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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister said Thursday there “seems to be no agreement” on two key issues just hours before the latest international conference on Syria is held Friday morning in New York.

Mohammad Javad Zarif told The Associated Press that his country has seen “no lists we can agree upon” of Syrian opposition groups that should be included in peace negotiations set to begin by Jan. 1, or of Syrian groups that should be considered terrorist organizations instead.

“Card-carrying members of al-Qaida do not satisfy the conditions that we set for members of the opposition,” Zarif told reporters, ruling out any affiliates of the extremist group. “The opposition should be serious, and it should be inclusive.”

Zarif also said “we still don’t know” if there will be any concrete progress in the talks that are aimed at bringing an end to Syria’s conflict. Iran, a top Syria ally, will attend.

Russia and the United States are leading the talks, but Russia’s ambassador to the U.N. told reporters that he sees attempts to “undercut” the communiques that have been agreed upon in the Syria discussions so far. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin didn’t give details.

A peace plan agreed to last month by 20 nations meeting in Vienna sets a Jan. 1 deadline for the start of negotiations between Assad’s government and opposition groups. The plan says nothing about Assad’s future but says that “free and fair elections would be held pursuant to the new constitution within 18 months.”

Diplomats said the five permanent U.N. Security Council members, which include Russia and the United States, had not yet come to agreement on a draft resolution Thursday evening that the council is expected to adopt just after Friday’s talks endorsing the process.

“I’m not sure it’s going to happen,” Churkin said of the resolution, which has been described as a rare gesture of unity in a Security Council that has been bitterly divided on Syria.

By contrast, British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said the draft was “in good shape.”

Russia, a top Syria ally, and the West continue to be split on the central issue in any discussions on a political transition: the fate of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

___

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.

The post Iran: ‘No agreement’ seen in key issues before Syria talks appeared first on WTOP.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police are looking for a hit-and-run driver who struck a 70-year-old nun, leaving her in critical condition.

Police on Thursday asked for public help in finding the driver of a black truck that struck Raquel Diaz in a Boyle Heights neighborhood crosswalk last Sunday.

Diaz is director of religious education at the Church of Assumption on Blanchard Street.

The city is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

The post Los Angeles police seek hit-and-run driver who struck nun appeared first on WTOP.

PAINTSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Audience members at a Kentucky school’s performance of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” recited a Bible passage that school officials deleted from the play.

W.R. Castle Elementary School Principal Jeff Cochran tells the Lexington Herald-Leader (http://bit.ly/1lWkdGB) that some people attending Thursday’s performance recited lines from the play in which the character Linus quotes from the Gospel of Luke.

Cochran said all Biblical references were removed from the play after a Dec. 11 message from Superintendent Thomas Salyer.

Salyer told the newspaper Tuesday that Christmas programs across the district were being reviewed for possible modifications of religious references after receiving a complaint.

Earlier this week, protesters upset about the decision gathered outside the school board’s office.

Salyer says he made his decision based upon the advice of his attorney and state officials.

___

Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com

The post Deleted Bible passage recited by adults during school’s play appeared first on WTOP.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Hasbro hit back Friday in a lawsuit over who owns the rights to The Game of Life, flatly denying claims by a toy inventor’s widow who says her husband created the board game and that she is owed $2 million or more in royalties.

The board game has sold more than 30 million copies and been spun off into an iPhone app, TV show, gambling and other ventures.

Lorraine Markham sued Hasbro earlier this year in federal court in Providence. She says her husband, Bill, invented the game in 1959 but that another toy inventor struck a deal with her husband and Hasbro has taken credit for it, denying her husband his legacy.

Her lawyers have said in a court filing that she plans to terminate rights to the game.

In its first response to the lawsuit, Pawtucket-based Hasbro Inc. on Friday denied that Markham created or designed the game and said his widow has no ownership interest in it. The toy maker said in court papers that it owns copyrights and other intellectual property rights to the game and its packaging, not Markham.

Hasbro also countersued, asking a federal judge to declare that it owns the rights to the game and asking for attorney’s fees.

The other toy inventor, Reuben Klamer, has said he is the sole creator of the game and hired Bill Markham to make the game board. Markham made only a prototype, Klamer said. Klamer said he then made significant revisions to the board before delivering it to board game-maker Milton Bradley, which has since been absorbed by Hasbro. Klamer filed a countersuit last month.

Markham’s lawyer, Lou Solomon, said Friday that Hasbro has acknowledged for years that her husband created the game. He cited a 1959 agreement Klamer and Markham signed that describes Markham as its inventor and designer, and said Hasbro paid royalties as a result.

“It’s sad that a big company can try to outspend an inventor of such a valuable game. They should be ashamed of themselves,” Solomon said.

The Game of Life features three-dimensional plastic board pieces and a clicking wheel. Players are assigned a car, and pick up pegs that represent spouses or children along the way. At the end, the richest player wins.

It was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame in 2010 and has been displayed at the Smithsonian Institution.

The post Hasbro hits back in lawsuit over The Game of Life appeared first on WTOP.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey nonprofit found to have violated consumer fraud laws for offering therapy it said would turn gays to heterosexuals must shut down, a judge ordered Friday.

The granting of a permanent injunction against Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing, known as JONAH, was an outgrowth of a lawsuit filed against the group in 2012 by several men, and two of their mothers, claiming it engaged in fraud and made claims it couldn’t back up.

In June, a Hudson County jury awarded the plaintiffs about $72,000 in damages.

The ruling signed Friday by state Superior Court Judge Peter Bariso ordered Jersey City-based JONAH to cease all operations within 30 days and barred it from “engaging, whether directly or through referrals, in any therapy, counseling, treatment or activity that has the goal of changing, affecting or influencing sexual orientation, ‘same sex attraction’ or ‘gender wholeness.'”

Bariso’s order also awarded attorneys’ fees and expenses to the plaintiffs’ lawyers.

David Dinielli, an attorney for the men, said the decision sends a message to providers of so-called gay conversion therapy that the practice is fraudulent.

“The practice of conversion therapy, at base, constitutes fraud,” he said. “It is premised on the lie that homosexuality is a disease or disorder. This case proved it to be a lie.”

During the trial, JONAH officials claimed they did not make guarantees to clients and that they should be allowed to offer help to people struggling with their sexual orientation.

“It is sad that so many are celebrating the government’s power to stop willing clients from working with willing counselors to lead their lives on Biblical principles,” Charles LiMandri, an attorney who represented JONAH, said in an email Friday. “Despite the many grounds for appeal, the financial risks to my client, who has never made any personal profit out of volunteering to help men troubled with unwanted same-sex attraction, made this deal necessary.”

The four original plaintiffs in the lawsuit who underwent the therapy — one ultimately dropped out of the suit — alleged the nonprofit exploited them with false promises as they struggled with their same-sex attractions in strict religious environments where they were expected to marry women and have children.

One testified his therapy included hitting a pillow, meant to represent his mother, with a tennis racket. He said he was told his mother was the cause of his homosexuality, prompting him to temporarily cut off all communications with her.

Gov. Chris Christie signed a law in 2013 banning licensed therapists from practicing conversion therapy in New Jersey. Two court challenges to the ban, one by a couple and their son and one by a group that included two licensed therapists, were dismissed by a federal judge. Those decisions were later affirmed by a federal appeals court.

New Jersey’s ban was not raised during the trial because JONAH employees weren’t licensed therapists.

___

Follow David Porter at http://twitter.com/DavidPorter_AP

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal lawsuit is challenging a city plan to remove prominent Confederate monuments by charging that the city doesn’t own the land under three of the monuments and they are protected from removal by state and federal laws.

The suit, filed shortly after the City Council voted Thursday to remove four monuments, asks U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans to halt removal plans. The suit was filed by three preservation organizations and a New Orleans chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The decision by New Orleans is one of the most sweeping gestures yet by an American city to sever ties with its Confederate past. New Orleans, like other places, was spurred into action against Confederate symbols after the mass shooting at an African-American church in South Carolina in June that left nine parishioners dead.

The monuments slated for removal include a 60-foot-tall marble column and statue dedicated to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and a large equestrian statue of P.G.T. Beauregard, a Louisiana-born Confederate general. Also up for removal are a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and an obelisk dedicated to a group of white supremacists who sought to topple a biracial Reconstruction government in New Orleans.

The suit says the monuments are part of the city’s history and should be protected.

“Regardless whether the Civil War era is regarded as a catastrophic mistake or a noble endeavor, it is undeniably a formative event in the history of Louisiana,” the suit says. “It is the source of much of the cultural heritage (of) this city and state, including countless novels, short stories, plays, monuments, statues, films, stories, songs, legends and other expressions of cultural identity.”

The city is relying on an ordinance that allows it to take down monuments on public property or under its control considered a “nuisance” because they foster dangerous and unlawful ideologies of supremacy and may become rallying points for violent demonstrations.

City officials have agreed that they won’t remove the monuments ahead of a Jan. 14 hearing in the case, according to court documents filed Friday.

The suit is aimed at Mayor Mitch Landrieu and, in a legal twist, the U.S. Department of Transportation and other federal transportation officials for their role in paying for streetcar work that has, according to the suit, damaged the monuments. The suit also contends federal officials should stop the removal because the monuments should be considered historic elements of nearby streetcar lines.

Officials from the city and Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. A lawyer for the plaintiffs declined to comment.

Louis R. Koerner Jr., a New Orleans lawyer and historian not involved in the case, said the suit had merit.

“I think they put their foot out and tripped everybody up,” he said. He said the questions raised about whether the monuments should be viewed as integral to the streetcar work was clever and could force the city into a lengthy historic review process.

The 51-page suit contends that removal would be unlawful on many other grounds — including violating laws protecting monuments dedicated to military veterans and history.

It also argues that the Lee and Beauregard monuments are protected because they are on the National Register of Historic Places; the Davis monument, because it was nominated for the register.

The suit also claims the city’s use of the nuisance ordinance was flawed and that the monuments do not fit its definition. The suit also contends the city cannot claim ownership to three of the monuments because the land under them was donated by the city to groups raising funds for the monuments between 1877 and 1911.

The plaintiffs are the Louisiana Landmarks Society, the Foundation for Historical Louisiana, the Monumental Task Committee Inc. and the Beauregard Camp No. 130, a New Orleans chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The post Suit challenges removal of Confederate monuments appeared first on WTOP.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A 96-year-old Pennsylvania doctor is hanging up his stethoscope after more than 60 years of practice.

Dr. Raymond Grandon tells Pennlive.com (http://bit.ly/22drRgb ) that at the end of this year he will close the Harrisburg practice where he has worked since 1950.

The internal medicine doctor says that technology has changed and his own health is not as reliable as it once was.

He leaves behind patients he’s had for decades. Seventy-nine-year-old John Ryan says he never considered getting a younger doctor in the 30 years he’s been a patient.

Grandon graduated from medical school at what is now Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University in 1945. He specializes in heart disease and organized the first televised heart surgery during the mid-1950s. He has also held state and national level leadership positions.

___

Information from: Pennlive.com, http://www.pennlive.com

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CHANDLER, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma judge has rejected a request from two energy companies to throw out a lawsuit by a woman who claims she was injured in an earthquake caused by the injection of wastewater.

Lincoln County District Judge Cynthia Ferrell Ashwood on Friday overruled the motions to dismiss that were filed by Oklahoma-based Spess Oil Co. and New Dominion LLC.

The lawsuit by Prague resident Sandra Ladra alleges the companies are liable because they operated wastewater disposal wells that triggered the largest earthquake in state history, a 5.6-magnitude temblor in 2011. Ladra claims the quake crumbled her fireplace, causing rocks to fall on her knee.

The companies wanted the lawsuit dismissed because they say Ladra waited too long to file it.

The post Judge refuses to toss lawsuit over earthquake damage appeared first on WTOP.

A shoplifting suspect wanted on prior assault and theft warrants was fatally shot by a Tennessee sheriff’s officer in a parking lot after hitting two lawmen with his car while trying to flee, authorities said.

The officers — a deputy and a reserve officer from the Knox County Sheriff’s Office — were treated for numerous nonlife threatening injuries, said Knoxville police spokesman Darrell DeBusk.

The suspect, Amos Frerichs, 32, of Vonore, Tennessee, died at the scene outside a sporting goods store in West Knoxville, police said. Police did not say which officer shot the suspect Friday night.

Police also did not say if Frerichs was armed during the confrontation, but DeBusk added: “Obviously he used his vehicle as a weapon.”

Media reports indicated the store was filled with shoppers when the chaotic scene unfolded.

Police did not immediately say what items Frerichs allegedly tried to shoplift.

Frerichs, who is white, had a lengthy criminal history that included multiple charges and arrests in Knox, Blount and Loudon counties in Tennessee, DuBusk said.

“We believe Frerichs fought with the deputies due to multiple outstanding warrants on file for his arrest, including two assault and two theft warrants in Knox County,” DuBusk said Saturday in a release.

Greg Dunn, who identified himself as Frerichs’ step-father, said the family did not want to comment. “Right now is not a good time,” he said in a phone interview Saturday. “We’re still trying to wrap our heads around it ourselves. We don’t have all the details.”

The officers, part of a shoplifting task force, spotted Frerichs at about 8:25 p.m. EST inside the sporting goods store, DeBusk said. Frerichs fled the store when approached by the lawmen, and the officers pursued him into the parking lot, where the suspect ignored commands to stop, he said.

The officers deployed their Tasers, but Frerichs continued to fight and resist arrest, DeBusk said.

Frerichs climbed into a vehicle and ran over both lawmen, knocking them to the ground, DeBusk said. One of the officers got back on his feet and opened fire as the suspect tried to hit him again with his vehicle, he said.

The lawman “discharged his weapon in defense of his life and the life of his partner,” DeBusk said.

The officers were identified as Deputy Evan Rogers and Reserve Officer Geziel DosSantos.

Rogers has been a deputy with the Knox County sheriff’s office since 2012 — the same year DosSantos became a reserve officer with the agency, DeBusk said.

The investigation is continuing, police said.

Knoxville police are investigating the shooting at the request of the Knox County sheriff, DeBusk said. The sheriff’s office is conducting an internal investigation, he said.

The post Shoplifting suspect shot after running over deputies appeared first on WTOP.

CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) — Just before Rhode Island voters chose their governor last year, a group in Ohio transferred $730,000 from secret donors to another Ohio organization that spent the money on television ads aimed at defeating Gina Raimondo, the Democrat who eventually won a tight race.

More than a year later, it’s still not clear where the money came from or why two Ohio-based groups would want to influence an election 600 miles away. The same groups also funneled anonymously donated cash for major political ad campaigns in Arkansas and Illinois.

Rhode Island’s disclosure laws are tougher than most, but this was a classic case of “dark money” keeping its secrets despite requirements that donors who pay for political ads reveal themselves to the public.

With the presidency at stake in 2016 as well as a dozen governor’s races, 34 U.S. Senate races, all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and scores of mayoral races, state legislative seats and ballot initiatives, this kind of unlimited anonymous spending is expected to grow, and handling it has become the biggest campaign finance challenge for states nationwide.

Some legislatures are trying to collect and publish the sources of these donations, but most states allow independent groups to spend unlimited cash on political ads with little transparency.

At least one state, Wisconsin, is moving away from disclosure: Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed laws Wednesday that blur the lines between the activity of candidate campaigns and groups that — in almost all other states — are supposed to act independently.

This could set back democracy if other states follow suit, said John Pudner, the founder of Take Back Our Republic, a group based in Auburn, Alabama that argues for tighter campaign finance laws from a conservative perspective.

“Disclosure is important and fair,” Pudner said. “If we want to get people away from their cynicism, let them know everything.”

Political funding has been shifting to independent groups from individual campaigns since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling, which removed caps on how much corporations, unions and interest groups can spend on advocacy communications that do not specifically call for the election or defeat of candidates.

The ruling explicitly encouraged transparency: “Prompt disclosure of expenditures can provide shareholders and citizens with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable for their positions and supporters,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote.

But the federal government doesn’t require such disclosure, and most states don’t either. Even in states that do have been stumped by webs of financing that obscure the sources.

Of $850 million spent on state-level political broadcast TV ads in 2014, $25 million — or about 4 percent — came from groups that do not have to disclose their donors, according to an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity of data from the advertising tracking firm Kantor Media/CMAG. That’s twice as much as 2010, when a similar number of state offices were on ballots. In the 2012 congressional and presidential elections, dark money topped $300 million.

If last year’s mayor’s race in Newark, New Jersey, is any guide, anonymous cash will be a far bigger factor in 2016 races at all levels, nationwide. Independent spending dwarfed what the candidates’ authorized committees spent, and while much of it was duly reported as coming from unions, much also came from advocacy groups not required to identify individual donors.

Most of this money pays for television commercials, but it also funds automated calls to voters, fliers through the mail, and advertising in newspapers, radio and the Internet.

Denise Roth Barber, managing director of the Helena, Montana-based National Institute on Money In State Politics, calls it a “shell game,” with donors giving anonymously to one group that contributes to other organizations so that the original sources never appear on campaign finance filings.

In one of the most high-profile cases, California’s political ethics commission and attorney general sued to force out-of-state groups to report who donated the $15 million they spent on the eve of the 2012 general election. Public records requests by the media then revealed that much of the money had come from wealthy Californians, and had been funneled through a network of conservative groups in failed attempts to defeat a tax-hike initiative backed by Gov. Jerry Brown and to pass an anti-union initiative.

Rhode Island has required groups running advocacy ads to disclose top donors since 2012. The Mid America Fund complied by reporting that the Republican Governors’ Association provided some of the money for the ads in 2014, and that most of it came from another Ohio group, the Government Integrity Fund. The RGA discloses its donors. The Government Integrity Fund does not.

The spending — about half what each major party candidate spent during the last two months before Election Day — flooded Rhode Island’s solitary media market in the final two weeks with ads accusing Raimondo of “gambling with our retirement.”

The Rhode Island Democratic Party told the state elections board that the group should have disclosed its original donors. The board’s executive director, Robert Kando, told The Associated Press that the issue will be considered in January at the request of Common Cause, which has pushed for more donor disclosure around the country.

The Government Integrity Fund’s president, Ohio lobbyist Thomas Norris, did not return messages from the AP.

State Sen. Juan M. Pichardo, a Democrat who sponsored Rhode Island’s disclosure law, told the AP that the group is “violating the intent and the law.”

“It’s deceiving,” Pichardo said. “People should know where the money is coming from, what sort of influence and the intent is from the organization and the donors.”

California, Montana, Maryland and a few other states have approved more requirements aimed at forcing independent groups to disclose their original funding sources, and several will get their first tests in 2016. But other states have quashed campaign finance overhauls.

New Mexico State Sen. Peter Wirth, a Democrat from Santa Fe, has twice seen the disclosure bills he sponsored win bipartisan Senate approval, only to die in the House.

“Groups on both sides kind of come out of the woodwork and are convinced that somehow this is going to change the rules and not work for them,” Wirth complained.

The result for New Mexico: No limits on coordination between independent groups and candidates, and a big jump in dark money. Common Cause said spending by nonprofits and independent groups — some with anonymous donors — jumped from $6 million in 2006 to $14 million in 2012, and is growing fast.

___

Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Jennifer McDermott in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.

___

Follow Geoff Mulvihill at twitter.com/geoffmulvihill. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/geoff-mulvihill .

The post ‘Dark money’ grows in politics even as states try to stop it appeared first on WTOP.

It sounds pretty simple — it’s Free Shipping Day today (now you know), so one might think a bunch of retailers are offering up complimentary shipping, for delivery by Christmas Eve. One would be right, because there are a lot of stores dangling that bait, though not all of them will just hand it over without a little song and dance first.

By “song and dance,” we actually mean, “some stores will make you enter a discount code to get free shipping today.” Others — including Target and Best Buy — might already be on the free shipping train for the holidays, so it isn’t really news. But it’s still free!

For an extensive list of all the 1,000+ or so merchants offering free shipping on in-stock, ready-to ship items, you can scroll through FreeShippingDay.com by category. Here are a few to get you started:

Walmart: free shipping, no minimum

Cabela’s: free shipping, no minimum with code 5FREESHIP

Bass Pro Shop: free shipping, no minimum

Belk’s: $10 off $50 purchase, free shipping

Target: Free shipping

Neiman Marcus: Free upgraded shipping with code NMRUSH

JCPenney: Free shipping with code SHIPDAY

Children’s Place: Free shipping

GameStop: Free shipping with code GAMES4U

Talbots: Free shipping on all orders

Harry & David: Free shipping on Christmas Gifts, use code GIFT

Aldo: Free shipping

Land’s End: Free shipping plus 50% off everything (excludes sale and clearance). Use code FREESHIPDAY

Lord & Taylor: Free second-day air shipping upgrade on all orders, select second-day air at checkout.

Lane Bryant: $20 off orders of $90+, free shipping on all orders using code FS9020LB

Art.com: 30% + free shipping on all orders, use code FREESHIPART15

Nordstrom: Free standard shipping on all orders

Bloomingdale’s: Free shipping on all in-stock merchandise

L.L. Bean: Free shipping on all orders

Was Uber trying to deliberately trick its drivers when it sent out a new driver agreement, or just trying to make its contract provisions clearer? While the company’s attorneys claim that the new driver contract wouldn’t actually preclude drivers still working for them from taking part in the California lawsuit or other lawsuits against them, the attorney for the affected drivers disagrees.

Uber, meanwhile, insists that the new agreement that employees must agree to is meant to be simpler and easier to understand than the original one, clearing up some issues that are the subject of criticism against the company and litigation. Now, the judge in the class action case has ordered Uber not to communicate with employees who are part of the lawsuit without having those communications first run past the drivers’ lawyer in the class action or the court itself.

What did the new agreement say? It asked drivers to waive their right to sue the company, forcing them into arbitration, and also demanded that drivers who want to continue with the service are barred from “participating in or recovering relief under any current or future” class action lawsuits against the company. While that does simplify the driver contract, it also caused panic among drivers who want to be part of the lawsuit.

The good news is that there is an opt-out provision, but the plaintiffs’ attorney says that her office received hundreds of calls from panicked drivers who wondered whether opting out would be enough to allow them to both drive for Uber and remain part of the lawsuit against the company. The class action seeks to have drivers treated as employees, which would include a minimum hourly rate and reimbursement of routine expenses like mileage and car insurance.

Judge Faults Uber for Confusing Drivers With New Contract [Bloomberg News]

We are rapidly running out of 2015 left to spend, and so the two houses of Congress have been racing to pass an omnibus spending bill that will keep the government funded and the lights on. Because that bill is a must-pass piece of legislation, all kinds of crap has been added, taken away, and snuck back in as we come down to the wire. Among the other bills that have been tacked on is a controversial piece of cybersecurity legislation that has privacy and consumer advocates worried all around.

The bill in question is the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (S. 754), called CISA. Wired noticed late Wednesday that CISA had snuck into the latest, and final, version of the bill.

MORE: WHAT IS CISA? HOW DOES IT WORK? WHAT DOES IT DO?

CISA is supposed to enhance cybersecurity, in the wake of all the hacks and breaches we’ve become used to living with, by promoting data-sharing. But that sharing concerns privacy advocates, because it’s functionally limitless… and also funnels straight to the NSA.

As Wired reports, the language that made it into the omnibus is actually even worse than the last version of CISA we saw clear the Senate earlier this year. The new edition allows for agencies like the FBI and the National Intelligence director to create online portals, where companies will hand information directly to law enforcement and intelligence instead of first going through Homeland Security. The omnibus version also changes the permission for sharing from “imminent threat” to “specific threat,” meaning that timeliness is no longer a factor and agencies can search or cherry pick data for any specific terms.

The EFF continues to oppose the language, as do other advocacy groups, but the omnibus easily passed in the House and then the Senate earlier today, and is headed to President Obama’s desk as quickly as possible, where it will be signed and become law.

Congress Slips CISA Into a Budget Bill That’s Sure to Pass [Wired]

If you’ve been shunning social media and refusing to speak to anyone who’s already seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens, you aren’t alone. But you also know how difficult it can be for anyone to keep their traps shut around the water cooler (seriously, I find your lack of restraint disturbing). That’s why the coolest company president we’ve ever heard of made sure to step in and prevent life-ruining chatter before it starts.

Yesterday, workers at Pittsburgh-area moving company Starck Van Lines received a very important memo about workplace policy from the president, warning anyone with early tickets to the movie to zip those lips or face the consequences, reports Jerry Barca at Forbes.com.

The whole thing is pretty great:

From: Steve Starck
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2015 1:29 PM
To: Starck Group
Subject: Star Wars No Disclosure Policy (SWNDP)

To All:

It has come to my attention that several employees who shall remain nameless have tickets to early showings of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the next couple of days. Please note that discussing this movie prior to receiving the “all clear” from management on the property of Starck Van Lines is strictly prohibited and will result in disciplinary action up to and including immediate termination. Any communication, including written, electronic, or verbal, to management of the company, specifically myself, will also be considered a violation of the Star Wars No Disclosure Policy (SWNDP).

May the Force Be With You,

Steve Starck
Jedi Master
Force Awakens

Barca notes that Starck won’t actually give anyone the boot, he just doesn’t want a few chatty folks to ruin the fun for everyone else.

“Everyone is excited. I didn’t want that excitement to end up spoiling the experience for anyone else,” he told Forbes.

One Company’s Workplace Rules For Seeing ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ [Forbes.com]

A day after he was arrested as part of a securities-fraud investigation, Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli is no longer the company’s head executive.

Though you may know Shkreli best as the guy whose company bought the rights to a generic drug used to save lives and dramatically increased the price from $13.50 to $750 per pill overnight, a boost of more than 5400%, he’s now facing charges related to his time running a hedge fund and working at a company called Retrophin.

Today, Turing announced that Shkreli has resigned, and that company chairman Ron Tilles will fill the role of interim chief, reports the New York Times, noting that Tilles was a founder and worked in business development at Retrophin.

One Turing investor who spoke to the NYT said Shkreli’s arrest and indictment made it untenable for him to stay at the helm.

“I don’t see how he can run this company anymore,’’ said the anonymous investor. “There’s no way it doesn’t hurt the company.’’

Shkreli has been charged with illegally taking stock from Retrophin, a company he started in 2011, and using it to pay off debts from unrelated business dealings. He pleaded not guilty to the charges of securities fraud yesterday and was released on $5 million bail.

Martin Shkreli Resigns From Turing Pharmaceuticals [New York Times]

Remember the ex-lottery worker from Iowa who was convicted of rigging a state jackpot so he’d win $14 million? Authorities aren’t quite sure his insider scheme was limited to his home state, and have expanded the investigation into other parts of the U.S.

The former security director of the Des Moines-based Multi-State Lottery Association was convicted in July after prosecutors said he installed a secret software program in the system’s computers that would pick winning numbers. He then enlisted a friend in Texas to buy a ticket with those numbers to skirt state law, which says lottery employees can’t play the lottery.

Authorities accused him of tampering with drawings in four states over six years, the Associated Press, and investigators are now expanding the inquiry nationwide to see if he could’ve cast an even larger net.

Thus far, state lotteries in Colorado, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma have confirmed they paid jackpots worth $8 million to the man’s associates, including his old college roommate. To make sure they haven’t missed something, investigators are going over payouts in the 37 other states and U.S. territories that used random-number generators from the MSLA.

“It would be pretty naive to believe they are the only four” jackpots involved, said now-retired Iowa deputy attorney general Thomas H. Miller, who oversaw the investigation for 2 ½ years. “If you find one cockroach, you have to assume there are 100 more you haven’t found.”

Jackpot-fixing investigation expands to more state lotteries [Associated Press]

We’ve long emphasized the importance of not pre-rinsing dishes for your newer dishwasher, since modern appliances now assume that you don’t. What else has changed since you first learned how to line up plates facing the water jets and place knives facing down in the basket? A surprising amount, actually.

The dishwasher experts down the hall from us at Consumer Reports know how to load the appliances: for them, testing dishwashers means scientific rigor and careful loading. Here are some highlights from their recommendations for modern appliances. You can find the rest of their dishwasher loading advice over at their site. They also have suggestions about the best detergents to use when you’re cleaning up after a large holiday gathering.

• Read the manual for tips specific to your dishwasher’s model. Really, this is important, since the setup of racks and location of water jets differs across brands and models.
• Glasses go on the prongs, which tilts them at an angle and keeps water out of many glasses with concave bases.
• Scrape big food chunks off, but don’t pre-rinse.
• Instead of pre-rinsing, run the water in your kitchen faucet until it becomes hot before starting the dishwasher, to make sure the water doesn’t start flowing in while cold.
• Put the heaviest and most soiled items on the bottom rack, keeping them in range of the spray arm. Arrange pots, pans, and plates however your dishwasher’s manual tells you to. If you’re a renter and don’t have the manual, you may be able to find it on the manufacturer’s website, or from a third party somewhere online.

New Rules for Loading New Dishwashers [Consumer Reports]
Best Dishwasher Detergents for Big Dinners [Consumer Reports]

PREVIOUSLY: Consumer Reports Battles The Prerinsing Menace

LAKE RIDGE, Va. (AP) — The Cub Scouts in Pack 295 knew all about the two-dimensional world of the video game Minecraft, but they had never “pulled the puppy by the tail.” Some of them had never even held a yo-yo in their hands until Dec. 12, when Dick Stohr opened his box to reveal 48 brightly colored orbs.

“These are cool!” the kids gushed, reaching in. “Do they glow in the dark?” ”Can we keep ‘em?”

The scouts had come to sing carols at Westminster at Lake Ridge, a continuing-care retirement community in Prince William County. Afterward, they got a session with Stohr, a retired Navy captain who spent the past 20 years as a professional yo-yo master and has coached the Northern Virginia Senior Olympics yo-yoists and run their contests.

Before jumping into fancy tricks, Stohr, a tall, strapping 76-year-old with a brush of silver hair, started with safety tips. “Yo-yos come with a string. You’ve got something on the end of the string that can hurt someone.” He showed them how to form a slipknot and manipulate the toy, “using the middle finger, on the hand you write with.”

There was a time when practically every boy in America would have owned or at least had some idea of how to use a yo-yo. When Stohr was growing up in Cincinnati in the 1940s, demonstrators from the Duncan yo-yo company would come to town and leave boxes of the toys on the delicatessen counter for 25 cents each (or 35 cents for those with fake diamonds). Kids would practice their tricks, and when the demonstrators returned they would compete for a grand prize — a Schwinn bicycle — and Stohr was an avid participant.

But then yo-yos disappeared from his life.

“I put it away in high school and college because it wasn’t cool,” he said, sitting in the cottage he shares with his wife in front of a display case full of medals, trophies, books and an array of yo-yos collected over the years. “In 10 years of active duty, I never saw a yo-yo. But my mother had rat-holed a yo-yo from the old days, and every time I came home on leave, this yo-yo would appear and she’d say, ‘Do some tricks.’ And before she died, she made sure I got it.”

He held that one now — a wooden Duncan, painted salmon pink. He has restrung it a couple of times because the cotton strings on fixed-axle yo-yos wear out.

Stohr married and had two sons, retired from active duty, and worked as a Defense Department contractor in Northern Virginia. It wasn’t until the 1990s, after reading a Washington Post magazine story about the man who started the Yo-Yo Times, a newsletter for enthusiasts, that he became serious again. He began working with an Alexandria elementary school that had a yo-yo club, and in 1996, he quit his day job to start a business called “That YO-YO Guy,” bringing the yo-yo gospel to elementary schools and libraries across the Mid-Atlantic.

The ideal time to learn is around fourth, fifth and sixth grade, he said — old enough to master the skills but young enough so that the kids are not inhibited from trying something new in front of their friends. The focus required can help kids who have problems concentrating in school, he said, and the concepts can be educational.

“I used a whole bunch of kids’ toys to teach a science class,” Stohr said. “Gyroscopic stability, rotational inertia, distribution of mass, friction.”

Yo-yo mastery can also confer cachet. “If they learn to yo-yo in elementary school, they take it to high school as a cool thing they can do that no one else does. They take it to college as a stress reliever. And then they take it to clubs as a chick magnet.”

The yo-yos in Stohr’s cabinet tell stories. One set a record for the longest “sleep” time; one was made for him by a friend out of rare cocobolo wood. An oversize Neiman Marcus leather yo-yo was made in France; a slim iron one advertises Billiken shoes; a pair of tiny ones plated with 24-karat gold were given out at a meeting of Duncan pros.

A basic yo-yo like the ones Stohr uses for demonstrations costs $7. But fancy ones can cost more than $100; the top price is $450, for a Duncan yo-yo with individually dynamically balanced titanium halves, powder-coated, with a concave ceramic ball-bearing. “It’s a limited run of about 100, and they sell out every year.”

Stohr retired from the yo-yo business earlier this year; he is now reinventing himself again as a wood-turner, using a lathe to make wooden pens, bottle stoppers, honey drippers, purse mirrors and spurtles — an Irish oatmeal stirrer.

But he is still ready to share his tricks when called upon, and on Saturday, the kids, including a few girls, looked on, wide-eyed.

He walked the dog: the yo-yo dropped from his hand and rolled along the carpet obediently, like a pet on a leash. He rocked the baby: zip, zip, zip — the string formed a gossamer structure and the yo-yo swung from it like a cradle. Around the world? For that one, it shot out in front of him, arced up behind him and rolled back to its starting point.

And, of course, the impressive pulling the puppy by the tail: a way to get the yo-yo to wind itself on the ground.

“This is really cool,” said Emma Berliner, 10, whose younger brother Kyle is a member of the troop. “I didn’t really know that you could do tricks like this at home.”

What about taking the tricks to school? “That would be epic,” said Christopher Kirby, 7, a troop member.

Although Stohr has tried to drum up interest in a yo-yo team in the Virginia and National Senior Olympics, he has had little response. “One of the issues when you get into the retired community is many fingers are not capable of the dexterity required, or it hurts with the string,” he said.

But on Dec. 12, he ended up with a couple of older converts: the two scoutmasters, who got their own yo-yos. When Robert Lewis got home, he and his son Raymond, 9, practiced the new skill together.

“There’s not a lot of kids these kids’ ages that really get hands-on stuff anymore,” Lewis said. “It’s all computers and video-game consoles.”

But now, he said, “He wants to practice rather than run down to the console. The first thing when we got home, he said, ‘I can do this, I can do that.’?”

___

Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com

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LANHAM, Md. (AP) — Two male volunteer firefighters have been charged with assault after two female firefighters from another Maryland station said the men tried to force them out of a home as they battled a blaze.

Multiple news organizations report that charging documents say the two female career firefighters from the Landover Hills station were first on the scene the night of Dec. 8 and were running a hose inside the house when another crew arrived. The women say Christopher Kelly and Jeff Miller of the West Lanham Hills Volunteer Fire Department blocked them and shoved them off the porch.

Miller and Kelly have been charged with second-degree assault and obstructing firefighters. Neither responded to requests for comment.

Fire department spokesman Mark Brady said firefighters weren’t hindered from putting out the fire.

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VERONA, Va. (AP) — With the nation already on edge after the attacks in California, a teacher’s lesson on Islam in Virginia’s Bible Belt sparked an angry meeting of outraged parents that mushroomed into a national denunciation of the educator in the form of thousands of angry emails and social media postings.

As a result, an estimated 10,000 students in Augusta County’s public school system got a one-day jump on the Christmas break as a precaution. The cancellation of classes Friday also wiped out a holiday concert and weekend sporting events.

Some of the tens of thousands of emails and Facebook posts “posed a risk of harm to school officials” and threatened protests, Superintendent Eric Bond said in a message to parents and employees Friday.

Augusta County Sheriff Randall D. Fisher said the emails slowly began arriving, but picked up in volume and vitriol after a national conservative radio personality discussed the lesson.

“They started becoming very threatening, very profane,” he said. “There was a lot of hate being spewed in these emails.”

Some, Fisher said, had images of beheadings.

Fisher said security has been assigned to Bond, the school’s principal and teacher Cheryl LaPorte, who created the lesson. LaPorte is worried about herself and her family, Fisher said.

The school closings came one week after the teacher gave Riverheads High School students an assignment that involved practicing calligraphy and writing a statement in Arabic — the Shahada, a profession of faith recited in Muslims’ daily prayers.

The statement translated to: “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” The teacher’s lesson was drawn from instructional material that also includes Judeo-Christian assignments.

School officials said the aim of the lesson was to illustrate the complexity of the written Arabic language, not to promote any religious system, and a different sample text will be used in the future.

But some in this deeply religious area in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains said the lesson angered them, especially because of what they said were efforts to marginalize Christianity in the schools.

Jackie Duff, a Baptist, said LaPorte should have been mindful of the slayings of 14 in San Bernardino this month by a couple who had become radicalized.

“I think their wanting to take prayer away from school, their wanting to take God out of textbooks, that was really like a slap in the face,” Duff said over dinner at a fast-food restaurant outside Staunton.

She did not agree, however, with the hateful emails directed at LaPorte.

“I don’t think that they should be attacking her in that manner,” Duff said.

At a forum Tuesday, one parent said the assignment promoted a false religious doctrine, while other parents expressed outrage. Some demanded the teacher be fired.

LaPorte declined comment. A Facebook group supporting her had more than 2,000 members Friday. Many in this Shenandoah Valley community defended LaPorte and the school district.

“I think people are making a big deal about it for no reason at all,” said 18-year-old Hannah Carey, a former student of LaPorte who lives in Waynesboro. “We learned about all different cultures, and she was a great teacher.”

___

Associated Press reporters Alanna Durkin and Alan Suderman contributed to this report from Richmond.

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WASHINGTON — Several high schools in Virginia are threatening a boycott of the upcoming state debate championship after controversial comments from a university president.

Without naming names, The Virginia High School League said calls to sit out the event — to be held in April at Liberty University — came after School President Jerry Falwell Jr. encouraged students to obtain a concealed weapons permit and carry their guns while on campus. The comments from Falwell came after the attacks in Paris, France and San Bernardino, California.

Ken Tilley, VHSL’s executive director, said some of the members expressed concerns about comments made by Falwell about Muslims made during a convocation.

“If more good people had concealed carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they go out there and kill us,” Falwell said Dec. 4.

After the comment sparked outrage by some, Falwell told WDBJ TV he was referring to “specific Muslims, not all Muslims.”

Speaking of the widespread call from schools to protest the comments, Tilley said in a statement that VHSL is listening to the concerns of members.

“VHSL staff and leadership take those concerns seriously and, together with appropriate law enforcement officials, will initiate a process of evaluating the safety of students when participating in VHSL events in light of these controversial comments,” he said.

Tilley said the organization respects the rights of Falwell to engage in public speech and will not take retaliatory action against the University because of the comments. Tilley also said it is the constitutional right of its members protest in a peaceful manner.

Speaking to the Roanoke Times, Tilley said he is not surprised that people are taking shots at Falwell.

“There really aren’t that many schools that have voiced many concerns, probably two or three, primarily [from] Northern Virginia,” Tilley told the paper. “A couple of people are just kind of piling on, I think.”

The Liberty University campus serves as a venue for VHSL athletic and academic events.

In the statement, Tilley said the VHSL wants students to participate in an environment free from harassment, personal threat, or physical or mental harm.

“If these essential freedoms cannot be guaranteed to VHSL participants, VHSL will re-evaluate the propriety of using Liberty University facilities for its championship events in the future,” he said in the statement.

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Washington Post

What $30 million gets you in Georgetown: An abandoned heating plant and the ... Washington Post Just south of the boutiques lining M Street in Georgetown sits one of the last untouched vestiges of the neighborhood's industrial past, the West Heating Plant. When the plant opened in 1948, clad in yellow-brown brick, it burned enough coal to pump a ...

DC's proposed $1000 speeding ticket, explained Washington Post If you're flying down a D.C. street at 25 mph or more above the posted speed limit and get caught, you could soon face a $1,000 fine. The high financial penalty– which has been widely criticized by drivers and their advocates– is among several new ... and more »

Washington Post

Meet some of the newest babies born this year at the National Zoo and ... Washington Post The cheetah cub looked supremely irritated as the animal biologist put it down on a soft black cloth to have its portrait taken. It recoiled, hissed and bared its teeth at Washington Post photographer Matt McClain, who had prepared the outdoor backdrop ... Photos and Videos of the National Zoo's Panda Cub Making a Visit to the VetSmithsonian all 110 news articles »

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe released his proposed $109 billion two-year spending plan Thursday. Here are some notable items on his wish list:

— Millions in new spending for economic development, which has been the centerpiece of McAuliffe’s administration. That includes an additional $2 million for trade missions and $300,000 for opening up two new offices in Southeast Asia and the Middle East or North Africa to promote Virginia agriculture.

— $50,000 on a police tip line where citizens can call in to report violations of gun laws. The Democratic governor has been an ardent supporter of gun-control legislation, which the GOP-led General Assembly has blocked.

— $1.3 million to increase Internet bandwidth at Capitol Square, where the governor and state lawmakers work.

— Waive the $100 filing fee for businesses started by students enrolled in a public state university.

— $134,000 to help the town of Farmville host the 2016 vice presidential debates, which are scheduled to be held at Longwood University.

—$75,000 for the state to hire a nonprofit vendor that helps ex-offenders on probation get their drivers’ privileges restored.

—$1.2 million in new spending for the Governor’s Motion Picture Opportunity Fund, which provides grants to filmmakers working in Virginia.

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DOVER, Del. (AP) — Delaware has officially decriminalized possession by adults of small amounts of marijuana.

A decriminalization law signed in June by Gov. Jack Markell took effect early Friday morning.

The law makes possession by an adult of a “personal use” quantity of marijuana, defined as an ounce or less, a civil offense punishable by a fine of $100. Simple possession remains a criminal offense for anyone under 18. For those between the ages of 18 and 21, a first offense will result in a civil penalty, but any subsequent offense would be a misdemeanor.

Smoking pot in a moving vehicle, in public areas, or outdoors on private property within 10 feet of a street, sidewalk or other area accessible to the public also would be a misdemeanor.

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STAUNTON, Va. (AP) — A rural Virginia school district canceled classes and a holiday concert after being flooded with angry messages over a school calligraphy lesson that involved copying a Muslim statement of faith in Arabic.

Some of the tens of thousands of emails and Facebook posts “posed a risk of harm to school officials” and threatened protests, Superintendent Eric Bond said in a message to parents and employees on Friday.

Augusta County Sheriff Randall D. Fisher said security has been assigned to Bond, the teacher who created the lesson and the school’s principal. The teacher is worried about herself and her family, Fisher said.

Anger over the lesson has escalated since a teacher at Riverheads High School gave students an assignment that involved practicing calligraphy and writing a statement in Arabic — the Shahada, a profession of faith recited in Muslims’ daily prayers. It is omnipresent in religious imagery, often appearing on the walls of mosques and in religious art, but also on the flags of groups such as the Islamic State.

The statement translated to: “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” The teacher’s lesson was drawn from instructional material that also includes Judeo-Christian assignments.

At a forum Tuesday, one parent said the assignment promoted a false religious doctrine, while other parents expressed outrage. Some demanded the teacher be fired.

Kimberly Herndon, who organized that event, said she may take the issue to court, The News Leader newspaper reported.

“She gave up the Lord’s time,” Herndon said of LaPorte on Tuesday, according to the newspaper. “She gave it up and gave it to Muhammad.”

The teacher, Cheryl LaPorte, declined comment. A Facebook group supporting LaPorte had more than 2,000 members on Friday. Many commenters defended LaPorte and the school district.

“I think people are making a big deal about it for no reason at all,” said 18-year-old Hannah Carey, a former student of LaPorte who lives in Waynesboro. “We learned about all different cultures, and she was a great teacher.”

School officials said the aim of the lesson was to illustrate the complexity of the written Arabic language, not to promote any religious system.

“Although students will continue to learn about world religions as required by the state Board of Education and the Commonwealth’s Standards of Learning, a different, non-religious sample of Arabic calligraphy will be used in the future,” Doug Shifflett, Augusta County’s assistant superintendent for administration, said in a statement.

Virginia’s Standards of Learning suggest students learn about Islamic art, architecture and calligraphy and create an arabesque design or drawing during their study of the cultural characteristics of the Middle East, Michelle Stoll, a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Education, said in a statement. But the guidelines don’t recommend that the students copy a particular teaching or verse, Stoll said.

“The calligraphy assignment at Riverheads High appears to have been taken from a locally selected or developed resource,” she said.

Advocacy groups have said a spate of anti-Muslim incidents across the U.S. recently can be linked to the mass shooting in California and inflammatory rhetoric from politicians.

In Virginia, Fairfax County authorities charged a man last month with leaving a fake bomb at a mosque. And in Spotsylvania County, a sheriff’s deputy had to halt a community meeting on a proposed mosque after a speaker was interrupted several times by residents who denounced Islam.

The News Virginian said Fishersville resident Tim Cooper called the newspaper’s office to ask why the Wilson Memorial High School holiday concert was canceled.

“It looks like fear wins again,” Cooper told the newspaper.

____

Associated Press reporters Alanna Durkin and Alan Suderman contributed to this report from Richmond.

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Washington Post

Abuse in Afghanistan, personal emails at the Pentagon, and Iraq rejects more help Washington Post ABUSE IN AFGHANISTAN. The New York Times published a report Thursday on an investigation showing that Navy SEALs abused detainees in Afghanistan, doing everything from dropping heavy stones on their chests to improvising waterboarding ... Navy SEALs, a Beating Death and Claims of a Cover-UpNew York Times all 25 news articles »