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Update for Aug. 24: Astronaut Anne McClain has issued a statement refuting the claims of her estranged spouse. Read the full story here.The closely-guarded private life of a NASA astronaut burst into the spotlight in a New York Times report Friday (Aug. 23) on a messy divorce battle involving American astronaut Anne McClain that has apparently led to claims of identity theft against the space flyer. The incident is rooted in a bitter separation with McClain's spouse, Summer Worden, the Times report continued. According to Worden, her bank account was accessed without her permission from a NASA-affiliated computer network, prompting...

Hillary the donkey is a castaway no longer. The most famous donkey in Mariposa County was removed from her lonely 1-acre island in the middle of Lake McClure in an intricate operation that involved no fewer than 20 state wildlife biologists and veterinarians, a tranquilizer gun and a donkey trailer that came all the way from Texas to transport Hillary to donkey paradise. It almost didn’t happen, however, donkeys being donkeys. Hillary had been living on the small island for two years, ever since the lake waters rose and cut her off from the mainland. Local do-gooders had been dropping...

Workers at a Maryland office space are lucky to be alive after narrowly escaping a powerful gas explosion that authorities said 'totaled' the building. The incident started just before 7am on Sunday when someone pulled the fire alarm at the Lakewood Office Building and shopping center in Columbia Maryland, a town located about 19 miles southwest of Baltimore, authorities said. Howard County Fire and Rescue emergency crews responded to the scene where fire fighters found gas hissing out of a crater in the parking lot. They made sure the shopping center was completely evacuated just before the office exploded around...

Luke Lenzner says he was 'sucker punched' outside an Oregon bar on Saturday Pictures show Lenzner in the Make America Great Again cap with cuts to his face He says he was 'mobbed' outside the bar by people who 'circled me and my wife' Adebisi A. Okuneye, 23, and Leopold A. Hauser, 22, were arrested nearby They have been charged with third-degree assault after leaving the scene Lenzner appears to point at his hat and say something before the altercation ========================================================================== A man and woman have been arrested accused of attacking a MAGA hat-wearing Trump supporter who was on a...

I spotted this headline this morning and thought, “No way does he end up as the nominee.”And now, thanks to Monmouth, we have confirmation.Alternate headline: “CATS AND DOGS LIVING TOGETHER, MASS HYSTERIA.”If you believe this data, Grandpa Joe has suffered a partial collapse over the last two months — even though there’s no obvious reason why. There’s been no scandal or catastrophic debate performance. What might have caused this?Has the gaffe-o-rama caught up to him, with Dem primary voters wondering if he’s “lost a step,” to borrow a favorite euphemism? Or is this a simple matter of Dem voters...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Carrie Yvette Fischer just moved to Colorado. She wants to work, but her mother's attempted abortion left her with facial deformities that she says make it difficult to land a job. So she reached out on Facebook to find some help and found hundreds of connections. "When I go out or when I go meet somebody I always feel like I have to warn them. I don't want to scare you when you meet me," Fischer said. Fischer and her husband Richard just moved to Colorado Springs from Houston. They're living at a hotel for now....

This is the dramatic moment the three thieves who raided a New York jewelry store on Sunday launched their brazen heist by whipping out their guns and taking the employees hostage. New footage released by the New York Police Department shows how one of the robbers posed as a customer in a private meeting with three employees in the back room of Avianne and Co. in Midtown's Diamond District, before pulling out his gun. The NYPD shared the 40-second clip of additional surveillance footage on Monday morning asking for help in identifying the thieves. The clip shows the suspect, who...

Some bad news for Republican Congressman Steve King of Iowa’s 4th District this week. As you may be aware, he’s been embroiled in some controversy in the media over a variety of remarks he’s made recently, ranging from opposing abortions stemming from rape and incest to saying that most of us wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for rape. How the voters back home have been viewing this dustup isn’t exactly clear, but we may be getting a hint from his fundraising numbers. Specifically, a number rapidly approaching zero in terms of how much campaign cash he has in...

Full Title: Obama on wealth inequality: ‘There’s only so much you can eat. There’s only so big a house you can have.’ Former United States President Barack Obama believes that ballooning wealth inequality is a threat to society, and that those who have the means should help those who are less fortunate. “Right now I’m actually surprised by how much money I got,” the 44th President said in his address to more than 10,000 people gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Tuesday. “There’s only so much you can eat. There’s only so big a house you can have. There’s only...

Beto O'Rourke, Woke Why did the Civil Rights movement succeed? It might have failed. In the U.S., unlike in South Africa, black Americans didn’t make up a huge, oppressed majority. They constituted just 11 percent of the population. Nor did they wield proportionate economic power — the heritage of slavery and Jim Crow had seen to that. They weren’t well-armed. Gun control laws, which always disarm the most helpless, had made quite sure of that. The militant approach favored by Malcolm X, and later the Black Panthers, certainly frightened white people. But it could have just as easily provoked...

Mary Taft lives with her two daughters, seven cats and two dogs in a mansion in Panama — and she wouldn’t have it any other way. But the former teacher and school administrator didn’t always know that a Panamanian retirement was in store for her. Indeed, as she consulted with her two adult daughters about where to move, dozens of spots were on the table. “We had this blue-sky conversation — where can we all go and live together?” the 63-year-old former Springfield, Mass., resident recalls. “Canada was out because it was too cold. We wanted the tropics because we...

Viola Davis is set to portray former First Lady Michelle Obama in First Ladies, a one-hour White House drama, which has been put on fast-track development at Showtime with a three-script commitment. Davis will executive produce the project, which hails from writer Aaron Cooley (novels Four Seats: A Thriller of the Supreme Court, The Guns of Ridgewood), Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions, Cathy Schulman’s Welle Entertainment (Otherhood), Jeff Gaspin’s Gaspin Media (LA’s Finest) and Brad Kaplan (The Intruder). Showtime and Lionsgate TV co-produce. Viola Davis is set to portray former First Lady Michelle Obama in First Ladies, a one-hour...

Former NBA star objected to additions (Newser) – Larry Bird was surprised to see his tattoos in a mural painted on the side of a building in Indianapolis. The spider web tattoo on his left shoulder, the dagger on his right cheek, "Hoosier" on his neck—and more—don't exist on the real Larry Bird. So the retired NBA great's lawyer struck a deal with the street artist, Jules Muck, the Indianapolis Star reports. The tattoos are gone now, except for the "Indiana" on an arm and the street artist's "Muck Rock" signature, which was moved from inside a heart on Bird's...

His mom had told him not to ride on the autobahn (Newser) – An 8-year-old boy got a stern talking-to earlier this week when he took his mom's Volkswagen for a joyride on the German autobahn, but after pulling the stunt again—hitting speeds 112 mph—he's been put into psychological counselling, the AP reports. Dortmund police said Friday the grade-schooler stole the keys to the Golf around midnight and drove from his hometown Soest to Dortmund, about 30 miles away. Police say another motorist reported the child driving at high speeds in the city, saying "red lights and driving regulations did...

She fell in while doing maintenance work(Newser) – An Oregon woman almost died in an extremely unpleasant way after falling into a septic tank at her rural home, authorities say. Firefighters believe the Clackamas County woman was doing maintenance work when she fell into the tank, where she was trapped for up to three days, KPTV reports. "It looks like there was work being done on the septic tank," says Estacada Rural Fire District No. 69 division chief Richard Anderson. "There was a tractor in the area and a hole had been dug exposing the tank. And then she had...

It takes a fearless DJ to stand up for “late-night vibes” when you’ve got Bill Clinton asking you to turn the music down. But that’s what happened in the Hamptons when Bill and Hillary Clinton, Jon Bon Jovi and former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine dined at chic East Hampton hotel the Maidstone late Friday. A witness said, “Bill asked the staff to turn down the music as the late-night music scene was just beginning because there were still people having dinner [and their table was deep in political discussion]. They were told ‘no’ by the DJ. The wait staff...

This is my use case--maintaining the Wifi connection as I move around the yard (1.2 acres). I work in the yard a lot, and the fact that I'm moving (around the yard) also means that the Wifi signal can be in and out. I have an Asus RT-AC5300 as my base and it provides fine coverage over most of the house. And covers most of my yard, although there are some weak spots on the farthest extremes. The router itself is on one end of the house in a spare bedroom. The wife doesn't want it in the middle "where...

SANTA FE, N.M. — When a mutual friend of long-time Santa Fe restaurateur Murphy O’Brien and hotel entrepreneur Allan Affeldt introduced them a year ago, little did O’Brien know that he would end up re-opening the Legal Tender, Lamy’s landmark bar and restaurant. Those who know the enthusiastic Affeldt and his passion for renovating the classic American railroad hotels of Fred Harvey would not be surprised. Affeldt acquired, renovated and opened La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Arizona, several decades ago with his wife Tina Mion and, more recently, the Castañeda Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico – both former Harvey...

Last night’s Miami-Florida game helped ring in what was the earliest start of the college football season ever. Judging by the TV ratings, the early beginning might become tradition. The contest, which kicked off at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN, drew a 4.1 overnight rating. That’s the best for a game on the Worldwide Leader in nearly three years.

In a piece headlined "Uh-oh: Silicon Valley is building a Chinese-style social credit system," Fast Company's Mike Elgan reports on similar, albeit extralegal efforts to create something similar right here in the United States. Ever gotten out of an Uber and given your driver a low rating because his car was dirty or he drove unsafely? Well, he can rate, you too, as can other "gig" service providers. Elgan writes: