbal medicine, his wife and their 5-year-old daughter in their California home does not appear to be random, authorities said.

 The crime was discovered Wednesday when sheriff's deputies responded to a call for a welfare check on the residence in a modern neighborhood on winding streets just outside Santa Barbara.

 After obtaining a search warrant, detectives entered the home early Thursday and coroner's investigators collected the remains, which were identified as those of 57-year-old Dr. Weidong "Henry" Han; his wife, 29-year-old Huijie "Jennie" Yu; and their daughter, Emily Han, a kindergartner.

 County and state forensics teams were brought in to process the scene and autopsies were to be conducted to determine the cause and manner of death.

 "Sheriff's detectives are actively investigating this case and are working around the clock to determine who is responsible for this horrific crime," Santa Barbara County sheriff's spokeswoman Kelly Hoover said in a statement. "Early indications are that this was not a random attack."

 The Sheriff's Office did not immediately release information about what prompted the welfare check or describe the scene.

 Han owned and operated the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic since 1991, according to its website, which says he had an extensive background in Chinese herbal medicine and Western medicine and was a co-author of books on the combination of the two traditions.

 Han provided traditional treatments including acupuncture, acupressure and herbal formulas from an on-site Chinese pharmacy, according to the website. It also says he came from a family of doctors in China, earned medical degrees in Beijing and studied graduate-level psychology in the United States.

 Dr. Glenn Miller, a psychiatrist, who with Han was among three co-authors of a book on ancient herbs and modern medicine, told the Santa Barbara News-Press that Han was "a healer in the truest sense of the word" and a doting father.

 The home, built in 2005, was purchased in Han's name in 2012 for $1.65 million, the newspaper reported. ||||| [UPDATE, 11:10 p.m.]: Authorities have released the names of three homicide victims found Wednesday evening at 4640 Greenhill Way: Dr. Weidong “Henry” Han, his 29-year-old wife Huijie “Jennie” Yu, and their five-year-old daughter Emily Han. No additional details were provided in the press release issued by Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kelly Hoover.

 Emily was enrolled in kindergarten at Foothill Elementary School. By Thursday afternoon, Foothill kindergarten families were consulting the school psychologist about how best to discuss the incident with their children.

 “From my very few interactions with [Emily], she seemed like a sweet and curious child who was very interested in learning about other kids and the world at large,” said Independent senior editor Matt Kettmann, whose son is in her class. “Our neighbors and the entire Foothill community are in shock, yet again.” In August 2014, Santa Barbara County resident Nicolas Holzer was arrested and charged with killing his parents and his two sons in their home near Goleta. Holzer’s son Vincent, 10, attended Foothill Elementary School.

 More information will be released Friday at noon, Hoover said.

 Léna Garcia

 [UPDATE, 5:15 p.m.]: Authorities have identified but not released the names of the three people found murdered following a Wednesday evening welfare check at 4640 Greenhill Way near Goleta.

 “Sheriff’s detectives are actively investigating this case and are working around the clock to determine who is responsible for this horrific crime,” said Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kelly Hoover in a press release. She added, “Early indications are that this was not a random attack.” The victims’ names are being withheld pending next-of-kin notification.

 Situated on a seven-acre avocado orchard at the top of a gated driveway, the four-bedroom home is registered as being owned by well-known Chinese herbal medicine specialist Dr. Weidong “Henry” Han. Han, 57, is the founder of the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic located across from La Cumbre Plaza.

 Forensic investigators from the Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Justice are collaborating on the investigation. Hoover said the next update from law enforcement officials will be at 10 p.m. Thursday night. Anyone with information on the case is asked the call the Sheriff’s anonymous tip line at (805) 681-4171.

 Courtesy Photo

 [UPDATE, 12:45 p.m.]: A short time ago, Sheriff’s detectives were witnessed entering the Santa Barbara Herbal Clinic on upper State Street, which is run by Dr. Weidong “Henry” Han.

 Han is the listed owner of the Greenhill Way home where the three bodies were found.

 People could be seen inside the clinic, but they declined to answer the door. Phone calls went unanswered. Potted plants had been moved in front of the entryway to dissuade access.

 Greenhill Way neighbor John Frank told Independent editor Lena Garcia that between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Wednesday, he saw two police cars approach Han’s home. By 4 p.m., 11 more law enforcement vehicles had arrived. Frank said he watched an Asian man and another person being led down the driveway by officers. The man was not wearing handcuffs, he said.

 [UPDATE, 12:00 p.m.]: Independent assistant news editor Léna Garcia is on the scene and speaking with neighbors. Cindy Lafonde jogs near the home every day and said its occupants were rarely seen, describing them as “very quiet people.” “I’ve only seen the gardener,” she said. Garcia described the home, which sits above the private condominium community of Forte Ranch, as surrounded by large gardens and not visible from the main road below.

 [ORIGINAL REPORT]: A Wednesday evening welfare check at a mansion in unincorporated Santa Barbara developed into a “suspicious death” investigation, in which three bodies were found around 12:25 a.m. Thursday.

 Courtesy Photo

 Around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sheriff’s deputies responded to 4640 Greenhill Way for a welfare check, said Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kelly Hoover. “They found evidence inside [the home] that prompted a suspicious death investigation.” The Mediterranean-style home, located in an unincorporated area between Goleta and Santa Barbara, sits at the end of a long driveway and occupies a seven-acre property. Public records show it was last sold in 2012 to Dr. Weidong “Henry” Han, founder of the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic.

 As of early Thursday morning, investigators and the Sheriff’s Coroner were on scene. The Sheriff’s Office stated it would delay naming the dead until next-of-kin were notified. |||||Summary:

– A family of three was murdered in their Santa Barbara County home this week, and authorities don't think the slayings are random. Authorities responded to a request for a welfare check at the upscale Goleta Valley home Wednesday and found the bodies of Dr. Weidong "Henry" Han, 57, his wife Huijie "Jennie" Yu, 29, and their daughter Emily Han, 5, in what law enforcement describes as a "horrific" scene, KEYT reports. A family friend who used to pick Emily up from kindergarten says the family had stopped responding to phone calls and texts before authorities went to check on them. Han, an author of several books, ran the Santa Barbara Herb Clinic, a Chinese medicine practice and Chinese herbal pharmacy, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was "a healer in the truest sense of the word," his co-author tells the Santa Barbara News-Press, per the AP. Details are scant, but the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's office says the investigation so far indicates "this was not a random attack." "Our neighbors and the entire Foothill community are in shock," an editor of the Santa Barbara Independent says.


Here is a news article: 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. ||||| Why We Haven't Heard the Last of Michelle 'Bombshell' McGee

 Email This It looks as if

 "Initially, McGee sold her original story to InTouch magazine for $30,000," a magazine insider reveals, "and is now looking to make even more money by pitching additional scandalous information, including X-rated photographs, more texted messages and intimate details about what Sandra's husband likes to do in bed." It looks as if Sandra Bullock 's nightmare has no end in sight now that Michelle "Bombshell" McGee has decided she will tell even more about her 'relationship' with Jesse James ... for the right price."Initially, McGee sold her original story to InTouch magazine for $30,000," a magazine insider reveals, "and is now looking to make even more money by pitching additional scandalous information, including X-rated photographs, more texted messages and intimate details about what Sandra's husband likes to do in bed."

 I won't know for sure until tomorrow if any weekly magazines decide to pay Miss McGee the $100k sources tell me she is asking for her 'Kiss & Tell: Part 2,' but I do know that Naughty But Nice won't be spending one cent on any magazine that does.It's time Miss McGee shut up and stop embarrassing herself and the one person who has done nothing wrong in this entire situation, Miss Sandra Bullock. |||||
A summary of this is?

– More Nazi photos, more stripping, more custody fights: The Jesse James-Sandra Bullock mess beats on. The latest, courtesy of TMZ and Radar: James’ own Nazi photo, which both gossip sites have seen, is being shopped. In the 2-year-old image, he’s reportedly wearing an SS hat, making the Nazi salute, and holding two fingers under his nose in what appears to be an imitation of Hitler’s mustache; there’s a model airplane in the background that looks like the kind flown by the Third Reich. James’ ex-wife, Janine Lindemulder, decided to ramp up her custody battle again since the cheating allegations came out. James and Bullock initially won full custody of 6-year-old daughter Sunny, but Lindemulder thinks Bullock will file for divorce—leading a judge to perhaps grant Lindemulder partial custody. McGee has gone back to her roots—stripping. TMZ has a video of her dancing at a San Diego nightclub last week. Don't expect McGee to stop talking about James anytime soon. Sources say she's looking for a $100,000 payday in exchange for another story—for more on what she might reveal, click here.


Gilbert P. Hyatt, the Las Vegas-based inventor, who turns 76 in March, filed a lawsuit in January demanding action on what may be the oldest pending U.S. patent applications.

 Gilbert P. Hyatt, the Las Vegas-based inventor, who turns 76 in March, filed a lawsuit in January demanding action on what may be the oldest pending U.S. patent applications. Close

 Forty-three years is too long even for Gilbert P. Hyatt, the dogged inventor who once shocked the computer industry and got rich.

 Hyatt said he’s been waiting that long for a U.S. ruling on whether his electronic signal to control machinery should be granted a patent. The patent-approval process takes 28.3 months on average. His idea for liquid crystal displays? That’s been sitting in the Patent and Trademark Office for 35 years.

 The Las Vegas-based inventor, who turns 76 in March, filed a lawsuit in January demanding action on what may be the oldest pending U.S. patent applications. Hyatt attributes some of the delay to retribution for sometimes making the agency look bad during years of disputes.

 “It’s totally unconscionable,” said Brad Wright, a patent lawyer with Banner & Witcoff in Washington who specializes in computer-related applications and isn’t involved in Hyatt’s case. “The patent office doesn’t want to be embarrassed that they might issue a broad patent that would have a sweeping impact on the technology sector. Rather than be embarrassed, they’re just bottling it up.”

 No one is able to put a price tag on what licensing those two patents would cost technology companies. Even Hyatt said he’s not sure whether he would replicate the shock of getting a patent in 1990 on a “single chip integrated circuit computer architecture,” a ruling that effectively gave him a financial claim to most microprocessors, the digital backbone of every personal computer in the world.

 Industry Firestorm

 What is certain is that Hyatt isn’t some gadfly in a garden shed. He’s probably made more than $150 million from a deal with Royal Philips NV (PHIA), the Dutch electronics maker, to license 23 of his patents, including the 1990 one. Intel Corp. (INTC) co-founder Robert Noyce invested in Hyatt’s first company in the 1960s, according to Hyatt.

 “These were fundamental technologies and even though the industry has grown tremendously, they are based on those fundamental technologies,” Hyatt, who still works in his private lab each day, said in a telephone interview. “I suspect that my ideas are still novel, even to this day.”

 The patent office, which issued 302,948 patents last year and receives more than 500,000 new requests annually, won’t say what’s in Hyatt’s two pending applications.

 Because the filings are so old, they fall under a law that keeps them confidential, said Patrick Ross, a PTO spokesman. That means the office can’t discuss them or even say how many pending patent applications predate a 1995 change in the law, Ross said.

 All Hyatt would say is that he is fighting to get acknowledgment for his work on what he calls “square wave machine control.”

 Texas Instruments

 It took Hyatt 20 years to get his 1990 microprocessor patent. He filed the application around the same period as the two still pending.

 Reaction at the time was swift. Texas Instruments, the world’s largest analog-chip maker, argued to the patent office that Hyatt was claiming credit for one of the company’s inventions. After five years, the agency canceled part of the patent while allowing other aspects of it to remain.

 Still, the patent became part of Hyatt’s licensing deal with Philips, which has generated more than $350 million. Philips deducted its costs and then split the proceeds 50-50, meaning Hyatt probably got more than $150 million.

 $388 Million

 Hyatt, who speaks softly in conversations, doesn’t hesitate to fight. When California, where he once lived, claimed he owed $51 million in back taxes and penalties, he shot back with a lawsuit accusing state officials of harassing him and invasion of privacy. He won a record $388 million award that’s currently being reviewed by Nevada’s Supreme Court.

 He has taken the patent office to court more than 10 times to force the agency to reconsider rejections of some of his applications. He even won a case at the Supreme Court in 2012 over what type of evidence can be presented in district court.

 “I got a whole bunch of cases referred back to the patent office telling them to do it right,” said Hyatt. “I don’t think they want to let it get to the board of appeals and therefore they keep running me around from examination to appeal, reopening prosecutions, examining, forcing me to appeal again and round and round.”

 In the January lawsuit, Hyatt alleges he was told by a PTO unit director that the agency’s unofficial policy in dealing with him is to give him the runaround to avoid making a decision he could appeal. He said that may be why the patent office hasn’t granted him a patent since 1997.

 Ross, the PTO spokesman, wouldn’t comment on the lawsuit, which was filed Jan. 3 in a U.S. district court in Las Vegas.

 Intel Connection

 Hyatt, the son of a Russian emigrant and civil engineer, spent the early part of his career working for aerospace companies. He said he got his ideas for a business while at Teledyne Technologies Inc. (TDY) in the 1960s.

 He set up Micro Computer Inc. in 1968 to implement his ideas, with Noyce, who would co-found Intel that same year, as one of his investors.

 “Dr. Noyce invested in my company personally because, from his standpoint, he thought it had merit,” Hyatt said. “I was happy to get him because I thought Intel would build the chips.”

 Noyce, who died in 1990, often invested in Silicon Valley startups, said Thomas Misa, director of the Charles Babbage Institute Center for the History of Information Technology in Minneapolis, who likened it to someone backing a neighbor’s ideas. Investing with Hyatt would have been consistent with his interests, he said.

 “Bob Noyce was investor in everything,” Misa said. “When he died, his family found a shoe box of promissory notes. He was very keen on building the electronics industry.”

 ‘Frugal Inventor’

 Leslie Berlin, Noyce’s biographer, and technology historian Ross Bassett, a professor at North Carolina State University in the city of Raleigh, said they couldn’t find records showing Noyce invested with Hyatt, while agreeing with Misa’s comments.

 Hyatt, who describes himself as “at heart a frugal inventor,” said it’s clear he will never be placed in Silicon Valley’s pantheon of founding fathers, even with his 1990 patent. He just wants a decision -- either give him a patent, he said, or a final rejection that he can appeal to a U.S. court.

 While some of Hyatt’s patents predate or are contemporary with those granted to executives at Intel and Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN), those companies made products that changed the world, Bassett said.

 “I respect Gilbert Hyatt’s work -- the process of engineering is difficult,” Bassett said in a telephone interview. “But innovations are more than ideas. The broader context matters. If Gilbert Hyatt had never existed, I believe the microprocessor would have developed in the same way that it did.”

 To contact the reporters on this story: Susan Decker in Washington at sdecker1@bloomberg.net; Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net

 To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bernard Kohn at bkohn2@bloomberg.net; Pui-Wing Tam at ptam13@bloomberg.net ||||| Washington has always loved a good war. Ronald Reagan revived the nation's War on Drugs, George W. Bush declared a War on Terror, and, more recently, some of the conservatives in Congress have even accused liberals of waging a War on Christmas. But there is one war that has failed to grab the headlines it deserves.

 I'm speaking of the ongoing War on Inventors.

 Our founding fathers understood that American innovation would lead to American jobs, so they created the U.S. Patent System to nurture and protect small inventors. Their strategy paid off, and our nation's economy grew into an international juggernaut because of independent innovators like Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Eli Whitney, and the Wright Brothers.

 Their modern-day counterparts are in danger. For the last few years, a small handful of global high-tech corporations and their allies on Capitol Hill have been doing everything they can to put small inventors out of business. Ironically, many of these companies--Google, Apple, Microsoft, and others--were themselves started in inventors' garages, but now they live in constant fear that their business models will be disrupted by unpredictable technologies developed by little guys.

 Since the late 1990s, these high-tech multinationals have been stripping garage inventors of their rights under the guise of "patent reform," doling out tens of millions of dollars to K Street lobbyists and pushing Congress to chip away at the system carefully laid out by Thomas Jefferson and his brethren. Their latest attempt to undercut innovation, the harmless-sounding "Patent Transparency and Improvements Act of 2013," will be debated by the Senate later this year. If passed, this bill would make it all but impossible for small, cash-strapped patent holders to file perfectly legitimate claims against large companies that rip off their intellectual property, tilting the legal system in favor of corporate infringers. These new "Loser Pay" laws would encourage technological copycatting and greatly reduce the incentives that keep independent inventors tinkering in their garages.

 The anti-innovation crowd is even proposing that the director of the patent office create a national database of the small inventors who are forced to defend their inventions in court most often--not to help them, mind you, but to monitor them and help big businesses beat them in the courtroom.

 If this isn't an example of big government picking winners and losers in the marketplace, then I don't know what is.

 Congress should instead focus on making the patent office more accessible to small inventors, who often run into bureaucratic problems that are difficult to solve without a large corporation's resources. The independent inventor Gilbert Hyatt is a prime example. Hyatt is one of the fathers of the microcomputer, and he recently had to take the patent office to court because the agency has apparently refused to decide appeals on patent applications that have been pending, unbelievably, for more than 40 years. Hyatt is now asking a federal court to order the patent office to stop delaying and issue decisions on the appeals.

 Hyatt is not the only small inventor to have suffered problems like these.

 Rather than enact legislation that encourages the patent office to discriminate against small inventors like Hyatt, Congress should consider creating some much-needed protections for them.

 As it stands now, the patent office allows inventors over the age of 65 to petition the agency for an accelerated examination of their patent applications. The older an inventor is, the less likely he or she is able to wait years for an answer from the agency, and this measure encourages innovators to keep working on technologies that could one day provide thousands of other Americans with jobs. Why not do the same for small-scale applicants, such as companies with fewer than 10 employees, or organizations with few or no issued patents? Congress might also consider waiving the fees applicants like these pay in order to file application continuances, which are new claims that build upon existing patent applications. Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, and steps like these would help grow particularly inventive companies into engines of prosperity.

 Whatever course it chooses to take, Congress should stop those that want to undercut American innovation, particularly in the midst of a fragile economic recovery. Small inventors made this country what it is today, and I shudder to think what its future would be like without them. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– It's been 43 years since Gilbert Hyatt applied for a patent on a machinery-control system, and 35 years since he sought a patent related to liquid crystal displays. It takes an average of about two years to get patent approval—but Hyatt hasn't received it on either invention, Bloomberg reports, meaning his could be the oldest pending applications in existence. The 76-year-old inventor filed a lawsuit in January to push for official action. The problem, according to an outside patent lawyer: The patent office fears embarrassment. Officials worry they "might issue a broad patent that would have a sweeping impact on the technology sector. Rather than be embarrassed, they’re just bottling it up." It's unclear how much such patents could cost technology companies. A previous patent Hyatt received—which took a mere 20 years to be granted—shocked the tech industry by initially offering him a claim on most microprocessors. The patent was later partially revoked, but Hyatt still made a likely $150 million after a deal with Dutch firm Royal Philips NV to license that and other patents, Bloomberg notes. Now he says he's getting the "runaround" from the patent office. At the Huffington Post, an economist puts him among "the fathers of the microcomputer" and calls him a prime example of the challenges faced by independent inventors. But a tech historian notes that "innovations are more than ideas ... If Gilbert Hyatt had never existed, I believe the microprocessor would have developed in the same way that it did."


On June 5th, Avital* was boarding a 6 AM flight from Las Vegas to New York in a comfy cotton dress, a loose open flannel shirt and a colorful scarf when she was told that her cleavage was "inappropriate." The airline dealt with the incident as it has many, many times in the past (at least when customers contact media outlets to complain): by offering the aggrieved customer an apology and a refund. Why won't Southwest stop kicking people off flights for reasons even the airline will admit are over-the-top?

 Although Avital was told she wouldn't be able to fly if she didn't button up her flannel shirt, she bravely bared her breasts all the way onto the plane. "I didn't want to let the representative's Big Feelings about my breasts change the way I intended to board my flight," she explained. "And lo and behold, the plane didn't fall out of the sky...my cleavage did not interfere with the plane's ability to function properly." Imagine that!

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 Check out Avital's early morning flying attire; pretty casual, right? (And cute, which is impressive, given that she probably woke up before daybreak.) She wasn't exactly verging into XXX territory with her rope belt and Birkenstock-y sandals. Is it really inappropriate for a self-described large-chested woman to wear a non-constricting sundress on a 100-degree day? More to the point: is it really the airline's responsibility to dictate what is and isn't appropriate apparel? "To add insult to injury, the guy sitting in front of me on the plane was wearing a shirt with an actual Trojan condom embedded behind a clear plastic applique and had no trouble getting on his flight," Avital added. "Slut shaming, pure and simple." We'd have to agree.

 Southwest spokesperson Christi McNeill told us that the company offered Avital an apology and a refund "as a gesture of goodwill," but that their Contract of Carriage allows them to refuse to transport a customer whose clothing is lewd, obscene, or patently offensive. "As a Company that promotes a casual and family-focused atmosphere onboard our aircraft and in our airports, we simply ask that our Customers use good judgment and exercise discretion in deference to other Customers who depend on us to provide a comfortable travel experience," she explained after I asked her how customers should dress for Southwest flights so they're not publicly humiliated and/or prohibited from boarding. "Our Flight Crews and Employees are responsible for the safety and comfort of everyone onboard the flight."

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 A Brief History of Southwest Humiliation

 Southwest Airlines has become synonymous with people getting kicked off flights for ridiculous reasons. Avital is not the first woman to be deemed too slutty-looking to fly; according to Southwest's history, cleavage is not "family-friendly," even though today's median bra size in the US is 36DD. There's Kyla Ebbert, who was escorted off a flight by a Southwest customer service supervisor who called her outfit "inappropriate" back in 2007, even though she looked like any SoCal resident dressed for 106-degree weather, maybe one having a particularly conservative day. A week later, Setara Qassim was forced to wear a blanket by a Southwest flight attendant who thought Setara's top was too low cut. Hey, Southwest: it's difficult — not to mention uncomfortable — to completely cover yourself up if you have larger breasts. What's family-friendly about making your customers feel both emotionally and physically shitty about themselves?

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 Then there are the multiple people who Southwest felt were too fat to fly, most notoriously Kevin Smith, who tweeted nearly 200 times to his then 1.6 million followers after being told he was a "safety risk" due to his size. Most recently, Kenlie Tiggerman sued the airline in hopes of pressuring them to enact rules barring flight attendants from determining whether or not an obese passenger has to purchase a second seat. "If you're telling me I have to buy two seats, you should tell me at the point of purchase, not the day I'm flying when I check in at the terminal," she said.

 If Southwest is legally forced to change their weight policies, will that stop them from kicking people off their flights who are "too emotional" to fly, too vaguely terrorist-y to fly, or, in the case of The L Word's Leisha Hailey, who was kicked off a flight for kissing her girlfriend, too gay to fly? Lest you think they haven't managed to cover all of their bases, the airline once kicked Greenday's Billie Joe Armstrong off a flight for wearing baggy pants. Maybe Southwest Airlines should really be called "Stepford Airlines." Or maybe they should just stop letting their employees judge what's "family-friendly" based on vague standards that aren't even officially mandated by the company.

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 Hey, Southwest: Sorry Won't Cut It Anymore

 Southwest eventually apologized and offered refunds to many of the customers in the cases listed above, but that's because they were either celebrities or spoke out about the situation; who knows how often people who are too embarrassed to come forward get kicked off flights for not living up to Southwest employees' morals? Doesn't it send mixed messages to say "sorry" but still reserve the right to boot people who don't promote the "casual and family-focused atmosphere"? Why won't Southwest publish a dress code on their website? I asked those questions multiple times, but just received different variations on this:

 Our Employees are extensively trained to use their best judgment and exercise discretion when handling any Customer issues or concerns. Regarding what to wear when flying Southwest — We simply ask that our Customers use also use good judgment and exercise discretion in deference to other Customers who depend on us to provide a comfortable travel experience.

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 That's no consolation for Avital, who told us she'll never fly Southwest again but wishes there was a way to make sure other people don't go through the same embarrassing experience. "It seems like only people who raise a big stink get an apology," she said. "What I want to avoid is being subject to individual employee's whims. There's no official channel at Southwest to make sure that doesn't happen." ||||| Woman claims Southwest wouldn't let her board plane because of her cleavage: report Man with condom on his shirt didn't have a problem, female flyer fumes

 A woman told the blog Jezebel that a Southwest worker told her she couldn't fly unless she covered up her cleavage.

 Southwest Airlines was forced to apologize to a woman who was told she couldn't board her flight because her cleavage was "inappropriate."

 Jezebel reports that the woman, Avital — she only gave her first name — was boarding a 6 a.m. flight from Las Vegas to New York on June 5 when a ticket agent remarked that she couldn't fly unless she covered her breasts.

 Clad in a comfy cotton dress, a baggy flannel shirt and bright scarf, Avital ignored the warning and marched aboard anyway.

 "I didn't want to let the representative's Big Feelings about my breasts change the way I intended to board my flight," she told Jezebel.

 "And lo and behold, the plane didn't fall out of the sky... my cleavage did not interfere with the plane's ability to function properly."

 Avital slammed the Southwest for "slut shaming," and said a man on her flight had on a provocative piece of clothing, but wasn't hassled.

 "The guy sitting in front of me on the plane was wearing a shirt with an actual Trojan condom embedded behind a clear plastic applique and had no trouble getting on his flight," she said.

 A Southwest spokesperson told Jezebel that the airline apologized to Avital for the flap and offered her a refund.

 Company policy allows agents to turn away passengers they feel are dressed inappropriately, the spokesperson said.

 Southwest has a history with rubbing plus-sized passengers the wrong way.

 Last month, New Orleans political strategist and weightloss blogger Kenlie Tiggerman sued the airline after she claimed a ticket agent told her to buy a second seat because she was too fat to fit into one. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Southwest Airlines has apologized and offered to refund a woman who was told she couldn't fly without covering her "inappropriate" cleavage, the New York Daily News reports. The woman—who gives her name as Avital—says she was boarding a flight from Las Vegas to New York earlier this month when the agent said her bosom was far too visible. Wearing a cotton dress, flannel shirt, and scarf, Avital got on board anyway. "I didn't want to let the representative's Big Feelings about my breasts change the way I intended to board my flight," she told Jezebel. "And lo and behold, the plane didn't fall out of the sky... my cleavage did not interfere with the plane's ability to function properly." She also accused the airline of "slut shaming," saying the man sitting in front of her "was wearing a shirt with an actual Trojan condom embedded behind a clear plastic applique," but still boarded no problem. See a pic of Avital's outfit at Jezebel.


Article:

Hillary Clinton on Wednesday broadly spread around the blame for her loss in last year’s presidential election, pointing to suspected Russian cyberattacks, the Democratic National Committee’s data operation and a “very broad assumption that I was going to win.”

 Clinton, interviewed onstage in California at a tech conference by Recode’s Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, made a point to say that she took responsibility for her campaign and “every choice” she made, as she has in other public appearances this year. “But,” she said, “that’s not why I lost.”

 Story Continued Below

 Clinton again argued that the letter former FBI Director James Comey sent to Congress about her private email server just more than a week before the election was what prompted her to lose critical ground at the end.

 Comey wasn’t the only target of Clinton’s ire on Wednesday, though, as she assailed the news media for their coverage of the Comey controversy (reporters covered it like it was “Pearl Harbor,” she charged) and the campaign more broadly, citing a lack of substantive policy reporting on television.

 The attitude toward her campaign, she posited, was a result of the assumption that she would defeat Donald Trump, and she said it hurt her.

 The most reliable politics newsletter. Sign up for POLITICO Playbook and get the latest news, every morning — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.

 “I was the victim of a very broad assumption that I was going to win,” she said.

 Clinton hit at the Democratic National Committee, too: The DNC, she claimed, handed her an inferior data operation when she won the party’s nomination last summer, while the Republicans had invested heavily in data infrastructure between 2012 and 2016.

 On the topic of Russian interference in the election, Clinton described the hacks into the DNC and her campaign chairman’s private email account and various “fake news” websites as the country “weaponizing” technology in an unprecedented misinformation campaign against her.

 And while she did not explicitly accuse Trump’s campaign of colluding with the Russians on the cyberattacks — a topic of ongoing federal investigation and something the White House has repeatedly denied — Clinton said she believes that the Kremlin had help from Americans in some form.

 “The Russians, in my opinion ... could not have known how best to weaponize that information unless they have been guided ... by Americans,” Clinton said.

 “I think it’s fair to ask, how did that actually influence the campaign, and how did they know what messages to deliver?” she said. “Who told them? Who were they coordinating with, and colluding with?”

 She made a joke about Trump’s much-scrutinized relationship with Russia later on during the interview, when the topic of the president’s highly publicized tweet of the non-word “covfefe” came up. She thought it was a “message to the Russians,” she said to laughs.

 She took other hits at Trump, too, calling him a “very impulsive, reactive personality” in response to an audience question and describing his reported plan to withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement as “totally incomprehensible” because of the economic opportunity she said it presents.

 Clinton also commented on the state of the Democratic Party, declining to name possible 2020 presidential candidates but calling on people to focus on coming gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, as well as the 2018 midterms. Flipping the House is “certainly realistic” and should be a goal for Democrats, she said, but acknowledged the need to get organized enough to do it.

 When asked directly by Swisher, Clinton said she is not running for office again. But she also said she has no intention of vacating the public stage, as some of her critics, and some Democrats, want her to do.

 “I'm not going anywhere,” Clinton said. “I have a big stake in what happened in this country. I am very unbowed and unbroken about what happened because I don’t want it to happen to anybody else.”

 Clinton spoke at the annual Code Conference in Ranchos Palos Verdes, California. ||||| Hillary Clinton doesn’t believe she or her campaign made any significant mistakes in the 2016 election. But speaking at the Code Conference on Wednesday, she had a long list of others she blames for her defeat.

 She points the finger at Russia, fake news, the sorry state of the Democratic Party, sexism, and the media that covered the email scandal “like Pearl Harbor,” among others.

 The Russian government

 At the top of the list is the Russian government, which she believes orchestrated a vast campaign of fake news to discredit her candidacy.

 “If you look at Facebook, the vast majority of the news items posted were fake,” Clinton told Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, editors of the Vox Media site Recode, which sponsors the conference. “They were connected to — as we now know — the 1,000 Russian agents who were involved in delivering those messages. They were connected to the bots that are just out of control.”

 It’s not actually clear that “we now know” any of this. There was a lot of fake news swirling around Facebook in the closing weeks of the campaign, but I haven’t seen any evidence that it was the “vast majority.” The claim that there were 1,000 Russian agents spreading fake news comes from a March statement by Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), but he described these as unconfirmed reports, not proven facts.

 Clinton also notes that WikiLeaks released Clinton adviser John Podesta’s stolen emails — widely believed to have come from Russian hackers — within hours of the release of Donald Trump’s “grab ’em by the pussy” Access Hollywood tape.

 Clinton speculated that the Trump campaign may have coordinated with the Russians to make sure the leaked information had maximum impact, arguing that it would have taken guidance from domestic political operatives to make sure the Russians released stolen documents at times when they would have the most effect.

 Sexism

 Clinton rejected the suggestion that giving six-figure speeches to Goldman Sachs and other special interest groups had hurt her candidacy.

 She insinuated that the issue was tailored unfairly around gender: "Men got paid for the speeches they made, and I got paid for the speeches I made. It was used, I thought it was unfairly used, and all of that, but it was part of the background music."

 She also downplayed the decision in general:

 “I gave speeches to many, many groups,” she said. “I never thought that anybody would throw out my entire career of standing up and speaking out and voting against and voting in favor of what I thought were good policies because I made a couple of speeches.”

 The media

 Clinton blames the media for covering her email scandal — which she dubbed “the biggest nothingburger ever” — “like it was Pearl Harbor.”

 She said she was hobbled by the sorry state of the Democratic Party at the time she won the nomination.

 “I get the nomination, and I inherit nothing from the Democratic Party,” Clinton said. “It was bankrupt. It was on the verge of insolvency. Its data was mediocre to poor, nonexistent, wrong. I had to inject money into the DNC to keep it going.”

 Democrats, she said, “are not good historically at building institutions, and we've got to get a lot better.” She added that “that includes content,” arguing that the media had not done a good job of explaining how Barack Obama had saved the economy from a major depression in 2009.

 “I also think I was the victim of a very broad assumption that we were going to win,” Clinton said. “I was swimming against a historic tide. It's very difficult to succeed a two-term president of your own party.” ||||| "Weaponized information" was one of the key factors that swung the U.S. election, former presidential candidate and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday.

 Clinton spoke from the annual Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

 The former first lady, who also served in the U.S. Senate, has been exploring her role as a citizen since losing November's election to Donald Trump. Clinton has also been concerned about tech threats, like alleged Russian hackings and WikiLeaks, according to a profile in New York magazine published last week.

 "The overriding issue that affected the election that I had any control over — because I had no control over the Russians — was the way the use of my email account was turned into the greatest scandal since Lord knows when," Clinton said. "This was the biggest 'nothing burger' ever." ||||| The interactive transcript could not be loaded.

 Rating is available when the video has been rented.

 This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. ||||| Hillary Rodham Clinton has spent four decades in public service as an advocate, attorney, First Lady, U.S. Senator and U.S. Secretary of State. In 2016, Clinton became the first woman nominated for president by a major U.S. political party; she won the national popular vote, earning the support of nearly 66 million Americans. She is the author of five best-selling books, including "It Takes a Village."

 Watch her live interview with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher on Wednesday, May 31 at 12:05 pm PT / 3:05 pm ET. You can follow our live blog of Clinton’s interview here. |||||
What is a summary?

– Hillary Clinton spoke with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at Recode's CodeCon on Wednesday, and she did not hold back. In Vox's view, she spared her campaign but heaped plenty of blame on others, including Russia, the media, and the DNC. "I get the nomination, I'm now the nominee of the Democratic Party," she explained. "I inherit nothing from the Democratic Party," she says, emphasizing the word "nothing." Asked Mossberg, "What do you mean, nothing?" She continued, "I mean, it was bankrupt; it was on the verge of insolvency; its data was mediocre to poor, nonexistent, wrong. I had to inject money into it, the DNC, to keep it going." Donald Trump, on the other hand, did nothing himself related to data, she said, but inherited a $100 million "tried-and-true, effective" data foundation from the RNC. More: "I take responsibility for every decision I made, but that's not why I lost," Clinton said, per CNBC. "I was the victim of a very broad assumption that I was going to win." But that's not all. Politico reports she made the case, as she has done in the past, that former FBI Director James Comey's letter to Congress was part of her undoing. "The overriding issue that affected the election that I had any control over—because I had no control over the Russians—was the way the use of my email account was turned into the greatest scandal since Lord knows when. This was the biggest 'nothing burger' ever." And yet the media covered it "like it was Pearl Harbor," she said. As for the Russians, "If you look at Facebook, the vast majority of the news items posted were fake. They were connected to—as we now know—the 1,000 Russian agents who were involved in delivering those messages. They were connected to the bots that are just out of control." Vox points out that much of that statement is based on unconfirmed reports. Speaking of the Russians, "I thought it was a hidden message to the Russians," Clinton quipped about President Trump's "covfefe" tweet, reports Politico. "You’ve got all kinds of stuff happening. Why? To divert attention. It’s like 'covfefe'—trending worldwide. Maybe for a minute you'll forget the latest accusations about them conspiring with Russia or their trillion-dollar mathematical mistake in their budget or depriving 23 million people of health care." Mossberg asked Clinton why, if she knew she was going to run, she took on paid speaking engagements from Goldman Sachs. She shot back, "Why do you have Goldman Sachs here?" Replied Swisher, "Cause they pay us." Said Clinton, "They paid me."


Summarize this article:

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The holiday season may have passed, but not the importation of popular items that consumers are eager to buy. It is U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) border security responsibility to ensure that these imports comply with all applicable U.S. laws, including consumer safety standards. When imports don’t, CBP removes them from circulation.

 Recently, CBP’s Port of Charleston, S.C. did just that when officers seized two shipments containing 2,380 counterfeit hoverboards because they violated trademark protections, and because they posed a potential health risk to U.S. consumers.

 If authentic, the hoverboards, which were manufactured in China, would have a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $1,666,000.

 “Enforcing product safety laws and protecting intellectual property rights is a top priority for Customs and Border Protection,” said Anthony Acrey, CBP’s Acting Area Port Director for the Port of Charleston. “By seizing untested and potentially hazardous products at our nation's borders, CBP officers protect the American consumer and contribute to keeping our communities safe beyond the holiday season."

 CBP recently seized $1.6 million in counterfeit hoverboards in Charleston, S.C., for possessing counterfeit labels and potentially dangerous ion lithium batteries.

 Hoverboards—self-balancing, two-wheeled, motorized platforms—are one of this year’s most popular items. However, major safety concerns have surfaced following reports of fires possibly caused by substandard and counterfeit lithium ion batteries within some hoverboards.

 The swell of ccounterfeit hoverboards arriving at U.S. ports continue to be a concern for CBP.

 CBP in Chicago recently announced a record seizure of more than 16,000 potentially unsafe hoverboards. Nationally, more than 50,000 potentially unsafe boards, with an estimated MSRP approaching $20 million, have been seized.

 Counterfeit and pirated products threaten our economic security and undermine legitimate businesses that invest significant resources into manufacturing safe, quality products. Even worse, these products often pose serious health and safety hazards to the people who buy and use them.

 CBP’s vigilant enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights protects America’s businesses against the threat of unfair and illicit competition from foreign companies, and prevents goods that may be dangerous to consumers or national security from entering the United States.

 If you are aware of or suspect a company or individual of infringing your trademark or copyright, please report the trade violation to CBP at e-Allegations Online Trade Violation Reporting System. Trade violations can also be reported by calling 1-800-BE-ALERT.

 For more information on CBP’s efforts involving counterfeit goods, visit IPR enforcement program. ||||| click to enlarge U.S. Customs and Border Protection

 Two shipments containing 2,380 counterfeit hoverboards were recently discovered at the Port of Charleston

 In what is sure to become the crime of the future, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers recently intercepted two shipments containing 2,380 counterfeit hoverboards entering the Port of Charleston.Yes, much like how Marty McFly commandeered a small child’s hoverboard to escape Griff Tannen and his gang in, so too have our local customs officers stepped in to outwit the criminals behind these potentially combustible conveyances.According to a press release from the CBP, which is tasked with ensuring that imports comply with U.S. regulations and safety standards, the seized hoverboards violated trademark protections and posed a potential health risk to consumers. Manufactured in China, these hoverboards would carry a suggested retail price of more than $1.6 million in the United States.This discovery by customs officials is just another example of the growing threat of counterfeit hoverboards arriving on American shores. According to the CBP, officers in Chicago recently seized more than 16,000 potentially unsafe hoverboards, and more than 50,000 boards have been confiscated across the nation.“Enforcing product safety laws and protecting intellectual property rights is a top priority for Customs and Border Protection,” said CBP’s acting area port director for the Port of Charleston, Anthony Acrey, in a statement. “By seizing untested and potentially hazardous products at our nation’s borders, CBP officers protect the American consumer and contribute to keeping our communities safe beyond the holiday season.”So remember next time you go down to the docks to get your hands on a fresh shipment of hoverboards, you’re not only putting yourself in danger — you’re putting America in danger too. |||||

– Federal officers recently seized nearly 2,400 counterfeit—and possibly prone to explode—hoverboards in shipments that arrived at South Carolina's Port of Charleston, the Charleston City Paper reports. The hoverboards, which were made in China, would have been worth more than $1.6 million retail, according to US Customs and Border Protection. In addition to being a fire risk—possibly due to faulty lithium ion batteries—the counterfeit hoverboards also run afoul of US trademark law. "Remember next time you go down to the docks to get your hands on a fresh shipment of hoverboards, you’re not only putting yourself in danger—you’re putting America in danger too," the City Paper states. Counterfeit hoverboards have been an ongoing problem since the holidays, with more than 50,000 seized around the country.


Article:
Story highlights Sen. Reid says Romney still isn't coming clean on taxes

 Paul Ryan gets mixed reception at AARP event

 Ryan and President Obama accuse each other of being untruthful

 Obama says leadership means rejecting bad ideas

 President Barack Obama and GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan on Friday traded sharp criticism over health care reforms and Medicare, with each telling a leading advocacy group for senior citizens that the other was being untruthful.

 "Contrary to what you've heard and what you may hear from subsequent speakers, Obamacare actually strengthened Medicare," the president told the AARP Liffe@50+ event, using the nickname for the 2010 Affordable Care Act that passed with no Republican support.

 In particular, he called the claim by Ryan and other Republicans that $716 billion is being cut from Medicare to fund the health care bill "simply not true."

 Ryan spoke to the same event shortly afterward, saying that Obama's contention that the health care law strengthened Medicare was "just not true," adding that the legislation "turned Medicare into a piggy bank for Obamacare."

 The debate over Medicare is a major issue in the November election campaign, especially in the vital battleground state of Florida with its large population of senior citizens.

 Ryan headed to Florida later Friday, while Obama campaigned in Virginia, Vice President Joe Biden spoke in New Hampshire and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney headed to Las Vegas. All four states are considered up-for-grabs in the election less than seven weeks away.

 In a separate development, Romney released details of his 2011 income tax return that showed he made $13.7 million last year and paid $1.94 million in federal taxes, giving him an effective tax rate of 14.1%, his campaign said.

 The majority of the candidate's income last year came from his investments, Brad Malt, the trustee of Romney's blind trust, said in a blog post. The Romneys gave just over $4 million to charity.

 In addition, the Romney campaign said his tax filings from 1990 to 2009 show that he and his wife paid 100% of the federal and state income taxes they owed and that their overall average annual effective federal tax rate was 20.2%.

 Romney has been criticized by Democrats and even some Republicans for not releasing more than two years worth of taxes. His wealth and investment industry background, as well as his father's decision to release a dozen years of tax records during his presidential run four decades ago, have only raised interest in Romney's returns.

 Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said in a statement the disclosure "continues to mask Romney's true wealth" and income from the private equity firm he once led, leaving the American people in the dark about critical details of his finances.

 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, called the new tax information insufficient.

 "What we don't know is why he refuses to be straight with the American people about the choices he's made in his financial life," according to a statement from Reid, who previously created a stir when he alleged Romney paid no taxes in some years but refused to divulge the source of his accusation.

 "When will the American people see the returns he filed before he was running for president?" Reid asked.

 Obama responds to health care attacks

 In his appearance by satellite at the AARP event in New Orleans, Obama responded to specific attacks on the health care law by Ryan and other Republicans, declaring the 2010 measure cuts waste and fraud in Medicare, provides preventive care to keep people healthier and reduces prescription drug costs for seniors.

 Savings come from "using the purchasing power of Medicare to say to doctors and hospitals and insurance companies: 'You guys need to work smarter,'" Obama said to applause. "Instead of having five different tests that each of you is charging for, do one test and email it to everybody."

 Ryan, the conservative House Budget Committee chairman from Wisconsin, has proposed a partial privatization of the entitlement that would provide government subsidies to help senior citizens pay for coverage they would choose from a list of options.

 He defended the plan Friday in the face of a mixed reception.

 "The first step to a stronger Medicare is to repeal Obamacare because it represents the worst of both worlds," Ryan said to loud booing. He added: "I had a feeling there'd be mixed reaction so let me get into it ."

 "It weakens Medicare for today's seniors and puts it at risk for the next generation," Ryan said, repeating the factually challenged claim of $716 billion in Medicare cuts and also targeting a panel created under the health care law charged with recommending ways to reach targeted savings starting in 2014.

 Ryan also took a swipe at Obama's re-election slogan of "Forward," saying it means "Forward into a future where seniors are denied the care they earned because a bureaucrat decided it wasn't worth the money."

 In his remarks, Obama argued that Medicare savings come from "using the purchasing power of Medicare to say to doctors and hospitals and insurance companies: 'You guys need to work smarter."

 "Instead of having five different tests that each of you is charging for, do one test and email it to everybody," he said to applause.

 With polls showing Romney unable to overtake Obama with less than seven weeks to go until the November election, GOP infighting is showing a rising frustration over the candidate's campaign against a president saddled by high unemployment and a sluggish economy.

 New figures show Obama and his allies raised nearly $85 million in August, outpacing Romney's haul in the month that included both parties' national conventions.

 In Wisconsin, conservative candidate Tommy Thompson put some of the blame for his slipping poll numbers on the Romney campaign and conservative commentators, including former GOP speechwriter Peggy Noonan, have depicted the Romney team as floundering.

 "Stop it. This is hard. You want to try it? Get in the ring," Ann Romney said of her husband's critics in an interview on Thursday with Radio Iowa.

 Romney tweaked his campaign strategy twice this week in response to controversies that distracted from his main message challenging Obama's record as president.

 On Thursday, he kept up attacks on Obama over a 1998 comment regarding redistribution of wealth, and also claimed the president had given up on changing Washington. The Obama camp fired back that the criticism was off base.

 At the AARP event Friday, Obama said the Ryan proposal to reform Medicare would make it a voucher program that shifts health care costs to senior citizens. He noted that AARP supported the 2010 health care reform act and opposed Ryan's Medicare proposal.

 "They know that a voucher program is not going to be a good deal," Obama said.

 Ryan, however, denied it was a voucher program and insisted that the idea originated in Democratic proposals of the past.

 "This financial support system is designed to guarantee that seniors can always afford Medicare coverage -- no exceptions," he said to some applause.

 Members of AARP -- a nonprofit organization and a powerful lobbying group that boasts of having more than 37 million members -- submitted questions to the nominees on their website.

 Tough stretch for Romney

 Romney is coming off a tough stretch in the weeks before the three presidential debates in October.

 Last week, the Romney campaign struggled in its initial response to anti-American violence in Libya and Egypt. Then a left-leaning magazine released secretly recorded clips of Romney speaking at a May fund-raiser in which he said 47% of Americans depended on government help, saw themselves as victims and won't support him.

 Under criticism for the comments at the fund-raiser, Romney stuck by them and rallied some conservative commentators to his side by emphasizing his message on his allegation that Obama's polices increased public dependency on government.

 In particular, they accused Obama of favoring wealth redistribution -- code for socialism among conservatives -- based on the 1998 video of the president when he was a state senator in Illinois.

 "I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution -- because I actually believe in some redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody's got a shot," Obama says in the clip, posted Tuesday on the conservative Drudge Report website.

 The White House on Wednesday characterized the GOP attacks over the redistribution comment as an effort to divert attention from Romney's remarks at the May fundraiser.

 Romney also took aim at Obama's comment on Thursday at a Univision "Meet the Candidates" forum in which the president said he was unable to change Washington from within.

 House Speaker John Boehner continued the Romney attack line on Friday, saying Obama and congressional Democrats lacked the leadership qualities necessary to change the culture of partisan divide and legislative gridlock.

 "It takes courage, it takes determination and it takes sincerity, and it's called leadership," Boehner told reporters.

 Asked about the inability to work out compromises with Republicans on deficit reduction and other major issues, Obama blamed GOP intransigence and said he was being a leader by rejecting what he called "bad ideas."

 He noted that his proposals, including the health care reform measure opposed by every Republican, included some ideas with GOP origins.

 "Obamacare owes a debt to what was done in Massachusetts by my opponent, Mr. Romney, even though sometimes he denies it," the president said in a jab at his challenger, who passed a similar plan while governor of the state but now vows to repeal the federal version.

 "The one thing I won't do though is go along with bad ideas that are not helping the middle class," Obama said to applause, adding: "If I hear the only way Republicans in Congress are willing to move forward is to voucherize Medicare, I'll say no." ||||| AARP repeatedly boos Ryan for vowing to repeal ‘Obamacare’

 By David Edwards

 Friday, September 21, 2012 13:35 EST

 Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan was loudly and repeatedly booed by members of the AARP on Friday after he pledged to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care reform law.

 “The first step to a stronger Medicare is to repeal Obamacare,” Ryan said, pausing as the audience in New Orleans booed and shouted, “No!”

 “I had a feeling there would be mixed reaction,” the candidate said, but the booing continued. “It weakens Medicare for today’s seniors and puts it at risk for the next generation.”

 That, too, was met with audible groans and jeers.

 “It funnels $716 billion out of Medicare to pay for a new entitlement that we didn’t even ask for,” Ryan insisted.

 “No!” people shouted.

 Although Ryan seemed to be unfazed by the heckling, his explanations and assurances never convinced the AARP audience, who continued booing him throughout the remainder of his speech.

 During a video appearance at the AARP Life@50+ conference earlier in the day, Obama had told members that Ryan’s claim that $716 billion had been cut from Medicare services was “simply not true.”

 “Contrary to what you’ve heard and what you may hear from subsequent speakers, Obamacare actually strengthened Medicare,” the president explained.

 Watch this video from Fox News, broadcast Sept. 21, 2012. |||||Summary:

– Paul Ryan evoked boos and jeers from an audience of retirees in New Orleans today when he promised to repeal ObamaCare—but he continued his argument apparently unfazed, Raw Story reports. "The first step to a stronger Medicare is to repeal ObamaCare," said Ryan at a meeting of the American Association of Retired Persons, where people reacted by booing and shouting, "No!" Ryan said he "had a feeling there would be mixed reaction,” and went on to claim that ObamaCare would drain Medicare of $716 billion and put seniors at risk. But that only elicited more boos and cries. On a happier note, he earned applause when he talked about his family and mentioned that his 78-year-old mother, Betty Douglas, was in attendance, the Washington Post reports. Ryan's speech was round two of a debate that began earlier in the day when President Obama addressed the crowd by video, reports CNN. "Contrary to what you've heard and what you may hear from subsequent speakers, ObamaCare actually strengthened Medicare," said Obama, who called the $716-billion-cut claim "simply untrue."