Lance Guidry's first full recruiting class will target — what else — defense

Lance Guidry’s first full recruiting class as a head coach is perhaps the perfect reflection of the former McNeese State defensive back who is entering his second season at the helm of his alma mater.

The class, which Guidry will officially unveil at 11 a.m. Wednesday inside the Jack Doland Field House, targeted the Cowboys’ biggest deficiency last season — pass coverage and defensive backs — with a versatile group who possess the ability to play immediately.

Guidry’s press conference will be live streamed on McNeeseSports.com free of charge. The American Press will have a live tracker on its website, updating as each Cowboys commitment faxes his paperwork and is cleared by the school’s compliance office.

In now-departed defensive coordinator Tommy Restivo’s lone season, the Cowboys permitted 260 passing yards per game — the unit’s most since 2002. The staff recruited without Restivo throughout January, but are still primed to bring in a class that could solve this issue.

Though there could be more, at least 10 of McNeese’s commits either played in their high school’s defensive backfield or project as defensive backs at the collegiate level hoping to remedy the woeful pass defense McNeese exhibited throughout last season.

Guidry and his staff, of course, are prohibited by NCAA rules from speaking publicly about specific prospects until the high schoolers fax their National Letters of Intent to the school’s compliance office. More clarity on where the newest crop of Cowboys project to play will be given Wednesday.

Hanif Muhammad, a cornerback from Houston who committed to the Cowboys early in his recruiting cycle then spurned subsequent Football Bowl Subdivision offers, projects as the class’ crown jewel.

Muhammad, rated as a three-star prospect by 247sports.com, ranked No. 9 on HERO Sports’ list of the Top 35 Southland verbal commitments published earlier this week, one of four future Cowboys on the list.

Former Barbe standout Nate Briscoe (No. 35), Houston linebacker Cody Roscoe (No. 32) and De La Salle’s Quincy Cage (No. 20) also made that list.

The push continued even into Tuesday — a dead period one day before signing day. Carencro’s Kordell Williams, a hard-hitting safety, committed Tuesday afternoon on Twitter, bringing the Cowboys’ total to 15 commitments, including one early enrollee.

With addition, though, will come the inevitable subtraction. Rummel tight end David Mosley, who was rated No. 22 on that HERO Sports list while still a Cowboys commit, decommitted from McNeese on Monday night and gave his pledge to Southland foe Nicholls State.

Chase Fourcade, Nicholls’ rising sophomore starting quarterback, was Mosley’s high school teammate. The Cowboys recouped at tight end, though, securing Deer Park, Texas native Jacob Logan’s pledge Tuesday evening.

The following is a list of McNeese’s known verbal commitments as of Tuesday evening. Positions listed are from the prospects’ high school teams. Walk-on’s are not included on this list.

Hanif Muhammad (CB, Houston, TX)

Colby Richardson (DB, New Orleans, LA)

Quincy Cage (WR, New Orleans, LA)

Nate Briscoe (WR, Lake Charles, LA)

Cody Roscoe (LB, Houston, TX)

Cory McCoy (DB/RB, Leesville, LA)

Enos Lewis (OLB/SS, Hialeah, FL)

Dontay Hargrove (WR/FS, Leesville, LA)

Donovan Carter (OL, Hinds Community College)

Tyrique Gibson (DE, Ponchatoula, LA)

Camron Peterson (DE/OLB, Houston, TX)

Mac Briscoe (RB/OLB, Bellville, TX)

Garrick Gray (RB/SS, Welsh, LA)

Kordell Williams (DB, Carencro, LA)

Jacob Logan (TE, Deer Park, TX)

* Harris Tafah (DL, Navarro College)

* Tafah is an early enrollee who began classes during the spring semester

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Louisiana attorney general praises Gorsuch nomination

BATON ROUGE —Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry issued the following statement after President Donald Trump announced his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court of the United States:

“I applaud President Trump for nominating Judge Gorsuch, a jurist with a proven record of upholding the Constitution. Judge Gorsuch has been a staunch proponent of states’ rights and religious liberty. He is committed to the Founding Fathers’ principle of a limited judiciary, famously saying that judges should ‘strive to apply the law as it is, focusing backward, not forward, and looking to text, structure, and history to decide what a reasonable reader at the time of the events in question would have understood the law to be.’ While filling Justice Scalia’s seat will be a tough feat, I am confident Judge Gorsuch will continue to be an honorable and ethical jurist; and I look forward to his swift confirmation by the United States Senate.”


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Sen. Kennedy: 'I like what I see so far' about Gorsuch

Louisiana U.S. Sen Kennedy Issues Statement On Neil Gorsuch’s Nomination to the United States Supreme Court:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) issued the following statement today in support of Neil Gorsuch for the next associate justice of the United States Supreme Court:
 
“The role of the Senate is to provide ‘advice and consent.’ Many Americans are going to have to live with this Justice the rest of their natural lives. His decisions will affect many facets of their lives, economically, socially, culturally, and spiritually,” said Sen. Kennedy. “The American people deserve a full and fair vetting process. I like what I see so far, but look forward to learning more in the confirmation process. Neil Gorsuch is obviously very well-qualified based on his education and background, but I want to know what’s in his heart. I want to know what he thinks about past Supreme Court decisions and how the Justices reached those decisions. I want to know whether he thinks personal preferences have a role in the judicial decision-making. I want to know if he knows the name of the person who cleans his office.  Also, I’m rather fond of the U.S. Constitution, and I want to make sure he is, too.”


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Trump nominates Neil Gorsuch for Supreme Court

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch, a fast-rising conservative judge with a writer’s flair, to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, a selection expected to spark a fierce fight with Democrats over a jurist who could shape America’s legal landscape for decades to come.

At 49, Gorsuch is the youngest Supreme Court nominee in a quarter century. He’s distinguished himself on the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals with his clear, colloquial writing, advocacy for court review of government regulations, defense of religious freedom and skepticism toward law enforcement.

“Judge Gorsuch has outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, tremendous discipline and has earned bipartisan support,” Trump said, announcing the nomination in his first televised address from the White House.

Gorsuch’s nomination was cheered by conservatives wary of Trump’s own fluid ideology. If confirmed by the Senate, he will fill the seat left vacant by the death last year of Antonin Scalia, long the right’s most powerful voice on the high court.

Some Democrats, still smarting over Trump’s unexpected victory in the presidential election, have vowed to mount a vigorous challenge to nearly any nominee to what they view as the court’s “stolen seat.” President Barack Obama nominated U.S. Circuit Court Judge Merrick Garland for the vacancy after Scalia’s death, but Senate Republicans refused to consider the pick, saying the seat should be filled only after the November election.

Trump’s choice of Gorsuch marks perhaps the most significant decision of his young presidency, one with ramifications that could last long after he leaves office. After an uneven start to his presidency, including the chaotic rollout of a controversial refugee ban, Trump’s selection of Gorsuch appeared to proceed with little drama.

For some Republicans, the prospect of filling one or more Supreme Court seats over the next four years has helped ease their concerns about Trump’s experience and temperament. Three justices are in their late 70s and early 80s, and a retirement would offer Trump the opportunity to cement conservative dominance of the court for many years.

If confirmed, Gorsuch will restore the court to the conservative tilt it held with Scalia on the bench. But he is not expected to call into question high-profile rulings on abortion, gay marriage and other issues in which the court has been divided 5-4 in recent years.

Gorsuch was among the 21 possible choices for the court Trump released during the campaign. Other finalists also came from that list, including Thomas Hardiman, who serves alongside Trump’s sister on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and William Pryor, a federal appeals court judge and Alabama’s attorney general from 1997 to 2004.

Pryor’s standing slipped in the lead up to the announcement, in part because his reputation as a staunch conservative seems likely to make him a rich target for Democratic senators in a confirmation hearing.

Yet Gorsuch, too, is expected to face intense scrutiny from Democrats. Some liberals have demanded that Democrats block any Trump choice, underscoring the deep partisan discord surging through Washington.

“Now is not the time for business as usual,” MoveOn.org’s Ilya Sheyman said in a statement.

Gorsuch is a Colorado native who earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in three years, then a law degree from Harvard. He clerked for Supreme Court Justices Byron White, a fellow Coloradan, and Anthony Kennedy before earning a philosophy degree at Oxford University and working for a prominent Washington, D.C., law firm.

He served for two years in President George W. Bush’s Department of Justice before the president nominated him to the appeals court.

Gorsuch has contended that courts give too much deference to government agencies’ interpretations of statutes, a deference that stems from a Supreme Court ruling in a 1984 case. He sided with two groups that successfully challenged the Obama administration’s requirements that employers provide health insurance that includes contraception.

If Democrats decide to filibuster Gorsuch’s nomination, his fate could rest in the hands of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Trump has encouraged McConnell to change the rules of the Senate and make it impossible to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee — a change known in the Senate as the “nuclear option.”

A conservative group already has announced plans to begin airing $2 million worth of ads in support of the nominee in Indiana, Missouri, Montana and North Dakota, four states that Trump won and in which Democrats will be defending their Senate seats in 2018.

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Steve Carell dons facial hair for Honda's Super Bowl teaser

Filed under: Celebrities,Humor,Marketing/Advertising,Honda,Super Bowl Commercials

#believe

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Indiana house bill appears to target Tesla's direct sales model

Filed under: Government/Legal,Green,Tesla,Electric

This is the second bill seeking to cut short Tesla's efforts to sell its electric vehicles directly to the Indiana public.

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This is the very last Rolls-Royce Phantom VII

Filed under: Rolls-Royce,Sedan,Luxury

It marks the end of a 13-year production run.

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Bus passenger comes to driver's defense during attack

Filed under: Etc.,Weird Car News,Commercial Vehicles

A bus passenger in Kansas City, Missouri, is being hailed as a hero today after he jumped to the defense of a bus driver last weekend and beat her attacker with his cane.

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US, Louisiana schools reach pact in 1965 desegregation case

NEW ORLEANS -- Renewed efforts to desegregate three nearly all-black elementary schools and recruit a diverse faculty and staff are part of a new agreement between a south Louisiana school district and the Justice Department in a federal court case that dates back to 1965.

If all of the agreement's requirements are met, federal supervision of the schools in St. James Parish could end in three years.

The 27-page agreement was approved by a federal judge Monday and announced in a Justice Department news release Tuesday. It's one of numerous federal desegregation cases in the South dating back to the 1960s, some of which have taken decades to resolve.

The agreement requires the St. James district to implement a new assignment plan to desegregate the three elementary schools.

The district also agreed to revise its code of conduct to ensure fairness in disciplinary matters at all schools, recruit a diverse pool of applicants for faculty and staff vacancies, take steps to encourage all students take part in extracurricular programs, and "guarantee racially diverse panels of judges" for students trying out or auditioning for after-school activities.

"We are pleased to have worked hand-in-hand with the schools to ensure equal and fair treatment for the students of the St. James Parish School District," Tom Wheeler, the Justice Department's Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division, said in a news release.

St. James officials did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday.

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California lawmakers eye statewide immigration sanctuary

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The California Legislature advanced a bill Tuesday that would provide statewide sanctuary for immigrants by restricting local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

The move in the nation's largest state came as legislative Democrats ramp up their efforts to battle the immigration crackdown started by President Donald Trump.

The state Senate Public Safety Committee approved the measure in a 5-2 party-line vote less than a week after Trump signed an order threatening to withdraw some federal grants from sanctuary cities.

Democrats say the new legislation is necessary to prevent fear of deportation in families with some members living in California without authorization.

"Draconian immigration policies do not work," said Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles, the author of the measure. "They separate children from their mothers and mothers from their children."

Republicans and law enforcement groups say the bill would make it harder to keep Californians safe.

"I think this bill is making it that much more difficult for the federal authorities to get the most dangerous criminals that we want to deport to keep our communities safe," said Sen. Jeff Stone, a Temecula Republican who voted against the measure.

Many of California's largest cities — including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento — already have sanctuary policies that prohibit police from cooperating with immigration authorities.

San Francisco sued Trump on Tuesday, claiming the executive order that cuts funding from sanctuary cities is unconstitutional and a "severe invasion of San Francisco's sovereignty."

The federal government cannot "put a gun to the head of localities," City Attorney Dennis Herrera said, arguing that the order violates states' rights and the law.

San Francisco receives about $1.2 billion a year in federal funding for services that include housing, health and social services, and homelessness.

The suit argues the city is safer when all people, including those who are living in the country illegally, feel safe reporting crimes.

Later Tuesday, the state Senate Judiciary Committee was expected to consider fast-tracked legislation that would allow the state to spend an undisclosed amount of money to provide lawyers for people facing deportation.

Some Republicans have criticized the Democratic reaction to Trump's policies, saying bombastic rhetoric and provocative legislation will inflame tensions with the president and harm California.

The debate over sanctuary cities escalated in 2015 after Kate Steinle, 32, was fatally shot in the back by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, who was in the country illegally after multiple deportations to his native Mexico.

Lopez-Sanchez, who told police the gun fired by accident, had been released from a San Francisco jail despite a request from federal immigration authorities that he be held in custody for possible deportation. Trump often cited the Steinle case during the presidential campaign.

Many other cities and counties in California also refuse to detain immigrants for deportation agents out of legal concerns after a federal court ruled that immigrants can't be held in jail beyond their scheduled release dates.

Since then, federal agents have been asking local law agencies to provide information about immigrants they're seeking for deportation, if not hold them.

The California sanctuary legislation now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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At a moment of uncertainty, Fed likely to leave rates alone

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve is all but sure to leave interest rates alone when it ends a policy meeting Wednesday at a time of steady gains for the U.S. economy but also heightened uncertainty surrounding the new Trump administration.

The Fed will likely signal that it wants further time of monitor the progress of the economy and that it still envisions a gradual pace of rate increases ahead.

"I don't look for the Fed to do anything this week," said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at the Martin Smith School of Business at California State University. "They are starting to get their ducks in a row for further rate hikes, but it will be too soon to pull the trigger."

The Fed's two-day meeting will end with a policy statement that will be studied for any signals of its outlook or intentions. At the moment, most economists foresee no rate increase even at the Fed's next meeting in March, especially given the unknowns about how President Donald Trump's ambitious agenda will fare or whether his drive to cancel or rewrite trade deals will slow the economy or unsettle investors.

It's always possible that the central bank could surprise Fed watchers Wednesday by sending a signal that a rate hike is coming soon. In Fed parlance, that signal could be as slight as changing language in its statement to say "near-term risks to the economic outlook appear in balance," instead of "roughly in balance," the phrase it has been using.

The statement will not be accompanied by updates to the Fed's economic forecasts or by a news conference with Chair Janet Yellen, both of which occur four times a year .

Last month, the Fed modestly raised its benchmark short-term rate for the first time since December 2015, when it had raised it after keeping the rate at a record low near zero for seven years. The Fed had driven down its key rate to help rescue the banking system and energize the economy after the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession.

When it raised rates last month, the Fed indicated that it expected to do so three more times in 2017. Yet confusion and a lack of details over what exactly Trump's stimulus program will look like, whether he will succeed in getting it through Congress and what impact it might have on the economy have muddied the outlook.

And while Trump's tax and spending plans are raising hopes for faster growth, his proposals to impose tariffs on such countries as China and Mexico to correct trade imbalances could slow the economy if U.S. trading partners retaliate and collectively impede the flow of imports and exports.

"The Fed is unlikely to signal intentions to raise rates as early as March given the heightened uncertainty about the timing and scope of fiscal and protectionist policies," said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Markit, predicts that the economy will grow a modest 2 percent to 2.5 percent this year, before accelerating next year to 2.6 percent to 2.7 percent on the assumption that Trump's policy proposals will have begun to take full effect by then.

The outlook for both years would mark an improvement over the economy's lackluster growth of 1.6 percent in 2016, its weakest performance since 2011.

Even though economic growth, as measured by the gross domestic product, was underwhelming last year, the job market appears close to full health. Hiring was consistently solid in 2016, and the unemployment rate ended the year at 4.7 percent, just below the 4.8 percent level the Fed has identified as representing full employment.

And inflation, by the Fed's preferred measure, rose 1.6 percent in the 12 months that ended in December, moving closer to the Fed's 2 percent goal.

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Special agent who once helped capture El Chapo has book deal

NEW YORK -- A former special agent who once helped capture the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo is working on a book.

HarperCollins told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Drug Enforcement Administration official, writing under the pseudonym "Cole Merrell," was collaborating with author Douglas Century on "Hunting El Chapo." The book is scheduled to come out Oct. 17. Century's previous books include "Barney Ross" and "Street Kingdom."

According to the publisher, "Hunting El Chapo" will offer a "cinematically" detailed take on the investigation and eventual capture of Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman-Loera in 2014. El Chapo escaped in 2015, was recaptured last year and was extradited to the U.S. earlier this month.

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Wal-Mart dumps its version of Amazon Prime for new path

NEW YORK -- Wal-Mart is replacing a program that offered free shipping but had an annual fee with one that has a lower free shipping threshold and faster delivery as it hopes to answer Amazon's powerful Prime membership success.

The retailer says it will reduce shipping time to two days on 2 million of its most popular items including essentials like diapers and pet food as well as hot toys and electronics. Wal-Mart's average shipping time has been three to five days. Starting Tuesday, it's also reducing the spending necessary for free shipping to $35 from $50.

Wal-Mart's ShippingPass, launched as a pilot program in the summer of 2015, was aimed at challenging Amazon Prime and had allowed members to buy more than a million items for free shipping at Walmart.com. Last year, it trimmed its shipping time to two days from three, and cut the annual fee by a dollar to $49. Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart said it worked well, but the company concluded shoppers shouldn't have to pay a membership fee for free shipping.

The strategy shift is one of the first big moves by Walmart.com's CEO Mark Lore, who joined the company when Wal-Mart bought online retailer Jet.com last year. And it's an illustration of how Wal-Mart is trying to figure out a way to compete with Amazon and its dominant Prime plan.

But some analysts say the approach may not be sufficiently aggressive to compete with Amazon Prime. They believe Wal-Mart — which also has encouraged shoppers to collect their online orders from stores to avoid shipping costs — should get rid of any minimum required for free shipping.

"They should eliminate the threshold altogether, said Ken Perkins, president of research firm Retail Metrics LLC. "I know it's a difficult pill to swallow. But if you look at how things are going, click-and-pick is never going to be as popular as click-and-ship."

Amazon's membership program costs $99 a year, but includes services like streaming music and video that have created fierce loyalty. Analysts say Amazon Prime members buy more frequently and spend more money. Amazon doesn't disclose a Prime subscriber total, but it's estimated to be around 65 million. Wal-Mart wouldn't say how many ShippingPass subscribers it had, but all will receive a refund of their membership fee.

Lore declined to comment on Amazon, but said lower prices, a wider assortment of eligible goods and faster shipping alone can build loyalty. Lore promised more moves ahead to spur Wal-Mart's online business.

"Two-day, free shipping is table stakes," he said in a conference call Monday. "We've upped the ante. On a very fundamental level, we don't have to charge for membership. We can save customers both time and money."

Lore said he believes the new approach will dramatically increase sales. Wal-Mart's online sales had been slowing over the past two years, but notably accelerated during last year's third quarter. Wal-Mart reports fourth-quarter results next month.

Wal-Mart said purchases outside the 2 million most popular items will count toward free shipping, but won't get the faster delivery.

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Cowgirls unanimously projected to defend Southland softball championship

Southland Conference coaches and sports information directors unanimously predicted McNeese State will defend its conference softball championship, the league office announced Tuesday.

The Cowgirls, who finished 43-14 last season and advanced to the Baton Rouge regional, received 22 of a possible 24 first-place votes in each poll.

Abilene Christian received the other two — both from McNeese staffers since coaches and sports information directors were not allowed to vote for their own team. It was the first time since 2005 a team received every possible first-place vote in each poll.

Headlined by reigning, two-time Southland Player of the Year Erika Piancastelli, the Cowgirls return six starters and 14 letterwinners from last season’s team. Transfers Baylee Corbello (LSU) and Carleigh Chaumont (Western Kentucky) joined the program in the offseason, too, in James Landreneau’s first season as head coach.

Piancastelli was also named Tuesday to D1SoftballNews.com’s Player of the Year Watch List, which will be narrowed to 25 players in April and presented at the conclusion of the Women’s College World Series.

The team’s leader in batting average, slugging percentage, home runs, on-base percentage and hits last season, Piancastelli was named the No. 7 college hitter in the country by Fastpitch News last week.

That publication also tabbed Piancastelli, already the program’s all-time leader in home runs, as a preseason All-American.

McNeese opens its season Feb. 9 at 6 p.m. against Southern Miss at Cowgirl Diamond.

Both preseason polls are listed below:

Coaches Poll (first place votes)

1.	McNeese (11)	121
2.	Abilene Christian (1)	106
3.	Lamar	97
4.	Nicholls	90
5.	Central Arkansas	84
6.	Northwestern State	66
7.	Stephen F. Austin	62
8.	Sam Houston State	61
9.	Southeastern Louisiana	34
10.	Houston Baptist	28
11.	A&M-Corpus Christi	27
12.	Incarnate Word	16

SID Poll (first place votes)

1.	McNeese (11)	121
2.	Abilene Christian (1)	103
3.	Nicholls	100
4.	Lamar	91
5.	Central Arkansas	79
6.	Northwestern State	73
7.	Stephen F. Austin	61
8.	Sam Houston State	53
9.	A&M-Corpus Christi	34
10.	Houston Baptist	32
11.	Southeastern Louisiana	24
12.	Incarnate Word	21

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2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon sheds seats and insulation to drop weight

Filed under: New York Auto Show,Dodge,Coupe,Performance

Losing weight doesn't bedevil Dodge.

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Who is Trump's high court pick? Announcement Tuesday night

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump was poised Tuesday to announce his choice to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court, one of the most consequential moves of his young administration and a decision with ramifications that could long outlast his time in office.

The president is to unveil his pick during an 8 p.m. EST televised address from the White House.

Trump is said to have made his selection from a group of three finalists, all federal appeals court judges appointed by former President George W. Bush: Neil Gorsuch, Thomas Hardiman and William Pryor.

Each appeared on Trump's list of 21 possible choices that he made public during the campaign, and each has met with Trump to discuss the vacancy that arose when Antonin Scalia died nearly a year ago.

Gorsuch, 49, who serves on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, and Hardiman, 51, who serves alongside Trump's sister on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, are believed to have an edge, according to people with knowledge of the decision. Pryor's standing has appeared to slip, in part because his reputation as a staunch conservative seems likely to make him a rich target for Democratic senators in a confirmation hearing.

However, Trump is well-known for changing his mind. Just hours before the president's announcement, his final decision was being closely held — a level of secrecy out of character for Trump advisers and associates who sometimes discuss even private deliberations in the press.

The ninth seat on the Supreme Court has sat empty since Scalia died in February 2016. President Barack Obama nominated U.S. Circuit Court Judge Merrick Garland for the vacancy, but Senate Republicans refused to consider the pick, saying the seat should be filled only after the November election.

That GOP effort outraged the White House and congressional Democrats, who have suggested they might seek to block any choice Trump makes. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said Democrats will oppose any nominee outside the mainstream.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that while Democrats may not like the "political or philosophical background" of the president's pick, "the criteria in terms of academia background, time on the bench, the expertise and criteria meets the intent of both Republicans and Democrats."

If Democrats decide to filibuster, the fate of Trump's nominee could rest in the hands of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Trump has encouraged McConnell to change the rules of the Senate and make it impossible to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee — a change known in the Senate as the "nuclear option."

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HUD nominee Carson details steps to untangle business ties

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development has disclosed detailed steps to distance himself from business holdings and charities to avoid potential conflicts of interests.

Ben Carson filed an ethics agreement with the Office of Government Ethics pledging to resign from the board of the Carson Scholars Fund and other charities if he is confirmed by the Senate. The fund established by the retired neurosurgeon provides $1,000 scholarships to schoolchildren.

A multimillionaire, Carson said he will turn over control of his assets to a manager. He said he will resign as a managing member of his companies BenCan LLC and American Business Collaborative LLC, though he will continue to hold an ownership stake and receive revenue from them. BenCan's holdings include commercial real estate properties in suburban Pittsburgh.

Carson will also continue to receive royalties from a number of publishing companies for books that include his autobiography, "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story."

As a Cabinet secretary, Carson would be subject to a raft of federal conflict-of-interest provisions intended to prohibit him, his spouse or business partners from profiting from his position. A former Republican presidential candidate, Carson is nominated to lead a sprawling agency with 8,300 employees and a budget of $47 billion.

Though he is not divesting from his businesses, ethics watchdogs said that shouldn't be a problem as long as Carson or his partners don't try to seek government contracts or other business.

"Carson is not required to divest if he holds no assets which conflict with HUD business," said Jordan Libowitz, spokesman for the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "Compared to other Trump appointees, his assets are fairly straightforward: mutual funds, book royalties, rental properties and the like. As long as a HUD review finds no conflicting assets, what he is doing meets with the law."

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That military truck carrying a Trump flag is illegal, but not for the reason you might think

Filed under: Government/Legal,Ownership,Weird Car News,Car Buying,Used Car Buying,Driving,United States,Technology,Military,Off-Road

Everybody panic.

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Your next autonomous Uber ride may be in a Mercedes-Benz

Filed under: Ownership,Mercedes-Benz,Driving,Autonomous

Daimler will supply vehicles for Uber's network.

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Travel ban throws research, academic exchange into turmoil

BOSTON -- Universities across the nation say President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from seven Muslim countries is disrupting vital research projects and academic exchanges in such fields as medicine, public health and engineering, with untold numbers of scholars blocked from entering the U.S.

For years, schools in the U.S. have worked to widen exchanges with scholars in the Middle East and especially Iran, known for its strength in math and science. But many academics worry those bridges are now in jeopardy because of the ban against Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Yemen. Some fear the U.S. will lose its standing as the world leader in research and innovation.

"It's terrifying," said Sarah Knuckey, director of the Human Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School. "We're damaging international research, including on issues like health and medicine."

Students in Knuckey's clinic have been working with a think tank in Yemen to explore the health consequences of the country's civil war, inviting scholars to lecture and planning a conference in New York this year. Because of the travel ban, they are trying to move the event to Canada.

Research between the U.S. and the seven countries covers a wide range of fields. According to the National Institutes of Health, U.S. and Iranian researchers have teamed up to study cancer, heart disease, hepatitis and opiate addiction.

Navid Madani, an HIV researcher at Harvard Medical School, said collaboration with scientists in Iran has been crucial to her work. Much of that cooperation is now in question. One of her counterparts in Iran was scheduled to teach at Harvard this year but may be prevented from entering the country.

"I've tried to balance my anger and despair with resolve," said Madani, who was born in Iran and is now a naturalized U.S. citizen. "This is something that really has to be reversed."

An Iranian researcher working on his Ph.D. in Italy was refused check-in at a Milan airport Monday while trying to travel to California. Nima Enayati, 29, had obtained a visa to conduct research on robotic surgery at Stanford University.

"It is rather disappointing to know that you will not be able at least physically to have more collaboration with them," he said. "And we will see how it is going to affect our work."

At Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, officials were planning to welcome the first class of Iranian graduate students into a new engineering program in partnership with the University of Tehran. Now it's on hold because the students can't secure visas.

"These are the best and the brightest. They have made tremendous sacrifices to be able to come to the United States," said Gil Latz, the university's associate vice chancellor for international affairs. "In the stroke of a pen, their future hopes and dreams are being questioned or brought to a halt."

Overall, colleges and universities in the U.S. hosted about 17,000 students from the seven banned countries last year, a fourfold increase over the past decade. Of those here last year, more than 12,000 were from Iran.

Many of the students and researchers here are now stuck in the U.S., afraid they won't be allowed back in if they leave to visit home or travel to academic conferences. Others who were planning to come here are now blocked.

Seyed Soheil Saeedi Saravi, a scientist from Iran, said he realized a childhood dream when he received a cardiology fellowship at Harvard. He was scheduled to arrive days after the travel ban was put in place, but found that his visa is now suspended indefinitely.

"I only can say Iranians are really sad, depressed and somewhat angry," he said in an email.

In response to the ban, thousands of academics abroad have signed an online petition boycotting academic conferences in the U.S. Some conferences are being pressured to relocate outside America.

Meanwhile, dozens of college presidents have called on Trump to reverse the ban.

"This is not only unbefitting a country built by immigrants on the ideals of liberty and equality, but it is also a self-inflicted wound that will damage the very innovation that lies at the root of our nation's prosperity," said Angel Cabrera, president of George Mason University.

Nicholas Dirks, chancellor at the University of California-Berkeley, said the ban gives an advantage to countries that compete with the U.S. for scholars.

"Allowing them to replace this country as the prime destination for the most talented students and researchers would cause irreparable damage and help them to achieve their goal of global leadership," he wrote.

Some academics say the ban will simply leave the U.S. out of future research.

Caroline Wagner, who studies global collaboration in science at Ohio State University, said the number of papers published by co-authors in different countries has grown dramatically since 1990. In 2013 alone, academics from Iran and the U.S. teamed up on more than 1,000 published papers.

"International collaboration is increasingly the way science is done," Wagner said. "We cannot assume that leadership and science belong to the United States."

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This collection of more than 700 vehicles is headed to auction

Limos, and tractors, and bumper cars, oh my!

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Breitbart speaker at Berkeley stirs debate over free speech

BERKELEY, Calif. -- Fans and foes agree that Milo Yiannopoulos specializes in controversy. The polarizing editor from Breitbart News is a self-proclaimed internet troll who has been criticized as racist, misogynist and white supremacist.

His scheduled visit Wednesday to the University of California at Berkeley has raised an issue facing campuses across America at the dawn of the Trump presidency: What is the line between free speech and hate speech?

The visit is sponsored by the campus Republican club. The university has stressed it did not invite Yiannopoulos, a right-wing provocateur who is gay and calls his event "The Dangerous Faggot Tour."

The potential for physical danger in reaction to Yiannopoulos came into the spotlight this month after a man was shot and wounded at a protest outside his Jan. 21 University of Washington talk.

Rowdy protests at UC Davis Jan. 13 prompted campus Republicans to cancel his appearance at the last minute. His last stop was supposed to be UCLA on Feb. 2, but that invitation was rescinded, making Berkeley the grand finale of his cross-country campus tour.

Professors have joined hundreds of students calling for the event's cancellation. But university officials say it will be allowed in the name of free speech — as will protests that Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks expects could be "substantial" amid tight security.

"In our view, Mr. Yiannopoulos is a troll and provocateur who uses odious behavior in part to 'entertain,' but also to deflect any serious engagement with ideas," Dirks wrote last week to Berkeley's staff and 37,500 students. "He has been widely and rightly condemned for engaging in hate speech."

But as a public university, Berkeley's administrators are legally bound by the First Amendment to protect free speech, meaning even offensive and hate speech cannot be banned or censored, Dirks said.

"We are defending the right to free expression at an historic moment for our nation, when this right is once again of paramount importance," Dirks said.

His letter did not name President Donald Trump, whom Yiannopoulos supports, but highlighted concerns at Berkeley and elsewhere since his election.

The Berkeley Republican Club says it has no plans to cancel the event because that would send a message that intimidation and violence can win.

"We don't support everything he's said or done," said Pieter Sittler, 19, a sophomore who is the club's vice president. "But we think it's important to have a complete political discourse. Not just stay in an echo chamber and silence what you disagree with."

The event's 500 seats sold out about 48 hours after the event was announced last fall, Sittler said.

Yiannopoulos "gives a voice to repressed conservative thought on American college campuses," Sittler said, adding that he uses "levity and humor" that should not be taken literally.

Administrators say the demands to stifle Yiannopoulos show that modern sensitivities are changing the debate about free speech on campus. What used to be a campaign to allow all voices risks becoming more restrictive.

The number of attempts to keep speakers off college campuses because of their politics doubled last year, according to a report issued late last year by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. It logged a record 42 incidents of "disinvitations," with 25 percent aimed at Yiannopoulos.

"The increasing unwillingness to allow anyone on campus to hear ideas with which one disagrees poses a grave risk to students' intellectual development," Ari Cohn, director of the foundation's Individual Rights Defense Program, said in a statement.

Administrators have received hundreds of letters and emails calling for the event's cancellation.

There's a "No Milo" at Berkeley Facebook page with more than 3,500 people signed on, calling for a "mass counter protest" to shut down the event.

Nearly 100 professors signed a letter to the chancellor urging him to cancel the event. It cited some of Yiannopoulos' earlier comments.

At the University of Delaware, Yiannopoulos referred to transgender people as "mentally ill" and encouraged his audience to mock them.

He has called Black Lives Matter a form of "black supremacism." Twitter banned him in July, as it cracked down on racist abuse targeting "Ghostbusters" actress Leslie Jones.

At Western Carolina University he called feminism, "a mean, vindictive, spiteful, nasty, man-hating philosophy."

"The university should not provide a platform for such harassment," the letter from professors said. "We support robust debate, but we cannot abide by harassment, slander, defamation and hate speech."

Yiannopoulos rejects accusations he is racist or white supremacist, saying his boyfriend is black and his humor is taken too literally in today's politically correct culture.

A group of veterans from Berkeley's 1960s Free Speech Movement praised administrators for allowing the event.

"Even the worst kind of bigot, including Yiannopoulos, must be allowed to speak on campus," they wrote in In an op-ed published by Berkeley's The Daily Californian.

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Barbe outpaces St. Louis in regular season's last matchup

The Barbe girls soccer team ran away from St. Louis with a second-half rally and a Julia Papania hat trick for a 5-2 win to close out the regular season.

The Bucs (16-12-4) scored four goals in the second half, earning them a great deal of momentum heading into the postseason.

“It is always a difficult matchup going up against St. Louis,” said Barbe head coach Todd Hoffpauir. “They always play hard, so now I feel like we’re battle-tested and ready for the first round of the playoffs.”

For the Saints (16-3-4), the game resulted in a second consecutive loss, but SLC head coach Toby Landry said he’s confident his team can turn things around and regain momentum to make a deep run in the postseason.

“We still did well enough this season that we’ll have a first round bye,” Landry said. “That will give us a chance to rest, heel up, regroup and get back at it at practice.

“There’s no need to panic. We’ve lost three games on the season. We’re OK.”

Barbe got on the board first in the opening minutes when Grace Laney found Papania for her first goal of the game.

The Saints quickly evened things up with a penalty kick by Julia Cheramie after Barbe committed a hand ball violation inside the box.

But Barbe ran away with the game in the second half with four consecutive goals, half of which were netted by Papania to complete the hat trick.

“She has been struggling to put the ball in the net lately,” Hoffpauir said. “I’m just glad she got on a good roll and was able to put some in the back of the net for us.”

Laney also tallied a goal to add to her assist, as did Jillian Bech, who bounced one in off the post with a beautiful shot from the right side of the 18.

Barbe’s Abby Bath finished the game with a pair of assists.

The Louisiana High School Athletic Association will release their brackets for the 2017 playoffs this afternoon, and both coaches said they are excited to see where their teams fall and what their road to the state championship game might look like.”

“This win will definitely be a good momentum-builder heading into the playoffs,” Hoffpauir said. “We’ll have to use that momentum when we play on either Thursday or Friday.”

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GOP forced to delay Senate committee votes on Price, Mnuchin

WASHINGTON -- Republicans delayed indefinitely planned Senate committee votes on President Donald Trump's picks to be Health and Treasury secretaries on Tuesday after Democrats boycotted the session and demanded more information on the two nominees' past financial behavior.

The extraordinary and abrupt postponement came as congressional Democrats, in a confrontational mood over Trump administration actions, also used lengthy speeches at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting considering Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to be attorney general.

In an unusual and hastily called briefing for reporters, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee said they would not attend the panel's planned votes until they could ask more questions about Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., the Health nominee and Steve Mnuchin, Trump's Treasury selection, who they said had misled Congress about their backgrounds.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said the men would hold positions "that directly affect peoples' lives every day. The truth matters."

Democrats cited one report in The Wall Street Journal that Price received a special, discounted offer to buy stock in a biomedical company, which contradicted his testimony to Congress.

They said another report in The Columbus Dispatch showed documents revealing that Mnuchin had not been truthful with the Senate in the confirmation process in comments about how his bank OneWest had handled home foreclosures.

Republicans have supported both men.

Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, accused Democrats of "a lack of desire to fulfill their constitutional responsibilities."

"They ought to stop posturing and acting like idiots," he said.

The Democrats' action prevented the panel from holding the votes because under committee rules, 13 of its members — including at least one Democrat — must be present for votes.

In a more peaceful setting, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee quickly approved former Texas Gov. Rick Perry as Energy secretary by 16-7, and Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., to head Interior by 16-6. But several of his other picks faced more spirited opposition from Democrats.

As the Senate Judiciary Committee worked toward a vote on Sen. Jeff Sessions' nomination to be attorney general, the panel's top Republican praised the Alabama Republican.

"He's a man of integrity," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. "He's a man of his word. And he'll enforce the law, regardless of whether he would've supported passage of that law as a legislator.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee was considering conservative activist Betsy DeVos to head the Education Department.

All the nominees had strong Republican support, though final confirmation votes by the full Senate weren't yet scheduled.

Democrats have accused Price of insider trading in health industry stocks, which he's denied, and criticized Mnuchin for not initially revealing nearly $100 million in assets, and were expected to vote against both nominees.

Republicans were trying to help Trump staff his Cabinet in the second week of an administration that has ignited fights on multiple fronts. Trump by executive action has clamped temporary bans against refugees from all countries and visitors from seven Muslim-majority nations, and he's seen relations with Mexico sour after insisting it will pay for a border wall. And he's backing the GOP's problematic efforts to dismantle President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

Democrats have targeted Price, a seven-term congressional veteran, for his staunch backing of his party's drive to scuttle Obama's health care law and to reshape Medicare and Medicaid, which help older and low-income people afford medical care.

They've also assailed Price for buying stocks of health care firms, accusing him of using insider information and conflicts of interest for backing legislation that could help his investments. Price says his trades were largely managed by brokers and that he's followed congressional ethics rules.

Democrats have accused Mnuchin of failing to protect homeowners from foreclosures and criticized him for not initially disclosing all his assets.

The Judiciary panel's vote on Sessions was coming with Democrats and demonstrators around the country in an uproar over Trump's executive order blocking refugees. Even some Republicans were warning it could hinder anti-terrorism efforts.

Democrats have questioned Sessions' devotion to enforcing civil rights laws.

DeVos, a wealthy GOP donor, has long supported charter schools and allowing school choice. That's prompted opposition from Democrats and teachers' unions, which view her stance as a threat to federal dollars that support public education.

Critics have mocked her for suggesting that guns could be justified in schools to protect students from grizzly bears. Health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., called her an "excellent" choice.

The full Senate was on track to easily confirm Elaine Chao to become transportation secretary in a mid-day vote.

Chao was labor secretary under President George W. Bush, and is wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. She would be a lead actor in pursuing Trump's promise to invest $1 trillion to improve highways, rail service and other infrastructure projects.

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Lifted and lovely | 2017 Volvo V90 Cross Country First Drive

Filed under: Volvo,First Drives,Crossover,Wagon,Luxury,Off-Road

We shave some Swedish ice in a lifted Volvo wagon with studded tires.

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Lifted and lovely | 2017 Volvo V90 Cross Country First Drive originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 31 Jan 2017 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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