pileofcrapola

You know that moment when fruit crosses over from perfectly ripe to just a little busted? It’s not technically bad, but it’s no longer enticing. Instead of chucking it in the compost, puree and freeze it into tasty little cubes!

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We’re all for DIY money management, but there’s a case to be made for hiring a financial planner, too. If you’re considering it, keep these questions in mind when you interview one.

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LAPEER, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan judge has issued an arrest warrant after a man accused of shooting his dog in the head with a crossbow didn’t appear in court for his sentence.

Christopher Scott failed to show up Thursday in Lapeer County District Court, 60 miles north of Detroit. He pleaded guilty Dec. 18 to a charge of abandoning or cruelty to an animal.

His 65-pound black-coated mastiff-Labrador mix named Gemma was found wandering last March with an arrow lodged above her left eye. A veterinarian later removed the arrow. The dog spent months recovering.

Judge Laura Barnard signed an arrest warrant for Scott. A message seeking comment from defense attorney Matt Funke wasn’t immediately returned.

The post Man who shot dog in head with crossbow skips sentencing appeared first on WTOP.

AUBURN, Maine (AP) — After years of trying to keep marijuana out of schools, educators across the country are grappling with how to administer cannabis to students with prescriptions for it.

Medical marijuana has been legal in some states for two decades but school districts and lawmakers are only now starting to grapple with thorny issues about student use of a drug still illegal under federal law.

“School districts are trying to find their way and navigate this landscape as laws develop and social norms change,” said Francisco Negron, general counsel of the National School Boards Association. “This is a situation in which the changing social norms are ahead of the existing operational structure.”

The possibility of medical marijuana in schools raises a number of questions for school officials, such as who will administer it, how to prevent it from being redistributed by students, and even the legality of having it on campus. Only three of the 23 states where medical marijuana is legal have seen schools or state officials set up rules, according to the pro-reform Marijuana Policy Project.

This week, a school committee in Auburn, a Maine city of about 23,000, approved a policy to allow students to have medical marijuana under certain conditions. It would have to be approved by a physician and administered in school by a parent or guardian, Auburn Assistant Superintendent Michelle McClellan said. Nurses wouldn’t be able to administer the drug and students would not be permitted to smoke it.

The decision in Auburn came about two months after a New Jersey school became the first in the country to allow medical marijuana. The Larc School instituted the policy after 16-year-old Genny Barbour, who suffers from potentially life-threatening epileptic seizures, fought for the right to take edible marijuana. A nurse at the special education school in Bellmawr provides Genny with her midday dosage of cannabis oil.

In Colorado, the law permits parents or professional caregivers to come on school grounds to administer medical marijuana if the district has adopted a policy allowing it, according to Megan McDermott, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education. School nurses or staff cannot administer it.

While medical marijuana has been legal in some states for years, fresh claims about pediatric use have helped prompt schools to look at the issue, said Morgan Fox, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project. For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics generally opposes medical marijuana but issued a statement a year ago saying “exceptions should be made for compassionate use in children with debilitating or life-limiting diseases.”

Proponents of marijuana’s use as a treatment for everything from seizures to chronic pain trumpet the recent policy changes as victories for student health. Others who doubt the wisdom of allowing marijuana in schools raise concerns whether the changes will result in schools violating federal laws that still outlaw marijuana.

In Maine, Auburn Superintendent Katy Grondin said it’s important for school districts to make sure medical marijuana doesn’t interfere with education.

“It’s what the doctor and the family decides is in the best interest of the child,” she said, adding that students won’t be able to carry marijuana in school. “We’re not getting involved in it medically.”

Scott Gagnon, director of Smart Approaches to Marijuana Maine, which opposes legalization of marijuana and fought the state’s law to allow marijuana in schools, said districts are right to be cautious and work to prevent recreational use of the substance.

“We already know kids report that drugs are sold and exchanged on school property. We don’t want to see this add to that,” he said.

But Fox, the Marijuana Policy Project spokesman, said laws that allow access to marijuana in school are about providing children with medicine they need to be able to attend at all.

“These kids, just because they’re sick, shouldn’t have their education interrupted,” he said.

___

Associated Press Writer Kristen Wyatt in Denver contributed to this report.

The post Schools mull medical marijuana policies over student use appeared first on WTOP.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — Police in northeastern Pennsylvania are looking for a man they say drove around a Target store in an electric cart, then exposed himself and urinated on video games.

The Wilkes-Barre (WILKS’-ba-ree) Police Department says the man took the cart around 9 p.m. on Tuesday. They say he stopped in the electronics aisle, removed his pants and then urinated on video games and accessories. Police say he then left the area.

They say they have surveillance video and that anyone with information is urged to contact police.

The post Police search for man who urinated on video games in Target appeared first on WTOP.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Supporters of presidential candidate Donald Trump are suing Virginia election officials over a state GOP requirement that 2016 primary voters sign a statement affirming they are Republicans.

In a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday, three black pastors said such a “loyalty oath” would violate their civil rights and “imposes the burden of fear and backlash” in minority voters.

“Given Virginia’s history of racially polarized voting, black voters who must publicly proclaim they are Republican could face backlash from their communities,” said the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Richmond-area pastors Stephen A. Parson, Leon Benjamin, and Bruce L. Waller Sr.

An attorney for the men did not immediately return requests for comment.

Parson and Benjamin have posted videos online proclaiming their support for Trump. In one video, Parson said he voted for GOP candidate Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election.

The Virginia State Board of Elections certified Dec. 16 — at the behest of the GOP’s State Central Committee — that voters in the March 1 Republican presidential primary will have to sign a form that says: “My signature below indicates that I am a Republican.”

Virginia holds open primaries, where any eligible voter can participate. State GOP officials have said requiring primary voters to sign a statement affirming they are Republicans is a way to ensure that GOP voters pick the Republican nominee.

“The statement of affiliation is designed to prevent Democrats from voting in our process and to serve as a party building tool for our party,” Republican Party of Virginia executive director John Findlay said in a memo to party insiders last week.

But Trump has been critical of the state GOP’s requirement, saying it would scare off potential new Republican voters. He said in a statement he supports the lawsuit, but his campaign is not involved.

“If they don’t stop excluding people the party is doomed,” Trump said. “The Republican Party in Virginia keeps losing. They really need to be smart and win for a change.”

The post Trump supporters sue over voter loyalty pledge appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — When pet owners are faced with the difficult decision of knowing it’s time for euthanasia, most head to their veterinarian’s office. But a local veterinarian wants you to know there is another, less stressful, option.

Katy Nelson, AKA Dr. Paws, tells WTOP that a mobile, or house-call, veterinarian’s best advantage and “greatest privilege” is being present during a pet’s last moment of need in their home.

“Being able to have that service performed in your home, with your family if that’s how you choose, can truly decrease the stress level of every single person and animal involved,” Nelson says.

Being able to euthanize a pet at home allows the animal, and owners, to be more relaxed and have their final moments together be a more positive one, Nelson says.

“When the veterinarian sees [the pet] in their own home environment, their stress levels are going to be so much lower,” Nelson says, adding the vets also can perform almost all the same tests and procedures as a doctor with an office, she adds.

Fauquier County pet owner Megan Casey says she remembers experiencing her dog’s anxiety rising when at the vet’s office for routine visits and procedures, but especially when he was there to be euthanized.

“It’s stressful enough when you take a dog to the vet,” Casey says. “He was scared and shaking.”

She thought the vet’s office was her only option when it came time to euthanize her two 17-year-old dogs, Cleo and T-Bone.

“I think a lot of people don’t know that option is out there,” Casey says.

But then she learned of house-call veterinarians, which she now thinks offer a more humane option.

“The dog has been so loyal to you your whole life… The least you can do is be loyal to them in the end,” she says.

Casey says she could see a difference when having her dogs euthanized at home, rather than in a doctor’s office.

“The [mobile] vet gives them a very strong sedative, probably twice what you would normally give, and it kicks in fairly quickly,” she says. “So the last thing they remember is being petted in a familiar environment.”

Some vets do not allow all, or any, family members to be present when their pet is euthanized in their office, which Casey says is difficult for any pet owner to endure.

“I think it’s so much kinder to an animal that’s been part of your family to have the dignity and kindness of making their last moments not stressful, but happy and calm,” Casey says.

While having a mobile vet perform euthanasia, or any service, at home is more expensive, Casey says she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I would never consider doing anything but having it done in the house,” she says.

Jake Tedaldi, a Boston-area house call vet and author of “What’s Wrong with My Dog,” agrees and says he thinks it is one of the most important things he does as a veterinarian.

“To provide a peaceful, dignified end to that life, I think, is just as important as all the rest,” he says. “If euthanasia is done in the wrong way, that bad experience will stay with the people for a long time. If it’s done right, then they can remember their pet and all the good experiences, without something dreadful at the end.”

Nelson says pet owners in the D.C. metro area looking for local, mobile vets can ask their regular doctor for recommendations when the time comes for euthanasia, or they can visit the American Veterinary Medical Association’s website.

The post Mobile vets: Choosing at-home euthanasia for your pet appeared first on WTOP.

Washington Times

Pentagon mulling Medal of Honor upgrades for thousands of troops Washington Times The Pentagon will review over 1,100 medals issued since the 9/11 terror attacks for possible upgrade to the Medal of Honor, the country's highest award for valor in combat. The review, revealed in documents obtained by USA Today, stems from a study of ... Pentagon to overhaul how it recognizes heroism, review cases for modern veteransWashington Post Pentagon set to announce awards for combat, drone serviceU.S. News & World Report Pentagon to review 1100 Iraq, Afghanistan medals to determine whether they ...Stars and Stripes Military Times all 151 news articles »

High-speed chase from Maryland ends in Centreville Inside NoVA The driver in a high-speed early morning chase from Maryland to Virginia struck three state police cruisers before finally being forced to stop in Centreville. The pursuit began in Montgomery County, Md., around 12:30 a.m. Monday, when officers tried ...

Google says it’s addressed a bug in its online translation tool after it started translating the words “Russian Federation” to “Mordor.” This matters, of course, because Mordor is the name of a fictional region in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, as described in the Lord of the Rings books by other names like The Land of Shadow. Unlike Russia, you can’t just walk into Mordor.*

Other errors — including translating “Russians” to “occupiers” — were introduced to Google Translate’s Ukrainian to Russian service automatically, Google said, according to the BBC.

The terms mirror language used by some Ukrainians after Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014. Social media users have been sharing screenshots of the erroneous translations in recent days. Google Translate works by looking for patterns in hundreds of millions of documents, but perfect translation may elude it when the meaning of words is tied to the context in which they’re used, the company explained.

“Google Translate is an automatic translator — it works without the intervention of human translators, using technology instead,” said Google in its statement. “This means that not all translations are perfect, and there will sometimes be mistakes or mistranslations. We always work to correct these as quickly as possible when they are brought to our attention.”

*You need the right paperwork, however, and you might actually be limited to driving.

Playing with LEGO when I was a kid was great, because my friends and I could build the houses — nay! castles! — of our dreams and fill them with all the things kids want in a dream home (huge pool, ice cream parlor, cat ranch, etc.). There was only one problem: none of the little barrel-headed figurines I had to act out those childhood fantasies looked remotely like me. That is no longer an obstacle to fun times.

A UK-based company called Funky 3D faces is offering the chance for anyone with about $44 to spare the chance to turn their mugs into a 3-D head that fits on a LEGO minifig body (h/t People). To be clear, these are not official LEGO products, nor has the company endorsed them.

You can choose to either have a big head, or a smaller one, which probably says a lot about how you feel about yourself:

Funky 3D Faces is a side project for some folks who work for a parent company called, ELAT3D Ltd who make 3D printed bones for the medical industry and architectural models for architects and surveyors. Though that sounds like a blast, the creators said on their website that they “wanted to use the technology we had to make something fun and affordable to the masses.”

To immortalize yourself in plastic, customers just need to send two photos of their head to the company. Because the heads are removable — like all LEGO minifig heads — you can switch’em up depending on how you’re feeling that day.

More than 45 years ago, the uptight manager of an English hotel inadvertently inspired Monty Python’s John Cleese to create a comedy legend. Now comes news that this landmark of sitcom history will soon be demolished.

The creation myth of Cleese’s Fawlty Towers — the short-run, but incredibly influential sitcom about high-strung inn owner Basil Fawlty and his motley crew of staff and locals — claims that in 1970, Monty Python was filming on location in the seaside town of Torquay and stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel.

The owner, Donald Sinclair, was later described by Cleese as “the rudest man I’ve ever come across in my life.” Things got so bad, according to anecdotes told by the Pythons in the decades since, that Sinclair actually threw one of their suitcases off a cliff (or out of a window, depending who tells the story) because he thought it contained a bomb.

Sinclair’s widow repeatedly denied many of the colorful stories about the Pythons’ three-week stay.

“There are no cliffs anywhere near the hotel,” Beatrice Sinclair told the Telegraph in 2002.

“My husband didn’t want the Python team to stay at the Gleneagles. They didn’t fit into a family hotel and Donald came to me and said they should go,” she recalled at the time. “He said they would upset the other guests. But it was off-season and they were filming for about three weeks and I argued that it was good money and we couldn’t afford to turn them away.”

As for the character of Basil’s bossy wife Sybil, Beatrice admitted that “Certainly I was the boss but I was never as bad as that.”

The Gleneagles has changed hands many times since the Sinclairs owned it. Most recently it was operated as part of the Best Western Group, reports Conde Nast Traveler.

This week, the Torquay Herald-Express brings the sad news that the hotel has again been sold, but this time it’s to be torn down and turned into a retirement home.

“Like its former guests, we’re sure new owners of the apartments will appreciate the development’s brilliant location and perhaps have a laugh at its quirky history,” says the planning director for the property’s new owner.

This now means that all real estate associated with Fawlty Towers will have passed on into memory. The exterior of the inn was not the Gleneagles, but the Wooburn Grange Country Club in Bourne’s End, Buckinghamshire. That building fell victim to a fire nearly 25 years ago and had to be demolished as a result of the damage.

In a bid to reduce obesity, prevent chronic diseases, and encourage healthy eating patterns, federal regulators issued new five-year Dietary Guidelines on Thursday. From cutting down on sugar, to saying red meat wasn’t so bad for your diet, the updated guidelines are chalk-full of things you should and shouldn’t do in order to live a healthy lifestyle. 

While this isn’t the first (or the last time) the Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services will delve into what we put in our mouth, the eighth edition of Dietary Guidelines do reflect the current trend of recognizing the importance of focusing on individual nutrients and foods, as well as the way people eat and drink today.

The guidelines, which were compiled after receiving input from a panel of scientists, provide basic nutrition advice that forms the basis for many federal, state, and local food policies.

“The Dietary Guidelines for Americans is one of many important tools that help to support a healthier next generation of Americans,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement. “The latest edition of the Dietary Guidelines provide individuals with the flexibility to make healthy food choices that are right for them and their families and take advantage of the diversity of products available, thanks to America’s farmers and ranchers.”

Aside from the normal “eat more vegetables and fruit,” the guidelines offer a few new (and continued) recommendations for a healthy lifestyle. So without further ado, here are the six things you should know about this year’s version of the quinquennial publication:

1. Less Added Sugar: Perhaps the biggest change included in the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines is the limitation of added sugar to no more than 10% of one’s dietary calories.

It should be noted that the recommendation to decrease consumption of the sweet stuff does not include naturally occurring sugars that are found in fruit and other whole foods.

According to the guidelines, the recommendation to limit added sugar intake was based on “food pattern modeling and national data on intakes of calories from added sugars that demonstrate the public health need to limit calories from added sugars to meet food group and nutrient needs within calorie limits.”

Added sugars account on average for almost 270 calories, or more than 13% of calories per day in the U.S. population, the recommendations state.

Currently, beverages, such as soft drinks, fruit drinks, sweetened coffee and teas, account for almost half – or 47% of all added sugars consumed in the U.S.

The guidelines recommend that individuals choose beverages with no added sugars, such as water, in place of sugar-sweetened beverages.

“Additional strategies include limiting or decreasing portion size of grain-based and dairy desserts and sweet snacks and choosing unsweetened or no-sugar-added versions of canned fruit, fruit sauces, and yogurt,” the government advises.

ChooseMyPlate.gov provides more information about added sugars, which are sugars and syrups that are added to foods or beverages when they are processed or prepared.

2. Less Saturated Fats: Like added sugar, the government recommends that individuals limit their intake of saturated fat to just 10% of their caloric intake.

The advice regarding saturated fats is unchanged from the last five-year guidelines, as the government found that just 29% of individuals actually limit their intake of saturated fats to just 10% daily.

While you might thing that red meat is the largest producer of saturated fats, the guidelines show that mixed dishes account for 35% of all saturated fats coming from items like burgers, sandwiches, tacos, pizza, rice, pasta, and grain dishes.

The guidelines suggest that people change the ingredients in these mixed dishes to increase the amounts of vegetables, whole grains, lean meat, and low-fat or fat-free cheese, in place of some of the fatty meat and/or regular cheese.

3. No Need To Limit Red Meat, Kind Of: While individuals should watch their intake of saturated fats, the guidelines don’t explicitly advise them to cut out red meat.

This is surprising considering there’s evidence — and it’s mentioned in the paper — that diets with less meat were associated with reduced risk of heart disease and stroke.

NPR reports that health advocates believe the guidelines should have stated more directly that red meat should be limited.

“The message to eat more seafood, legumes and other protein foods really does mean substitute those for red meat,” Tom Brenna, a nutrition professor at Cornell University and a member of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, tells NPR. “So I think the message is more or less there, it’s just not as clear.”

4. Go For That Coffee: As the guidelines point out, beverages are often ignored when it comes to thinking of one’s overall health. But that shouldn’t be the case.

“Beverages make a substantial contribution to total water needs as well as to nutrient and calorie intakes in most typical eating patterns,” the guidelines state. “In fact, they account for almost 20% of total calorie intake.”

The most caloric beverages include those that are sweetened, like soda, which we know should be limited (i.e. sugar intake).

As for that cup of java you need to get going in the morning, it’s okay to reach for it, as long as you limit the sweeteners.

According to the guidelines, moderate coffee consumption can be a part of a healthy diet.

5. Alcohol Minus The Caffeine: If you’re a fan of whiskey cokes, or other similarly caffeinated alcoholic drinks, then you likely wont’ be a fan of the new guidelines.

The government recommends those who drink alcohol should skip the caffeine mixer. (To be clear, The Dietary Guidelines do not recommend that individuals begin drinking alcohol, or drink more for any reason.)

As far as the guidelines are concerned, caffeine paired with booze can lead people to consume “more alcohol and become more intoxicated than they realize, increasing the risk of alcohol-related adverse events.”

6. Help Your Neighbor: Because the vast majority of people in the U.S. are not meeting dietary recommendations, they suggest we all just help each other out.

“Professionals have an important role in leading disease-prevention efforts within their organizations and communities to make healthy eating and regular physical activity an organizational and societal norm,” the guidelines state. “Changes at multiple levels of the Social-Ecological Model are needed, and these changes, in combination and over time, can have a meaningful impact on the health of current and future generations.”

Chefs Catalog is going out of business :(

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Everyone needs at least one good pair of boots, and Amazon will sell you a set of Wolverines for $63-$76, today only. There are a dozen different styles available, so go find the one that suits you best, and lace up. [Wolverine Work Boot Gold Box]

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SmartWool socks are some of the best you can buy, but you basically have to be an investment banker to afford a drawerful of them. Today on REI Outlet though, you can save an extra 25% with code OUTJAN16 on any SmartWool (or Oakley, Marmot, or Black Diamond) product with a price ending in $.73.

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CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee high school has called off the rest of its basketball season after three of its players were arrested on charges of raping a teammate in an apparent hazing incident.

Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Rick Smith said Wednesday he was taking this “very unusual step” with Ooltewah High School “so that the criminal justice system can work the way we expect.”

Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association Executive Director Bernard Childress said this is the first time he could remember a school canceling a season for disciplinary reasons.

Gatlinburg police said three teens face aggravated rape and aggravated assault charges in connection with injuries to a teammate, who underwent surgery after being assaulted while attending a basketball tournament. Tennessee law defines aggravated rape as a rape in which the defendant either has a weapon, causes bodily injury or is aided or abetted by another.

None of the teens has been named because they’re all juveniles.

Smith said he canceled the rest of the season because he was concerned public speculation about the case “could threaten the integrity” of the investigation.

“This decision is not a reflection upon the coaching staff,” Smith said. “Indeed, law enforcement officials have to date found no evidence any adult acted improperly. Likewise, this decision is not meant to punish the boys on the team who are innocent of any wrongdoing and simply want to play high school sports.”

Smith spoke before the school board held a closed executive session. Board members then returned for a specially called meeting to discuss the issue, but they adjourned only a few minutes later after board chair Jonathan Welch offered brief remarks.

“There are many questions that need to be answered,” Welch said. “Some of the questions unfortunately cannot be answered until all investigation is complete. At some point there will be questions for this board, and I believe the most important one we have to ask ourselves is what could have been done differently or better.”

Scott Bennett, the Hamilton County School District’s attorney, said the district will study its anti-hazing policy and make sure it’s being communicated to students.

Bennett also said law enforcement officials in Hamilton County and Sevier County, where Gatlinburg is, told the school district not to conduct its own investigation. Bennett said school district officials also were advised not to comment. Bennett said Sevier County juvenile justice officials have told him the three arrested players wouldn’t return to the school.

The Hamilton County district attorney’s office and the sheriff’s office are investigating whether an “ongoing pattern of assaults” may have been committed “under the guise of hazing.” The district attorney’s office said in its release this week that nobody has reported any criminal behavior in Hamilton County by anyone associated with the team thus far.

Two women who attended Wednesday’s meeting said they are mothers of Ooltewah players. They said their sons had been beaten by teammates during the trip to Gatlinburg.

“I do want justice for the boy that was hospitalized and for my son and his other teammates who were assaulted,” said Miika Montgomery, the mother of a player. “Do I think that (the arrested player) needs to go to jail? Yes, I do. Do I think the act was malicious? Yes, I do. I think it was very malicious and predatorial.”

Authorities said the investigation is ongoing. Current charges pertain to one victim only.

Curtis Bowe, an attorney representing Ooltewah coach Andre Montgomery, issued a statement this week saying that “the issue affecting our community is not hazing or bullying” and instead “is the unilateral decision of three individuals charged with a sexual offense.”

Miika Montgomery, who said she isn’t related to Andre Montgomery, said she “didn’t have any issues with the coach.”

A group of more than 120 Ooltewah High School alumni have signed a letter requesting that an outside authority investigate the Gatlinburg incident. In the letter, they said that “we depend on you to create the right atmosphere for students. Instead of burying this incident of rape and assault, we ask that you address it head-on and as transparently as possible within the confines of the law.”

“I actually was looking for a little more answers, a little more status of the investigation,” said Amanda DeFriese, an Ooltewah alumna who signed the letter and attended the meeting. “I know they can’t discuss law enforcement, but it would be nice to have at least more transparency.”

___

AP Sports Writer Teresa Walker in Nashville, Tennessee contributed to this report.

The post Season canceled for team at center of assault investigation appeared first on WTOP.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — A West Point cadet convicted of collecting and distributing child pornography has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison.

The U.S. attorney’s office says Granger, Indiana, resident Ricky Patrick Hester was sentenced Wednesday to 97 months in a federal court north of New York City. A jury found the 25-year-old guilty in June.

Prosecutors say Hester used email, a file-sharing account and his cellphone to collect and share images of boys being forced into sexual activity. His phone was seized in 2013 after a search of his U.S. Military Academy dorm room. Prosecutors say the phone contained 1,200 images and videos of children engaging in sexual activity.

Hester’s lawyer said the government’s search of his room was improper.

West Point officials are taking steps to discharge Hester.

___

This story has been corrected to show Hester is still a cadet and his discharge pending.

The post West Point cadet gets 8 years on federal child porn charge appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — North Korean officials bragged early Wednesday morning that it conducted a Hydrogen bomb test.

U.S. officials are downplaying the claim.

Experts say while it may not have been a thermonuclear blast, which is exponentially more powerful than an atomic explosion, what happened is a critical development.

“What North Korea tested may be more powerful than anything it’s has tested to date and could be a step toward a hydrogen bomb,” former United Nations weapons inspector Dr. David Kay told WTOP.

He said it’s possible that they’ve actually managed to create a “boosted device.”

In this case, “that device may not be a pure thermonuclear device, or what is commonly called a hydrogen bomb, but something more moderate,” said Kay, now a Senior Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.

There is nothing moderate about the carnage nuclear weapons can cause.

Almost 200,000 Japanese died in the late stages of World War II, after the U.S dropped two Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

By comparison, the nuclear weapons North Korea has are much weaker. But the power of a hydrogen bomb “is exponentially greater than an atomic bomb,” said Joseph Detrani, President of the Daniel Morgan National Security Academy in Washington.

The real concern, Kay said, is North Korea’s stated quest to shrink a powerful nuclear device small enough to fit on the head of a long-range missile.

“Quite frankly,” said Kay, “if I was trying to miniaturize a nuclear device, a fission device, I would go for a small boosting.”

U.S. intelligence sources told WTOP just hours after the event, “Pyongyang consecutively issued two authoritative pronouncements; a Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee (CC) “historic order” and a government “statement,” stating that it had “successfully” conducted its first hydrogen bomb test at “1000 Pyongyang time.”

The statements said the test was aimed at defending itself from Washington’s “hostile” policy and nuclear threat.

The U.S. Geological Survey concurred that it detected a 5.1-magnitude seismic event at 10 a.m. local Pyongyang time in the northeast section of the country, about 30 miles northwest of Kilju city, which is very close to the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

The test appears to have been a warning to North Korea’s neighbors Japan, and South Korea; and particularly the U.S.

In a stream of statements shortly after the blast, The North Korean government said the test was aimed at defending itself from Washington’s “hostile” policy and nuclear threat.

North Korea is believed to have less than 20 nuclear weapons, but Kay said even though they’ve threatened to attack the U.S., in the past, the North Korean leadership is not looking for a nuclear war with the U.S.

“You don’t enter a nuclear exchange when you have one to maybe 15 with a country that counts them in the thousands and I don’t think the North Koreans are yet that suicidal,” said Kay.

The explosion triggered an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council out of concern that North Korea has a significant step forward in process called miniaturization, which is shrinking a nuclear weapon small enough to fit on the head of a missile.

Both announcements were made simultaneously on radio and television.

While still investigating what happened, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters the “initial analysis” of the explosions was “not consistent” with North Korea’s claim that it successfully conducted hydrogen bomb tests.

Earnest rebuked the North Korean government, saying “their isolation has only deepened as they have sought to engage in increasingly provocative acts. These include not just nuclear tests but some of the ballistic missile tests.”

Whether or not it was a thermonuclear test may never be determined, Detrani said.

But he said it doesn’t matter. The damage has been done.

“Regardless of whether we get the particulars to say it was or it wasn’t, we know they are pursuing a Hydrogen bomb capability. That is in itself very, very significant, said Detrani.

As the world decried North Korea’s actions, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Republic of Korea (ROK) Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo spoke by phone to discuss potential alliance responses to the test.

The Pentagon said in a statement that Carter and Han agreed the test was “an unacceptable and irresponsible provocation and is both a flagrant violation of international law and a threat to the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the entire Asia-Pacific region.”

The post North Korea hydrogen bomb claims are partially true appeared first on WTOP.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A teenage fugitive who’s known for using an “affluenza” defense at his trial for causing a deadly drunken car crash has won an injunction to stay in Mexico, but legal experts say any argument that his human rights have been infringed upon likely won’t hold up.

Ethan Couch, 18, and his mother, Tonya Couch, were taken into custody last week in the Pacific resort city of Puerto Vallarta, where authorities believe they fled in November as Texas prosecutors investigated whether he had violated the terms of his probation.

Ethan Couch was driving drunk and speeding near Fort Worth in June 2013 when he crashed into a disabled SUV, killing four people and injuring several others, including passengers in his pickup truck. He pleaded guilty in juvenile court to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury and was sentenced to 10 years’ probation.

The Couches fled shortly after a video surfaced in November that appears to show Ethan Couch at a party where people were drinking.

Couch is being held at an immigration detention center in Mexico City. His mother, meanwhile, awaits transfer to Texas from Los Angeles, where on Tuesday she waived her right to an extradition hearing.

___

Q: WHY WOULD ETHAN COUCH FLEE TO MEXICO?

A: Because human rights are protected in the Mexican constitution, American felons fleeing capital punishment or lengthy prison terms have treated Mexico as a refuge, said Washington, D.C.-based attorney Bruce Zagaris.

In 2005, though, the Mexican Supreme Court broke with legal tradition by agreeing to allow the extradition of criminal suspects who face life sentences abroad. Judges have refused extradition requests from the U.S. when the suspect faces cruel and unusual punishment, including the death penalty.

Zagaris said it’s unlikely that such protections would be offered to Ethan Couch, though.

“Because of his money and power, it’s hard for Ethan Couch to allege, as you normally would if you were a potential victim of human rights violations, that he’s going to be subject to unusual and cruel treatment,” he said.

It is unclear whether Mexico was the Couches’ final destination, or what punishment they anticipated Ethan Couch would receive for violating his probation.

___

Q: WHAT COULD ETHAN COUCH GAIN BY DELAYING HIS DEPORTATION?

A: A federal judge could rule that he stays in Mexico on a permanent basis under court protection, but such a judgment is unlikely, legal experts said. While the judge considers his appeal, Couch will remain in the immigration detention center, which “buys time to prepare his defense” in the U.S., said Javier Lopez de Obeso, a San Antonio attorney licensed to practice in Mexico who is not involved with the case.

Most likely, Lopez says, Couch will be deported back to Texas. Even if the judge rules in his favor, Mexican authorities are not likely to reject an extradition request from the U.S.

Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson has said she plans to ask a judge to transfer his case to adult court, where Couch could get up to 120 days in an adult jail, followed by 10 years of probation. If he violates probation again, he could face up to 10 years in prison per death, Wilson said.

Tarrant County district attorney spokeswoman Samantha Jordan said delaying his return won’t affect his probation or prosecutors’ plans to request a transfer. “If the motion to transfer is not settled before his return there would be a hearing immediately after he’s back to transfer, and he would still owe the balance of time on his probation term,” she said.

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Q: WHAT’S NEXT?

A: Ethan Couch won a delay in deportation last week, a ruling that could lead to a drawn-out court process if a Mexican judge decides Couch has grounds to challenge his deportation based on arguments that kicking him out of Mexico would violate his rights.

Such cases can take anywhere from two weeks to several months, depending on the priorities of the local courts and the actions of defense attorneys, said Richard Hunter, chief deputy for the U.S. Marshals Service in South Texas.

His lawyer in Mexico, Fernando Benitez, said he planned to meet with Couch earlier this week to decide whether to drop the deportation fight, but he has not commented on his legal strategy going forward.

The post Q&A: A look at ‘affluenza’ teen’s Mexico strategy appeared first on WTOP.

ZION, Ill. (AP) — Police in the Chicago suburb of Zion fatally shot a man authorities say was wearing a tactical-style vest, carrying a BB gun and taking photographs of schools.

Lake County Sheriff’s Detective Christopher Covelli said the 38-year-old man was killed Wednesday morning after he led officers on a foot chase and a struggle ensued.

Officers responded early Wednesday to a report that a suspicious person was taking photographs of two local schools. Investigators found the suspect, who appeared to be wearing body armor, and the pursuit and shooting followed.

Covelli said the body armor was found to be a homemade tactical-style vest with metal inserts.

The man’s name hasn’t been released. Zion police said they obtained a warrant to search his home.

At least seven schools were locked down during the incident.

The post Man photographing schools shot dead by police near Chicago appeared first on WTOP.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The recent arrests in Utah of three people accused of stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of baby formula is the latest example of a problem that officials say is vexing stores and police nationwide as thieves systematically swipe the mixture from shelves and resell it to unsuspecting parents.

Baby formula is a major expense for many new parents, with small canisters starting around $20 and special or prescription blends costing two or three times that.

It’s also widely used. More than a third of infants receive formula in addition to breastmilk in their first six months, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. Often, babies who are weaned off breastmilk will continue to drink formula into their toddler years.

The high price and broad demand make it an enticing target for thieves, who typically sell the stolen formula at flea markets or list it on websites like Craigslist and eBay.

In late December, police in Logan, about 80 miles north of Salt Lake City, confiscated 422 cans of stolen formula worth $8,000 to $10,000. It came from stores in Logan and three other northern Utah cities, and officers are looking for ties to similar recent thefts in Idaho cities about 150 miles away, Police Capt. Curtis Hooley said.

In Pleasanton, California, thefts of large amounts of formula are reported at least once a month, with thieves frequently hitting multiple stores around the San Francisco Bay Area, according to police Lt. Kurt Schlehuber.

He doesn’t think the culprits are parents trying to feed their kids.

“There are people that are making money off of selling the stuff,” Schlehuber said.

In April, Pleasanton police arrested two people suspected of stealing dozens of containers of the product.

Officers happened to see the pair running from the store with shopping baskets full of formula. But arrests can be rare when police often have only an anonymous face captured by a surveillance camera, Schlehuber said.

Around the country, law enforcement agencies in recent years have reported heists ranging from thousands to several million dollars’ worth of baby formula.

In 2009, Florida authorities arrested 21 people accused in an elaborate theft ring that officials say pilfered more than $2 million in formula annually.

Investigators working on that sting — called “Operation Hot Milk” — said thieves were paid between $100 and $300 a day and used multiple lookouts while filling bags with formula. They hit 15 or more stores a day and later repackaged the formula and sold it in other states, authorities said.

The Infant Nutrition Council of America, an association of baby formula manufacturers, does not keep statistics on the thefts but said it’s a continuing problem nationwide.

“We’re not talking about petty shoplifting,” said Jennifer Hatcher, a senior vice president for government and public affairs at the Food Marketing Institute, which represents supermarket chains, small grocery stores, pharmacies and other food retailers.

Large thefts can be a particularly costly problem for many such stores, which are required to keep a minimum amount of formula on their shelves to accept customers spending money dispersed through the federal Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, known as WIC.

Hatcher said the industry has been working to combat the thefts for about 15 years.

For parents, stolen formula can be a safety concern.

They can’t be sure that what they’re buying has been stored at proper temperatures or isn’t past its expiration date. Some sophisticated theft rings even print counterfeit formula labels to make a cow’s-milk-based product appear to be a more expensive soy or rice formula designed for children with milk allergies, Hatcher said.

Mardi Mountford, the nutrition council’s executive director, recommends that formula be bought only from a trustworthy retailer, either in-store or online.

New mother Erica Otten of Tabernacle, New Jersey, said she understands a parent’s temptation to try and save on the expensive product by shopping for a discounted version online.

Her 5-month-old daughter has a protein allergy requiring a specific formula that costs $32 for a 1-pound can that lasts four days at most. Still, Otten sticks to the major retailers.

“It sounds scary because you’re feeding it to your infant,” she said. “I inspect everything like crazy — the expiration date, the fact that it’s sealed.”

To help with the cost, Otten signed up to receive regular coupons from formula manufacturers while pregnant. She now swaps the coupons she doesn’t need with other mothers around the country.

Some retailers take extra steps to combat thefts, keeping their baby formula under lock and key. Others stamp their store names and locations on containers to alert consumers or police if the stolen product turns up for sale somewhere else, Hatcher said.

When large amounts of formula are stolen, lot numbers are provided to websites like eBay that can monitor sale listings for the products.

To chip away at the black market demand, federal officials have started requiring grocery stores and retailers that participate in the WIC program to buy formula only from approved wholesalers.

“Each one of these tactics, it seems to have helped alleviate some of the ability for them to resell this product quickly,” Hatcher said. “That doesn’t mean it’s still not an incredibly attractive product to try to steal.”

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BURNS, Ore. (AP) — Three Oregon sheriffs met with leaders of an armed group to try to persuade them to end their occupation of a federal wildlife refuge after many local residents made it plain that’s what they want.

But it was unclear whether the Thursday meeting at a snowy intersection in southeastern Oregon would lead to an end of the occupation by Ammon Bundy’s group any time soon.

“There are some positives that could come out of this,” Harney County Sheriff David Ward, accompanied by colleagues from two other counties, told Bundy and his group.

“Before this thing turns into something negative, which would ruin all of that, I think we need to find a peaceful resolution to help you guys get out of here,” Ward said.

Bundy said his group poses a threat to no one. He also said his demands that federal land in Harney County be turned over to local residents to manage are being ignored.

“I didn’t come to argue,” Ward said. Bundy said neither had he.

Ward offered to escort Bundy and his followers out of the refuge, which Bundy scoffed at.

“I’m not afraid to go out of the state,” Bundy told reporters after the meeting. “I don’t need an escort.”

Ward said he plans to talk with Bundy again on Friday.

The encounter came as pressure mounts on Bundy to end the occupation of headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, south of Burns.

Bundy’s demands are a continuation of long-running arguments that federal policies for management of public lands in the West are harming ranchers and other locals. Bundy is the son of Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher who in 2014 was at the center of a tense standoff with federal officials over grazing rights.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Thursday called the occupation of the wildlife refuge “unlawful” and said it had to end.

“It was instigated by outsiders whose tactics we Oregonians don’t agree with. Those individuals illegally occupying the Malheur Wildlife Refuge need to decamp immediately and be held accountable,” she said.

Bundy’s group — calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom — comes from as far away as Arizona and Michigan.

Sheriff Ward has repeatedly said the occupation has to end and violence be avoided. He got a lot of support during a packed community meeting Wednesday night.

At that meeting, local residents said they sympathized with the armed group’s complaints about federal land management but disagreed with their tactics and called on Ammon Bundy and his followers to leave.

Bundy came to Burns to rally support for two local ranchers who were sentenced to prison on arson charges. The ranchers — Dwight Hammond and his son Steven Hammond — distanced themselves from Bundy’s group and reported to prison Monday.

The Hammonds were convicted of arson three years ago and served no more than a year. A judge later ruled that the terms fell short of minmum sentences requiring them to serve about four more years.

The post Sheriff meets with armed group, asks them to leave appeared first on WTOP.

BALTIMORE (AP) — A Baltimore police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray asked an appeals court Thursday to block a ruling that would force him to testify against a colleague, arguing that it’s a violation of his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams ruled in the state’s favor that William Porter, whose trial ended in a mistrial last month, can be compelled to take the stand in the trial of van driver Caesar Goodson or face the possibility of jail time.

Porter’s attorney Gary Proctor filed court papers asking the Maryland Court of Special Appeals in Annapolis to block that ruling so that Porter can’t be forced to testify.

Goodson is facing the most serious charge of the six officers charged in the case — second-degree murder — in addition to manslaughter, assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment. Porter’s retrial is scheduled for June 13.

Proctor argued in the filing that prosecutors won’t be able to discern what they heard in Porter’s first trial, when he was a defendant, and what they hear when he testifies as a witness.

“The bell cannot be unrung,” he wrote.

Although Porter’s witness testimony can’t be used against him at trial, Proctor writes, immunity doesn’t protect him from a perjury charge if his statements contain inconsistencies. What’s more, he argued, prosecutors during Porter’s trial told jurors that his statements were lies. Prosecutors could make the same argument even if Porter’s witness statements are identical to his previous testimony.

If Porter does not testify, “he will go to jail. If he does, and he reiterates what he repeated before, the state has already called that perjury, for which Porter has been offered no protection. If he deviates in any way from his earlier testimony then it is perjury, for which Porter remains defenseless.”

It is unclear whether a hearing on the matter will be held, or if an order will be issued in writing.

In a September letter to the court, prosecutors indicated they intended to call Porter as a witness against both Goodson and another officer, Sgt. Alicia White, arguing that his testimony is “material and necessary.”

Porter’s attorneys had said he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right, but the ruling means he risks being held in contempt if he does so. The ruling is unprecedented in the state and could have tremendous implications for future cases.

“I’m in uncharted territory,” Williams said while issuing the ruling.

Longtime Baltimore defense attorney Warren Brown, who is not involved in the Gray case, said Williams’ decision is extraordinary. The judge is essentially saying there is no difference between a witness and a defendant, so long as immunity is granted, he said. And he said that could make it difficult for people to get a fair trial in future cases involving several defendants.

“This has never happened in the state of Maryland. It’s only in regard to an investigation that a person is given immunity,” Brown said, adding that “it’s almost sacrilegious to make a defendant testify by giving him or her immunity, and that’s why it’s never occurred.”

But Douglas Colbert, a University of Maryland Law professor, said the judge’s decision wasn’t surprising. He said it protects Porter because he’s granted immunity but also protects the prosecution’s case. He also noted the case was highly unusual, given how rare it is to prosecute police officers.

“Otherwise, any time you had co-defendants, they’d all gang up together and say, ‘Everybody keep quiet. Let’s not cooperate.’ And who gets defeated? The public does, because the public doesn’t learn the truth that would allow for some of those people to take responsibility and be found guilty,” he said.

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LANSING, N.Y. (AP) — The latest on 17 miners who were stuck in an elevator at a salt mine in central New York (all times local):

5:20 p.m.

A spokesman for a New York salt mine owner says it appears a beam that kept an elevator car aligned in the mine shaft bent or broke before 17 miners got stuck in it 90 stories underground.

Spokesman Mark Klein says Cargill Inc. is looking at that possibility as it and authorities explore what went wrong at the Cayuga (kay-OO’-gah) mine in central New York. The miners were rescued Thursday morning after about 10 hours.

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration says it hasn’t determined what caused the problem. The agency’s records show a circuit breaker problem briefly halted the lift Saturday during a test trip with no one underground.

Agency official Neal Merrifield says the mine has a very good safety record.

___

8:45 a.m.

All 17 miners who were stuck hundreds of feet below the surface in an elevator at the deepest salt mine in the Western Hemisphere have been rescued.

Cargill Inc. spokesman Mark Klein says the last two miners were raised to the surface by a crane around 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the mine in the central New York town of Lansing.

Their rescue ended an ordeal that lasted about 10 hours. Klein says the miners were never in danger.

Klein says the miners got stuck 900 feet underground around 10 p.m. Wednesday while descending to the floor of the 2,300-foot-deep mine to start their shift.

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8:30 a.m.

Two miners remain stuck in an elevator at the deepest salt mine in the Western Hemisphere.

Cargill Inc. spokesman Mark Klein says 15 other miners have been raised to the surface at the company’s mine in the central New York town of Lansing.

The rescue operation continues for the remaining miners. Klein says they aren’t in danger.

Klein says the miners got stuck around 10 p.m. Wednesday while descending to the floor of the 2,300-foot-deep mine to start their shift.

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7:50 a.m.

Eight of 17 miners stuck in an elevator at the deepest salt mine in the Western Hemisphere have been rescued.

Cargill Inc. spokesman Mark Klein says four miners were raised to the surface in a basket around 7 a.m. Thursday at the company’s mine in the central New York town of Lansing. Four more were rescued around 7:30 a.m.

The rescue operation continues for the remaining miners. Klein says they aren’t in danger.

Klein says the miners got stuck around 10 p.m. Wednesday while descending to the floor of the 2,300-foot-deep mine to start their shift.

Klein says emergency workers have been able to get supplies to the miners.

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7:20 a.m.

Four of 17 miners stuck in an elevator 900 feet underground at a central New York salt mine have been rescued.

Cargill Inc. spokesman Mark Klein says four miners were raised to the surface in a basket around 7 a.m. Thursday at the company’s mine in Lansing, about 40 miles outside Syracuse.

The rescue operation continues for the remaining miners. Klein says they aren’t in danger.

Klein says the miners got stuck around 10 p.m. Wednesday while descending to the floor of the 2,300-foot-deep mine to start their shift.

He says emergency officials are able to communicate with the miners via radio.

The mine operated by Minneapolis-based Cargill produces road salt that’s shipped throughout the northeast.

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6:45 a.m.

Seventeen miners are stuck in an elevator 900 feet underground at a central New York salt mine and emergency crews are working on a rescue.

Cargill Inc. spokesman Mark Klein says the miners got stuck around 10 p.m. Wednesday while descending to the floor of the company’s 2,300-foot-deep mine in Lansing, about 40 miles outside Syracuse.

Klein says emergency rescue crews and equipment are on the scene and the miners aren’t in danger. He says emergency officials are able to communicate with the miners via radio.

A crane has been brought to the scene and will be used to hoist the miners to the surface in a basket. Klein says he doesn’t know how long the rescue operation will take.

The mine operated by Minneapolis-based Cargill produces road salt that’s shipped throughout the northeast.

___

6:15 a.m.

Seventeen miners are stuck in an elevator 900 feet underground at a central New York salt mine and emergency crews are working on a rescue.

Emergency management officials say rescue equipment is on the scene and the miners aren’t in danger.

Tompkins County Emergency Management officials say the miners have been trapped since late Wednesday night at the Cargill Salt Mine in Lansing, about 40 miles outside Syracuse.

Authorities tell local media that they’re able to communicate with the miners and have managed to get them blankets, heat packs, and other supplies.

Cargill’s website says the mine just north of Ithaca has been in operation since 1922 and annually processes about 2 million tons of road salt that’s shipped throughout the northeast United States.

Messages left at Cargill’s corporate headquarters were not immediately returned early Thursday.

The post The Latest: Bent beam eyed in NY mine elevator mishap appeared first on WTOP.

Customers have filed a class action suit against Fitbit, claiming that the company’s Charge HR and Surge fitness bands don’t accurately measure users’ heart rate during vigorous exercise. We’ll keep an eye on the lawsuit and let you know if it goes anywhere, but it probably won’t, and that’s what got our attention. The users filed a class action against Fitbit despite signing (well, clicking) away their right to do so when they registered their devices.

Without registering and syncing your fitness tracker to a computer or smartphone, you might as well buy a pedometer at the dollar store and use that instead. To sync your device, you have to register an account on Fitbit.com, which requires you to agree to terms of service. One of those terms that you agree to is that you and Fitbit will resolve any disputes either informally or through arbitration, and that you waive your right to sue the company, including in a class action.

If you choose to use arbitration, that’s fine, but it should be your right to choose the venue that you prefer if you ever have a dispute with Fitbit. Keep in mind that in arbitration, the company chooses the arbitrator, and other consumers who might encounter the same problem won’t know about your case or what the outcome was.

As we publish this on January 6, you still have time to opt out if you registered your Fitbit on or after December 7, 2015. That leaves the many fitness trackers given as Christmas gifts well within the window to opt out, which you can do by e-mailing legal@fitbit.com. Simply write, “I, [your first and last name], decline Fitbit’s arbitration agreement.”

Opt-out of Agreement to Arbitrate: You can decline this agreement to arbitrate by contacting legal@fitbit.com within 30 days of first accepting these Terms of Service and stating that you (include your first and last name) decline this arbitration agreement. Arbitration Procedures: The American Arbitration Association (AAA) will administer the arbitration under its Commercial Arbitration Rules and the Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes. The arbitration will be held in the United States county where you live or work, San Francisco, California, or any other location we agree to.

This isn’t unique to Fitbit, as our regular readers know. Competitor Jawbone’s Up fitness tracker, for example, has the same policy. While you’re at it, check any other product you’ve purchased or subscription that you’ve signed up for recently. Lots of the agreements that we all scroll past on our way to register for a website or register a product or sign up for TV service have arbitration requirements, though there aren’t always opt-out clauses.

While the class action system is flawed, right now we don’t have a better way for consumers to fight back when many people have been wronged in small ways. That brings us back to the Fitbit heart rate monitors: in the Charge HR and Surge case, the plaintiffs say that the dispute resolution section shouldn’t apply to them, since they weren’t informed of this policy before purchasing their devices.

In a statement to the Verge, a Fitbit representative said that the company “strongly disagrees with the statements made in the complaint and plans to vigorously defend the lawsuit.” At least one of the lead plaintiffs has received a letter from Fitbit informing her that since she did not opt out, the case must go to arbitration. (PDF download)

If Fitbit succeeds in moving the case to arbitration, the dispute may be resolved, but that will be no help to other users who have the same problem. A U.S. Supreme Court decision less than a month ago affirmed companies’ right to keep consumer complaints out of court.

Fight back: check for these clauses whenever you see a new user agreement, and opt out if possible.

Fitbit hit with class-action suit over inaccurate heart rate monitoring [The Verge]

WASHINGTON — Several people were injured in two separate crashes that caused major delays on the Capital Beltway in Montgomery County Wednesday afternoon.

The two crashes happened on the Beltway’s Inner Loop around 4 p.m., says Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Spokesman Pete Piringer.

Fire and Rescue units responded to a crash between the exits for George and Connecticut avenues around 4 p.m. While crews were responding to the first crash, a vehicle hit an EMS unit meant to protect workers from oncoming traffic, Piringer says.

That car overturned and the driver was briefly trapped and taken to the hospital with potentially life-threatening injuries, Piringer adds.

Three other people received minor injuries, including the driver from the initial crash. No firefighters suffered injuries, Piringer says.

The crashes and clean up caused the Inner Loop’s lanes to close Wednesday afternoon. All lanes reopened by about 5:30 p.m.

The post Car hits Beltway crash response team appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Officials in Washington plan to begin draining the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool for an annual cleaning.

National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst said in a statement that the draining is expected to begin Friday and the work is expected to take between 30 and 60 days.

The National Park Service says the reflecting pool is more than 150 wide and over 2,000 feet long and contains 6.7 million gallons of water.

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BURIEN, Wash. (AP) — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed an executive order aimed at curbing gun violence by improving data-sharing among government agencies and starting a new public health campaign on suicide prevention.

“We are not afraid to take action here in Washington state,” Inslee said Wednesday after criticizing inaction by Congress on gun violence.

Inslee appears to be the first governor in the nation to take action on the issue after an announcement earlier this week by President Barack Obama regarding an executive order.

Inslee praised Obama’s plan to create a more sweeping definition of gun dealers as a way to increase the number of sales requiring background checks. Both leaders are Democrats.

As the result of a successful 2014 ballot measure, Washington state already has expanded background checks to include online sales and purchases at gun shows

The initiative came the same year the state saw two deadly campus shootings. In Marysville, a high school student killed three 14-year-old girls and a 15-year-old boy after inviting them to lunch in the cafeteria, authorities said. Earlier, a 19-year-old student was killed and two others wounded in a shooting at Seattle Pacific University.

Legislative Democrats in California also applauded the president’s action and are planning a package of gun control measures, but they have yet to introduce the proposals. The effort was launched after the San Bernardino attack that killed 14 in December.

California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, said in an interview last month that the bills will include ways to address so-called ghost guns that can be built from parts at home and do not have a serial number.

States, however, are limited in what gun laws legislators can enact. Still, much of what the president has proposed is already in effect in Washington, California and a handful of other states.

In his executive order, Inslee said firearm deaths now exceed motor vehicle crash fatalities in the state and that 80 percent of firearm deaths are suicides.

Inslee, who is seeking re-election later this year, outlined his plans with representatives of the University of Washington School of Social Work and the director of the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center.

It calls for better data analysis of the effectiveness of current gun safety efforts; looking for failures in the state’s current methods of sharing information among law enforcement and social service agencies; and eyeing gaps in the state’s firearm purchasing laws.

Inslee wants to look into better adolescent depression screening, initiate a campaign focused on suicide prevention and develop culturally appropriate crisis-prevention and treatment services for Native Americans and Alaskan Natives.

“This will be a data-driven approach that helps us identify the people and places most susceptible to gun crime and suicide,” Inslee said. “Gun crime is a scourge that has scarred thousands of families in every corner of our state. It’s a scourge we can, should and will help prevent.”

King County Sheriff John Urquhart said the governor’s actions will help law enforcement get a better handle on where street guns are coming from and may help them follow-up on the people who try to buy guns but fail to do so because of the background check system.

Urquhart and other speakers said Inslee’s proposals carefully skirt some of the most divisive issues involving guns and focus on things gun owners and gun haters can agree on.

“When you have bullies yelling, you can’t have any progress,” Urquhart said. “There’s common ground there and we need to shame both sides into sitting down together.”

Gun safety advocate Cheryl Stumbo, who was in the audience at Inslee’s news conference, said she was pleased the governor is working to link mental health issues and gun violence.

Stumbo survived a 2006 shooting at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.

Steven Nielson, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Washington State, criticized Inslee’s action saying it was another step away from the guidelines of both the state and U.S. constitutions.

“I think that mental health issues need to be addressed, especially as it relates to veterans and at risk individuals and teens. But that is not a gun control issue,” Nielson said.

____

AP reporter Juliet Williams contributed to this story from Sacramento, California.

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WASHINGTON — Maryland State Police say cellphone video has yielded some vehicle tags of the motorcyclists and ATV riders who disrupted travel on the Capital Beltway on Dec. 27.  However, no arrests have been made of any of the members of the pack that stopped traffic, popped wheelies, drove the wrong way and frightened drivers.

“We have had some success in identifying a few of the vehicles involved, those that had tags on them anyway,” says Elena Russo, spokeswoman for the Maryland State Police.

The bikes are so fast police cars can’t catch them, but Russo says police are hunting for those involved.

“Our investigators are more than eager to identify those who really violated the laws of the road and put peoples’ lives in danger,” Russo says.

Besides analyzing video of the incident in a bid to identify the bikers, investigators are studying the digital trail after bikers posted numerous pictures and video on social media of their wheelies and other stunts.

On the warm Sunday afternoon when traffic was disrupted, Beltway motorists sounded the alarm by calling 911.

“I’m on the Inner Loop of the Beltway just past exit 13.  There’s about 30 ATVs, sports bikes, motorbikes, on the highway, blocking traffic, doing tricks on the highway … one almost hit another vehicle,” one male caller told 911 dispatchers.

“Oh, oh my gosh … there’s 20 or 30 of them. They’re weaving in and out of traffic, extremely aggressive and actually scary,” a female caller relayed to 911.

Russo says Maryland State Police are working with other police agencies, including Prince George’s County police, on its investigation. She says the goal is to identify those who disrupted traffic while also developing an enforcement plan that could effectively curtail any future disruptive rides that the group might plan.

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