Moe’s Southwest Grill has toppled Chipotle to become America’s favorite Mexican-inspired fast casual restaurant chain, according to a new poll.

 The 1,900-unit Chipotle Mexican Grill chain, which had topped the last three annual Harris polls, didn’t even finish in the top four. The Denver-based chain has been beset by a number of food-borne illnesses in the last year, including a norovirus outbreak that sickened 386 customers, a salmonella incident that sickened 64 people and e. coli episodes in 11 states that sickened 60 people.

 As a result, sales have decline 30 percent and the company’s shares have dipped 33 percent, to $411.14, in early Friday trading.

 For Moe’s, a 600-unit chain, the first place finish in the Harris poll was its first.

 Moe’s showed the largest increase in brand equity (13 percent) among all restaurants measured, and demonstrates one of the largest equity increases across all brands assessed, which is significant given the tendency for equity to resist rapid movement.

 If getting knocked out of the top position wasn’t bad enough for Chipotle executives, then the names of the chains that Americans love more than Chipotle should give them pause: Taco Bell finshed No. 2 in the poll, with Qdoba Mexican Grill coming in third and Baja Fresh Mexican Grill coming in fourth.

 Harris polled 97,120 US consumers aged 15 and over. ||||| Chipotle Mexican Grill has had a tumultuous year between the bouts of food-borne illnesses and plummeting sales, but it has managed to emerge from the mess of E. coli-related issues. But the pile-on continues as other chains take advantage of the shifting fast-casual market food and begin to climb past the Denver-based chain in customer ratings.

 Moe's Southwest Grill, which got its start in Atlanta in 2000 and now has more than 600 locations worldwide, is reaping significant benefits from Chipotle's downturn. The chain has been named "brand of the year" in the Harris Poll's category of fast-casual Mexican restaurants, unseating Chipotle, which took the top prize for the last three years but failed to even make the top four in 2016. This year, Chipotle was bested by Taco Bell, Qdoba Mexican Grill, and Baja Fresh Mexican Grill.

 The Harris Poll ranked this year's brands based on more than 97,000 responses from United States customers, and Moe's was praised for its willingness to listen and respond to diner feedback and needs. "We really view the competition as share of stomach," Moe's president Bruce Schroder said previously. Moe's is part of Focus Brands Inc., which operates chains such as Carvel, Cinnabon, and Auntie Anne's Pretzels, among others.

 On February 8, when Chipotle closed all of its restaurants for a food safety self-check, Moe's took out a full-page ad in USA Today to emphasize its openness. Overall, Moe's has seen a 5 percent increase in foot traffic thanks in part to Chipotle's struggles, according to a Placed survey. Chipotle still has some loyalists, however, such as the Washington man who's working toward his goal of eating a meal from the chain 366 days in a row. ||||| CLOSE Harris Poll named Moe’s the Brand of the Year for fast casual Mexican restaurants, ending Chipotle’s three year run as their #1 chain.

 Moe's Southwest Grill has unseated Chipotle as fast casual Mexican restaurant "Brand of the Year," according to an annual Harris Poll. (Photo: Moe's Southwest Grill)

 People with a hankering for a burrito are no longer beelining for Chipotle first. Or second, or third, or fourth.

 Moe's Southwest Grill, a Tex-Mex chain with less than half the number of locations as Chipotle, has unseated the former fast casual king as the most popular brand selling Mexican-inspired food, according to an annual survey out Thursday from Harris Poll that measures how people feel about restaurant brands. Moe's has more than 650 restaurants to Chipotle's more than 1,900.

 Moe's, which is owned by the same company that operates shopping mall mainstays Auntie Anne's and Cinnabon, claimed the "Brand of the Year" title for fast casual Mexican restaurants for the first time, while Chipotle fell hard. The No. 1 pick for the past three years, it's now ranked below not only Moe's but Taco Bell, Qdoba and Baja Fresh.

 The survey is yet another sign of the harsh impact Chipotle's food-safety issues have had on the brand in the past year. Chipotle has been grasping at a former semblance of its reputation as a purveyor of fresh food in the months since dealing with multiple incidences of E. Coli and norovirus at restaurants across the country. Sales tanked, a rude awakening for a brand that had been wildly popularity for years.

 The company has said customers are coming back around though, and has tried to lure customers back with offers for free burritos and buy one, get one deals. In the first quarter, sales at stores open at least a year fell nearly 30%, though the company said transaction volume improved as the quarter went on. A free burrito offer in February had a 67% redemption rate.

 But beyond Chipotle's issues, the fast casual restaurant landscape has also become more competitive as chains have gone head to head to offer customers healthier food and new menu options. Qdoba rolled out a new taco menu last year with fillings like tequila lime chicken, steak and bacon; Taco Bell has gained prominence for its breakfast menu and started selling alcohol in some restaurants last year. Moe's is known for a wide selection of ingredients for build-your-own tacos, quesadillas and burrito bowls — the brand also frequently offers limited time menu additions, such as an ancho chili lime rice bowl and seasonal salsas like ghost pepper and mango tomatillo.

 Chipotle, meanwhile, has rarely introduced new menu items, and some say the company hasn't done enough to show customers its food is safe to eat, even though it has adopted new food safety protocols.

 "Their sales have been under tremendous pressure," says Andrew Charles, an equity research analyst with Cowen and Co. who follows both Chipotle and Qdoba. "Brand perception is down. In retrospect, I just don't think they did enough to convince customers that Chipotle food was safe to eat," pointing out that there are no signs in stores alerting customers to the changes and announcements on social media have been scarce.

 Moe's rose to the top for ranking the highest in familiarity, quality and purchase consideration. Harris Poll surveyed more than 97,000 U.S. consumers for their thoughts on more than 3,800 brands, including more than 60 restaurants. Each respondent was given a list of 40 randomly selected brands to rate.

 Moe's has benefited from a rapid expansion in recent years, which has given the brand a stronger position as a Chipotle alternative, says Lisa Recoussine, vice president of client services at Nielsen, which owns Harris Poll. Moe's opened 70 new restaurants last year, when sales hit nearly $640 million.

 To be sure, Chipotle still has much larger market share and sales, which were $4.5 billion in 2015. According to Placed Insights, an analytics firm that measures traffic trends, just 2.3% of the U.S. population visited a Moe's last month, while nearly 9.4% visited a Chipotle.

 Though the poll results show Moe's may be poised to steal more customers, says David Shim, CEO of Placed Insights.

 "Moe’s has an opportunity to continue to convert that brand equity into restaurant visits," Shim says, "closing the visitation gap with Chipotle."

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1tdDDKc |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– A faltering Chipotle has stumbled yet again, this time losing its place as the No. 1 casual, fast Mexican restaurant to a chain that has about a third the number of eateries as Chipotle, USA Today reports. With more than 650 restaurants to Chipotle's 1,900-plus, Moe's Southwest Grill is now the new king of that particular category, according to a Harris Poll survey that queried nearly 100,000 consumers on more than 3,800 brands (including about 60 restaurants). And Chipotle, in the top spot for three years running before it fell victim to a slew of recent food-safety issues, didn't merely drop to second place—it plummeted to fifth, behind Taco Bell, Qdoba, and Baja Fresh. Competition in the category has been fierce, with Mexican eateries all trying to one-up each other in serving up healthier menu items with more selection. USA Today notes that Moe's is especially known for the ample variety of ingredients used to create build-your-own tacos, burritos, and other fare. But it's almost as if Chipotle gave up, debuting few new menu items and taking a halfhearted approach to alerting consumers to steps it's taken to address the hundreds of illnesses—the New York Post helpfully documents the norovirus, E. coli, and salmonella count—that have resulted from chowing down its food. "I just don't think they did enough to convince customers that Chipotle food was safe to eat," an equity research analyst tells USA Today. Plus, Moe's made sure to capitalize on Chipotle's woes, taking out a full-page ad in USA Today on Feb. 8, for instance, reminding everyone its restaurants were open—Chipotle shut down that day to review food-safety protocol with staff, Eater notes. "Moe’s [now] has an opportunity to continue to convert that brand equity into restaurant visits, closing the visitation gap with Chipotle," the CEO of analytics company Placed Insights tells USA Today. (Next up for Chipotle: burgers?)


Article:

Story highlights Briggs and Brittney Fussy first walked down the aisle 20 years ago

 The couple reunited in high school in Minnesota and wed over the weekend

 Briggs and Brittney reenact the photos they took at age 3

 (CNN) Briggs Fussy doesn't remember much about walking down the aisle 20 years ago with the woman who would eventually become his wife.

 "I don't really remember the wedding part at all," Briggs said. "I didn't even talk to her."

 A groom not remembering the wedding could undoubtedly crush a bride, especially a bride like Brittney Fussy, who admits she's been planning her wedding since she was a little girl.

 But Brittney Fussy said the only thing she remembers about their trip down the aisle was her partner's unique name.

 "I don't remember too much about being a flower girl," she said.

 Read More ||||| Briggs Fussy and Brittney Husbyn once served as ring bearer and flower girl at a Minnesota wedding -- and two decades later they would walk down the aisle a second time.

 This past weekend, though, the 22-year-olds weren't just presenting rings or tossing petals. They were the bride and groom.

 In 1995, Fussy stood in as the ring bearer while Husbyn walked as the flower girl in his godmother's wedding.

 "We were 3 years old, I think," Fussy said. "It was my godmother's wedding and Brittney's mom worked with her. She needed a flower girl."

 The pair reunited in 2007.

 "Brittney and I met in high school when she sat in front of me in government class" Fussy told ABC News. "One day, she went home to ask her mom about me. I have a pretty unique name [Briggs], so that must of stuck out to her."

 Husbyn discovered that her classmate was, indeed, the boy she knew from the wedding years ago.

 "We were in class and she had a picture with her from the wedding," Fussy said. "I started to laugh because it was the same one we had hanging in the hallway at home, but I never knew who she was. That wedding was the only time I ever saw her."

 Fussy and Husbyn, who were dating different people at the time, became a couple two years after their rendezvous. The pair went on to attend Mankato State University together, where they still study today.

 On Saturday, Jan. 10, Fussy and Husbyn married among 310 family and friends -- all of whom continue to find the couple's coincidence a pretty remarkable one.

 "Everybody loves it -- especially my godmother, she takes all the credit," Fussy said. "It's constantly brought up that we walked down the aisle together again."

 Since their story has gone public, the newlyweds have been reveling in the positive attention.

 "We never expected having all this popularity, but we're enjoying it," Fussy said. "We will definitely print out the articles and keep them around. I'll show them to my kids." |||||
What is a summary?

– "I don't really remember the wedding part at all," says Briggs Fussy of his first trip down the aisle with Brittney Husbyn some 20 years ago. "I didn't even talk to her." Sound like your average Vegas wedding? It wasn't: They were just 3, serving as ring bearer and flower girl to Fussy's godmother in Minnesota. Now 22, the couple walked down the aisle a second time this weekend—this time as bride and groom—and Fussy's godmother couldn't be more pleased, reports ABC News. "Everybody loves it—especially my godmother, she takes all the credit," Fussy says. And this time around, the event was a little more memorable for the duo: "It was wonderful," Husbyn tells CNN. "As close to perfect as you can get." Husbyn was a bit of a stand-in at that 1995 wedding—"She needed a flower girl," Fussy says of his godmother, who worked with Husbyn's mom. The two didn't meet again until 2007, when "she sat in front of me in government class," says Fussy, and something about his unique name rang a bell from long ago. She asked her mom, then showed up with a photo from his godmother's wedding. "I started to laugh because it was the same one we had hanging in the hallway at home," says Fussy, "but I never knew who she was." Within two years they were dating, and the rest is the stuff of fairy tales. "I knew I was going to marry her," Fussy says. (This couple first kissed in 1938 but didn't marry until 2013.)


Write an article based on this summary:

– A researcher calls it "a decades-old mystery that has been the Holy Grail of paleontology": What, exactly, Dickinsonia was. It's one of a group of lifeforms called the Ediacaran biota, which the BBC describes as the "first complex multi-cellular organisms to appear on Earth." But for decades they've defied definitive classification, with scientists suggesting they could be everything from lichen to giant single-celled amoeba to "evolutionary dead-ends." Now, an answer: Dickinsonia is an animal that dates back 558 million years, making it the earliest confirmed one in the geological record. That conclusion comes thanks to fat, reports Phys.org. Ilya Bobrovskiy of Australian National University discovered a Dickinsonia fossil in 300-foot-high cliffs along the White Sea in northwest Russia, in a place so remote she reached it via helicopter. The fossil was superbly preserved, so much so that its tissue had cholesterol molecules present in it. "The fossil fat molecules that we've found prove that animals were large and abundant 558 million years ago, millions of years earlier than previously thought," says ANU professor Jochen Brocks, co-author of the paper on the discovery, which was published in Science. The Cambrian explosion that gave rise to modern animal groups didn't happen for another 20 million years or so. As for the oval Dickinsonia's appearance, the BBC describes it as possibly bearing "a superficial resemblance to a segmented jellyfish." National Geographic delves into the difficulty of studying Ediacarans, who had no shells or bones to leave behind and whose "squishy bodies have long since decayed." Read more on how the team overcame that here.

The Ediacaran critters were an odd bunch—from ringed discs and patterned blobs to lumpy ropes and wavy fronds. Taking to the warm shallow seas as early as 570 million years ago, these soft and squishy misfits were Earth's earliest complex life.

 One of the most famous of the lot is Dickinsonia. This flattened, ribbed oval can grow over four feet across and sports a distinct ridge down its center. However, the question of what exactly Dickinsonia is has long puzzled scientists. At various points in history, they’ve assigned these curious forms to almost every kingdom of life. In recent decades, the debate has swirled around three groups: some researchers proposed fungi, others said protists, still others say animals.

 In a new study, published this week in Science, researchers used modern techniques to take a fresh look at the ancient creatures. Their results join mounting evidence that suggests Dickinsonia is among the earliest animal life yet found—predating the Cambrian explosion of life, which took place 541 million years ago and marked the rise of most major animal groups still around today.

 “This was already actually one of us,” says study author Jochen Brocks, paleobiogeochemist at Australian National University. “It was an animal.” Though Dickinsonia eventually went extinct, the animal is one of many early experiments in multicellular life that eventually gave rise to our modern menagerie.

 “I think it sort of completes the puzzle in our understanding of Dickinsonia,” says Mary Droser, a paleontologist at University of California, Riverside, who was not involved in the work.

 In the past few years, she explains, paleontologists largely reached a consensus that Dickinsonia was an animal, based on studies of its imprints. But the new work builds on this evidence, using chemistry to support the animal hypothesis. “This is really helping to put Dickinsonia as part of the story of animal evolution on planet Earth,” Droser says.

 What Are the Ediacarans?

 First discovered in 1946 in the Ediacara hills in the Flinders ranges of South Australia, these evolutionary oddballs bear only the vaguest resemblance to modern life-forms. Ediacarans are as “strange as life on another planet, but easier to reach,” described paleontologist Adolf Seilacher in a 2007 paper for the Geological Society of London, Special Publications.

 Their appearance marks a shift from tiny to tremendous life as evolution tested out body plans of increasing size. More than 50 types of Ediacarans are now known, and they have been found on every continent, save for Antarctica.

 By studying when big life burst onto the scene, scientists can better understand the makings of complex creatures. The work could also yield clues about how life arises on far-flung worlds. And compared to finagling research on other planets, “it's a lot cheaper to go back in time and look at how life unfolded on Earth,” Droser says.

 How to Study What's Not There

 One challenge in studying Ediacarans is the issue of preservation. Their squishy bodies have long since decayed away, and they lack bones or shells that would remain in the fossil record. This means most of these forms are only known from imprints or traces of the ancient inhabitants—many of their delicate features likely lost in the crude traces. The creatures are also very early members of the evolutionary tree, differing greatly from modern life-forms, which makes it difficult to assign them branches. In the 1980s, researchers even proposed Ediacarans should be their own extinct kingdom.

 Past work has focused on physical analysis of Dickinsonia traces—growth and development, evidence of movement, size, and complexity. For new clues, in this latest study, scientists turned to molecular biomarkers known as sterols. Many critters make them, but they're slightly different for each group.

 Animals make a version known as cholesterols, “like we find in chicken McNuggets,” Brocks jokes. But Ediacarans weren't chowing down on fried foods. These chemical compounds actually play an important role in the membranes of the cells of virtually all animals, helping to regulate what goes in and out.

 Scientists have long used biomarker analysis to seek out algae in bulk sediments. “In this case, what you get is an average composition of the ecosystem that was living there,” explains Ilya Bobrovskiy, lead author of the new study and a PhD student at the Australian National University.

 Dinosaurs 101 Over a thousand dinosaur species once roamed the Earth. Learn which ones were the largest and the smallest, what dinosaurs ate and how they behaved, as well as surprising facts about their extinction.

 Because the Ediacaran bodies are largely imprints, no one had attempted to test for biomarkers of these ancient weirdos. However, some Ediacaran imprints still sport a thin layer of organic material. And Bobrovskiy thought that perhaps the carbonaceous bonds in this organic film hold the secrets to what these bizarre forms once were.

 Brocks, Bobrovskiy’s graduate adviser, was skeptical. “I first thought it was a crazy idea,” he says. But not wanting to discourage his ambitious student, he gave the go-ahead.

 What Did the Analysis Show?

 Bobrovskiy developed a method to test for fossil sterols in the remnants of the Ediacarans, comparing the results to biomarkers extracted from the surrounding rock.

 To test the method, Bobrovskiy first turned to the Ediacaran creature Beltanelliformis, once thought to be related to algae, fungus, or even jellyfish. The biomarkers instead pointed to it being spherical colonies of cyanobacteria. They published their analysis earlier this year in Nature Ecology and Evolution.

 Then the team turned to Dickinsonia, collecting samples from the White Sea region of northwest Russia.

 “The molecular composition of the fossil and the molecular composition from the seafloor around the fossil was black and white,” Brocks says. An abundance of ancient cholesterols—up to 93 percent—in the trace remains pointed to animal. Whereas the surrounding seafloor had very little, and instead contained what's known as ergosteroids, suggesting the presence of green algae.

 The beautiful simplicity of the analysis is partly what makes this new work remarkable. “It's a very creative way to try to get at this question,” says Paula Welander, a microbiologist at Stanford University who was not involved in the study. “It's one of those things: Why didn't anyone think of doing it before?”

 The method will likely be useful to help understand other enigmatic Ediacarans, says Renee Hoekzema, a palaeontologist and mathematician at the University of Oxford who was not part of the work, via email. She'd be particularly interested in chemical analysis of the plume-like rangeomorphs, which may be related to Dickinsonia. This is one of the forms Brocks and his group are targeting next.

 "This is an exciting time," Hoekzema says. "After seventy years of debate we are starting to get a grip on the enigmatic nature of the Ediacara biota."

 How Can Biomarkers Stick Around For So Long?

 Over time, all organics break down. Cholesterol is no exception, Brocks notes. But the products of this decay are very specific, he explains, and “the original skeleton of the cholesterol” is still preserved in these molecular fossils.

 Welander, who studies the creation and function of modern sterols to help better interpret ancient traces, praises the rigorousness of the work, noting the team “really dotted all their i's and crossed all their t's.”

 Of course, nothing is ever certain in the world of science. The study is based on the assumption that only animals create cholesterols, which Welander notes is fair with the current data but has the potential to change as we learn more about the many forms of life on Earth.

 “There's a lot of uncertainty,” Bobrovskiy says of studying such ancient life. “But applying biomarkers removes a large part of this uncertainty.”

 Droser adds: “Coupled with everything else, it is really hard to argue that this wasn't an animal.”

 Was Dickinsonia the First Animal Ever?

 Though scientists can't say exactly when the first animal arose, ancient traces hint it was more than 600 million years ago. However, Dickinsonia, with its newly confirmed classification, falls among a group of the oldest animals yet found. Kimberella, an early mollusk-like animal, rivals Dickinsonia in age. So does the worm-like creature that likely left the winding tracks known as Helminthoidichnites.

 Around 541 million years ago, squishy Ediacarans gave way to the fantastical critters of the Cambrian explosion, trussed up in their spikes and armor. ||||| Image copyright Ilya Bobrovskiy Image caption The affiliations of Dickinsonia had previously been unclear

 Scientists have identified the earliest known animal in the geological record.

 It's a 558-million-year-old oval-shaped creature that may have borne a superficial resemblance to a segmented jellyfish.

 Researchers found specimens of the creature, known as Dickinsonia, that were so well preserved they still contained molecules of cholesterol.

 This fat is a hallmark of animal life, the team reports in the journal Science.

 Dickinsonia belongs to a group of life forms known as the Ediacaran biota. They were the first complex multi-cellular organisms to appear on Earth.

 But they have been extremely difficult to classify, and their position on the tree of life has been one of the greatest mysteries in palaeontology.

 Different teams of scientists have variously classified them as lichens, fungi, protozoans, evolutionary dead-ends and even as an intermediate stage between plants and animals.

 The new analysis of a specimen found in north-west Russia places Dickinsonia firmly within the animal kingdom.

 Image copyright Ilya Bobrovskiy Image caption The fossils were unearthed at Zimnie Gory in the White Sea area of north-west Russia

 Image copyright Ilya Bobrovskiy Image caption ANU researcher Ilya Bobrovskiy found specimens of Dickinsonia and a related organism called Andiva in the rocks

 "The fossil fat molecules that we've found prove that animals were large and abundant 558 million years ago, millions of years earlier than previously thought," said co-author Jochen Brocks, an associate professor at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.

 "Scientists have been fighting for more than 75 years over what Dickinsonia and other bizarre fossils of the Ediacaran Biota were," he explained, adding: "The fossil fat now confirms Dickinsonia as the oldest known animal fossil, solving a decades-old mystery that has been the Holy Grail of palaeontology."

 The Ediacaran biota appeared around 600 million years ago, and flourished for tens of millions of years before the event called the Cambrian explosion.

 This massive diversification of life occurred around 541 million years ago; it's when most of the major animal groups appear in the fossil record.

 The Ediacaran species largely disappear when the Cambrian explosion happens. As such, they straddle an ancient age when the Earth was dominated by bacteria and a later age of dominance by animals.

 Image copyright Ilya Bobrovskiy Image caption Analysis of organic matter preserved in the Dickinsonia fossils placed the creature firmly within the animal kingdom

 Most multicellular life leaves behind stable molecules called sterane hydrocarbons which can be preserved in sediments for millions of years. The molecular structures and abundances of these compounds can be specific to particular types of organism.

 Team member Ilya Bobrovskiy, from ANU, extracted and analysed molecules from inside the fossil.

 He found that Dickinsonia fossils contained very high levels of cholesterol molecules - up to 93% - compared with the surrounding sediment, where levels were roughly 11%.

 Furthermore, the fossils lacked the types of stable molecules that are sometimes left behind by fungi.

 "The problem that we had to overcome was finding Dickinsonia fossils that retained some organic matter," said Ilya Bobrovskiy.

 "Most rocks containing these fossils, such as those from the Ediacara Hills in Australia, have endured a lot of heat, a lot of pressure, and then they were weathered after that - these are the rocks that palaeontologists studied for many decades, which explained why they were stuck on the question of Dickinsonia's true identity."

 Follow Paul on Twitter. ||||| Dickinsonia fossil. Credit: The Australian National University (ANU) Scientists from The Australian National University (ANU) and overseas have discovered molecules of fat in an ancient fossil to reveal the earliest confirmed animal in the geological record that lived on Earth 558 million years ago.

 The strange creature called Dickinsonia, which grew up to 1.4 metres in length and was oval shaped with rib-like segments running along its body, was part of the Ediacara Biota that lived on Earth 20 million years prior to the 'Cambrian explosion' of modern animal life.

 ANU Ph.D. scholar Ilya Bobrovskiy discovered a Dickinsonia fossil so well preserved in a remote area near the White Sea in the northwest of Russia that the tissue still contained molecules of cholesterol, a type of fat that is the hallmark of animal life.

 Lead senior researcher Associate Professor Jochen Brocks said the 'Cambrian explosion' was when complex animals and other macroscopic organisms—such as molluscs, worms, arthropods and sponges—began to dominate the fossil record.

 "The fossil fat molecules that we've found prove that animals were large and abundant 558 million years ago, millions of years earlier than previously thought," said Associate Professor Jochen Brocks from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences.

 "Scientists have been fighting for more than 75 years over what Dickinsonia and other bizarre fossils of the Edicaran Biota were: giant single-celled amoeba, lichen, failed experiments of evolution or the earliest animals on Earth. The fossil fat now confirms Dickinsonia as the oldest known animal fossil, solving a decades-old mystery that has been the Holy Grail of palaeontology."

 Mr Bobrovskiy said the team developed a new approach to study Dickinsonia fossils, which hold the key between the old world dominated by bacteria and the world of large animals that emerged 540 million years ago during the 'Cambrian explosion'.

 "The problem that we had to overcome was finding Dickinsonia fossils that retained some organic matter," said Mr Bobrovskiy from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences.

 "Most rocks containing these fossils such as those from the Ediacara Hills in Australia have endured a lot of heat, a lot of pressure, and then they were weathered after that—these are the rocks that palaeontologists studied for many decades, which explained why they were stuck on the question of Dickinsonia's true identity."

 Palaeontologists normally study the structure of fossils, but Mr Bobrovskiy extracted and analysed molecules from inside the Dickinsonia fossil found in ancient rocks in Russia to make the breakthrough discovery.

 "I took a helicopter to reach this very remote part of the world—home to bears and mosquitoes—where I could find Dickinsonia fossils with organic matter still intact," Mr Bobrovskiy said.

 "These fossils were located in the middle of cliffs of the White Sea that are 60 to 100 metres high. I had to hang over the edge of a cliff on ropes and dig out huge blocks of sandstone, throw them down, wash the sandstone and repeat this process until I found the fossils I was after."

 Scientists from The Australian National University (ANU) have discovered molecules of fat in an ancient fossil to reveal the earliest confirmed animal in the geological record that lived on Earth 558 million years ago. Credit: The Australian National University

 Associate Professor Brocks said being able to study molecules from these ancient organisms was a gamechanger.

 "When Ilya showed me the results, I just couldn't believe it," he said.

 "But I also immediately saw the significance."

 ANU led the research in collaboration with scientists from the Russian Academy of Science and the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry and the University of Bremen in Germany.

 The research is published in Science.

 Explore further: Earth's oldest animals formed complex ecological communities

 More information: I. Bobrovskiy el al., "Ancient steroids establish the Ediacaran fossil Dickinsonia as one of the earliest animals," Science (2018). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.aat7228

 R.E. Summons el al., "Chemical clues to the earliest animal fossils," Science (2018). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.aau9710

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Article:

An anonymous hacker has carried through on a threat to release “Orange Is the New Black” season five episodes online — after Netflix allegedly failed to respond to the cybercriminal’s shakedown demands.

 Variety was unable to verify the authenticity of the “OITNB” episodes the hacker claimed to have shared on popular file-sharing site the Pirate Bay.

 The first 10 episodes of season 5 were apparently shared shortly before 6 a.m. ET Saturday, with the 10 files comprising a total of 11.46 gigabytes. The hacker, who uses the handle “thedarkoverlord,” published the premiere episode from the upcoming season of “Orange Is the New Black” on Friday to the Pirate Bay.

 Netflix has set June 9 for the release of season five of “Orange Is the New Black.” It’s possible that the streamer will move up the “OITNB” premiere date now that the bulk of the episodes have leaked.

 Reps for Netflix did not respond to a request for comment about the latest development.

 According to “thedarkoverlord,” the hacker or hackers also have obtained unreleased shows from ABC, Fox, National Geographic and IFC. The content appears to have been stolen in an attack on post-production studio Larson Studios in late 2016, according to piracy-news site TorrentFreak. “Thedarkoverlord” explained in an online post that they obtained only the first 10 of the 13 episodes of “OITNB” season 5 because the cyberattack was carried out before the final three installments were available.

 Related Netflix Hacker Also Claims Theft From ABC, Fox, IFC, National Geographic

 In a statement Friday, Netflix said: “We are aware of the situation. A production vendor used by several major TV studios had its security compromised and the appropriate law enforcement authorities are involved.”

 It’s not clear what impact the theft and piracy of one of Netflix’s top shows will have. The hacker (or hacker collective) behind the heist has claimed to have made an extortion demand to the company, asking for an unspecified sum of money. However, the motive for purloining and leaking “OITNB” could be more about bragging rights in the cybercrime underworld.

 In a message posted early Saturday, “thedarkoverlord” was arrogant and even scolding.

 “It didn’t have to be this way, Netflix. You’re going to lose a lot more money in all of this than what our modest offer was,” the hacker wrote. “We’re quite ashamed to breathe the same air as you. We figured a pragmatic business such as yourselves would see and understand the benefits of cooperating with a reasonable and merciful entity like ourselves.”

 The hacker concluded the diatribe with an explicit threat to the other networks whose TV shows were allegedly stolen: “And to the others: there’s still time to save yourselves. Our offer(s) are still on the table — for now.”

 Netflix last year renewed “OITNB,” which execs have said has been consistently its most-watched original series, for seasons 5, 6 and 7. Creator and showrunner Jenji Kohan signed on for all the upcoming seasons of the show, produced by Lionsgate TV and based on the 2010 memoir by Piper Kerman. ||||| FILE - In this Aug. 11, 2015 file photo, actress Laverne Cox attends the "Orange Is the New Black" FYC Screening at DGA Theater in New York. A hacker claims to have stolen the upcoming season of Netflix's... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Aug. 11, 2015 file photo, actress Laverne Cox attends the "Orange Is the New Black" FYC Screening at DGA Theater in New York. A hacker claims to have stolen the upcoming season of Netflix's... (Associated Press)

 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A hacker claims to have stolen the upcoming season of Netflix's hit series "Orange Is The New Black," and is demanding that the video streaming service pay an unspecified ransom to prevent all the new episodes from being prematurely released online.

 The hacker, operating under the name The Dark Overlord, has already purportedly uploaded the first episode to an illegal file-sharing service. The Associated Press could not legally confirm the authenticity of that uploaded file.

 New episodes of "Orange" are scheduled for official release on June 9.

 Netflix said that a small production vendor that works with several major TV studios had suffered a breach. The Los Gatos, California, company described it as an "active situation" that's being investigated by the FBI and other authorities.

 Pirated copies of "Orange" could dent Netflix's subscriber growth and the company's stock price.

 In the ransom note, The Dark Overlord claimed to have stolen series from other studios, too, by breaking into a single company. The purported hacker promised to also release those titles unless "modest" ransoms are paid.

 Rumors of a massive leak of Hollywood films and TV episodes have been circulating online for months, fed by purported screenshots of the footage and a copy of a proposed deal to delete the stolen material in return for tens of thousands of dollars in electronic currency.

 When the AP contacted The Dark Overlord in February, the hacker said the purloined video wouldn't be made publicly available after all, making the far-fetched claim that "no one really (cares) about unreleased movies and TV show episodes."

 It's not clear what triggered The Dark Overload's renewed ransom demands.

 Netflix is counting on "Orange" to help it add 3.2 million subscribers from April through June. That's substantially higher than the company's average gain of 1.8 million subscribers in the same period over the past five years.

 Whenever Netflix's quarterly subscriber gains fall short of management's projections, the company's stock usually plunges.

 ___

 Associated Press writer Raphael Satter in Paris contributed to this story. |||||
What is a summary?

– A hacker going by The Dark Overlord claims to have stolen and released 10 episodes of the new season of Orange Is the New Black more than a month before its official release on Netflix. Variety reports the hacker was demanding an unspecified ransom from Netflix, uploading the first episode of the upcoming fifth season to a file-sharing site Friday as proof. The next nine episodes were uploaded early Saturday morning after The Dark Overlord claims Netflix refused to pay them. The hacker says they're "quite ashamed to breathe the same air" as Netflix, as they were being entirely "reasonable and merciful" with their ransom offer. Neither Variety nor the AP have been able to—legally—confirm the authenticity of the episodes uploaded by The Dark Overlord. The new Orange Is the New Black episodes were apparently stolen months ago. Netflix says a production vendor "had its security compromised"; Variety identifies that vendor as Larson Studios, a post-production facility. The Dark Overlord says they weren't able to steal the final three episodes of the season because they weren't finished yet. The Dark Overlord told the AP in February they wouldn't release any of the stolen episodes; it's unclear why that changed. The hacker also claims to have stolen TV series from ABC, National Geographic, Fox, and IFC via the hack at Larson Studios. They're reportedly seeking a "modest" ransom for those as well. The leak of new Orange is the New Black episodes could hurt Neflix's subscriber numbers and stock price. The FBI is investigating.


Summarize this article:

Congress is on pace to make history with the least productive legislative year in the post World War II era.

 Just 61 bills have become law to date in 2012 out of 3,914 bills that have been introduced by lawmakers, or less than 2% of all proposed laws, according to a USA TODAY analysis of records since 1947 kept by the U.S. House Clerk's office.

 In 2011, after Republicans took control of the U.S. House, Congress passed just 90 bills into law. The only other year in which Congress failed to pass at least 125 laws was 1995.

 These statistics make the 112th Congress, covering 2011-12, the least productive two-year gathering on Capitol Hill since the end of World War II. Not even the 80th Congress, which President Truman called the "do-nothing Congress" in 1948, passed as few laws as the current one, records show.

 The difference between 1995 and now is that Republicans rebounded in the second year of the 104th Congress in 1996, churning out 245 laws with a Democratic president, including a tax cut package, a minimum wage increase, an overhaul of the nation's welfare system, and requiring law enforcement to disclose where sex offenders live.

 Doug Heye, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., defended the chamber, citing over 30 economic measures the House has passed that have fizzled in the Democratic-run Senate "at the behest of a president who is presiding over the worst economic recovery in history."

 Unproductive Congress Fewer laws have been passed by this Congress than by any other in the last 65 years. Number of laws passed each year by Congress since 1947:

 2012: 61; 2011: 90; 2010: 258; 2009: 125; 2008: 280; 2007: 180; 2006: 313; 2005: 169; 2004: 300; 2003: 198; 2002: 241; 2001: 136; 2000: 410; 1999: 170; 1998: 241; 1997: 153; 1996: 245; 1995: 88; 1994: 255; 1993: 210; 1992: 347; 1991: 243; 1990: 410; 1989: 240; 1988: 473; 1987: 240; 1986: 424; 1985: 240; 1984: 408; 1983: 215; 1982: 328; 1981: 145; 1980: 426; 1979: 187; 1978: 411; 1977: 223; 1976: 383; 1975: 205; 1974: 404; 1973: 245; 1972: 383; 1971: 224; 1970: 505; 1969: 190; 1968: 391; 1967: 391; 1966: 461; 1965: 349; 1964: 408; 1963: 258; 1962: 484; 1961: 401; 1960: 417; 1959: 383; 1958: 620; 1957: 316; 1956: 638; 1955: 390; 1954: 492; 1953: 288; 1952: 339; 1951: 255; 1950: 481; 1949: 440; 1948: 511; 1947: 395

 Source: House Clerk's Office

 When Democrats controlled both chambers during the 111th Congress, 258 laws were enacted in 2010 and 125 in 2009, including President Obama's health care law.

 The 112th Congress will conclude after Election Day following an anticipated lame duck session. It has been defined by partisan divisions and legislative failures, including a bipartisan "Super Committee" that failed to enact $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction.

 Issues on which the divided Congress has not found consensus include the Dec. 31 expiration of the Bush tax cuts and a budget plan to replace $109 billion in automatic spending cuts, a drought-relief plan passed by the House but not the Senate, the extension of the Senate-passed federal farm bill that is languishing in the House and a bill to overhaul the U.S. Postal Service.

 The inertia continues to fuel Congress' historically low approval ratings, which hit 10% Tuesday, according to Gallup polling. ||||| That thud you just heard was the sound of Congress hitting an all-time low approval rating – again.

 Gallup said Thursday that a mere 10 percent of Americans think members of Congress are doing a good job – the same approval rating from February of this year, which was the lowest in Gallup’s history.

 And their disdain for Capitol Hill is one thing that Democrats, Republicans and independent voters can agree on. Low approval marks for Congress were consistent among party affiliation – with Democrats giving a 9 percent rating, Republicans 10 percent and independents 11 percent.

 “It is difficult to pinpoint precise causes for these extraordinarily negative views, although the continuing poor economy is certainly a major factor,” pollster Frank Newport wrote in the analysis. “The fact that control of Congress is now divided, with a Republican majority in the House and a Democratic majority in the Senate, may provide an opportunity for Americans of all political persuasions to dislike some aspect of Congress.”

 The 112th Congress has consistently registered low approval ratings, according to Gallup. The highest mark came in May 2011, when 24 percent of Americans gave a thumbs-up to Congress.

 Other surveys during this Congress have shown even worse numbers. A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted in October found that Congress earned a 9 percent public approval rating.

 Tuesday’s poll surveyed 1,012 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. |||||

– Harry Truman called the 80th Congress "do-nothing" in 1948, but they look like massive overachievers compared to today's crop of lawmakers, a USA Today analysis finds. The 112th Congress has passed just 61 bills out of 3,914 into law this year, putting it on course to be the most unproductive since year-end records began in 1947. Only 90 bills became law last year. One post-World War II year, 1995, had an even lower total than 2011, but the Republican-controlled Congress managed to produce 245 laws the following year with a Democratic president. After two years marked by partisanship and failure to agree on issues including debt reduction and drought relief, the 112th Congress will conclude after Election Day and most people will be happy to see it go, according to the latest Gallup poll. The poll found that just 10% of Americans think members of Congress are doing a good job, tying a record low set in February of this year. The highest approval rating this Congress has received came in May 2011, when it reached the dizzying heights of 24% approval, notes Politico.


Article:
Soldiers and rescue workers flat at the site where a ferry sank in a reservoir in Guatape, Colombia, Sunday, June 25, 2017. Nine people were dead and 28 missing after a tourist ferry packed with around... (Associated Press)

 GUATAPE, Colombia (AP) — A tourist boat packed with about 170 passengers for the holiday weekend capsized Sunday on a reservoir near the Colombian city of Medellin, leaving nine people dead and 28 missing, officials said.

 Rescuers including firefighters from nearby cities and air force pilots were searching for survivors at the Guatape reservoir where the four-story El Almirante ferry sank. A flotilla of recreational boats and jet skis rushed to the scene, pulling people from the boat as it went down and avoiding an even deadlier tragedy.

 Dramatic videos circulating on social media show the turquoise and yellow trimmed party boat rocking back and forth as people crawled down from a fourth-floor roof as it began sinking into the water.

 "Those on the first and second floors sank immediately," a female survivor who wasn't identified by name told Teleantioquia. "The boat was sinking and all we could do was scream and call for help."

 Margarita Moncada, the head of the disaster response agency in Antioquia state, said that according to a preliminary report 99 people were rescued and another 40 managed to find a way to shore on their own and were in good condition. Speaking to reporters from the reservoir, she said nine people had been killed and around 28 are still missing.

 It's unclear what caused the boat to sink but survivors said that it appeared to be overloaded and nobody on board was wearing a life vest.

 Daniel Giraldo, owner of an Italian restaurant in Guatape, said he went to the bay after hearing the sound of ambulances. When he got to the shore people told him the ship had gone under.

 "It sank in a matter of four minutes," he said.

 Next he went to the hospital where he said he saw a baby girl in a wet dress who had been saved but whose mother he was told is missing.

 Authorities were at a loss to say exactly how many people were on the boat and asked passengers or their loved ones to report to a rescue center hastily set up along the shore. They also made a call for scuba divers to assist with the search.

 The reservoir surrounding the soaring rocky outcrop of El Penol is a popular weekend destination a little more than an hour from Medellin. It was especially busy Sunday as Colombians celebrated a long holiday weekend.

 --

 AP Writers Christine Armario from Bogota, Colombia and Joshua Goodman from Caracas, Venezuela contributed to this report ||||| Rating is available when the video has been rented.

 This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. |||||Summary:

– A tourist boat packed with about 160 passengers capsized Sunday on a reservoir near the Colombian city of Medellin, leaving at least six people dead and 31 missing, officials said. Rescuers including firefighters and air force pilots in helicopters searched for survivors at the Guatape reservoir where El Almirante ferry sank. A flotilla of recreational boats and jet skis rushed to the scene, pulling people from the boat as it went down and avoiding an even deadlier tragedy, the AP reports. Dramatic videos circulating on social media show the party boat rocking back and forth as people crawled down from a fourth-floor roof as it began sinking into the water. "Those on the first and second floors sank immediately," a female survivor told Teleantioquia. "The boat was sinking and all we could do was scream and call for help." Survivors described hearing a loud explosion near the men's bathroom that knocked out power a few minutes after the boat began its cruise around the lake. It's unclear what caused the boat to sink, but survivors said that it appeared to be overloaded and nobody on board was wearing a life vest. After arriving at the scene, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said 122 people were either rescued or found their way to shore, but six had died and another 31 were missing, he told reporters.


FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2018, file photo, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, speaks during a TV news interview on Capitol Hill in Washington. Collins on Sunday, Jan. 28, said President Donald Trump would be... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2018, file photo, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, speaks during a TV news interview on Capitol Hill in Washington. Collins on Sunday, Jan. 28, said President Donald Trump would be... (Associated Press)

 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the probe into contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia (all times local):

 6:25 p.m.

 Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee have voted to release a classified memo they wrote that alleges that the FBI and the Justice Department improperly used government surveillance during the investigation into Russian election interference and contacts with President Donald Trump's campaign.

 That's according to Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the committee. Schiff says Democrats on the committee voted against releasing the memo.

 The vote to release the memo comes after committee Republicans, led by chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, a California Republican, pushed for its disclosure. The memo addresses a dossier of allegations against Trump compiled by a former British spy, and questions over whether it was used to obtain surveillance warrants.

 __

 2:25 p.m.

 The White House says President Donald Trump has not decided whether he'd authorize the release of a classified House Intelligence Committee memo, but says he favors "full transparency."

 The House committee may vote as soon as Monday to release the memo that Republicans say alleges FBI misconduct.

 White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday that "no one" at the White House has seen the memo, so the president was not prepared to make a decision.

 A number of conservatives favor releasing the memo, which they believe could discredit the findings of the investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.

 White House aides have previously said Trump favored releasing the document, which is in contrast to the stance of the Justice Department.

 ___

 2:30 a.m.

 Two Republican senators say President Donald Trump would be wise to keep a public silence on an independent investigation into his 2016 campaign's contacts with Russia.

 That's in the wake of news reports that he sought to fire the special counsel.

 The senators, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine, also urged special counsel Robert Mueller Sunday to review whether Trump tried to fire him last June, an accusation the president has labeled "fake news."

 Graham, co-sponsor of legislation that would protect Mueller from being fired without a legal basis, said he would be "glad to pass it tomorrow." But he insisted that Mueller's job appeared to be in no immediate danger, pointing to the political costs if Trump did remove him. ||||| Trey Gowdy had urged Devin Nunes (above) to share a classified memo that alleges misconduct by senior officials at the FBI with both Chris Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images House panel votes to release secret memo Earlier, Trey Gowdy lobbied Devin Nunes to share the controversial memo with the FBI director.

 Republicans on the House intelligence committee voted Monday in favor of releasing a classified memo that alleges misconduct by senior FBI officials involved in the Russia probe, despite objections from the Department of Justice.

 The GOP-led panel voted along party lines to release the secret document — which was written by Republicans — and against making public a competing memo Democrats had crafted, said Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee. The group also rejected a proposal to give the Justice Department and FBI more time to vet the Republican document, he said.

 Story Continued Below

 The memo has been a source of escalating partisan tension in Congress. Republicans argue it shows wrongdoing by FBI officials involved in surveillance of a Trump campaign aide, while Democrats say it mischaracterizes intelligence and is an attempt to distract from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

 In a sign of the House GOP's growing suspicions toward the FBI — as well as the influence of Donald Trump's allies who wanted the memo made public — the panel voted to publish the document only a day after sharing it with the FBI director, who was appointed by the president.

 "We have crossed a deeply regrettable line on this committee," Schiff said. "We had votes today to politicize the intelligence process, to prohibit the FBI and the Department of Justice from expressing their concerns to our committee and to the House, and to selectively release to the public the majority’s distorted memo."

 House intelligence committee Chairman Devin Nunes showed FBI Director Christopher Wray the memo on Sunday after Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) pressured him to share its contents with the bureau, two people familiar with the meeting said Monday. Gowdy also wanted Nunes to let Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein see the memo too, but he did not join them Sunday.

 In their meeting, Nunes told Wray he could flag any factual errors, national security concerns or material that could put FBI sources at risk, according to the people familiar with the meeting. Schiff said Wray told him his concerns with the memo were not alleviated just because he reviewed it.

 "The review did not satisfy, I think, either the bureau or [DOJ's] concerns," Schiff said. "The director of the FBI asked for the opportunity to come before the committee and express those concerns." He said Republicans also formally confirmed on Monday that they are probing conduct by senior officials at the Department of Justice and FBI.

 Committee Republicans did agree to share Democrats' competing memo with the rest of the House, which they called a precursor to potentially releasing it publicly. Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) told reporters the Democratic memo "should be" released after House members have time to review it.

 Trump now has five days to either object to the committee's request or clear the way for the memo's release. The White House said earlier on Monday that no decision would be made until lawmakers voted.

 Sign up here for POLITICO Huddle A daily play-by-play of congressional news 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.

 "It will be subjected to appropriate and serious review before a decision is made. The President strongly favors transparency for the American people and has urged the Executive Branch to cooperate with Congress to the fullest extent appropriate," said White House lawyer Ty Cobb in a statement Monday.

 Three people who have seen the memo told POLITICO recently that it accuses senior FBI officials of abusing a classified surveillance program, known as FISA, to spy on a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser. Obtaining a warrant under FISA requires the FBI to present an application to a court with evidence that indicates the target is acting on behalf of a foreign power.

 The GOP has complained that the FBI included in its evidence material culled from a dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele that described illicit connections between Trump and Russia. Steele compiled the dossier in 2016 on behalf of research firm Fusion GPS, which was being paid by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

 The New York Times reported Monday that the memo also reveals that deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein approved an application to extend the surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page in early 2017.

 Though Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, helped craft the memo and has championed its public release, he said on "Fox News Sunday" that he believed the FBI should see the memo before it comes out. He also said it shouldn't be used to interfere with Mueller's probe.

 "I told my Republican colleagues, ‘Leave him the hell alone,’ and that’s still my advice,” Gowdy said.

 Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), a member of the House intelligence committee and a former CIA officer, said he was not concerned about a Justice Department warning that releasing the memo without DOJ review could jeopardize national security. "I spent most of my adult life protecting sources and methods. I’m going to continue doing that," he said.

 Rachael Bade contributed to this report.

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

– It's all up to President Trump now. The House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines Monday to release a controversial memo that alleges wrongdoing on the part of the Justice Department and the FBI in regard to the Russia investigation, reports Politico. Democrats are fuming over the decision. Trump now has five days to decide whether to allow the memo to be released; his approval is necessary because it's a classified document. The memo alleges that the FBI and the Justice Department improperly used government surveillance during the investigation into Russian election interference and contacts with Trump's campaign, per the AP. The vote to release the memo comes after committee Republicans, led by chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, pushed for its disclosure. The memo addresses a dossier of allegations against Trump compiled by a former British spy, and questions over whether it was improperly used to obtain surveillance warrants. The panel's ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, announced the vote results Monday while criticizing the Republicans' decision. Democrats generally say the memo cherry-picks facts and presents a distorted view of things.


Write a summary based on this article:

Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pose for the media in the grounds of Kensington Palace in London, Monday Nov. 27, 2017. It was announced Monday that Prince Harry, fifth in line for the British... (Associated Press)

 Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pose for the media in the grounds of Kensington Palace in London, Monday Nov. 27, 2017. It was announced Monday that Prince Harry, fifth in line for the British throne, will marry American actress Meghan Markle in the spring, confirming months of rumors. (Eddie... (Associated Press)

 LONDON (AP) — Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will have a May wedding at Windsor Castle's St. George's Chapel, Kensington Palace announced Tuesday.

 Windsor Castle, west of London, is one of Queen Elizabeth II's main residences. The 15th-century chapel is as historic but more intimate than Westminster Abbey, where Harry's older brother William married Kate Middleton in 2011.

 Harry, who is fifth in line to the throne, and American actress Markle have been dating for about a year and a half. They announced their engagement on Monday.

 Tuesday's announcement said that the queen would attend the wedding, which will be paid for by the royal family. The exact date was not revealed.

 The announcement added that Markle will be baptized in the Church of England and will become a British citizen, although that will take some time.

 The engagement of Prince Harry and Markle dominated newspaper front pages and morning news shows in Britain on Tuesday, as royal-watchers awaited the details.

 Markle's future sister-in-law the Duchess of Cambridge, who is married to Prince William, said she was "absolutely thrilled."

 "It's such exciting news," Kate said as she visited a museum in London. "It's a really happy time for any couple and we wish them all the best and hope they enjoy this happy moment."

 Prince Charles' wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, said she was "delighted" her stepson was marrying the U.S. actress.

 "America's loss is our gain," she said.

 Markle's divorced status would once have barred her from marrying the prince in church. Harry's father Prince Charles, who is heir to the British throne, married Camilla in a low-key civil ceremony in 2005 because both bride and groom were divorced.

 Newspapers hailed news of the engagement as a breath of fresh air and symbol of a modernizing monarchy.

 The Daily Telegraph said in an editorial: "A divorced, mixed-race Hollywood actress who attended a Roman Catholic school is to marry the son of the next king. Such a sentence could simply not have been written a generation ago."

 The Daily Mail, which devoted its first 17 pages to the engagement, said the couple would give the royal family "the injection of vigor and exuberance it so desperately needs."

 In the couple's first joint interview Monday, 33-year-old Harry said Markle immediately fitted in with his family. He said when she visited Buckingham Palace to meet the queen, "the corgis took to her straight away."

 The ex-soldier prince and the 36-year-old star of TV show "Suits" revealed that Harry proposed over a roast chicken dinner at his London home, after months in which they tried to keep their long-distance relationship out of the public eye.

 Clearly happy in each other's company, the beaming couple recounted how they met on a blind date set up by a mutual friend, and immediately clicked.

 "The fact that I fell in love with Meghan so incredibly quickly was sort of confirmation to me that everything, all the stars were aligned, everything was just perfect," Harry said.

 "It was this beautiful woman just sort of literally tripped and fell into my life. I fell into her life." ||||| (CNN) Meghan Markle intends to become a UK citizen, the British royal family has announced, confirming that the American actor's marriage to Prince Harry would take place at Windsor Castle in May next year.

 Kensington Palace said that Windsor, a royal residence west of London, had become "a special place for the two of them."

 A spokesman said Markle would retain US citizenship through the process of becoming a UK citizen but it was "too early to say" if she would retain dual nationality. The process is expected to take several years.

 The wedding is likely to fall after another big royal occasion -- Harry's older brother, Prince William, and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, are expecting their third child in April.

 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at a photocall to announce their engagement at Kensington Palace in London.

 News of the couple's engagement was announced on Monday and came after months of speculation. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made their first public appearance as an engaged couple in the gardens of Kensington Palace on Monday afternoon, where Harry told reporters he knew Markle was "the one" from "the very first time we met."

 Their first official joint engagement will take place in the city of Nottingham on Friday, where they will greet members of the public together for the first time before attending an event to mark World AIDS Day.

 After the wedding, Markle will become the fourth patron of The Royal Foundation, a charitable organization set up in 2009 by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

 The couple will live in Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace, the official residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. One of Markle's two dogs, Guy, is already in the UK, while the other, Bogart, is now with friends of Markle's in Canada.

 A church wedding

 In choosing St George's Chapel at Windsor as the venue, the couple are following in royal tradition. Most recently, the church was the scene of the wedding of Peter Phillips -- son of Princess Anne and cousin to Harry -- who married Autumn Kelly in 2008.

 Although Markle has been married before, that will not pose any obstacle to a church wedding as the Church of England permits divorcees to remarry.

 The last royal wedding involving a divorcee was a civil ceremony rather than a church marriage. Harry's father, Prince Charles, married Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005 in a town hall in Windsor.

 The then Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, agreed the arrangements were "consistent with Church of England guidelines concerning remarriage."

 The Church of England nevertheless allows the remarriage of divorced people "in exceptional circumstances."

 Rules state that divorcees must be asked a series of questions designed to ensure "past hurts" have been healed and mistakes learned from.

 The couple will wed in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

 Although Markle attended a Catholic school as a child, she is not a practicing Roman Catholic, so an Anglican wedding will not raise any denominational questions. Kensington Palace said she would be baptized into the Church of England before the wedding.

 Current Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said Monday he was "absolutely delighted" at news of the wedding. "I have met Prince Harry on a number of occasions and have always been struck by his commitment and passion for his charities, and his immense love for his family," he said in a statement

 Photos: Taking the royal plunge Photos: Taking the royal plunge Taking the royal plunge – Royals! They're just like us except...no. They're not like us at all. Take a peek at some of the most storied royal weddings from the past 60 years. Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Christopher O'Neill exchange rings during their wedding ceremony in Stockholm on June 8, 2013. Hide Caption 1 of 12 Photos: Taking the royal plunge Taking the royal plunge – Princess Charlene of Monaco and Prince Albert II of Monaco leave the religious ceremony at the Prince's Palace on July 2, 2011 in Monaco. The Roman-Catholic ceremony follows the civil wedding which was held in the Throne Room of the Prince's Palace of Monaco on July 1. Hide Caption 2 of 12 Photos: Taking the royal plunge Taking the royal plunge – Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, accompanied by her maid of honor Pippa Middleton leave after the wedding service in Westminster Abbey in central London on April 29, 2011. Hide Caption 3 of 12 Photos: Taking the royal plunge Taking the royal plunge – Prince Frederik and Mary Donaldson married in Copenhagen, Denmark on May 14, 2004. Hide Caption 4 of 12 Photos: Taking the royal plunge Taking the royal plunge – Wedding of Prince Laurent of Belgium and Claire Coombs on April 12, 2003 in Brussels, Belgium. Hide Caption 5 of 12 Photos: Taking the royal plunge Taking the royal plunge – Jordanian Crown Prince Abdullah and his wife Rania on their wedding day in Amman on June 10, 1993. Hide Caption 6 of 12 Photos: Taking the royal plunge Taking the royal plunge – The newly wed Prince Andrew, the Duke of York and his wife Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, wave to crowds July 23, 1986 from the balcony of Buckingham Palace in London while Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Mother look on. Hide Caption 7 of 12 Photos: Taking the royal plunge Taking the royal plunge – Lady Diana and Prince Charles wed on July 29, 1981. Here the prince and princess (wearing a David Emanuel wedding dress, leave St. Paul's Cathedral. Hide Caption 8 of 12 Photos: Taking the royal plunge Taking the royal plunge – HRH Princess Anne and captain Mark Phillips stand together during their wedding service at Westminster Abbey in November 14, 1973. Hide Caption 9 of 12 Photos: Taking the royal plunge Taking the royal plunge – The newly-wed Princess Margaret, the younger sister of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, leaves hand in hand with her husband the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones London's Westminster Abbey on their wedding day May 6, 1960. Armstrong-Jones was later made Earl of Snowdon. When the marriage was officially ended two years later, Margaret became the first royal to divorce since Henry VIII in the 16th century. Hide Caption 10 of 12 Photos: Taking the royal plunge Taking the royal plunge – Queen Elizabeth II, as Princess Elizabeth, and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh, styled Prince Philip in 1947, on their wedding day. She became queen on her father King George VI's death in 1952. Hide Caption 11 of 12 Photos: Taking the royal plunge Taking the royal plunge – Prince Rainier III marries actress Grace Kelly in a cathedral in Monaco on April 19, 1956. Hide Caption 12 of 12

 News of the engagement prompted hopes that Brits might be granted an extra day off on the day of the nuptials. The wedding of William and Kate was declared a special holiday, as was Charles' wedding to Diana and that of his younger sister Princess Anne.

 But Downing Street has said that there are "no plans" for a special holiday to celebrate the wedding of Prince Harry and Markle.

 It began with a blind date

 The couple opened up for the first time about their relationship in an interview with the BBC's Mishal Husain broadcast on Monday evening. They have previously stayed clear of the public eye, opting for evenings at home instead of nights out to avoid media scrutiny, which has times been none too kind to Markle.

 The two met for a drink in July 2016 on a blind date, brokered by a mutual friend, whose name they would not reveal, but "it was definitely a setup," Markle said.

 A second date was followed by a camping trip to Botswana. "Then we were really by ourselves, which was crucial to me," explained Harry.

 "We were able to really have so much time just to connect," added Markle, "and we never went longer than two weeks without seeing each other, even though we were obviously doing a long-distance relationship. We made it work."

 It was during a "cozy night" earlier this month at the couple's Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace when Harry proposed, Markle said.

 "It was so sweet and natural and very romantic. He got down on one knee," she said. "As a matter of fact, I could barely let you finish proposing. I said, 'Can I say yes now?'"

 The ring features a stone from Botswana accompanied by two smaller diamonds from the jewelry collection of Harry's mother, the late Princess Diana.

 Harry wanted to include those on the ring, which he designed himself with a yellow gold band, "to make sure she's with us on this crazy journey together." |||||

– Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will have a May wedding at Windsor Castle's St. George's Chapel, Kensington Palace announced Tuesday. Windsor Castle, west of London, is one of Queen Elizabeth II's main residences. The 15th-century chapel is as historic but more intimate than Westminster Abbey, where Harry's older brother, William, married Kate Middleton in 2011. Tuesday's announcement said that the queen would attend the wedding, which will be paid for by the royal family. The exact date was not revealed, reports the AP. The announcement added that Markle, who CNN notes attended Catholic school but isn't a practicing Catholic, will be baptized in the Church of England prior to the wedding. The church allows divorcees—Markle is one—to remarry. She'll also become a British citizen, though a rep for Markle wouldn't say if she would retain her American citizenship after the years-long process is complete. Prince Charles' wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, said she was "delighted" her stepson was marrying the US actress. "America's loss is our gain," she said. (Read the story of Harry's proposal here.)


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– Alaska couple Kelly Tousley and Curtiss O'Rorke Stedman, both 27, vowed at the end of 2014 that they would quit their jobs as a social services worker and English teacher and spend a year traveling the US. "After four years of being 'professional adults,' we realized we wanted more out of life," they write on their blog, Pay Gas, Not Rent. To afford the dream, they sold almost every possession in their more than 1,000-square-foot rental home and spent about $10,000 turning a 98-square-foot trailer into a livable space, complete with toilet, mini fridge, sink, desk, pullout bed, and lots of hooks for storage. They left on May 31, 2015, traveling from Alaska to Michigan and from there to at least 13 more states so far. And Business Insider reports that seven months into their journey the couple is not only surviving but enjoying themselves—and is entirely debt-free. Not every month is equal. Their expenses were low when they spent a good chunk of the fall with family in Colorado, for instance, but they spent thousands getting to and exploring California. Stedman, a musician who goes by the name "Cousin Curtiss," plays two to four gigs a week to support their adventure, and the couple says it helps that they have no space to put new material possessions. Stedman admits that they had to learn as they built their new home, which had to hold their two dogs as well: Before this adventure, "the coolest thing that I built to date was a birdhouse in sixth grade," he told Alaska Public Radio at the start of their journey. Much of what they learned was through YouTube and trial and error, the Grand Valley magazine reports. But while they admit to Business Insider that they're committed to finding real jobs again when the year is up and saving for things like retirement, they'll never stop traveling. (The tiny house movement has a little secret.)

by Michele Coffill

 photos by Bernadine Carey-Tucker

 video by Tony Packer

 Two people and two dogs are traveling the country, coexisting in 98 square feet of living space.

 On some nights their backyard has been the vast openness of the Yukon Territory in northwest Canada, other nights it was Bridge Street in downtown Grand Rapids.

 Kelly Tousley, ’11, and Curtiss O’Rorke Stedman joined the tiny house movement in June after purchasing a utility trailer and outfitting it for adventure. They took their dogs and some of their belongings and left their Juneau, Alaska, home in June to hit the road to build O’Rorke Stedman’s rising music career.

 Also in June but in the southwest U.S., Kristin Connolly Schillaci, ’05, and Tony Schillaci, ’06, returned to Santa Fe, New Mexico, after spending a year on the road living in an 18-footlong, 1980 Coachman trailer. They traveled 25,000 miles to 30 juried art shows in 35 states to sell Kristin’s fine art photographs. They also were on the road with two big dogs. ||||| A 1,200-square-foot house is considered small by today’s standards. But one Juneau couple is leaving their home for something with less than 100 square feet of livable space. They’re hitting the road, but that doesn’t come without sacrifice.

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 On the curb in front of a brown house sits a bookshelf, a suitcase and empty picture frames. Passersby might think the tenants are moving out or spring cleaning.

 “We don’t really have enough time to do a true yard sale so this is our, like, piecemeal please-everybody-come-take-our-stuff-so-we-can-move-into-98-square-feet,” Kelly Tousley says with a laugh.

 There’s also a sign: “Knock on the door for more items for sale in the house.”

 Kelly and her boyfriend are getting rid of nearly everything they own to fit into a tiny house on wheels parked outside their rental. From the outside, it looks like a glossy white travel trailer.

 “I mean, picture opening up the back of a U-Haul and that’s what we started with,” she says.

 But the inside is more like a home with vinyl hardwood floors and lime green walls. They’ll pull the trailer with a truck for a yearlong trip through the Alaska road system and down to the Lower 48.

 For such a small space, it’s remarkably plush. A bench folds out into a queen-sized bed.

 “We had the conversation of, if we’re living in this and this is our house, we don’t want to be sitting on milk crates with cushions on top of them and feeling like we’re going to get slivers in our fingers when we touch the walls,” she says.

 Electricity runs off solar panels. There’s a small bathroom separated by a curtain and a kitchenette but no running water.

 It’s their version of the tiny house movement, downsizing and taking a do-it-yourself approach to home ownership. Many tiny houses are palaces compared to their trailer. But the couple needed something smaller and road worthy. It only cost $8,600.

 “The coolest thing that I built to date was a birdhouse in sixth grade,” says Kelly’s boyfriend, Curtiss O’Rorke Stedman. “And to look at a box and say we can turn this into a house, that was daunting. And that fact that it actually worked so far is great.”

 Curtiss is a high school English teacher and musician. Last summer, he toured the interior for his solo music project, Cousin Curtiss.

 “So when I got back, I said, ‘You know, this is it. I’m hitting the road. I want to do this full time,’ and Kelly was 110 percent behind me all the way,” he says.

 Kelly remembers it differently. She thought he was talking about taking a vacation.

 “Whereas, I think when the conversation happened, Curtiss more so took it as I’m hitting the road with him full time,” she says. “And I think it took a couple of months of that conversation to happen. Is it realistic for both of us to hit the road, for both of us to quit our jobs?”

 Together, they decided it was. Kelly would quit her job working with autistic kids. They would sell everything and go on tour indefinitely. Traveling from Tok to Chicken, then down south through Montana and Michigan.

 Friends and family had mixed reactions. But no one said it was a terrible idea, don’t do it.

 “I don’t think anybody said that,” he says. “I think a few people may have said, ‘Why would you do that?’ They didn’t understand it.”

 One of those people was Kelly’s grandfather, a professional builder. Kelly recounts telling him about their first big project.

 “‘Grandpa, we’re going to cut in windows. We’re going to install our own windows.’ And he said, ‘You can’t do that. You can’t install windows in a trailer. That doesn’t make any sense.’ And I sent a picture of us installing the first window and he said, ‘Huh, they did it!’”

 They completed the tiny house in eight months. Then came the time to purge all their stuff. For Curtiss, the most difficult thing to give away was his plants, grown from his great-great-grandmother’s clippings.

 Kelly says it was her clothes.

 “You know, I’ll look at a shirt and be like, ‘I love that sweatshirt! I wore that every home track meet in high school.’ But the reality is I have those memories of track and I don’t need that sweatshirt to hold onto,” she says.

 Kelly is giving the tiny lifestyle a year. After that, she says she’ll reassess.

 Curtiss wrote the song “Here and Now” about missing Kelly on tour. But now he won’t have to. The couple is setting off for miles of open road, pulling behind them what they’ll call home.

 “I think it’s a blessing to be able to ditch everything you own and be able to take off in true nomad style like human’s used to be and go hunter-gatherer across the country looking for adventure,” he says.

 To see where Kelly and Curtiss are on their journey, visit paygasnotrent.com |||||