pileofcrapola

ATLANTA (AP) — Dismissing an appeal on a technicality, Georgia’s highest court granted a victory to a Ku Klux Klan group that has been seeking for years to participate in a state-run highway cleanup program.

The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the state’s appeal of a lower court decision that the state had violated the KKK group’s free speech rights. The Department of Transportation filed its appeal incorrectly, leaving the high court without authority to consider its merits, the opinion said.

The state attorney general’s office, which represents the department, is reviewing the decision and considering its options, spokesman Nicholas Genesi said in an email.

The north Georgia KKK group applied to join the state’s Adopt-A-Highway program in May 2012, hoping to pick up litter along part of Route 515 in the Appalachian Mountains. The program was started in 1989 to get volunteers to clean up sections of roads in the state. In exchange, the Department of Transportation posts a sponsorship sign along the road with the program logo and the volunteer group’s name.

The state Department of Transportation, which runs the program, denied the KKK group’s application, saying its program was aimed at “civic-minded organizations in good standing” and citing what it called the KKK’s “long-rooted history of civil disturbance” and the “potential for social unrest.”

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation sued on behalf of the KKK group in September 2012, arguing that the state violated the group’s right to free speech.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shawn Ellen LaGrua agreed and ruled in the group’s favor in November 2014, saying the KKK’s group’s application was treated differently than others and that “viewpoint-based discrimination” is not allowed under the Georgia Constitution.

The state appealed, arguing that the KKK group’s arguments were barred by the principle of sovereign immunity, which shields the state and its agencies from being sued in their official capacity unless the General Assembly waives that protection.

The Department of Transportation didn’t have an automatic right to appeal in this case and failed to file a necessary application to appeal, leaving the high court without jurisdiction and with no choice but to dismiss the appeal, the opinion says.

Alan Begner, an attorney for the KKK group, said they are considering the ruling a victory, though he and his clients would have liked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the underlying issue of sovereign immunity in cases of constitutional challenges to government actions.

It’s not entirely clear what happens next.

The Department of Transportation adopted a moratorium on allowing any new participants in the highway cleanup program shortly after it denied the KKK group’s request, Begner said. LaGrua had dismissed the KKK group’s request to order the state to allow it to participate in the program. Begner said he needs to talk to the ACLU and his clients about possible next steps.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Campaign 2016 weeks before the Republican and Democratic national conventions (all times EDT):

10 p.m.

Republican Donald Trump is again praising former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s ruthlessness, saying he killed terrorists “so good.”

Trump was speaking at a rally Tuesday in North Carolina when he turned to the former Iraqi leader.

“Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, right? … But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good,” Trump said. “They didn’t read ‘em the rights, they didn’t talk. They were a terrorist, it was over.”

Trump has previously said the world would be “100 percent better” if dictators like Hussein and Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi were still in power. Prior to the U.S. invasion, Iraq was listed by the State Department as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Democrat Hillary Clinton’s senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan responded in a statement, “Donald Trump’s praise for brutal strongmen seemingly knows no bounds.”

Sullivan said such comments “demonstrate how dangerous he would be as Commander-in-Chief and how unworthy he is of the office he seeks.”

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8:30 p.m.

Republican Donald Trump is accusing Hillary Clinton of bribing Attorney General Loretta Lynch following a report that said Clinton would consider keeping Lynch if she’s elected president.

“It’s a bribe!” Trump declared at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, Tuesday, hours after the FBI said it wouldn’t recommend charges against Clinton over her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.

Trump was referring to a story in The New York Times that quoted “Democrats close to” Clinton saying she may decide to rehire Lynch.

Trump says Lynch may have believed that, if she let Clinton off the hook, she’d have four more years on the job.

Trump says, “It’s a disgrace, it’s a disgrace!”

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8 p.m.

Republican Donald Trump says the FBI’s decision not to recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton is the greatest example yet that the system is “rigged.”

Trump says Clinton put the “entire country in danger” and insists she was likely hacked.

“Her judgment is horrible,” Trump says, adding, “She will be such a lousy president, folks.”

Trump also had harsh words for President Barack Obama, arguing he should be at the White House working to defeat Islamic State militants and dealing with other issues instead of joining Clinton on the campaign trail.

He says Obama seems to be having too much fun, adding, “it’s like a carnival act.”

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7:50 p.m.

Sen. Bob Corker joined Donald Trump onstage at a rally in North Carolina Tuesday amid speculation about the Republican candidate’s vice presidential deliberations.

Trump introduced the Tennessee senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as “somebody respected by everybody.”

Corker said he’d had a “pretty remarkable day” with Trump, spending time with his grown children and watching how he treats the people who work for him.

He told the enthusiastic crowd packed into Raleigh’s Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts that “the reason that you love him so much is because he loves you.”

The pair hugged before Corker left the stage.

Trump’s event comes several hours after Democratic rival Hillary Clinton held her first joint rally with President Barack Obama in North Carolina.

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6 p.m.

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is calling the timing of FBI Director James Comey’s recommendation in Hillary Clinton’s email case “uniquely troubling.”

In a letter to Comey on Tuesday, Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia says the FBI recommendation not to bring criminal charges against Clinton defies logic, and he is posing eight questions that he says he wants answered by Monday. Among them was whether she was treated differently from others who were penalized for mishandling classified information.

Goodlatte is also questioning “the timing and manner” of the announcement just a week after former President Bill Clinton’s impromptu meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on a tarmac in Phoenix. Lynch has maintained that the two spoke about family and not the investigation.

In a separate statement, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz questioned Comey’s integrity.

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5:45 p.m.

Presidential daughter Sasha Malia is the talk of social media after her father disclosed that she uses Twitter.

President Barack Obama was poking fun at Donald Trump during a rally for Hillary Clinton when he said that tweeting doesn’t make someone prepared to be president. He quipped, “Sasha tweets, but she doesn’t think that she thereby should be sitting behind the desk.”

Sasha and her older sister, Malia, aren’t known to have public social media profiles and their parents have tried to protect their privacy. The White House declined to answer any questions about the matter.

A Twitter account under the name @SashaObama had been suspended as of Tuesday evening.

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5:40 p.m.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, floated by Donald Trump as a possible speaker at this month’s Republican National Convention, will not attend.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has said he might hold a “winners night” at the convention and suggested Brady might speak.

But Brady will not appear in Cleveland later this month, according to a person briefed on convention plans but not authorized to speak publicly about them before they are officially revealed. The person said Tuesday that Brady was never formally asked to attend.

Brady has not officially endorsed Trump but has called the celebrity businessman “a friend” and once showcased one of Trump’s campaign hats in his locker.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka are other sports celebrities whom Trump said might speak but have declined invitations. Boxing promoter Don King has said he will attend.

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4:30 p.m.

President Barack Obama has wrapped up his first campaign appearance for Hillary Clinton without mentioning the FBI investigation into her private email.

Obama held a joint rally with Clinton in North Carolina hours after FBI Director James Comey called her actions “extremely careless” but said he wasn’t recommending criminal charges.

Neither Obama nor Clinton brought up the probe in their speeches. Obama has tried to avoid commenting by saying he doesn’t want to jeopardize the independence of the investigation.

But Obama used his speech to tell voters that he believes in Clinton and that they should, too. He’s working to alleviate concerns among some voters who say they don’t trust her.

___

4:25 p.m.

President Barack Obama says Hillary Clinton has plenty of critics. But he says that’s what happens when a person puts themselves in the “arena” to fight for their beliefs.

Obama is speaking at his first rally for Clinton. He says she’s never stopped trying and people shouldn’t take her for granted.

The president says Clinton is steady and she’s true. He says she doesn’t get the credit she deserves.

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4:11 p.m.

President Barack Obama says people who are voting Republican this year shouldn’t claim to do so because of the economy.

Obama is ripping into Donald Trump’s economic positions and says even Republicans don’t know what he’s talking about. He says he doesn’t understand how people can vote for someone opposed to unions, paid sick leave and other policies he says help working families.

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4:09 p.m.

Republican Donald Trump is blaming a “rigged system” for the FBI’s decision not to recommend charges against his likely rival Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server as secretary of state.

Trump alleges in a statement that Clinton “compromised the safety of the American people” by storing “highly classified information” on a private email server.

He cited the FBI’s conclusion that Clinton’s email could have been hacked, declaring: “Our adversaries almost certainly have a blackmail file on Hillary Clinton, and this fact alone disqualifies her from service.”

FBI Director James Comey said Clinton and her staff “were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”

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4:03 p.m.

President Barack Obama says there’s never been any man or woman more qualified to be president than Clinton.

Obama says nobody understands the job of president until you’ve sat behind the president’s desk. He says “everybody can tweet but nobody actually knows” what it takes.

The president is poking fun at Donald Trump for his prolific tweeting. He says his daughter Sasha tweets, but that doesn’t mean she knows what it’s like to be president.

Obama says Hillary Clinton won’t quit no matter how hard the challenges.

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4:00 p.m.

President Barack Obama says he knew Hillary Clinton would do a great job as his secretary of state.

Obama is touting her work in his administration during a joint campaign rally. Obama says he’s had a front-row seat to her judgment and commitment.

Obama says the “filter changes a little bit” when someone becomes a candidate. He’s referring to political attempts to denigrate her record at the State Department.

The president says he saw how Clinton treated everyone with respect, regardless of how important they were.

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3:55 p.m.

President Barack Obama is recalling the 2008 Democratic primary, when he and Hillary Clinton competed aggressively for the nomination.

Obama says he had admired her when they worked together in the Senate but after the primary he admired her even more.

He says he “always had to be on my game” during debates because Clinton knew all her facts. Obama is praising her for advocating for people who face discrimination or a lack of opportunity.

Obama says Clinton had to do everything he did, but had to do it backward. He says she was like “Ginger Rodgers in heels.”

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3:52 p.m.

Donald Trump’s vice presidential search is going on tour.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is among those being vetted for the gig, will be joining Trump at a rally in Cincinnati Ohio on Wednesday, a campaign spokesman confirms.

It will be the second day in a row that Trump will be joined by a traveling companion on the trail.

Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, who chairs the senate Foreign Relations Committee, is set to travel with Trump to North Carolina Wednesday, hours after a joint visit to the state by Democrat Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama.

Trump also met with Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence over the holiday weekend as he works to narrow down his potential picks.

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3:51 p.m.

President Barack Obama is opening his speech for Hillary Clinton leading the crowd chanting, “Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!”

The president, who sat onstage while Clinton introduced him, announced, “I’m fired up,” and “I love you too.”

He said he likes North Carolina because, “even the people who won’t vote for me are nice.”

Obama won North Carolina in 2008 but narrowly lost it to Mitt Romney four years later.

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3:47 p.m.

Hillary Clinton is contrasting Donald Trump with President Barack Obama.

Clinton is speaking in Charlotte, North Carolina, at her first campaign rally with the president. She says he’s a president who knows how to keep the U.S. safe and strong. She’s asking voters to compare that to Trump and imagine him sitting in the Oval Office the next time there’s a major decision.

Clinton says the world hangs on a president’s every word. She says Trump is simply unqualified and temperamentally unfit to be commander in chief.

Clinton is ending her speech by invoking Obama’s campaign slogan of “Fired up, ready to go.”

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3:45 p.m.

Hillary Clinton introduced President Barack Obama from behind a lectern bearing the presidential seal.

It’s powerful imagery that offers voters a glimpse of what a President Hillary Clinton might look like.

She and Obama flew to North Carolina together on Air Force One, stepping off the plane together and waving to cameras.

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3:45 p.m.

Hillary Clinton is speaking from behind a lectern bearing the presidential seal as she campaigns with President Barack Obama in North Carolina.

Clinton is introducing Obama, who will speak about his support for her candidacy. She and Obama flew to North Carolina together on Air Force One, stepping off the plane together and waving to cameras.

It’s powerful imagery that offers voters a glimpse of what a President Hillary Clinton might look like.

___

3:35 p.m.

Donald Trump’s vice presidential search is going on tour.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is among those being vetted for the gig, will be joining Trump at a rally in Cincinnati Ohio on Thursday, a campaign spokesman confirms.

It will be the second day in a row that Trump will be joined by a traveling companion on the trail.

Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, who chairs the senate Foreign Relations Committee, is set to travel with Trump to North Carolina Tuesday, hours after a joint visit to the state by Democrat Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama.

Trump also met with Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence over the holiday weekend as he works to narrow down his potential picks.

____

3:30 p.m.

Hillary Clinton is praising President Barack Obama and his family effusively as she takes the stage at her first rally with the president.

Clinton says Obama knows something about winning elections. She’s alluding to his victory over her in the 2008 Democratic primary.

Clinton says the president doesn’t get enough credit for saving the economy. She says he embodies what leadership looks like.

The Democratic candidate says the next president needs to build on what Obama has done.

As she spoke to a roaring crowd in in Charlotte, N.C., Obama sat just behind her onstage.

Clinton is also jabbing Donald Trump for questioning Obama’s birthplace in the past. She says Obama has never forgotten where he comes from. Clinton says, “Donald, if you’re tweeting, it’s Hawaii.”

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3:15 p.m.

The State Department is rejecting that it has a lax environment when it comes to classified information.

Spokesman John Kirby says the agency takes the protection of such material “very seriously” and doesn’t accept the criticism from FBI Director James Comey.

Kirby wouldn’t speak Tuesday about the details of the FBI’s probe of Hillary Clinton’s email arrangement.

He said the State Department will decide on any internal action after the Justice Department weighs Comey’s findings and recommendations.

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3:09 p.m.

Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the FBI should release evidence uncovered during its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email server, not just the summary of its inquiry.

The Iowa Republican says FBI should “include the actual evidence so the public can make an educated decision on its own about the judgment and decision-making of all the senior officials involved,” including FBI Director James Comey.

Grassley’s committee has been investigating Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. He said numerous Freedom of Information Act requests and other congressional requests have been placed on hold because of the ongoing nature of the investigation, “so now the FBI should respond fully and completely to all of them.”

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2:49 p.m.

Republican Donald Trump is traveling to North Carolina with one of his potential vice presidential choices.

Sen. Bob Corker is expected to introduce Trump at a rally Tuesday evening in Raleigh, North Carolina, just a few hours after Democratic rival Hillary Clinton appears for the first time with President Barack Obama.

“Looking forward to meeting with @SenBobCorker in a little while,” Trump said on Twitter, where he’s been publicizing a series of closed-door meetings with elected officials, including Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.

Corker is the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and would add foreign policy experience to the GOP ticket.

___

2:09 p.m.

The White House says President Barack Obama is enthusiastic about Hillary Clinton’s campaign but doesn’t plan to address the FBI investigation into her emails when he campaigns with her Tuesday.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest is dodging questions about the investigation’s findings and how they reflect on Clinton. He says the White House is trying to avoid the appearance of interfering while the Justice Department considers whether to charge Clinton.

The FBI recommended no charges and the attorney general has said she’ll accept the recommendations of career Justice Department prosecutors.

Earnest tells reporters traveling with Obama and Clinton to North Carolina that FBI Director James Comey didn’t tell the White House the results of the investigation in advance of his public comments.

___

This story has been corrected to correct Corker with Trump Tuesday, Gingrich Wednesday.

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LEBANON, Ohio (AP) — A man indicted Tuesday on charges including attempted aggravated murder and attempted murder shot at his father and a sheriff’s deputy last month following a dispute over hummus, authorities said.

Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said charges against 19-year-old Mohammed Abdou Laghaoui also include felonious assault and tampering with evidence.

Court records don’t list an attorney for Laghaoui. He said earlier that the preliminary charges against him were inaccurate.

Fornshell said “it all went downhill” June 9 after Laghaoui ate too much of his father’s hummus. Laghaoui’s brother called 911 and Laghaoui can be heard making threats, Fornshell said.

Deputy Katie Barnes responded to the apartment and left when Laghaoui’s father and brother declined to press charges. She was called back shortly afterward when Laghaoui’s brother told police Laghaoui punched his father in the face.

Barnes was then shot in the abdomen by what appeared to be an AK-47-style rifle, county Sheriff Larry Sims said. She’s expected to recover.

Fornshell said Laghaoui’s father was shot in the hand while trying to keep his son out of their apartment. He lost some fingers.

Residents were told to seek shelter as a helicopter flew over the area searching for Laghaoui. He was arrested several hours later.

Authorities haven’t found the rifle. Fornshell said Laghaoui also shot at a neighbor, and the bullet entered a child’s bedroom in a neighboring apartment.

Laghaoui remains jailed on a $2 million bond. He could face up to 60 years in prison if convicted, Fornshell said.

___

This story has been corrected to show Laghaoui was indicted Tuesday, not Monday.

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RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A retired police dog wandering a neighborhood attacked and dragged a man in Southern California after he gave the animal a bowl of water because he thought it looked thirsty, authorities said Tuesday.

The man’s family members were forced to stab the German shepherd with steak knives when the dog wouldn’t release the victim and dragged him from a front lawn into a street Sunday, John Welsh, spokesman for the Riverside County Animal Services Department, told The Associated Press.

The 20-year-old man was hospitalized with bites to his bicep, leg and ankle. The dog, which served with a Los Angeles County law enforcement agency, was euthanized due to the severity of its injuries.

The dog lapped up the water and then placed its two front paws on the man’s chest, according to Welsh. Then the animal suddenly lunged and latched its jaws on the man’s upper arm.

While the man screamed for help, family members kicked and punched the dog and then ran inside to grab knives when the animal did not relinquish its grip. The dog was stabbed several times.

Welsh said the wounded dog immediately obeyed a responding animal control officer, possibly reacting to his uniform. The dog calmly allowed Officer Will Luna to put a control loop around its neck.

“I walked him to my truck and, with one command, the dog, despite its injuries, leaped into one of my truck compartments,” Luna said in a news release.

A microchip confirmed the dog’s police service but officials declined to say what department it worked for. The dog’s owner was interviewed by animal control officers and a decision on whether to cite the owner was pending, Welsh said.

Retired police dogs generally live with law enforcement officers, often their former handlers, he said.

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Derrek Green’s eyes lit up as the black lab galloped across the airport corridor. He bent down, threw his arms out and embraced Zeva, the tail-wagging, retired military dog he had to leave behind two years earlier.

Watching from the side, Molli Oliver’s eyes filled with tears. Another happy reunion.

Oliver is a chipper 5-foot-2 flight attendant for United Airlines, who has taken it upon herself to reunite retired military dogs and their former handlers. Her personal mission started last year when she struck up a conversation with a soldier still hurting five years after parting ways with his military canine.

I said, ‘Well, where is the dog? I’ll get him for you,'” Oliver recalled.

It was the start of a new passion for Oliver. The reunion of Green and Zeva in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday marked her fifth homecoming.

“It was emotional,” Green, a 26-year-old Army staff sergeant, said of getting Zeva back. “At one point I almost started crying, but I fought back those tears.”

Oliver, 65, of Los Angeles, has always had a deep bond with the military — several members of her family have served. She also has a love for dogs.

She was heartbroken by Sgt. Andrew Mulherron’s story as she flew with Marines heading for deployment overseas in April 2015. Mulherron was the first handler for another black lab, Boone, starting in 2009.

Their bond was deepened by the fact that Boone was a hero, receiving a medal for detecting 11 confirmed explosive devices in Afghanistan.

Mulherron eventually settled in California and Boone went to another handler. Oliver tracked down Boone to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and was able to secure permission to fly him to California, her first reunion.

For that one and the next three, Oliver paid for the flights and other costs herself. News about her efforts led to donations, which funded Zeva’s trip to El Paso.

Any cost is worth it to see the look on a soldier’s face when he has his dog back, Oliver said.

“It’s overwhelming for them,” she said. “It’s a part of them that’s been missing.”

Doug Miller, working dog manager for the Department of Defense, said the military typically has about 1,700 dogs working in all branches, with another 800 to 1,000 in kennel for training, awaiting assignment, or for medical reasons.

Most dogs are used for patrol and detection of drugs and explosives, Miller said.

Over the course of a dog’s working life, the animal typically goes through several handlers. When the dog is retired, the final handler usually gets first dibs. Other times, a past handler has made it clear he or she wants to adopt. If multiple handlers want the dog, the commander chooses “based on the best interest of the dog,” Miller said.

Zeva, like Boone, was trained to sniff out bombs. She first teamed with Green in 2013.

It turned out the military had other plans for both of them. Green was sent to a combat engineering unit in 2014. Zeva never really took to the training and remained kenneled in Fort Leonard Wood.

“She definitely is not a military working dog,” Green laughed. “She’d rather relax on your couch than go out and look for bombs.”

Green, now based in Fort Bliss, Texas, never forgot his friend, and secured permission to adopt Zeva. The kennel master reached out to Oliver.

Last week, she flew to St. Louis and made the 130-mile drive to the Army base to pick up Zeva and fly her to Texas, where the dog now lives with Green, his wife, their three young children and another lab.

Oliver said the first five reunions are only the beginning.

“We’re trying to help as many as we can,” she said.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley apparently broke the law when she flew a university flag over the Capitol to celebrate a baseball national championship last week.

The governor likely violated the state’s Heritage Act, which requires a two-thirds vote by lawmakers in order to change or remove historical items — including the flags that fly over the Capitol Dome.

“If she can do this without any repercussions, I want to put up my plaques,” said Greenwood Mayor Welborn Adams, who is among the critics who say the law is overreaching. The law has blocked Adams from replacing existing plaques on a city World War I monument that list soldiers as “colored” or “white” with new plaques that don’t segregate them.

James Bessenger of The South Carolina Secessionist Party first brought up the issue. He said his organization is talking to an attorney and considering whether to file a formal complaint with law enforcement over Haley’s decision to fly the Coastal Carolina flag for a day.

State law is clear about the flags. After specifying only the U.S. flag and the state flag can be flown, the law says “no other flag shall be displayed in these locations or atop the dome or roof.” A later chapter of the same section of law calls for up to 30 days in jail or a $100 fine for using “the State House or grounds for any purpose not authorized by law.”

This isn’t the first time a governor has raised a championship winning school’s flag this century. Gov. Mark Sanford in 2010 and Haley in 2011 raised a University of South Carolina flag after that school won national titles in baseball. But that was before Haley called for the removal of the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds after the killing of nine black people in a Charleston church by a gunman police said was motivated by racial hatred.

Adhering to the law, Haley pushed lawmakers to get the required two-thirds vote to remove the Confederate flag entirely from the Capitol last July.

“All the sudden she now has the authority to override a two-thirds vote?” Bessenger said.

After the 2015 vote to take down the flag, House Speaker Jay Lucas said representatives would not take up any other issues related to the Heritage Act. He kept that vow all through the 2016 session, even as Haley herself asked that The Citadel be allowed to remove a Confederate flag from a chapel — a move also backed by the school’s board.

Lucas’ spokeswoman said he likely wouldn’t comment on the issue. Haley spokeswoman Chaney Adams answered questions about the flag with a statement pointing out the governor was just continuing a tradition started when Clemson University’s football team won the national championship in 1981.

A group in Greenwood is currently suing the Legislature over the Heritage Act, saying it unlawfully takes away control from local governments. The mayor said the threat of criminal charges is what kept him from changing the bronze war memorial plaques after he collected private donations and having the new ones cast.

“I didn’t feel like pushing it that hard,” Adams said.

The governor’s seemed to have good intentions with the flag-raising. She sent pictures of her watching the game Thursday on Twitter , then photos of her and her husband as the Coastal Carolina flag was raised. A video on the front page of her state website Tuesday afternoon shows the event with upbeat band music being played in the background.

“These were the underdogs,” Haley said in an interview outside the Statehouse about an hour after the team won the title. “They fought hard. They won. They made South Carolina proud.”

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Zoo is taking steps to improve an orangutan exhibit after an animal got to the top of the wall surrounding it.

The 7-year-old orangutan, Kali, never left the exhibit or came in contact with people during Sunday’s commotion.

The Kansas City Star reports (http://bit.ly/29lqVDt ) workers on Tuesday were installing more electrified wire and taking other steps to increase security. For now, the seven Bornean orangutans are confined to their indoor quarters in the $6 million exhibit.

Zookeepers think Kali grabbed glass panes that separate zoo visitors from the animals and pulled herself 14 feet to the top. When she jumped to a faux rock wall, zoo officials sent visitors into buildings.

Kali eventually climbed back down into the exhibit.

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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com

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NEW YORK (AP) — A security videotape shows an unarmed motorist exiting his car at a stoplight and leaning into the vehicle of an off-duty officer before the officer shot and killed him in a road-rage incident, a law enforcement official who viewed it said Tuesday.

The video has emerged as key evidence in a review by the New York Police Department and the state attorney general’s office into the shooting of Delrawn Small early Monday.

Officer Wayne Issacs was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, police said. While investigators were certain the killing of Small was the result of a traffic dispute and suspect he accosted the patrolman, police Commissioner William Bratton has called it “much, much too early” to say whether it was justified.

Police said the incident unfolded shortly after Isaacs ended his shift at a Brooklyn precinct and drove away in his civilian clothes. It wasn’t unusual that he was armed: The NYPD allows off-duty officers to carry weapons and to take police action if they encounter criminal activity.

Police say a woman who was riding with Small and their two children, ages 5 months and 14 years, told investigators that he became enraged after he thought the officer cut him off, then followed the officer’s car to the stoplight despite her pleas to calm down and let it go. They say there was no was back and forth that would have made Isaacs aware that he was being pursued or that Small knew he was an officer.

The video shows Small walking around the front of the officer’s car and leaning through the driver’s window, the official said. Small then “nearly instantaneously” stumbles back and ends up collapsing behind the officer’s vehicle as it lurches forward, the official said.

As described by the official, the tape contradicts a news report quoting a man claiming he saw Isaacs get out of his car and shoot Small. Investigators believe Small had punched Isaacs with the officer still seated behind the wheel before the officer fired three times, leaving behind shell cases found inside the car.

Police have declined to release the video. The official, who wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss it, spoke on the condition of anonymity.

After the shooting, the woman in Small’s car started to drive away with her children before returning to the scene, police said. Isaacs, who waited until patrol officers arrived, was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, they said.

State Assemblyman Charles Barron said Tuesday that he was working with Small’s family to demand that authorities hold the officer accountable. The Brooklyn Democrat and frequent NYPD critic said the officer should have taken steps to defuse the situation with warnings or simply by driving away.

“Even if there was a punch, there’s no justification — zero — for the use of deadly force,” Barron said.

The police union that represents Isaacs declined to comment on Tuesday.

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Ky. (AP) — A 510-foot-long, $100 million Noah’s ark attraction built by Christians who say the biblical story really happened is ready to open in Kentucky this week.

Since its announcement in 2010, the ark project has rankled opponents who say the attraction will be detrimental to science education and shouldn’t have won state tax incentives.

“I believe this is going to be one of the greatest Christian outreaches of this era in history,” said Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, the ministry that built the ark.

Ham said the massive ark, based on the tale of a man who got an end-of-the-world warning from God about a massive flood, will stand as proof that the stories of the Bible are true. The group invited media and thousands of supporters for a preview Tuesday, the first glimpse inside the giant, mostly wood structure.

“People are going to come from all over the world,” Ham said to thousands of people in front of the ark.

The ark will open to the public Thursday and Ham’s group has estimated it will draw 2 million visitors in its first year, putting it on par with some of the big-ticket attractions in nearby Cincinnati.

The group says the ark is built based on dimensions in the Bible. Inside are museum-style exhibits: displays of Noah’s family along with rows of cages containing animal replicas, including dinosaurs.

The group believes that God created everything about 6,000 years ago — man, dinosaur and everything else — so dinosaurs still would’ve been around at the time of Noah’s flood. Scientists say dinosaurs died out about 65 million years before man appeared.

An ark opponent who leads an atheist group called the Tri-State Freethinkers said the religious theme park will be unlike any other in the nation because of its rejection of science.

“Basically, this boat is a church raising scientifically illiterate children and lying to them about science,” said Jim Helton, who lives about a half-hour from the ark.

Ham said the total cost of the ark surpassed $100 million, a far cry from a few years ago, when fundraising for the boat was sluggish and much larger theme park plans had to be scaled back.

Millions of people first learned about plans for the ark during a debate on evolution between TV’s Bill Nye “the Science Guy” and Ham in early 2014.

A few weeks later, a local bond issuance infused tens of millions of dollars into struggling fundraising efforts. And earlier this year, a federal judge ruled the ark could receive a Kentucky sales tax incentive worth up to $18 million while giving a strict religious test to its employees.

Months later, the tax incentive ruling still has some opponents of the boat scratching their heads.

“It’s a clear violation of separation of church and state. What they’re doing is utterly ridiculous and anywhere else, I don’t think it would be allowed,” Helton said.

The court ruled in January that Kentucky officials could not impose requirements on the ark that were not applied to other applicants for the tax incentive, which rebates a portion of the sales tax collected by the ark. That cleared the way for the group to seek out only Christians to fill its labor force. New applicants will be required to sign a statement saying they’re Christian and “profess Christ as their savior.”

Philip Steele, one of the thousands who got an early preview of the ark Tuesday, echoed Ham’s often repeated comment that the sales tax generated by the ark wouldn’t exist if the ark was never built.

“I just don’t think they understand it,” Steele said of the ark’s critics. “They’ll be able to keep a portion of (the sales tax) to further their ministry, but so be it.”

When Ham was asked about the tax incentive at the Tuesday event, he drew loud cheers when he proclaimed no taxpayer money was used to the build the ark.

As much of a boon as the $18 million tax break would be, Bill Nye’s agreeing to debate Ham may have helped turn the tide of years of sluggish fundraising.

Nye, a high-profile science advocate and former TV personality, debated Ham on evolution and drew a huge online audience. Nye later said he didn’t realize the attention it would draw and said he was “heartbroken and sickened for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”

The video of the debate posted by Answers in Genesis on YouTube has 5.4 million views.

About three weeks after the debate, Ham announced that a bond offering from the city of Williamstown had raised $62 million for the project, and a few months later Answers in Genesis was breaking ground at the site of the ark.

The post Noah’s ark of biblical proportions ready to open in Kentucky appeared first on WTOP.

(ATLANTA) — A 6-year-old girl found an Olympic gold medal in a pile of trash on the side of the road while out for a walk with her father in Atlanta, Georgia.

The medal was stolen from former slalom canoeist Joe Jacobi, who won the medal in the 1992 summer Olympics in Barcelona. Jacobi’s medal was stolen after someone broke into the Olympian’s car last month in Atlanta.

Chloe Smith spotted the gold medal in shrubs and trash on June 17, her mother, Charlmonique Cunningham, told ABC News Tuesday.

Cunningham described her daughter as “a very inquisitive, very spunky 6-year-old,” who always picks up shiny things she comes across.

“She’s always picking up stuff, always finding things,” Cunningham said. “Both her and her dad always want to bring stuff home.”

Cunningham said she initially thought the medal was “junk.”

“Her dad instantly knew what it was, he had watched the news,” Cunningham explained. “He was aware that the medal had been stolen.”

Cunningham said she remained skeptical but researched the medal and reached out to Jacobi via email with pictures of the recovered medal.

After confirming that the medal was indeed his, Jacobi was “just astonished. He was speechless,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham said it took a little prying for the youngster to return her precious finding back to Jacobi, but once she spoke to the Olympian on the phone she graciously decided to give it back.

Jacobi rewarded Chloe with a $500 prize and promised to come visit Chloe’s class in the fall.

Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

The post 6-year-old girl finds Olympic gold medal, returns it to owner appeared first on WTOP.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Latest on the police shooting of a Baton Rouge man (all times local):

9 p.m.

An aunt of the Louisiana man killed by police has pleaded with protesters to remain peaceful as hundreds gathered for a vigil.

Many carried signs Wednesday night to express their anger and demand for justice, blocking streets near the Baton Rouge convenience store where Alton Sterling was killed.

Sandra Augustus, an aunt who helped raise Sterling after his mother died, spoke to the crowds with a broken voice, tearful.

She said a second video that emerged Wednesday showing the moments before her nephew was shot had left her angry.

Still, she pleaded for protesters and those gathered not to allow the vigil to be marred by violence.

Shortly after speaking, Augustus and another aunt of Sterling’s fainted in the heat and commotion. They were carried away by family members.

___

9 p.m. (EDT)

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is calling the shooting death of a Louisiana man a tragedy and decrying the deaths of black Americans in incidents involving police.

Authorities in Baton Rouge say 37-year-old Alton Sterling was killed early Tuesday during a scuffle with two police officers outside a convenience store. Sterling was black and the police officers were white. The U.S. Justice Department has launched a civil rights investigation into the shooting, which was recorded in video.

In a statement Wednesday, Clinton says something is profoundly wrong when so many Americans have reason to believe that their country doesn’t consider them as precious as others because of the color of their skin. Clinton says incidents such as the Sterling shooting have undermined the trust between police departments and the communities they serve.

In saying that trust needs to be rebuilt and justice served, Clinton cites what she calls “commonsense reforms” like ending racial profiling and providing better training on de-escalation and implicit bias.

Clinton says that all over America, there are police officers demonstrating how to protect the public without resorting to unnecessary force — and that everyone needs to learn from and build on those examples.

___

7:30 p.m.

Hundreds of protesters, mourners, friends and family of a Louisiana man shot and killed by Baton Rouge police have gathered in front of the convenience store where the shooting occurred.

A vigil for Alton Sterling, who was killed early Tuesday, met outside the store Wednesday. There were prayers, songs, a balloon release in Sterling’s memory and calls for justice. Many of those gathered held signs demanding action as participants chanted “Black Lives Matter.”

Some of the protesters’ signs read “No Justice, No Peace,” ”Black Out Downtown!” and “Who is supposed to protect us?”

At one point during the vigil, protesters marched down a busy street near the site of the shooting, blocking traffic. Little to no police presence was seen near the peaceful gathering but police were nearby if needed.

___

8:30 p.m. (EDT)

A protest in Philadelphia over the shooting death of a black man during a scuffle with two white police officers in Louisiana has blocked a highway on-ramp. Police have arrested about a dozen people.

Wednesday’s protest took place at an on-ramp for Interstate 676, a major thoroughfare through the downtown Philadelphia area.

About 75 people took part. Many chanted “This is what democracy looks like” and “No justice, no peace, no racist police.”

___

6:15 p.m.

A second bystander’s video has emerged showing two white police officers involved in the shooting death of a black man outside of a convenience store.

The store owner, Abdullah Muflahi, says he shot the cellphone video and released it to the media Wednesday night. It shows the shooting of Alton Sterling from a slightly different angle than another video that was taken by a community activist and widely circulated on the internet.

Muflahi’s video shows the officers on top of Sterling and the shots being fired. The camera moves away at one point and when it returns, Sterling can be seen lying on the ground with what appears to be blood on his chest.

One officer is lying on the ground on his side with his weapon pointed toward Sterling, who appears to still be alive as his arm moves up to his chest. A voice can be heard saying “Shots fired! Shots fired!” The video then shows a second officer reaching into Sterling’s pocket and pulling out an object.

It’s not clear from the murky video what it is, but the store owner says it was Sterling’s gun.

___

5:45 p.m.

The owner of a convenience store where a black Louisiana man was shot and killed by police said the man seemed “confused” and was trying to figure out why authorities were trying to arrest him before he was shot.

Abdullah Muflahi, the 28-year-old owner of the Triple S 24-hour convenience store where the shooting took place, said Wednesday that he went outside after the police arrived.

Alton Sterling was shot and killed early Tuesday by police in Baton Rouge.

Muflahi said he saw Sterling being thrown on top of a car hood. He said Sterling appeared confused and kept asking, “What did I do wrong?”

He said he never saw Sterling with a gun but saw a police officer pull a gun out of Sterling’s pocket after the shooting.

___

5:20 p.m.

Court documents say one of the two white officers in the fatal shooting of a black man outside a convenience store was previously involved in a shooting with an armed man.

The documents say Officer Howie Lake was among the police officers who exchanged fire with a man who fled police on Dec. 13, 2014.

Lake told detectives he fired six or seven shots when Kevin Knight refused to drop his gun, threatened to kill himself and pointed his revolver at officers.

Knight, who is black, was wounded. His trial is scheduled for next month.

Knight’s attorney said he didn’t have access to the court documents and couldn’t immediately comment on Lake’s role in the shooting.

Lake was placed on administrative leave. It wasn’t clear from a summary of his statement to detectives whether he was disciplined.

Lake has been with the department for three years. He has been placed on administrative leave again as authorities investigate the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling early Tuesday.

___

2:15 p.m.

A cousin of the black man killed by police during an altercation in Louisiana says police had harassed him before.

Sharida Sterling said Wednesday that her cousin, Alton Sterling, had been selling CDs in front of the convenience store for about six years.

She said when she couldn’t drive him there, he would take the bus with his box of music, table and folding chair.

She said the store management never had any problems with him working there but that he was often harassed by police. She said she suspected it was because he was black and a “big guy.”

She said her cousin had told her that he was going to be at the convenience store late Monday because it was a holiday and likely would be more customers.

Sterling was killed early Tuesday during an altercation with police. The Justice Department is investigating.

___

1:30 p.m.

The head of the ACLU Louisiana says serious questions need to be asked whether body cameras were working properly when two white officers fatally shot a black man outside a convenience store.

Baton Rouge police said earlier Wednesday that the bodycam footage became dislodged during an altercation with 37-year-old Alton Sterling. The Justice Department is investigating the shooting.

Louisiana ACLU executive director Marjorie Esman wants to know if the officers were trained in how to properly fasten the cameras. She says right when they were needed the most is when two of them malfunctioned in the same way.

She also says authorities also should investigate whether police could have used some other means of subduing Sterling and “if it was necessary to subdue him at all.”

___

11:50 a.m.

Baton Rouge police say they have dash-cam video, body-cam video and store surveillance video of the police shooting death of a black man outside a convenience store.

Police said Wednesday that the audio and video will be turned over to the U.S. Justice Department, which is investigating the shooting of Alton Sterling.

Police Lt. Jonny Dunnam says the body-cam footage may not be as good as investigators hoped for because the cameras became dislodged during the altercation.

In a cellphone video taken by a community activist and posted online, two officers had Sterling pinned to the ground, and gunfire erupted moments after someone yelled, “He’s got a gun! Gun!”

Dunnam noted that even though federal investigators are taking the lead, there will be an internal investigation and the officers will be entitled to hearings before any disciplinary actions are taken.

___

11:25 a.m.

The Baton Rouge police chief has identified the two white officers involved in the fatal shooting of a black man.

Chief Carl Dabadie Jr. said Wednesday that the officers are Blane Salamoni, a four-year member of the department and Howie Lake II, who has been on the force for three years.

Both officers have been placed on administrative leave while the U.S. Justice Department investigates the shooting of 37-year-old Alton Sterling.

Baton Rouge Police Lt. Jonny Dunnam confirmed the races of the officers.

___

11:10 a.m.

The Baton Rouge police chief says the black man who was fatally shot by police was armed but there are still questions about what happened.

Chief Carl Dabadie Jr. called the shooting a tragedy during a news conference and said: “Like you, there is a lot that we do not understand. And at this point, like you, I am demanding answers.”

The police chief made his comments just an hour after the U.S. Justice Department said it had opened a civil rights investigation into the shooting death of 37-year-old Alton Sterling. The chief says the probe will be transparent and independent.

___

10:50 a.m.

The man who says he shot video of police fatally shooting a black man in Baton Rouge says he has been distributing the footage on social media as a service to the community.

Arthur Reed told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that he and a team from his company, Stop the Killing Inc., made the video early Tuesday of 37-year-old Alton Sterling’s death. Reed says his company shoots documentary-style videos about killings in Baton Rouge.

Reed says that on the day of Sterling’s death, two teams of people drove to the scene, outside a convenience store, after hearing about the incident on police radio.

Reed described the scene: “They were already messing with him, and it escalated. After the shots, we left.”

The shooting and video have fueled anger and protests.

___

10:35 a.m.

The Justice Department says it will open a civil rights investigation into the videotaped police shooting of a black man outside a Baton Rouge convenience store.

Agency spokesman David Jacobs said Wednesday that the FBI’s New Orleans Division and the U.S. attorney’s office will participate in the investigation of the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alton Sterling.

Police say they went to the store Tuesday after an anonymous caller said Sterling had threatened someone with a gun.

The Justice Department’s investigation will look into whether the officers willfully violated Sterling’s civil rights through the use of unreasonable or excessive force.

Similar investigations, which often take many months to resolve, were opened following the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York.

Federal investigators must meet a high legal burden to bring a civil rights prosecution, establishing that an officer knowingly used unreasonable force under the circumstances and did not simply make a mistake or use poor judgment. Many federal probes conclude without criminal charges.

___

10:25 a.m.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards says the cellphone video of the fatal police shooting of a black man in Baton Rouge is “disturbing to say the least.”

Edwards said during a news conference on Wednesday that the U.S. Justice Department would investigate the shooting of 37-year-old Alton Sterling. He was killed early Tuesday outside a convenience store where he was selling CDs.

Police say they were called to the store Tuesday after an anonymous caller said Sterling had threatened someone with a gun.

The governor said he understood that protesters were angry over the shooting and called for calm.

Authorities have not released the race of the two officers, who have been placed on administrative leave.

___

9:35 a.m.

In the wake of the fatal shooting of a black man by police at a Baton Rouge convenience store, a protester says people in the community need answers and justice.

Forty-five-year-old Sharon Alexander made the comments Wednesday, a day after 37-year-old Alton Sterling’s death.

A pastor told the small crowd gathered that the protest would be peaceful. That’s when Alexander chimed in, telling the pastor as her voice cracked: “We don’t need peace. We need answers; we need justice.”

Alexander was there with her daughter and three other relatives. She later said: “Our kids are not hearing our story. We sound like a broken record. It’s time for a change.”

A video that purported to show the killing of 37-year-old Alton Sterling further fueled public anger about the shooting early Tuesday, prompting hundreds to protest.

___

8:45 a.m.

The head of the Baton Rouge NAACP in Louisiana has called for the police chief to be fired or resign in the wake of the fatal shooting of a black man during a confrontation at a convenience store.

Michael McClanahan said during a Wednesday morning news conference that Baton Rouge can’t have a leader who “allows this type of action to take place.”

A video that purported to show the killing of 37-year-old Alton Sterling further fueled public anger about the shooting early Tuesday, prompting hundreds to protest.

A vigil for Sterling is planned for Wednesday night.

___

7:30 a.m.

Outside a Louisiana convenience store where a black Baton Rouge man was shot and killed by police, people have been paying their respects.

Authorities said 37-year-old Alton Sterling died Tuesday of multiple gunshot wounds after an altercation with police. His death and a subsequent video that purported to show the shooting sparked protests.

By dawn Wednesday, protesters and friends had created a makeshift memorial to Sterling on the white folding tables and fold out chair he had used to sell homemade music compilations on CD’s.

Arthur Baines came by to pay his respects. He said Sterling didn’t bother people and that he was just trying to make a living.

Mufleh Alatiyat, a 25-year old employee of the store, described Sterling as generous and said he often gave away CDs or petty cash or bought food or drink for people.

___

2:30 a.m.

A Louisiana police officer shot and killed a man during a confrontation outside a Baton Rouge convenience store, authorities say, in a death that prompted a protest later in the day.

East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Dr. William Clark says an autopsy shows 37-year-ol Alton Sterling died Tuesday of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and back.

Cpl. L’Jean McKneely said officers responded to the store about 12:35 a.m. Tuesday after an anonymous caller indicated a man selling music CDs and wearing a red shirt threatened him with a gun.

McKneely says two officers responded and had some type of altercation with the man and one officer fatally shot the suspect. He says both officers have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard department policy.

The post The Latest: Aunt calls for peaceful protest at vigil appeared first on WTOP.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Dozens of lost dogs have been turned in at shelters in the San Diego area following a three-day holiday weekend marked by numerous fireworks displays, which are known to scare canines.

San Diego’s KFMB-TV (http://bit.ly/29hJuJk) reports 59 dogs were at shelters Monday afternoon with more expected. The station says 67 dogs were brought to shelters within a few days of Independence Day last year. San Diego County Animal Services officials say dogs can panic at the noise of fireworks and try to escape.

If the dogs aren’t picked up by July 12, the county says they’ll be put up for adoption the next day.

The post Dozens of lost dogs sheltered following San Diego fireworks appeared first on WTOP.

GATES, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities are continuing to investigate a 30-person brawl at a western New York Wal-Mart that led to four arrests.

Gates Police Chief Jim VanBrederode says the fight started around 7 p.m. Sunday after two 17-year-olds made fun of a dress worn by a 24-year-old woman. He says the altercation quickly escalated into a melee.

The chief says people went into the sporting goods section of the store and got baseball bats to use in the fight.

Police say a 17-year-old girl threw a can of food at a 52-year-old man, hitting him in the head. She’s charged with assault, harassment and related offenses. Three others have been charged with disorderly conduct.

Authorities are continuing to review surveillance video.

The post Police: 30-person melee at Wal-Mart leads to 4 arrests appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON – In the old days, when horses went missing, a posse might be formed to search for the missing animals. Nowadays, high tech is part of the search process.

In the case of four horses that went missing from a Mt. Airy pasture last week, the search effort included an online tool that helps organize quick-turnaround search parties and even a drone.

Geoffrey Green of VSI Aerial says he volunteered in the search for the horses that disappeared on June 29. Green drove from Quantico, Virginia, on Sunday and sent a drone into the skies above Mt. Airy while the search on the ground continued. So far, the location of the four horses remains a mystery.

“They’re pretty frustrated, because they obviously want to find and return their horses to their pasture,” Green said of the horses’ owners.

Valerie Vollmers, the owner of one of the horses, named Pie, said she contacted police in Montgomery and Frederick counties because the property is close to the border of both. She also posted an online “missing flyer” with NetPosse.com, a website that posts information about missing horses and promises to “round up a modern day version of a posse within minutes of filing a report.”

Vollmers said she believes the horses might have escaped after a group of teens entered the property and left the gate open. That’s happened in the past, she said.

So far, the whereabouts of the four horses, including one that belongs to a 6-year-old boy, is unknown.

The post Drone helps in hunt for missing horses appeared first on WTOP.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Virginia Beach police have identified a woman who died after crashing a stolen pickup truck into a bank.

Media outlets report that 33-year-old Misty Dawn Luce died in the crash early Tuesday morning.

Investigators determined that Luce, driving a Dodge Ram pickup, drifted across four lanes while heading east on South Independence Boulevard, and then overcorrected. She then drifted to the right and left the road.

The truck went between two poles, up an embankment and was launched 40 to 50 feet before hitting an unoccupied parked truck at Bank @lantec. The Dodge Ram then rolled onto its roof and crashed against the side of the bank.

Luce was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.

The post Woman killed after crashing truck into bank identified appeared first on WTOP.

If you weren’t excited for Prime Day yet, this might pique your interest. Amazon Rewards Visa holders can save $30 on any $150 purchase (shipped and sold by Amazon, and excluding gift cards) next Tuesday with promo code VISA30, whether the items are part of a Prime Day sale or not.

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Spend less than you earn, save your money, and—poof!—your financial problems are solved. If only it were this easy. Being broke sucks enough on its own, and then there are obstacles that make it extra hard for poor people to fight their way to financial security. For example, here are a few expenses that actually cost more for low-income individuals.

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Google is constantly improving its weather card with more information. In a recent update to the Google app, the new weather card has added hourly predictions for wind and precipitation levels in your area.

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Four years after the Ku Klux Klan set off a lengthy legal battle by applying to adopt a stretch of road in northern Georgia near the North Carolina border, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that the controversial group’s lawsuit against Georgia can move forward. 

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that the KKK’s legal bid to participate in Georgia’s “Adopt-A-Highway” program can proceed to trial after unanimously finding that the state’s Department of Transportation failed to follow correct procedures in appealing a lower court’s decision to allow the group to adopt a section of road.

In a summary of the ruling, the court called its decision a “partial victory” for the KKK, which first applied to adopt the one-mile section of a highway in Union Country back in 2012.

The north Georgia KKK group sued the state after it rejected the group’s application to participate in Georgia’s “Adopt-A-Highway” program, which enlists volunteer groups to clean up roadside litter.

At the time, the state said in a letter it was denying the application based on the KKK’s “long-rooted history of civil disturbance” and the “potential for social unrest.”

One of the KKK members who filed the petition said at the time that, “We just want to clean up the doggone road… We’re not going to be out there in robes.”

Following the rejection of the application, the KKK enlisted the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, which assisted in a similar dispute between the KKK and the state of Missouri, in filing a lawsuit on its behalf.

A judge in the Fulton County Superior Court ruled that the DOT’s rationale for the rejection “represents an unconstitutional infringement” on an applicant’s right of free speech and prohibited the DOT from “denying applications to the [program] from public concern related to a group’s history of civil disturbance.”

The state appealed that decision to the Georgia Supreme Court, which ruled on Tuesday to send the case back to the lower court for trial.

KKK wins partial victory in ‘Adopt-A-Highway’ case [Atlanta Journal Constitution]

Amazon increasingly promises faster, quicker, more local delivery. UPS, FedEx, and the Post Office can’t handle all that, of course, so the e-retail giant turns to local couriers, its own Amazon-branded fleet… and, increasingly, folks who volunteer to drive your stuff around for a few bucks an hour.

Word about Amazon’s plan to expand their “Amazon Flex” program leaked out a few months back, and the pilot continues.

Inasmuch as delivery drivers use their own cars and remain individual contractors (not employees), the service is fairly comparable to the big car-hailing dinosaur in the room, Uber. But there are two big, key differences in how Amazon Flex operates. One: drivers report to the company, not to individual users. And two: it’s not entirely on-demand, but rather based on choosing time

Anyone who signs up via Amazon’s (Android-only) “Delivery” app can retrieve and deliver residential customers’ packages for $18 an hour (plus tips). After completing video orientations, drivers can sign up for time slots in which they will be delivery drivers (like “Wednesday, 1-3 p.m.”). After that, they’re expected to show up at their local sorting facility when their “shift” begins, and haul packages until it ends.

So to find out what it’s really like, tech writer Sam Machkovech over at Ars Technica signed up to be a driver, and the site made a video of his adventures in independent contracting.

When Machkovech showed up at the Amazon fulfillment center near Seattle, he got a firm dictate from a man who was emphatically not his manager.

“I am not your manager, I am not your boss. You guys are independently contracted with Amazon. I can’t tell you in what order to deliver them in, I can’t even tell you to deliver them on time,” the man said.

“I thought the app would sequence the deliveries for you,” another driver suggested. The not-a-boss replied with, “It’s supposed to, but they turned that feature off a few weeks ago.”

He continued, “I don’t have access to scheduling, why you can’t sign up,” before showing the drivers how the app and map work, describing the 210,000 Amazon Now customers in greater Seattle — and how spread out they are, and how terrible the Seattle traffic is.

Logiscitally, it’s all pretty complicated, and far from perfect. Packages use a detailed coding system, and the app proves less than 100% user-friendly for Machkovech — who, as a professional tech writer, is pretty familiar with using and optimizing technology.

The app is a big bottleneck, Machkovech found. “There is so little information in this program right now in terms of what I can and can’t do,” he vented after his first delivery. “I would absolutely be winging it if I had to deal with signing… all I know is that I’m required.”

“I was told, ‘use your best judgement,'” Machkovech said with a shrug (indeed, a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). “It’s very Wild West of them right now, and I think there’s going to be big concerns with them as they go along, if anybody gets weird about it.”

Machkovech is right that Amazon may continue to encounter big challenges if it scales up the program nationwide. Lawyers, lawmakers, and regulators are becoming increasingly interested in the all-contracting, all-gigging, no-employment land of modern work in the on-demand economy, and Amazon has already found Prime Now drivers accusing it of wage theft and paying less than minimum wage (after expenses).

Amazon dips toes into sharing economy, pays Ars to deliver your dog food [Ars Technica]

Is having a box of Twinkies, Ho Hos, or Ding Dongs in the pantry not quite adequate in showing your love for Hostess? If that’s the case, you can have an actual piece of the company, as formerly bankrupt Hostess Brands announced Tuesday that it had reached a deal to take the snack maker public.

The Wall Street Journal reports that nearly four years after filing for bankruptcy, and three years after being bought out of liquidation, Hostess is making a strong comeback.

The road to becoming a publicly listed company was made possible by investments from special-purpose acquisition company Gores Holding Inc, which will provide Hostess with $375 million in cash, while other investors have committed $350 million in private placement.

As part of the deal, the WSJ reports that Hostess’s current owners — Apollo Global Management LLC and Dean Metropoulos and his family — will hold about a 42% stake in Gores Holding.

Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo bought Hostess snack-cake brands out of liquidation for $410 million in 2013. Since then the company has brought the iconic brands back to store shelves, while streamlining the production process.

The company says the deal to go public will set it up for long-term growth by providing better capital to fund future innovations, the WSJ reports.

News of the company preparing to go public comes a year after Hostess CEO Dean Metropoulos squashed rumors that the company would put up shares in an initial public offering.

Hostess to Go Public After Purchase by Acquisition Company [The Wall Street Journal]

FLORENCE, Ariz. (AP) — A program that allows Arizona prison inmates to help break wild horses is also helping to tame recidivism rates.

The Arizona Republic reports (http://bit.ly/296wx1N) that the Wild Horse Inmate Program, known as WHIP, at a state prison in Florence is being credited with bringing about positive changes for participating inmates who work with horses rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management on Arizona’s public rangelands.

About 50 inmates who have completed the program have been released since 2012, and the recidivism rate among them is zero, according to program officials. Nationwide, the recidivism rate is exponentially higher, with about two-thirds of released prisoners arrested and behind bars again within three years, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Several of the released Arizona inmates who once participated in the program have found work on the outside with horses — proving that the skills gained in the program have practical real-world benefits and life lessons.

“What I learn from my horses is patience, love and caring, and trust,” said Dashonte Abdul Al-Wakil, who has been serving time the past 18 years for second-degree murder and drug violations. “When these horses first come in, their problem is trust. When I first come into prison, that was my problem.”

Al-Wakil is one of about 30 prisoners in Florence currently participating in the program run by Randy Helm, a 62-year-old horse whisperer and fourth-generation Arizonan who grew up on ranches. Helm tells the Republic that he first began training wild horses more than 20 years ago, and describes the process as tricky but rewarding.

“There’s a process to get there and you can’t take short cuts,” Helm said. “A lot of these guys are in prison because they circumvent the process. I’ve had guys figure that out on their own, they say, ‘I never saw anything through to that amazing, fulfilling feeling when you accomplish something that you’ve worked towards.’ “

The sense of accomplishment that comes with seeing through a project to its end is one of the major pluses of WHIP, Helm said.

While the program has turned out to have benefits for prisoner rehabilitation, the original intent behind the collaboration between the Arizona Department of Corrections and the Bureau of Land Management was simply to create an inmate work program.

With the program still young, he said he hopes the zero-percent recidivism rate among participating inmates holds.

“We ask a horse to yield one thing at a time, not be rideable immediately, but to be better every day,” Helm said. “We let these horses prove themselves; why can’t we let these inmates prove themselves as well?”

___

Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A bald eagle has soared to freedom at Dodger Stadium on the Fourth of July.

The male eagle was supposed to fly from the top of the stadium down to its handler Monday as part of the pregame festivities for Independence Day.

Instead, the liberty-loving bird flew right on past its handler on the outfield grass and continued over the center field fence.

It disappeared from view, prompting rumbles of laughter and concern from baseball fans.

The eagle was one of a pair from the Los Angeles Zoo, which has sent eagles to Chavez Ravine for pregame flights in the past.

A few innings into the Dodgers’ game against the Baltimore Orioles, the team announced the eagle had been located and was headed back to the zoo with its handler.

The post Bald eagle briefly finds freedom on July 4 at Dodger Stadium appeared first on WTOP.

(CABIN CREEK, Colo.) — Enjoy solitude? An entire town in Colorado that’s 45 minutes from Denver could be yours for $350,000.

The price includes 5 acres, an old gas station with garage, an eight-room motel, restaurant, RV park, two houses, and a private shooting range according to a Craigslist post.

Owner James Johnson said the town used to be a popular spot, but after a murder in the 1970’s it turned into a ghost town.

Johnson isn’t shy about the poor condition of some of the properties in his post, but he boasts there is a new electric panel, a new well, and sewer.

He also thinks Cabin Creek could work for huge families, people who want to start a business, or car racing fans.

“We would like to sell,” he said in the post. “We have some traveling we would like to do and this project keeps us here.”

Even though Johnson said most of the neighbors “are hundreds of acres away,” security is tight with a 6-foot chain link fence because of some “idiot tenants [that] stole and ruined many things.”

“I have installed 16 high definition Security Surveillance Camera’s covering the entire property,” he said in the post. “I have also installed alarm systems on the buildings and the property calls me when someone pulls off the Highway into the driveway.”

More information about Cabin Creek can be found on the Craiglist post and the town’s website.

Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An 18-year-old woman has been arrested after police in Florida say she used her infant son to batter her boyfriend.

Beach Safety Ocean Rescue Captain Tammy Marris tells local news outlets the 6-month-old boy was taken to a hospital Monday afternoon where he was reportedly doing OK.

Officers responded shortly before 4:30 p.m. Monday to a beach in Daytona Beach. Marris says responders found Tatyana Allen had battered her boyfriend, also the baby’s father, with the child.

Officers arrested Allen on charges of battery and infliction of physical/mental injury on a child. She was being held Monday night without bail. It’s unclear whether Allen has an attorney.

The post Police: Mom used infant to beat up man in Daytona Beach appeared first on WTOP.

ROCKVILLE, Md. — The idea was to help save the environment, but Montgomery County’s 5-cent bag tax — officials preferred to call it a “fee” when it was introduced — hasn’t stopped residents from shelling out money for a plastic bag at grocery stores.

Montgomery County’s CountyStat analysis shows that the number of disposable bags sold in the county actually went up in fiscal 2015 — to nearly 62,000 bags, from just under 60,000 bags during the same period in 2013.

The Washington Post reports part of the growth could be due to an uptick in economic activity overall, and an increase in the number of retail stores in the county. But the same analysis shows that most of the bags are sold in grocery stores — the point of sale where county officials hoped to change behavior by getting residents to use their own cloth or reusable bags.

Pharmacies and department stores have seen a reduction in bag sales.

Even though plastic bags are going out the door, fewer bags are showing up in area waterways. The Post reports that traps designed to sift trash from streambeds in the county showed a steep drop, from 856 in 2011 to 281 in the first half of 2016.

The post Was Montgomery County’s bag tax a success? appeared first on WTOP.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A sailor and a military working dog have reunited after spending nearly a year apart.

The Virginian-Pilot (http://bit.ly/29fjFJC ) reports that Petty Officer 1st Class Chad Perez was reunited with Freddy, a German shepherd, on Sunday after he agreed to adopt his former comrade.

American Humane Association spokesman Mark Stubis says the two were paired a few years ago when Perez was stationed at a U.S. military base in Naples, Italy. The two spent about a year and a half working together before Perez was stationed in Norfolk.

Perez agreed to adopt the former war dog after it retired on June 21.

National director of military affairs for the American Humane Association Jason Haag says the association is determined to unite military handlers with their canine veterans whenever possible.

___

Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://pilotonline.com

The post Sailor, military dog reunite after nearly a year apart appeared first on WTOP.

Spiders can be unwanted house guests. But even if you don’t want spiders in your home, you don’t necessarily want to kill them! Luckily there are a few methods you can use to catch the spider and guide it outside. Even if you are afraid of spiders, you will be able to use these methods and have minimal contact with the spider. Before capturing the spider, you will want to make sure it's not venomous so that there is no risk of you acquiring a poisonous bite.

EditSteps

EditNudging the Spider Outside

1. Open the door or window that the spider is near. If the spider is non-venomous, there are a number of ways to get it out of your home. If the spider in your house is already close to a window or door, you can find ways to encourage the spider out. You will first want to open the door or window to show the spider the way out of the house. ^[1]
   
   • Try to step around the spider and open the door or window slowly. If you scare the spider, it may run and hide somewhere, and you won’t be able to get it outside as easily.
2. Find an object to block the spider’s path. Find an object like a notebook, folder, or book that you can move around the spider if it tries to go in a direction that’s not the open door or window. Anything that is tall and flat will work.^[2]
   
3. Guide the spider out. Take the notebook or folder and gently give the spider a nudge toward the door. The spider will be scared and start moving. If the spider veers away from the door, take the notebook and put it next to the spider to create a wall so that the spider won’t be able to run in that direction anymore. Keep doing this until the spider starts running in the right direction.^[3]
   
4. Guide the spider over the threshold. The spider may hesitate on the threshold as it is running toward the door. If the spider lingers on the threshold, brush it out using your hand or the notebook or folder. You also could flick it with your finger.
   
5. Throw the folder out the door if the spider crawls on it. When you are using the folder to guide the spider out of the door, the spider may start crawling on the folder instead of running. If the spider crawls onto the folder, toss the folder out the door, so that both the spider and the folder are outside. The spider will eventually crawl off the folder, and you can go and retrieve the folder later.
   
   • You may not feel comfortable throwing the folder out of the door or window, especially if you live in a communal space like an apartment complex. If the spider crawls on the folder, instead of throwing it you can go outside with the folder and either brush the spider off with your hand, or wipe the folder on a bush or the windowsill until the spider falls off.
6. Close the door or window. Now that the spider’s gone, you don’t want it to come back! Make sure that you close the door or window so the spider or other bugs can’t come in.
   

EditUsing the Paper and Cup Method

1. Place a cup over the spider. This works best for spiders on the floor or on the wall. Approach the spider slowly, so that it doesn’t get scared and start running. Quickly, take a small cup and place it directly over the spider, so that the spider is trapped inside.^[4]
   
   • Preferably the cup should be clear so that when you trap the spider, you can see it inside the cup. However, you can use any cup that you have in your house.
   • Make sure to aim correctly so that the spider is unharmed. You don’t want to crush the spider or any of its legs with the rim of the cup.
2. Slip a piece of paper under the cup. Take a sheet of paper and slide it underneath the cup. Make sure that the piece of paper is under the entire cup. This will make sure that the spider won’t be able to escape when you lift up the cup.^[5]
   
   • The paper should be just one sheet, as opposed to a book or notebook. A stiff piece of paper like a notecard or index card works best.
   • If the spider is dangling from a web, you will want to place the cup under the spider, and then either cut the web using scissors or use the piece of paper to break the web. The web and spider will stick to the piece of paper, and you will be able to bring the cup up to the paper and trap the spider.
3. Lift up the cup and the piece of paper. You want to lift up the piece of paper and the cup so that the spider is still trapped inside. Make sure that as you are lifting, the rim of the cup and the paper are always against each other so that the spider does not escape. ^[6]
   
   • One way to lift the cup and paper is to hold the edge of the piece of paper with your left hand, with your right over the bottom of the cup.
   • Lift the edge of the piece of paper, still holding the cup over the paper. Slip the fingers of your left hand under the piece of paper so that your hand is on the part of the piece of paper underneath the cup.
   • Now with your hand underneath the paper and cup, you can lift up the trap and carry it to your door.
4. Let the spider out of the cup. Carry the spider over to the door. Open the door and step outside. Place the trap on the ground, and take the cup off the spider. The spider should run away. If the spider is not moving, try gently blowing on the spider. You can also brush the spider off with your hand if you’re feeling brave! ^[7]
   

EditUsing a Dustpan or Vacuum

1. Sweep the spider onto the dustpan. If the spider is on the floor, sweep the spider onto the dustpan. You can also do this if the spider is on a wall, but be careful not to sweep the spider on you!^[8]
   
2. Gently tap the underside of the dustpan. With the spider on the dustpan, head to the door. As you are walking, tap the underside of the dustpan with the sweeper or with your fingernails. The noise and the vibrations of the tapping will scare the spider so that it stays still and doesn’t run off the dustpan.^[9]
   
3. Release the spider outside. When you get outside, place the dustpan on the ground. The spider should run off. If it doesn’t, you can leave the dustpan there until the spider leaves it, or you can use the sweeper to sweep the spider off the dustpan.
   
4. Use a vacuum. If using a dustpan is too up close and personal with the spider for you, use a vacuum instead. On the lowest setting, vacuum up the spider. Then empty out the filter outside of your home.
   
   • You can use a regular vacuum cleaner, but be warned that this may possibly kill the spider. A dust buster is a slightly better option.^[10]
   • You can also buy vacuums made especially for bugs and insects. You can purchase these on Amazon.

EditUsing a Plastic Bag

1. Get a plastic bag. Use a plastic bag that is easy to turn inside out, like a plastic shopping bag. You also want to be use that the bag is big enough so that your hand will fit inside it. Make sure that the bag doesn't have any rips or holes. ^[11]
   
2. Put your hand inside the bag. Make sure that you are able to move your fingers inside the bag. You are going to grab the spider with the bag, so you want to make sure that the bag is flexible enough to do this. Walk over to the spider with the bag on your hand.^[12]
   
3. Grab the spider. With the hand that is inside the bag, grab the spider. Try to be gentle and not to squeeze, or else you could kill the spider. Try to grab the spider so that it is surrounded by the bag and is not being squeezed between your fingers.
   
4. Turn the bag inside out. Quickly, before the spider can escape, turn the bag inside out. This way the spider will be trapped inside the bag. Pinch the top of the bag so that the spider can't escape out the top. ^[13]
   
5. Release the spider. Take the spider outside and shake out the bag. The spider should come out. You also can leave the bag outside and come back for it later, but be sure to remember, you don't want to litter!
   

EditTips

• To prevent more spiders from coming in your home, make sure to fill up any cracks around windows and doors in your home, and to clean up after yourself. ^[14]
• Spiders also are repelled by the scent of peppermint, tree-oil and eucalyptus. Spray these around the windows and doors in your home to keep away spiders. ^[15]
• Use a spider catcher. These are specific tools that you can use to catch spiders without harming or injuring them. They can differ in what they look like.
  
• If you can't identify the spider as dangerous or harmless, it is always best to assume it is dangerous, and to try to not be in direct contact with it.
• If you have been bitten by a poisonous spider, always call call emergency services and tell them what happened. Remembering the looks of the spider usually is of great help.
• If a spider bites you and you don't know if it is poisonous you should still go to the doctor or hospital.

EditWarnings

• Always check to see whether the spider is a Black Widow or a Brown Recluse. Both of these are venomous spiders.
• Brown Recluse spiders are brown, violin-shaped spiders, usually about ¼- ½ inches long with three eyes instead of the usual four.
• Black Widow spiders are large black hairless spiders. They have a big abdomen with a red mark on the top, and one on the bottom shaped like an hourglass.
• Don't ever attempt to catch a venomous spider by hand. It's actually not a good idea to catch a venomous spider unless you've done it before. Even then, it's risky business.
• If you do catch a venomous spider, set it free far away from your or anyone else's home.
• If you get a bite from what you believe is a venomous spider, elevate the site of the bite and get medical attention immediately.
• Consider killing a venomous spider instead of catching it and setting it free. It isn't worth risking a bite.

EditThings You'll Need

• A clear cup
• A plastic bag
• An index card or sturdy piece of paper
• A dustpan and sweeper

EditRelated wikiHows

• Get Rid of Spider Webs
• Overcome the Fear of Spiders

EditSources and Citations

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