Britney Spears news

• China’s Wanda prepares for battle with ‘old brand’ Disney

  24-05-2016 23:56 via salon.com
  
  BEIJING (AP) — Mickey Mouse has a new and deep-pocketed challenger: China’s shopping mall king.
  The developer that bought Hollywood studio Legendary Entertainment is preparing to fight Disney to lead China’s — and possibly the world’s — theme park industry.
  Wanda Group and its billionaire founder, Wang Jianlin, are inaugurating a sprawling entertainment complex Saturday in China’s southeast three weeks before the June 16 opening of Disney’s first m
  
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• Feds say ex-policeman ran $2,000-an-hour prostitution ring

  24-05-2016 23:48 via salon.com
  NEW YORK (AP) — A former police officer who retired on a disability pension ran a prostitution ring that charged customers as much as $2,000 an hour, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
  Michael Rizzi was arrested at his Brooklyn home on charges of conspiring to launder the proceeds of the multimillion-dollar operation. He’s accused of running a prostitution ring called BJM/Manhattan Stakes and Entertainment between 2012 and 2016.
  Federal prosecutors say the company advertised on more t
  
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• The Latest: Lawyer says ex-policeman ran legitimate business

  24-05-2016 23:43 via salon.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on a former New York City police officer accused of running a prostitution ring (all times local):
  9:40 p.m.
  A defense lawyer says a retired New York City police officer accused of running a prostitution ring that charged customers as much as $2,000 an hour ran a legitimate business.
  The New York Times says attorney Javier Solano told reporters outside a federal courtroom Tuesday there was no sex involved and the business provided only companionship.
  Former polic
  
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• Group of 7 seeks way forward for aging, faltering economies

  24-05-2016 23:37 via salon.com
  
  TOKYO (AP) — Leaders of the Group of Seven rich nations will undoubtedly voice unity over fighting terrorism, pandemics and tax evasion at their summit in Japan this week. Finding a consensus on how to breathe life into their sluggish economies is proving more elusive.
  Aging workforces, sagging productivity and lingering damage from the 2008 financial crisis are complicating efforts to spur growth while the effects of the slowdown in China and the other big developing economies ripple acro
  
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• Actress Melissa Gilbert drops run for Congress in Michigan

  24-05-2016 23:26 via salon.com
  HOWELL, Mich. (AP) — Former “Little House on the Prairie” star Melissa Gilbert is dropping her run for Congress in Michigan.
  Gilbert was the only Democrat challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop in the 8th District. But in a statement Tuesday, she says health problems are forcing her out of the race.
  The 52-year-old Gilbert says she’s following the advice of doctors. She says head and neck injuries from two accidents in 2012 “have only gotten worse.”
  In a
  
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• Guzan pushes struggles aside, puts focus on starting for US

  24-05-2016 23:12 via salon.com
  
  DALLAS (AP) — Brad Guzan wants to put a rough Premier League season behind him and take a break from uncertainty over his club future.
  U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann gave the Aston Villa goalkeeper plenty to think about in the next month, picking him to play in the Copa America over Tim Howard, the starter during the past two World Cups.
  “My sole focus is on the summer, on this team, helping this team,” Guzan said Tuesday, a day before a match against Ecuador in the second of thre
  
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• Elephant rescued from Swaziland delivers calf at Dallas Zoo

  24-05-2016 23:11 via salon.com
  DALLAS (AP) — An elephant rescued from the southern African nation of Swaziland has given birth to a baby at the Dallas Zoo.
  The zoo issued a statement Tuesday announcing the May 14 birth of the male calf. The calf doesn’t yet have a name. He weighs 175 pounds, stands about 3 feet tall and has a trunk just over a foot long.
  The zoo says the infant’s weight at birth was at the low end of the 150-to-300-pound range expected for healthy newborn African elephant. That was blamed on
  
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• Oregon mayor places police chief on leave after shooting

  24-05-2016 22:59 via salon.com
  PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Portland mayor has placed Portland Police Chief Larry O’Dea on paid administrative leave after information emerged that the chief may have misled an investigator about his involvement in an accidental shooting while hunting in eastern Oregon.
  The Oregonian/OregonLive reports (http://goo.gl/M43aGC ) Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward told them O’Dea indicated to a deputy responding to the scene that his friend accidentally shot himself April 21 during a hu
  
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• Greece gets new funds approved by eurozone creditors

  24-05-2016 22:58 via salon.com
  
  BRUSSELS (AP) — Greece has won a new batch of bailout funds from international creditors following agreement among the 19 eurozone finance ministers.
  After the ministers approved Greece’s recent reform efforts, they decided early Wednesday to disburse 10.3 billion euros ($11.5 billion) in funds to see Athens through the next months.
  The first disbursement of 7.5 billion euros ($8.4 billion) could already begin by the middle of next month with other tranches spread over the summer, pe
  
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• Of course Ali G is a figure now in the election: Sacha Baron Cohen calls BS on Trump’s take on 2003 interview

  24-05-2016 22:36 via salon.com
  
  In 2003, Donald Trump appeared on “Da Ali G Show,” starring Sacha Baron Cohen, who would later become internationally super-famous for “Borat.”
  The character Ali G was, to use an early-2000s phrase, a wangster (white + gangster) parody. Cohen would conduct real interviews in character.
  During Trump’s particular appearance Cohen-as-Ali G “Shark Tank”-style pitched the now-presumptive GOP nominee an invention called the “Ice Cream Glove.”
  
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• Sorry to spoil your “Game of Thrones” revenge-spoiler fantasy, but it doesn’t work

  24-05-2016 22:31 via salon.com
  
  Maisie Williams in "Game of Thrones" (Credit: HBO)
  I have some bad news for the woman who’s taken it upon herself to torture her ex boyfriend by consistently spoiling “Game of Thrones” each week: it’s not working. Despite her gusto and creativity — if you’re unfamiliar with the story, she unblocks him from various social media platforms each week for just long enough to reveal spoilers, or texts him directly using someone else’s phone — science say
  
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• Oklahoma House committee kills transgender bathroom measure

  24-05-2016 22:30 via salon.com
  OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma House committee has killed legislation that would require schools to provide separate restrooms for students who object to sharing them with transgender students.
  The bill died Tuesday when lawmakers deadlocked 10-10 after committee members expressed concern about the cost schools would incur in providing separate bathrooms.
  The measure was filed last week in opposition to the federal government’s guidance on the use of bathrooms and locker rooms by t
  
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• James Hinchcliffe making new memories in Indianapolis

  24-05-2016 22:25 via salon.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — In his return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this May, James Hinchcliffe didn’t find himself reliving the terror and agony of the crash there that nearly killed him.
  “My last memory of the Speedway last year was a great one: I was driving around, my car felt good, and life was peachy,” Hinchcliffe said Tuesday.
  He doesn’t remember anything about the accident at practice last May 18 or the immediate aftermath. Nothing about the broken piece of suspens
  
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• Father sought after boy killed in mother’s arms in St. Louis

  24-05-2016 22:24 via salon.com
  ST. LOUIS (AP) — An 8-month-old boy was shot to death in his mother’s arms Tuesday, and the suspected shooter — the boy’s father — remained at large, St. Louis police said.
  The deadly shooting occurred shortly after 1 p.m. by an Interstate 270 exit ramp near the city limits, St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said. The baby, Reign Crockett, was shot once as his mother attempted to escape a slowing car in which two other young sons were passengers, Dotson said. Police
  
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• Craig Sager to receive Jimmy V Perseverance Award at ESPYS

  24-05-2016 22:12 via salon.com
  
  TNT sideline reporter Craig Sager will receive the Jimmy V Perseverance Award at the ESPYS on July 13.
  Sager has continued to work as he receives treatment for leukemia. The award is named for the late North Carolina State coach and broadcaster Jim Valvano, who gave his famous “Don’t ever give up” speech at the 1993 ESPYS while battling cancer.
  Sager and Valvano became close when they worked together on basketball at the 1991 Pan American Games in Cuba. Sager keeps a copy of th
  
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• Rights group urges halt of arms deals to Egypt over abuses

  24-05-2016 22:04 via salon.com
  
  CAIRO (AP) — Britain-based Amnesty International is calling on European Union member states to halt arms sales to Egypt over human rights abuses it characterizes as “fueling killings and torture.”
  In a Wednesday statement, it said that almost half of EU member states have flouted a suspension on arms transfers to Egypt, “risking complicity in a wave of unlawful killings, enforced disappearances and torture.”
  “Internal repression by the security forces remains
  
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• Lawyer: 48-year fugitive hospitalized for kidney failure

  24-05-2016 22:04 via salon.com
  
  HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut man who spent 48 years on the lam after escaping from prison has been hospitalized.
  An attorney told WTIC-TV (http://bit.ly/1UccXSW) on Tuesday that 71-year-old Robert Stackowitz is in a hospital for kidney failure.
  Stackowitz was arrested May 9 at his home in rural Sherman after his Social Security application turned up a fugitive warrant. He escaped in 1968 from a prison work camp in Carrolton, Georgia.
  Attorney Norman Pattis said at the time of Stack
  
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• Probe: Missteps factor in 2 Kansas City firefighters’ deaths

  24-05-2016 22:02 via salon.com
  KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City Fire Department investigation attributes the deaths of two firefighters at least partly on the department’s culture of aggressive fire suppression.
  The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/1s8gF6X ) reports that an internal report released Tuesday also cites a loose management style as possible factors in the October 2015 deaths of firefighter John Mesh and apparatus operator Larry Leggio.
  The 71-page report says the firefighters were in an alley to p
  
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• Woman, child dead after Amtrak train hits SUV in California

  24-05-2016 21:54 via salon.com
  
  SAN LEANDRO, Calif. (AP) — Fire officials say a woman and child are dead after an Amtrak train collided with an SUV in the San Francisco Bay Area.
  Television news footage of the crash scene in San Leandro showed the front of the SUV crushed beneath the train. Alameda County fire spokeswoman Aisha Knowles says firefighters responded to the scene around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday for a report of a train crash with people trapped in the vehicle.
  They confirmed the two deaths when they arrived at the s
  
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• NFL doctor sends strong response to House report

  24-05-2016 18:56 via salon.com
  
  SEATTLE (AP) — The co-chairman of the NFL’s head, neck and spine committee has sent a letter to Congress stressing that he was not contacted during a government study on the link between football and brain disease.
  That study concluded that NFL officials improperly sought to influence the findings.
  Dr. Richard Ellenbogen wrote Tuesday to New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone to note that claims he and others tried to influence a National Institutes of Health grant selection are inaccurate. E
  
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• The Latest: Ohio to appeal judge’s ruling on early voting

  24-05-2016 18:55 via salon.com
  
  COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Latest on a federal judge’s decision related to voting laws in Ohio (all times local):
  4:50 p.m.
  A spokesman for Ohio’s attorney general says the state will appeal a judge’s ruling that a law trimming early voting is unconstitutional.
  At issue in the case is a series of Republican-backed voting changes that included the elimination of a week of early voting. During the so-called golden week, Ohioans could register to vote and cast a ballot.
  The s
  
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• Official snared in bribery case dies in suspicious crash

  24-05-2016 18:55 via salon.com
  
  OPA-LOCKA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida city official died in a suspicious single-vehicle crash a day before he was scheduled to surrender in a criminal corruption case involving thousands of dollars in bribes, authorities said Tuesday.
  Opa-locka city commissioner Terence Pinder, 43, died Tuesday after the city-owned vehicle he was driving crashed into a large banyan tree, officials said. The tree is located in an undeveloped part of Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport, far from any major road and
  
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• Police investigate video of sex between girl and 25 boys

  24-05-2016 18:44 via salon.com
  
  Florida sheriff’s detectives are investigating a cellphone video purportedly showing a 15-year-old girl having sex with as many as two dozen boys in a public high school bathroom after school.
  A school security camera captured 25 boys entering the restroom on May 17, news media outlets reported.
  Lee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Schall said Tuesday that authorities originally decided not to pursue any criminal charges.But Schall said when a cellphone video surfaced and was s
  
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• Detroit man cleared of attempted murder in shooting of judge

  24-05-2016 18:44 via salon.com
  DETROIT (AP) — A jury on Tuesday acquitted a man of attempted murder in the shooting of a federal judge outside his Detroit home.
  U.S. District Judge Terrence Berg testified during the trial but couldn’t positively identify Kevin Andre Smith Jr. as the person who shot him in the leg when he refused to let him in his house in March 2015.
  Smith, 23, was convicted of charges related to other robberies in Detroit. Berg wasn’t in the Wayne County courtroom for the verdict but his wi
  
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• Dylan Fest honors a still living legend

  24-05-2016 18:43 via salon.com
  
  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — In a year when the musical world is still mourning icons Prince, David Bowie and Merle Haggard, musicians of all genres and generations have been celebrating a still active legend — Bob Dylan — in an annual all-star concert series for 15 years.
  This year’s two-day Dylan Fest, held in Nashville, Tennessee, includes classics like “Like a Rolling Stone,” ”Tangled Up in Blue” and “All Along the Watchtower,” and perfo
  
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• After delay, solar plane will fly from Ohio to Pennsylvania

  24-05-2016 18:41 via salon.com
  
  DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — After a delay to check for possible damage, a solar-powered airplane will take off Wednesday for its planned flight from Ohio to Pennsylvania.
  The Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 is on an around-the-world journey. It was scheduled to fly from Dayton to the Lehigh Valley Tuesday morning, but project officials scrapped those plans late Monday.
  Officials say the plane does not appear to have sustained any damage, but they plan to examine it more closely over the next few days.
  
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• Pirates pitcher Vogelsong dealing multiple facial fractures

  24-05-2016 18:25 via salon.com
  
  PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Ryan Vogelsong remains hospitalized with swelling and multiple facial fractures, a day after the veteran took a 92 mph fastball to the head from Colorado pitcher Jordan Lyles.
  Pirates trainer Todd Tomczyk said Tuesday that Vogelsong is “in good spirits” but added that doctors won’t be able to determine the extent of the damage around Vogelsong’s left eye until the swelling subsides.
  Vogelsong was batting with the bases lo
  
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• Column: McGregor vs Mayweather, a freak show with precedent

  24-05-2016 18:22 via salon.com
  
  The freak show that Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Connor McGregor are talking about will almost surely never happen, and for that anyone who would even consider opening their wallet to pay for it should be grateful.
  It’s strictly fodder for online babble, no matter how much either man tries to convince people otherwise.
  Both seem desperate for attention in floating the idea of a match between a boxer and an MMA fighter. Both are also quite skilled in manipulating social media, as evidenced in t
  
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• Amid turmoil, chess helps Ferguson kids cope, excel

  24-05-2016 18:13 via salon.com
  ST. LOUIS (AP) — Grade-schoolers from the Ferguson, Missouri, area say an after-school chess program has helped boost their confidence and made them better students.
  Eleven students from Walnut Grove Elementary School in the Ferguson-Florissant School District gathered Tuesday at the St. Louis Chess Club and Scholastic Center for a year-end celebration for the Your Move Chess program. The St. Louis-based Catholic health care company Ascension partnered with the chess club to offer the prog
  
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• Toyota to invest in ride-hailing app Uber

  24-05-2016 18:12 via salon.com
  NEW YORK (AP) — Toyota is investing in Uber, making it the latest car company to put money in a ride-hailing app.
  The Japanese company did not say how much the investment is worth.
  As part of the deal, Uber drivers can lease Toyota vehicles with money earned from their driving.
  Investing in cab-hailing services can be a way for automakers to sell more cars. Earlier this year, General Motors Co. invested $500 million in Uber rival Lyft.
  Toyota is investing in Uber alongside Mirai Creation I
  
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• Police find 5 hacked-up bodies in Mexican Gulf coast state

  24-05-2016 18:10 via salon.com
  MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in Mexico’s Gulf coast state of Veracruz have found the hacked-up bodies of what appear to be five men.
  The Veracruz state prosecutors’ office said Tuesday the bodies or body parts were found next to a sign listing the nicknames of five men. The sign read “The cleanup, respectfully, CJNG, we are here” and “here is your garbage.” The message continued, “for a clean Veracruz, this is what happened to me for coming to Ve
  
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• Honduran woman accused of punching a border agent’s horse

  24-05-2016 18:07 via salon.com
  
  GILA BEND, Ariz. (AP) — A Honduran woman arrested in a drug smuggling bust in southern Arizona also is facing an animal cruelty charge for allegedly punching a border agent’s horse.
  Border Patrol agents were conducting enforcement operations near the tiny town of Why last Saturday.
  Late that night, they spotted nine people in the desert with seven large backpacks.
  The backpacks contained 374 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $500,000.
  Authorities say 29-year-old K
  
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• Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles selected to host Super Bowls

  24-05-2016 18:01 via salon.com
  
  CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The NFL awarded Super Bowls to Atlanta, Miami and Los Angeles, three cities that made significant financial investments in new stadiums or recently upgraded an existing one.
  Atlanta will host the game in 2019, followed by Miami (2020) and Los Angeles (2021), it was announced Tuesday at the NFL owners meetings.
  Atlanta will host its third Super Bowl, but the first at its new $1.4 billion stadium which opens in 2017. The previous two were at the Georgia Dome.
  Miami wil
  
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• Sen. Reid calls for people to ‘lay off’ Bernie Sanders

  24-05-2016 18:00 via salon.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says people should “lay off” Bernie Sanders.
  Reid’s comment Tuesday comes as Democrats grow restive over Sanders’ continued presidential candidacy. Sanders is showing no signs of quitting despite nearly impossible odds of overtaking Hillary Clinton, who is eager to turn her attention to Republican Donald Trump and the general election in November.
  Instead Sanders’ is warning of a potentially “messy&rdqu
  
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• The Latest: Actor accused of killing wife who sought divorce

  24-05-2016 17:55 via salon.com
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Latest on the murder trial of actor Michael Jace, who played a police officer on the TV series “The Shield.” (all times local):
  12:50 p.m.
  A prosecutor says an actor who played a police officer on TV shot and killed his wife in Los Angeles after he became upset because she wanted a divorce.
  Deputy District Attorney Tannaz Mokayef made the accusation Tuesday during her opening statement at the murder trial of Michael Jace.
  Mokayef says she will show jurors
  
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• Puerto Rico seeks power bill increase, sparking outrage

  24-05-2016 17:55 via salon.com
  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s heavily indebted electric company announced Tuesday that it is seeking a more than 20 percent increase in the island’s already high power bills, sparking outrage among many who note the agency faces numerous corruption allegations.
  The Electric Power Authority said the increase would allow it to keep operating and help boost its dwindling liquidity. Officials said the additional revenue also would let the company restructure its $9 bil
  
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• Tapes: Peterson hoped to sell drugs in Mexico after prison

  24-05-2016 17:53 via salon.com
  
  CHESTER, Ill. (AP) — Secret recordings between Drew Peterson and an inmate he’s accused of trying to enlist to help kill a prosecutor show that the former suburban Chicago police officer discussed selling drugs in Mexico if he gets out of prison.
  The Chicago Sun-Times (http://bit.ly/1OKOPT6 ) reports that jurors in Peterson’s murder-for-hire trial in southern Illinois listened Tuesday to his conversation with prison informant Antonio Smith.
  Peterson is accused of trying to the
  
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• Trump’s Christian outreach: Now he’s working with an extremist faith healer who thinks he can control the oceans

  24-05-2016 17:34 via salon.com
  
  Donald Trump, Frank Amedia (Credit: AP/Gerald Herbert/YouTube/RWW Blog)
  While Donald Trump won the Republican primary, it’s worth remembering that he, as of late May, did so without cracking 50% of the voters in the Republican primary. (As a point of comparison, Hillary Clinton has snagged 55.5% of the popular vote in the Democratic primary.) While the news media is chattering about Trump’s supposed pivot to the general, the truth of the matter is he has to do more work con
  
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• Attorney for Freddie Gray family stuns Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren: “The whole network’s approach to the black community is racist”

  24-05-2016 17:10 via salon.com
  
  (Credit: Fox News)
  When it was announced that the first actual verdict in the trial of the six Baltimore police officers charged with the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray was to come down on Monday, Fox News descended upon the embattled city with helicopters and roving reporters in anticipation of angry mobs upset with any verdict less than a finding of guilt.
  “Judge Williams made the correct call,” the attorney representing Gray’s family, told Fox News’ Greta Van Suster
  
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• Eff these beauty standards, indeed: Bodies aren’t obscene, no matter what swimsuit size they wear

  24-05-2016 16:54 via salon.com
  
  Tess Holliday (Credit: Cherchez la Femme)
  “Us big girls gotta cover up.” That’s what a teacher reportedly told high schooler Amy Steverson last month when she showed up for her prom in her beautiful — and fairly modest — black and tan dress. As AOL News reported in April, Steverson was then allegedly made to don the vice principal’s tuxedo jacket and spent a portion of her prom night crying over being “shamed for having breasts.” And unfortuna
  
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• Even Glenn Beck laughs at Donald Trump for using Vince Foster conspiracy theory against Hillary Clinton

  24-05-2016 16:50 via salon.com
  
  Glenn Beck(Credit: AP/Timothy D. Easley)
  Noted conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck appeared on CNN’s New Day this morning to mock presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump for referring, however obliquely, to conspiracy theories about the Clintons’ complicity in the suicide of Vince Foster.
  Discussing a Washington Post article in which Trump said that he believes theories of foul play in Foster’s death are “very serious” and that the circumstances around it are “
  
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• WATCH: Chewbacca mom teams up with James Corden and J.J. Abrams to re-create her viral video

  24-05-2016 16:40 via salon.com
  Chewbacca mom’s takeover of the internet continues.
  Chewbacca mom — whose real name is Candace Payne — rose to web celebrity status last week after she posted a video of herself uncontrollably laughing while trying on a Chewbacca mask that went viral and quickly became the most-watched Facebook Live video of all time.
  Payne re-created her signature moment for Monday’s edition of “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” appearing wi
  
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• ‘Little Syria’ exhibit heading ‘home’ to New York

  24-05-2016 13:43 via salon.com
  
  DETROIT (AP) — An exhibition about one of the earliest Arab American settlements heads to places near the old New York neighborhood where it first laid roots, as well as the spot where many immigrants first set foot in the U.S.
  “Little Syria, N.Y.: An Immigrant Community’s Life and Legacy,” created by the Arab American National Museum, opens Wednesday at the New York City Department of Records. It documents the once-thriving Lower Manhattan neighborhood that was home to m
  
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• Pharrell Williams produces Little Big Town’s upcoming record

  24-05-2016 13:41 via salon.com
  
  NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Hit music producer and artist Pharrell Williams has produced the next album for country quartet Little Big Town, who will perform the first single on Tuesday’s season finale of “The Voice” on NBC.
  Their new eight-song album is called “Wanderlust.” It will be released by Capitol Records Nashville on June 10, the band said. The new song, “One of Those Days,” was released digitally Tuesday ahead of the TV appearance.
  The Grammy
  
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• Man accused of chaining girl in basement denies wrongdoing

  24-05-2016 13:41 via salon.com
  
  TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man accused of chaining a teenage girl in his basement as punishment is denying he did anything wrong.
  Timothy Ciboro (SIH’-bohr-oh) said in jailhouse interviews with media outlets in Toledo that the allegations aren’t true and that the 13-year-old girl wasn’t mistreated. But he wouldn’t answer questions on whether he had chained her.
  Ciboro and his 27-year-old son were charged with kidnapping and child endangerment last week after the gi
  
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• Off-track Yellowstone visitors not being pursued

  24-05-2016 13:39 via salon.com
  CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — U.S. authorities say they will not try to force four men accused of walking onto a sensitive hot spring at Yellowstone National Park to return from their homes in Canada for prosecution.
  The U.S. Attorney’s Office says the men are charged with misdemeanors that don’t meet the legal standard to force their return to face prosecution.
  The men were traveling in a recreational vehicle with British Columbia license plates and are believed to be back in Canada.
  
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• Senators air rights concerns about India ahead of PM’s visit

  24-05-2016 13:38 via salon.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. lawmakers say they are encouraged by growing defense cooperation with India but remain concerned about religious intolerance and slavery in the South Asian nation ahead of a visit by its prime minister.
  Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee examined ties between the world’s two largest democracies Tuesday in advance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s (nah-REN’-drah MOH’-dee)’s address to Congress next month.
  Committee chairman
  
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• Teresa Heinz Kerry to step down as chair of Heinz Endowments

  24-05-2016 13:36 via salon.com
  PITTSBURGH (AP) — Teresa Heinz Kerry says she’ll step down as chairwoman of the Heinz Endowments and her three sons will fill the position in a series of four-year rotations.
  The plan was released Monday after two years of discussions with the foundation’s board of directors and top executive. The 77-year-old Heinz Kerry plans to step down in October.
  Andre Heinz will be the first son to chair the 14-member board that oversees the $1.6 billion foundation, which distributed more
  
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• Kansas teacher who used racial slur in class fired

  24-05-2016 13:29 via salon.com
  LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A white University of Kansas assistant professor who used a racial slur during a class discussion on race will not have her contract renewed after the next academic year.
  Andrea Quenette, an assistant professor of communication studies, told The Lawrence Journal-World (http://bit.ly/1OTQZ8c ) on Monday that the university told her last week that she wouldn’t be reappointed to her position at the end of the spring 2017 semester.
  Some graduate students complained
  
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• Cats or Cops? Spain police seek fine for lettering on bag

  24-05-2016 13:11 via salon.com
  
  MADRID (AP) — A woman in Spain may be fined under the country’s public security law for carrying a bag bearing the initials A.C.A.B., which police interpreted to stand for “All Cops Are Bastards” and not “All Cats Are Beautiful,” as was written on the bag.
  A spokesman said Tuesday the type and coloring of the lettering are traditionally associated with the insult to police. He spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with police regulations.
  The police depar
  
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