It's not just about the Smithsonian in the nation's capital; a whole world of singular museums awaits. Everyone knows about the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC's crown jewel of museums and research centers established in 1846 "for the increased and diffusion of knowledge." They're among the world's most visited museums and a major reason why millions of tourists traipse around the nation's capital every year. But the best museums in DC extend above and beyond the Smithsonian, including entire entities devoted to the news (the Newseum), spies (International Spy Museum), and solely women artists (National Museum of Women in the Arts). Large and small, eclectic and unique, they span a world of natural and cultural curiosities. Here are the best museums in DC, Smithsonian and not. National Gallery of Art One of the world's finest collections of Western art, the National Gallery of Art on the National Mall is where you come to see rooms full of Old Masters and Impressionists (in the neoclassical West Building) and their more modern contemporaries (in the I.M. Pei-designed East Building). A gift of Pittsburgh banker and industrialist Andrew Mellon in 1937 to the American people, the collection continues to expand from the original 126 paintings and 26 sculptures, there are now more than 124,000 artworks and ever growing (with 900 or so on display at one time). Highlights include Auguste Renoir's "A Girl with a Watering Can," Wayne Thiebaud's "Cakes," and North America's only da Vinci, Ginevra de' Benci (be sure to peek at the emblematic portrait on its back side). The Sculpture Garden across the street showcases larger-than-life sculptures. General Admission: Free National Museum of African American History and Culture The epic National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall opened in 2016 to great fanfare, making it one of the top Washington D.C. attractions . You start at the lowest level, in the depths of the earth, symbolizing the devastating journey formerly enslaved people took from Africa into a life of servitude. The exhibits, spanning the Civil War, Restoration, Jim Crow era, the Civil Rights movement, and more, don t shy aware from the horrific realities, forcing visitors to examine some brutal truths of America s very foundation. On the upper levels, African-American arts and culture are celebrated with original artifacts, including Louis Armstrong s trumpet and Marian Anderson s red-orange silk dress, which she wore while singing at her famous Easter Sunday concert in 1939 at the Lincoln Memorial (after being rebuked from Constitution Hall). General Admission: Free. Required timed passes, available only online , are still difficult to obtain, as the museum remains one of the top Washington DC attractions ; you must reserve months in advance. Otherwise, a small number of same-day tickets are released online at 6:30 am. The Phillips Collection Visitors flock to the Phillips Collection for one famous painting in particular: Renoir s  Luncheon of the Boating Party,  acquired by museum founder and art collector Duncan Phillips in 1923. But you ll find plenty of other masterpieces in this intimate house museum in the Dupont Circle neighborhood, established in 1921 and reigning as the country s first contemporary art museum. What truly sets the collection apart is the fact that Phillips was more interested in paintings that spoke to him more than their market value though his instinct for singular works was spot-on. The chapel-like Rothko Room was designed to the artist s precise specifications. National Museum of Women in the Arts The elegant Renaissance Revival-style building in downtown DC is the perfect setting for the National Museum of Women in the Arts , the world s only major museum devoted to women s contributions to the arts. You ll find the big hitters here, including Camille Claudel, Mary Cassatt, Georgia O Keeffe, and Frida Kahlo, as well as lesser-knowns, including Lavinia Fontana, Rosa Bonheur, and Justine Kurland. In total, more than 4,500 paintings span the 16 th century to modern day. General Admission: $10 Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History You'll need all day to explore the massive Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, covering everything from mammals to human origins (including replicas of ancient paintings) to gems and minerals to dinosaur fossils more than 126 million natural science specimens and cultural artifacts in total. If it's all a tad overwhelming, start off by seeking out the most famous exhibitions: the African Bush Elephant in the entrance rotunda, the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond, and the Indo-Pacific coral reef swarming with tropical fishies. You'll be curious to explore further from there, guaranteed. General Admission: Free Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Be prepared to be wowed as you enter the Boeing Milestones of Flight, a great hall in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum filled with historic celebrity air- and spacecraft Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis among them. From there, twenty-two galleries take you through the story of our fascination with flight, showcasing digital displays, artifacts, and interactive exhibits. Touch a veritable moon rock, climb into a giant Boeing 747 cockpit, and test your skills at air-to-air combat in an F-4 Phantom II jet fighter. No wonder it's one of the top Washington D.C. attractions. General Admission: Free Smithsonian National Museum of American History The Smithsonian Institution is often referred to as the nation's attic, and there's no place more obvious of the fact than at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History , a repository of America's most important artifacts. We're talking amazing stuff like the Star-Spangled Banner, Julia Child's Kitchen, Abraham Lincoln's Top Hat, Judy Garland's Ruby Red Slippers, even the First Ladies' Inaugural Gowns. The museum, covering everything from transportation to food to the President's role to innovation, has three million artifacts in total, with only three to five percent on display at any one time. General Admission: Free Newseum The state-of-the-art Newseum is devoted to exactly what you think it is the news. Fifteen galleries and fifteen state-of-the-art theaters delve into the role of free press in democracy, past and present. Among the exhibits, you'll find 400 historic front pages dating back to the 1400s, the largest section of the Berlin Wall outside Germany (and an explanation on how a free press helped bring down the wall), and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs. The Knight TV Studio is a real-life studio that has hosted Good Morning America segments, while "I-Witness" Is a 4-D movie introducing some of history's greatest reporters, including Nellie Bly and Edward R. Murrow. General Admission: The tickets are not cheap at $24.95, but they're good for two consecutive days and you'll want to return, given the amount of fascinating info in this primo museum. National Archives This sacred marble National Archives near the National Mall houses the nation's most important documents: the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. You'll find them in the hushed rotunda encased in bulletproof cases. But those are just the superstars of a repository numbering more than 10 billion super-important Federal papers dating back to 1774, plus millions of maps, charts, drawings, photos, motion picture films and 133 terabytes of electronic data. The David M. Rubenstein Gallery interprets some of America's most important crossroads, including the civil rights struggle, immigration, and the women's suffrage movement, while the Public Vaults showcase original records, covering everything from Federal investigations to Congressional flying saucer hearings to the Nuremberg trials. General Admission: Free Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress Where are the books? That's the first question everyone asks when entering the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill, the world's largest library . Indeed, the Grand Hall resembles a veritable Italian-Renaissance palazzo rather than a library, with marble statues, mural mosaics, and architectural flourishes. You can peer down on the octagonal Main Reading Room, with 250 desks beneath a towering dome, while side galleries contain permanent and temporary exhibits pulling from the library's vast collection. The books, by the way, more than 39 million of them (plus millions of recordings, photographs, maps, sheet music, manuscripts, even baseball cards), can be found tucked away on approximately 838 miles of shelves. General Admission: Free United States Holocaust Memorial Museum You're given an "identity card" of a real-life person who experienced the Holocaust upon entering the blocky, redbrick United States Holocaust Memorial Museum near the National Mall, and by the end of your visit you'll know whether they survived or not. Clearly, this is not an easy museum to visit, but it's an important one to remind of the atrocities committed by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945 toward Jews, Romans, gays, the mentally ill, and others. The exhibitions detailing the history are detailed, some are graphic. At the end, a Hall of Remembrance provides a much-needed chance to reflect. General Admission: Timed entry tickets are free but between March and August must be secured in advance or obtained on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 10 am. Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens Cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post filled her northwest DC home with French and Russian works of art, always with the mind of turning it into a museum. Upon her death in 1973, the doors of this sumptuous, 36-room Georgian mansion were opened to the public as the Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens , providing a glimpse into a spectacular world of exquisite taste and fine living, a place where presidents, royals, dignitaries, and celebrities were fêted. Highlights include the Louis XVI drawing room, Russian icons and tapestries, and an impressive collection of Faberg eggs, one of the largest outside Russia. There s also a dacha on the vast, landscaped grounds that features temporary exhibits. General Admission: $18 International Spy Museum Yes, there are real-life spies in DC, and while we don't know where they are and what they're doing, we can learn about their ways at the thrilling International Spy Museum in Penn Quarter (slated to move to L'Enfant Plaza in November 2018). Exhibits delve into the history of espionage, going as far back as Moses' use of spies in Canaan; spy gadgetry, weapons, and disguises; and a special look at James Bond with more than 100 movie artifacts. You can see why it's one of the top Washington DC attractions. General Admission: $22.95 Smithsonian American Art Museum/Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery You get two museums in one at this celebration of American art, occupying the glorious Greek Revival Old Patent Office in Penn Quarter. The Smithsonian American Art Museum exults more than three centuries of art, ranging from Early America to Western Art to Impressionism to Modernism. Highlights include the world's largest collection of New Deal art, a fine collection of American impressionism (including Mary Cassatt), and Albert Bierstadt's celebratory Western landscapes. At the adjoining Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery , you'll find the only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House, but these aren't necessarily their official portraits. Some are staged, others are just fun. Look for Grover Cleveland's portrait in French Impressionist style, Bill Clinton's abstract portrayal by Chuck Close, and the most recent, Kehinde Wiley's recently unveiled Barack Obama, sitting in a leafy garden setting. General Admission: Free Smithsonian National Postal Museum A postal museum might not sound like the most exciting museum around, but this celebration of the U.S. Postal Service is particularly well done. Housed in the former Washington City Post Office, the Smithsonian National Postal Museum 's interactive exhibits look at the history of mail delivery, stamp collecting, direct marketing, and more. The stamp collection, comprising more than six million specimens, includes the stamp that delivered the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian. A prop plane and antique railway car in the atrium remember mail delivery in the olden days. General Admission: Free Dumbarton Oaks Dumbarton Oaks is famed for its Beatrix-Farrand-designed gardens, but few know about the small yet extraordinary museum housed in the mansion on the grounds. Robert Woods Bliss and his wife, Mildred, amassed a world-class collection of Byzantine and Pre-Columbian art, now curated by Harvard University and on display in specially designed galleries. The Byzantine collection spans the fourth to 15 th centuries, including fine gold, silver, and bronze vessels, jewelry, and coins. Housed in a glass-and-travertine wing designed by Philip Johnson, the Pre-Columbian collection gleams with gold pectorals, ceremonial jewelry, and stone carvings of Aztec deities and animals. General Admission: Free Freer Gallery of Art Step into the Freer Gallery of Art the National Mall's first art museum (1923), housed in a Renaissance-style palazzo and you're whisked into a hushed world of eclectic Asian and American art. The collections range from ancient Egyptian stone sculpture to Korean pottery to Persian manuscripts. A recent renovation restored the original terrazzo floors, installed new lighting, and added witty descriptions beside each piece. Here, too, you'll find the stunning Victorian-era Peacock Room by James McNeil Whistler; the shutters are opened every third Thursday every month, when its gilded adornments gleam in the natural light. General Admission: Free The Society of the Cincinnati This Gilded Age mansion in the Dupont Circle neighborhood showcases the eclectic décor, tapestries, furniture, sculpture, and paintings collected during various diplomatic postings around the world of its former owners and DC socialites, Larz and Isabel Anderson. But what truly sets it apart is the fact that it's also the official headquarters of the Society of the Cincinnati . You know, that historical society founded by Revolutionary War veterans in 1783 (George Washington himself served as the first president general, and Larz Anderson was a devoted member). You'll learn all about the nation's oldest private patriotic organization on the first two floors. General Admission: Free Museum of the Bible The monstrous Museum of the Bible just south of the National Mall opened in 2017 to much fanfare and controversy (it's the pet project of Hobby Lobby head and evangelist Steve Green). Most agree, however, that in the end it provides a fascinating and richly textured look at the world's most published book and its continued influence on the world today. State-of-the-art displays break the mold of museum exhibiting, including a 4-D movie experience that takes you on a virtual flying tour through DC in search of biblical references; a living history experience of first-century Nazareth, including costumed interpreters who field questions about life back then; and the only exhibition of Israeli antiquities outside Israel. You'll want to set aside a good chunk of time to take everything in and even then, you won't see everything. General Admission: $15 requested donation White House Visitor Center Rest assured, even if you don't have tickets to visit the White House , one of the top Washington DC attractions , you still can have a White House experience at the White House Visitor Center's fun, hands-on museum on Pennsylvania Avenue. Exhibits present the history of the Executive Mansion, behind-the-scenes stories (including the usher's role); and a touchscreen tour of the White House. You'll learn what it takes to move one President out and one President in on moving day; favorite presidential snacks (James Garfield enjoyed squirrel soup); and personal insights from past presidents on what it means to live in America's most famous residence. General Admission: Free U.S. Botanic Garden Wait, this is a garden, not a museum! Is that what you're thinking? Actually, the U.S. Congress created the U.S. Botanic Garden in 1820 to accumulate and catalog plants culled on military and exploring missions. In effect, it's a museum of plants. The glass-roofed structure contains more than 10,000 seasonal, tropical, and subtropical specimens, including cacao, pineapple-scented sage, and the corpse flower, which smells like a rotting corpse when in bloom. Be sure to stroll through the rain forest, filled with tropical specimens, as well as look down upon it from the catwalks. Other rooms present Mediterranean and desert specimens; orchids; and medicinal plants, while the National Garden just outdoors contains gardens devoted to roses, butterflies, regional plants, and water plants. General Admission: Free Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Modern and contemporary art are extolled at the circular-shaped, poured-concrete Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden on the National Mall. All the superstars are here, including Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, Louise Bourgeois, and Anish Kapoor. But there are some under-the-radar exhibits to note as well, including dramatic postwar art (Yoko Ono's "Sky TV for Washington," for example). The sunken Sculpture Garden just across the street, showcasing Henry Moore, Alberto Giacometti, and Auguste Rodin among its works, is a primo picnic spot. General Admission: Free Renwick Gallery You never know what to expect at the Renwick Gallery, a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located just steps from the White House. When it reopened in 2015 after an extensive renovation, entire rooms were given over to nine contemporary artists to create larger-than-life, site-specific, wonder-inducing installations including one room wallpapered entirely with insects. This ode to American crafts and decorative arts continues to amaze, daring to push the boundaries, entirely devoted to its motto: Dedicated to the Future of Art. General Admission: Free


Neuralink, the Elon Musk-led startup that the multi-entrepreneur founded in 2017, is working on technology that's based around 'threads' which it says can be implanted in human brains with much less potential impact to the surrounding brain tissue vs. what's currently used for today's brain-computer interfaces. "Most people don't realize, we can solve that with a chip," Musk said to kick off Neuralink's event, talking about some of the brain disorders and issues the company hopes to solve. Musk also said that long-term Neuralink really is about figuring out a way to "achieve a sort of symbiosis with artificial intelligence." "This is not a mandatory thing," he added. "This is something you can choose to have if you want." For now, however, the aim is medical and the plan is to use a robot that Neuralink has created that operates somewhat like a "sewing machine" to implant this threads, which are incredibly thin I(like, between 4 and 6 μm, which means about one-third the diameter of the thinnest human hair), deep within a person's brain tissue, where it will be capable of performing both read and write operations at very high data volume. All of this sounds incredibly far-fetched, and to some extent it still is: Neuralink's scientists told The New York Times in a briefing on Monday that the company has a "long way to go" before it can get anywhere near offering a commercial service. The main reason for breaking cover and talking more freely about what they're working on, the paper reported, is that they'll be better able to work out in the open and publish papers, which is definitely an easier mode of operation for something that requires as much connection with the academic and research community as this. Neuralink co-founder and president Max Hodak told the NYT that he's optimistic Neuralink's tech could theoretically see use somewhat soon in medical use, including potential applications enabling amputees to regain mobility via use of prosthetics and reversing vision, hearing or other sensory deficiencies. It's hoping to actually begin working with human test subjects as early as next year, in fact, including via possible collaboration with neurosurgeons at Stanford and other institutions. The current incarnation of Neuralink's tech would involve drilling actual holes into a subject's skull in order to insert the ultra thin threads, but future iterations will shift to using lasers instead to create tiny holes that are much less invasive and essentially not felt by a patient, Hodak told the paper. Working on humans next year with something that meets this description for a relatively new company might seem improbable, but Neuralink did demonstrate its technology used on a laboratory rat this week, with performance levels that exceed today's systems in terms of data transfer. The data from the rat was gathered via a USB-C port in its head, and it provided about 10x more what the best current sensors can offer, according to Bloomberg . Neurlalink's advances vs. current BCI methods also include the combined thinness and flexibility of the 'threads' used, but one scientist wondered about their longevity when exposed to the brain, which contains a salt mix fluid that can damage and ultimately degrade plastics over time. Elon Musk is bankrolling the majority of this endeavour as well as acting as its CEO, with $100 million of the $158 million its raised so far coming from the SpaceX and Tesla CEO. It has 90 employees thus far, and still seems to be hiring aggressively based on its minimal website (which basically only contains job ads). Elon Musk also noted at the outset of today's presentation that the main reason for the event was in fact to recruit new talent.


The 119th U.S. Open got under way at Pebble Beach on Thursday and Rory McIlroy was aiming to make an early impact. Action at the California course began at 6:45 a.m. local time (9:45 a.m. ET), with players starting in groups of three from both the first and 10th tees. A grandson of 1960 U.S. Open champion Arnold Palmer was given the honor of playing the opening tee shot at the first hole. Sam Saunders, a 31-year-old professional who is in the field after battling through qualifying in Columbus, Ohio, said in the build-up to the tournament he was "incredibly flattered" to be asked. Palmer, one of golf's all-time greats, died in 2016. Sam Saunders, the grandson of Arnold Palmer, will have the honor of hitting the opening tee shot of the 119th #USOpen : https://t.co/lroYidZaEg pic.twitter.com/3w9r0PBBtg   U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 13, 2019 McIlroy was due off at 7:51 a.m. PT, looking to end his major championship title drought which stretches back to 2014, when he won both the British Open and the PGA Championship. He arrived at Pebble Beach buoyed by winning the Canadian Open in style last weekend courtesy of a final-round 61. Among the afternoon starters was Brooks Koepka, seeking a third successive U.S. Open triumph. He won at Erin Hills in 2017 and Shinnecock Hills last year, and was due to begin his latest challenge at 1:47 p.m. local time in the company of Norwegian debutant Viktor Hovland and Italian Francesco Molinari. MORE : U.S. Open 2019: Three under-the-radar players to watch | U.S. Open 2019: How Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, others will attack Pebble Beach Masters champion Tiger Woods was due out after Koepka, at 2:09 p.m., playing in the headline group of the day with Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose.


The U.S. women`s national team arrived in New York on Monday, a day after beating the Netherlands 2-0 to capture a record fourth Women`s World Cup title. Players and staff touched down at Newark Liberty International Airport at about 4:30 p.m., where they were met with cheers and a banner saying "Congratulations Team USA!" More fans waited at their hotel in Manhattan, and the players ...


OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) These Golden State Warriors have long been able to score in fabulous, jaw-dropping flurries. Down by eight to the Portland Trail Blazers at home with 4 1/2 minutes to go, they needed every last burst, perfect pass, driving layup and dunk. ''Our experience really paid off for us tonight having a bunch of guys who just won't quit,'' said Draymond Green, who was right smack in the middle of it all. Stephen Curry scored 37 points, and the Warriors rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit before holding off Portland on the final possession for a 114-111 win Thursday night and a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals. Golden State coach Steve Kerr insisted his team stole this game with a sensational final few minutes and another, familiar third-quarter outburst. Counterpart Terry Stotts of the Trail Blazers considered it a ''lost opportunity'' on the road. CJ McCollum missed a driving jumper with 32 seconds left and Green scored on the other end for the Warriors, giving Portland one final chance with 12.3 seconds to go. Andre Iguodala then blocked a 3-point attempt by Damian Lillard on the left wing. ''They stole it, but they earned it down the stretch,'' McCollum said. Seth Curry, Steph's little brother, scored 16 points and put Portland ahead on a 3-pointer with 1:03 left before Kevon Looney's dunk on the other end put Golden State back on top at 112-111. Seth tried to ''distract'' his brother at the free throw line late, or so the story went from Steph, who called Seth a ''pest'' on defense. ''This was like the coolest experience I think I've ever had playing against him. You talk about the stage, he was amazing tonight,'' Stephen Curry said. ''For my parents, I know we've talked about it the whole series, these last two games it's probably nerve-wracking as heck for them. It worked out perfectly tonight. He played well and we won.'' Stephen Curry shot 11 for 22 and made all 11 of his free throws - three with 2:01 left - to post his third straight 30-point performance while Splash Brother Klay Thompson needed a half to heat up, scoring 13 of his 24 points in the Warriors' 39-point third period. It was reminiscent of those old third-quarter runs that have defined this group. McCollum scored 22 points for Portland and Lillard overcame a slow start to add 23 points and 10 assists as the Blazers looked far more in sync than in a 116-94 defeat two days earlier. Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is Saturday night at Portland. ''We did play a much better game at both ends of the floor tonight. We've got to take that into Game 3,'' Stotts said. ''It is a lost opportunity, no question. We had a chance to get one here on the road.'' Green made a pretty bounce pass through the paint to a cutting Iguodala for a dunk with 3:06 left to make it 108-105, then Green assisted on a layup by Looney the next possession. ''Draymond's been special all playoffs,'' Thompson said. ''... When he goes, we go. He was tremendous tonight.'' Green had 16 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and five blocked shots playing with foul trouble. His seven straight playoff games with at least 10 rebounds are a career high. ''We've been here before,'' Green said. ''When you're on a run like we're currently in, you've seen everything. Down eight points with what, four minutes to go, or whatever it was, just got to keep going, because we know we can erase eight points.'' The Warriors missed Kevin Durant for a third straight game because of a strained right calf and he isn't likely to return at all this round. Curry scored Golden State's first eight points of the third to get his team back within 69-58 then Thompson hit two straight 3s. The Blazers had built a 65-50 halftime lead, capitalizing on 10 Warriors turnovers for 18 points. Then two of the top backcourts in the Western Conference went at it in an entertaining final two quarters. The game was tied at 89 to start the fourth. The Warriors already got past James Harden and Chris Paul in the last round - now it's McCollum and Lillard standing in the way of a fifth straight trip to the NBA Finals. Portland showed it made adjustments from Game 1 and brought it on both ends from the opening tip after the Blazers had regularly left Curry wide open on the perimeter off the pick-and-roll and he scored 36 points while matching his postseason high with nine 3-pointers. ''We've got to bring that same energy at home,'' McCollum said, ''understand that this is the first time in 19 years we've been in the conference final.'' LILLARD AT HOME Lillard isn't ready to ponder this might have been his final game at Oracle Arena, just a short walk from where he grew up in Oakland. The Warriors are moving to new Chase Center in San Francisco next season. The Blazers want to return to the Bay Area for a Game 5 next week. ''I doubt this will be the last time. We plan on being back here,'' Lillard said. DURANT UPDATE Durant will miss at least Games 3 and 4, scheduled to be re-examined by doctors in another week. That means he wouldn't be expected to return until the NBA Finals if Golden State advances. Durant was re-evaluated Thursday and is not yet ready for on-court work - a necessary step before the two-time reigning NBA Finals MVP can return to game action. TIP-INS Trail Blazers: Seth Curry stole the ball from big brother Steph in the second quarter. They are the first brothers to ever face each other in a conference final. ... The Blazers are 1-10 all-time against Golden State in the playoffs. Warriors: The Warriors are 31-4 in the postseason when Curry scores 30 or more points. ... Golden State shot 3 of 13 from deep in the first half and 9 for 29 overall on 3s. ... The Warriors are 15-4 in Game 2 of postseason series dating to the 2015 title run. --- More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports


Curious just how far your dollar goes in Cambridge? We've rounded up the latest rental offerings via rental sites Zumper and Apartment Guide to get a sense of what to expect when it comes to finding a rental in Cambridge if you've got $3,400/month earmarked for your rent. Take a peek at what rentals the city has to offer, below. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.) Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions. 347 Third St. (East Cambridge) First up, there's this one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment over at 347 Third St. It's listed for $3,315/month. The building offers a residents lounge, a swimming pool, outdoor space, a fitness center and garage parking. You can also expect to find granite countertops in the unit. Pets are not welcome. According to Walk Score, the surrounding area is quite walkable, is great for biking and has excellent transit. (Check out the complete listing here .) 285 Third St. (East Cambridge) Next, check out this 747-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom abode that's located at 285 Third St. It's listed for $3,321/month. The building offers garage parking. You can also expect to find a dishwasher, a walk-in closet and carpeted floors in the unit. Luckily for pet owners, both dogs and cats are allowed. The listing specifies a $199 deposit. Per Walk Score ratings, the surrounding area is very walkable, is great for biking and is a haven for transit riders. (Take a look at the complete listing here .) 205 Walden St. (Peabody) Then, listed at $3,270/month, this 963-square-foot two-bedroom, one-bathroom spot is located at 205 Walden St. The building boasts a fitness center. You can also expect to find a dishwasher, hardwood flooring and a walk-in closet in the residence. Pet owners, take heed: cats and dogs are permitted. Look out for a $199 deposit. According to Walk Score, this location is quite walkable, is convenient for biking and has good transit options. (See the complete listing here .) Memorial Drive (MIT) Located at Memorial Drive, here's a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment that's listed for $3,330/month. In the unit, you'll find a fireplace and carpeted floors. When it comes to building amenities, anticipate on-site laundry, assigned parking and a fitness center. Hairball alert: Cats are permitted. Expect a broker's fee equal to one month's rent. Walk Score indicates that this location is very walkable, is great for biking and boasts excellent transit options. (Take a gander at the complete listing here .) 130 Cambridgepark Drive (North Cambridge) Finally, here's a 1,022-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment at 130 Cambridgepark Drive that's going for $3,334/month. The building features a swimming pool and a fitness center. The apartment also comes with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. Both cats and dogs are allowed. Per Walk Score ratings, the surrounding area is moderately walkable, is quite bikeable and has good transit options. (See the full listing here .) Working with a tight budget? Here are the cheapest rentals recently listed in Cambridge . This story was created automatically using local real estate data from Zumper and Apartment Guide , then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.


Football is back, baby! The lull between OTAs and training camp has finally coming to an end. Which means the beginning of football season is quickly approaching. And although we are still very, very early in the process, it is never too soon for teams to put a plan in place for those hindered by injury or medical issues. Today, that's exactly what the Miami Dolphins did when they placed tight end Dwayne Allen , linebacker Mike Hull , and defensive back Cordrea Tankersley on the active/physically unable to perform list. The Dolphins also claimed former Cardinals' offensive lineman Will Holden off waivers, and waived DB Jamar Summers . We have placed Dwayne Allen, Mike Hull and Cordrea Tankersley on the active/physically unable to perform list and Kendrick Norton on the reserve/non-football injury list, we have claimed Will Holden off waivers and waived Jamar Summers. Read More: https://t.co/WRKECzFnJk   Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) July 21, 2019 The Dolphins also placed defensive tackle, Kendrick Norton on the reserve/non-football injury list. Norton was released from the hospital on Thursday, after suffering a career-ending injury during an automobile accident earlier this month. This move allows the team to pay Norton 's salary in addition to his medical bills. Miami might not always be the most competitive team on the football field. But what they do for the community and their players is second-to-none. Well done, Stephen Ross.


NEW YORK (AP)   He has rubbed elbows with a prince and flown a former president on his private jet. He amassed a fortune that includes a 100-acre island in the Caribbean and one of the biggest mansions in New York. He has donated tens of millions of dollars to Harvard and other causes, becoming a darling of professors and scientists   all without a college degree. Jeffrey Epstein has long been an enigma, his ascent shrouded in mystery. Just how a middle-class Brooklyn math whiz became a Wall Street master of high finance with friends in very high places has been a subject of tabloid speculation for years. Now, the details of Epstein's life and his alleged predilections are coming into sharper focus as federal prosecutors in New York pursue sex-trafficking charges accusing the 66-year-old billionaire of recruiting and abusing dozens of underage girls at his mansions in New York and Palm Beach, Florida, in the early 2000s. Epstein, who pleaded not guilty Monday, could get up to 45 years in prison if convicted. The financier avoided a potentially long prison sentence on nearly identical allegations more than a decade ago thanks to a once-secret agreement with federal prosecutors in Florida that has been widely criticized as a sweetheart deal. In bringing charges this time, prosecutors in New York said a search of Epstein's Upper East Side mansion over the weekend yielded a vast trove of hundreds or even thousands of lewd photos of young women or girls. Epstein's defense attorneys contend he never used violence or coerced any of the girls, and that his actions amount, at most, to soliciting prostitution. They say the charges should be dismissed in light of Epstein's earlier plea deal. "This is ancient stuff," defense attorney Reid Weingarten said during a court appearance Monday. Epstein has long obscured the source of his wealth. Even after his arrest, he refused to provide authorities with even basic information about his income and assets. His attorney said Epstein's lawyers intend to provide the information but want to make sure it is correct first. This much is clear: "He is a man of nearly infinite means," federal prosecutor Alex Rossmiller said in court. The somewhat reclusive Epstein splashed onto the international scene in 2002 after a New York tabloid reported he had lent his Boeing 727 to ferry former President Bill Clinton and other notables on an AIDS relief mission to Africa. Profiles in New York magazine and Vanity Fair followed, establishing Epstein's reputation as an exorbitantly wealthy playboy and a stealthy Wall Street mover and shaker. Vanity Fair in 2003 described him holding court in his extravagant New York mansion with real estate tycoons, business executives and the scions of some of America's wealthiest families. He was said to spend 75 minutes a day practicing yoga with a personal instructor and eschewed email for face-to-face conversations. Vanity Fair reported that he drank Earl Grey tea and didn't touch alcohol, tobacco or drugs. Epstein also enjoyed surrounding himself with women much younger than him, including Russian models who attended his cocktail parties and beautiful women he flew aboard his plane, according to the Vanity Fair profile. His friends over the years have included Donald Trump, Britain's Prince Andrew and former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz. "I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy," Trump told New York magazine in 2002. "He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it   Jeffrey enjoys his social life." The writer of the Vanity Fair article, Vicky Ward, said Monday that she had also interviewed two girls who alleged Epstein tried to entice them into sexual activity, but that the magazine didn't run that part of story. Former editor Graydon Carter said it was cut because he "didn't have confidence" in Ward's reporting. Epstein grew up in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, the son of a New York City parks department employee. He taught calculus and physics at the prestigious Dalton School, a prep school in Manhattan, from 1973 to 1975, despite not having a college degree. Attorney General William Barr's father, Donald Barr, was headmaster at the time. Dalton graduate Paul Grossman said that he never had Epstein in class but that he was known among students as a math whiz. "Everyone pretty much knew him as brilliant," said Grossman, who graduated in 1978. "None of us were surprised that when he left Dalton he made a zillion dollars in business." William Barr has decided not to recuse himself from overseeing Epstein's case, a Justice Department official told The Associated Press on Tuesday. But Barr has withdrawn from taking part in any review of the 2008 deal in Florida because Barr's former law firm previously represented Epstein, the official said. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Epstein left Dalton in the mid-1970s for a job at Bear Stearns at the urging of a student's father who arranged a meeting with the chairman of the investment bank, according to published reports. He later began his own money-management business, J. Epstein & Co. Epstein also forged a relationship with Leslie Wexner, the retail titan behind Victoria's Secret, The Limited and other store chains. He started managing Wexner's money in the late 1980s and helped straighten out the finances for a real estate development Wexner was backing in a wealthy Columbus, Ohio, suburb. It was through Wexner that Epstein acquired his Manhattan mansion, a seven-story, 21,000-square-foot former prep school less than a block from Central Park. It has been valued at about $77 million. Wexner's relationship with Epstein soured around the time of the money man's Florida arrest, and Wexner severed ties with him nearly 12 years ago. Wexner has not commented on Epstein's latest arrest. "Little is known or said about Epstein's business except this: He manages money for the extremely wealthy," the Palm Beach Post reported in 2006 after Epstein's legal troubles began there. "He is said to handle accounts only of $1 billion or greater." In 2008, he reached a non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in Florida over allegations of sex with underage girls. He was allowed to plead guilty to state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution and served 13 months in jail. The deal also required that he reach financial settlements with dozens of his alleged victims. Epstein nearly got another break in 2011, when the Manhattan District Attorney's office took the unusual step of asking a judge to register him as a lowest level sex offender so he wouldn't be required to check in with authorities every 90 days. Judge Ruth Pickholz balked, saying she had "never seen a prosecutor's office do anything like this," and the DA's office later reversed its position. Federal prosecutors acknowledged Monday that the current charges overlap with the Florida case from more than a decade ago. But they said one count in the indictment is based entirely on New York victims. Epstein spent most of his time in recent years in the Virgin Islands and regularly flew off to foreign destinations, making more than 20 trips in and out of the U.S. on his private jet in the last 18 months, according to prosecutors. He has six homes, including one in Paris, and two private planes. Workers in Epstein's New York neighborhood said Tuesday that they rarely saw him, if at all, in recent years. A bellman a few doors down who declined to give his name said he saw the billionaire leaving his mansion about three months ago with a woman who was covering her face. The bellman said he had seen multiple women going in and out maybe once every two weeks. Michelle Licata, who says she had sexual encounters with Epstein when she was 16, welcomed his arrest. "The first moment of finding out that Jeffrey Epstein was put in jail was so relieving to me I felt safer," she said Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America." "I've waited for this one day just to happen and it's finally come." ___ Associated Press writers Ali Swenson, Bernard Condon and Randy Herschaft in New York, Michael Balsamo in Washington, Danica Coto in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and Curt Anderson in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blocked the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on a U.S. list of countries that recruit child soldiers, dismissing his experts' findings that a Saudi-led coalition has been using under-age fighters in Yemen's civil war, according to four people familiar with the matter. The decision, which came after a fierce internal debate, could prompt new accusations by human rights advocates and some lawmakers that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is prioritizing security and economic interests in relations with oil-rich Saudi Arabia, a major U.S. ally and arms customer. Pompeo's move comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, the Saudis' bitter regional rival. State Department experts recommended adding Saudi Arabia to the soon-to-be released list based in part on news reports and human rights groups' assessments that the desert kingdom has hired child fighters from Sudan to fight for the U.S.-backed coalition in Yemen, the four sources said. The Saudi government, Saudi embassy in Washington and Saudi-led coalition did not respond to requests for comment. The coalition has previously said it was upholding international human rights standards and denied the use of child soldiers. The experts' recommendation faced resistance from some other State Department officials who, according to three of the sources, argued that it was not clear whether the Sudanese forces were under the control of Sudanese officers or directed by the Saudi-led coalition. A New York Times report in December cited Sudanese fighters saying their Saudi and United Arab Emirates commanders directed them at a safe distance from the fighting against the coalition's foes, Iran-aligned Houthi militias. Pompeo rejected the recommendation from the experts, who are from the State Department's anti-human trafficking office, said the four sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. The office has a key role in investigating the use of child soldiers worldwide."The United States condemns the unlawful recruitment and use of child soldiers. We place great importance on ending the practice wherever it occurs," a State Department official said in response to Reuters' questions. The official, however, did not specifically address the Saudi decision or whether any consideration was given to Riyadh's security ties to Washington. Instead of adding Saudi Arabia to the list, Sudan will be reinstated after being removed last year, three of the sources said. A spokesman for Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which has contributed fighters to the Yemen war, said the force is affiliated with Sudan's military. "Based on Sudanese laws, it does not recruit minors," he said. He did not directly respond to a question on who controlled Sudanese forces in Yemen. The UAE government did not respond to a request for comment. The child soldiers list will be part of the State Department's annual global Trafficking in Persons report, which the sources said is expected to be released as early as Thursday. BAN ON U.S. AID The Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 requires the State Department to report annually on countries using child fighters, defined as "any person under 18 years of age who takes a direct part in hostilities as a member of governmental armed forces." Foreign militaries on the list cannot receive U.S. aid, training and weapons unless the president issues full or partial waivers of those sanctions based on "national interest." Trump and his predecessors have done this in the past for countries with close security ties to the United States. While internal debates over issues like child soldier violations often take place ahead of the release of the annual State Department list, this one was especially heated, several of the sources said. Since the end of 2016, the Saudi-led coalition has deployed as many as 14,000 Sudanese at any given time, including children as young as 14, to fight in Yemen, offering payments of up to $10,000 per recruit, according to the New York Times. The article cited Sudanese fighters who had returned home and Sudanese lawmakers. In Washington, the Yemen conflict is a contentious issue well beyond the State Department. Republican and Democratic lawmakers, citing evidence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's role in the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and angered by the civilian toll from the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen, have ramped up efforts to block Trump's multibillion-dollar arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Congressmen Tom Malinowski and Ted Lieu organized a letter to Pompeo from more than a dozen lawmakers in March that said they were "gravely concerned by credible reports" of the Saudi-led coalition deploying Sudanese child fighters in Yemen. They called for a U.S. investigation, including into whether they had been armed with U.S.-made weapons, and also asked for an inquiry into "credible evidence of Houthi forces forcibly conscripting minors into combat." BLOODY CONFLICT Sudan sent thousands of troops to Yemen with the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in the civil war in 2015 against the Houthis, who had captured most of the main populated areas of the country and forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile. Almost from the start, accusations of the use of child soldiers have dogged the parties to the bloody conflict. A report by an independent group of experts to the U.N. Human Rights Council in August 2018 found that all sides in Yemen "conscripted or enlisted children into armed forces or groups and used them to participate actively in hostilities." The Trump administration has faced controversy in the past over its handling of the child soldier issue. Reuters reported in 2017 that then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson opted to remove Iraq and Myanmar from the child soldiers list and rejected a recommendation to add Afghanistan to it, despite the department publicly acknowledging that children were still being conscripted in those countries. The State Department said at the time that while the use of child soldiers was "abhorrent," it was still in "technical compliance with the law." Pompeo, who succeeded Tillerson, reinstated Iraq and Myanmar on the list last year. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Jonathan Landay; Additional reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz in Khartoum, Ghaida Gantous and Aziz Yaakoubi in the Gulf; Editing by Jason Szep and Ross Colvin)


MIAMI (CBSMiami)   The Broward Sheriff's Office says a woman has been taken into custody after fatally stabbing her boyfriend multiple times in Pompano Beach. Police say the homicide occurred Tuesday evening at a residence in the 2700 block of 1st Street. BSO says responding officers were called to a possible domestic violence incident at the residence and found a man suffering from multiple stab wounds. Detectives say the victim's girlfriend, identified as Donna Lacey, stabbed him while he lay in the bedroom. She faces second-degree murder charges. The man, whose identity has not been released pending next of kin notification, was transported to Broward Health North where he died from his injuries. Police say Lacey has 17 prior arrests in Broward County for charges including battery, burglary, violation of domestic violence protection order, prostitution, possession of cocaine, elderly exploitation, and battery on law enforcement. Anyone with further information is urged to call BSO detectives at 954-321-4242 or Broward Crime Stoppers, anonymously, at 954-493-TIPS (8477).


A Bexar County grand jury voted not to indict San Antonio Police Officer Steve Casanova for the death of Charles Roundtree, Jr., a spokesperson for the Bexar County District Attorney's Office confirmed. Roundtree, who was 18 at the time, was a bystander who was killed during an officer-involved shooting on October 17, 2018. According to San Antonio police, Officer Steve Casanova went to investigate an assault claim at 217 Roberts Street when the fatal shooting happened. PREVIOUSLY: 'It is a priority of mine:' Bexar District Attorney breaks silence on deadly SAPD shooting PREVIOUSLY : SAPD shooting victim's family not unfamiliar with officer-involved shootings PREVIOUSLY : Court documents show grand jury investigation underway in SAPD shooting that killed unarmed 18-year-old Investigators said the officer thought felony weapon suspect Davante Snowden had a gun. Body cam video sent to Eyewitness News shows the officer discharging his gun at Snowden through a door. Police said the gunfire went through Snowden's backside and into Roundtree's chest. The 18-year-old was killed. Investigators linked a gun found outside the home to Snowden. In a court appearance, the suspect's attorney said a DNA test ordered by the DA's office revealed his client DNA was not on the weapon . Davante Snowden was indicted by an earlier grand jury for illegally possessing of a handgun as a result of this incident, the DA's office said. The case against Snowden is pending trial. Roundtree's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the officer and SAPD. The family regularly demonstrated outside Elizondo Tower to draw attention to the case. "Our office presented all the evidence regarding this officer-involved shooting to the grand jury," said Bexar County District Attorney Joe D. Gonzales. "Although the decision of the grand jury may not be the decision that was hoped for by the family of Charles Roundtree, Jr., we respect the grand jury's decision and extend our sympathy to the Roundtree family." MORE FROM THIS CASE: EXCLUSIVE: Body camera video of fatal SAPD officer-involved shooting reveals intense, questionable moments 'I watched him die': Eyewitness to SAPD officer-involved shooting claims policeman overreacted Protesters demand justice for teen killed in officer-involved shooting Lawsuit: SAPD officer who killed teen used 'excessive force'


People who live in Clemson and surrounding areas will see an increased police presence at the end of the month, according to Jimmy Dixon, Clemson police chief. Dixon said the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is coming to town beginning July 29 for their annual summer rally. The group will be in the city until Aug. 2 and will be involved in events throughout the region, ranging from business meetings to outdoor activities at a local park, according to Dixon. "To address this event, local, state and federal law enforcement partners have been working together to create an operational plan that focuses on safety and security during the event and minimizes any disruption that may occur to normal, daily activities around the city and university," Dixon said. Dixon said police are deploying law enforcement officers throughout the area to increase visibility and assist with any traffic congestion or delays that may come up due to an increase in traffic throughout the area. "Residents and visitors can expect to see an increase in motorcycles traveling throughout the area and members of the club frequenting shops, restaurants and hospitality venues downtown," Dixon said. He said senior law enforcement leaders have been working directly with the Hells Angels leadership to develop relationships with key members and create a clear communication channel. "This ongoing communication and outreach, which has worked well in other cities visited by the club in the past, will continue throughout the event to manage expectations and gain compliance with all laws and regulations," Dixon said. READ MORE: Clemson police get ready for Hells Angels to arrive next week CHECK OUT WYFF: Get the latest Greenville news and weather. For live, local, late-breaking Greenville, SC, news coverage, WYFF is the place to be.


Papa John's, Louisville native Jamon Brown and his NFL team are teaming up in an effort to keep Louisville's public pools open. The pizza company's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Division and the Jamon Brown Foundation made a donation to Louisville Parks and Recreation, according to the foundation's executive director Danny Mosby. Brown's current team, the Atlanta Falcons, will be matching the donation. "We are working with the mayor's team as they determine the best solution for the families impacted by the pool closures," a Papa John's spokesperson told WLKY. The donations do not guarantee the pools will open this summer. The Fern Creek and University of Louisville alumnus has used his success to drive change in his hometown, and his foundation aims to help at-risk youth. Brown keeps a constant presence in Louisville, hosting football camps, helping organizations assisting the city's homeless population and recently donating money to cover funeral costs for a 3-month-old. Louisville's four public pools located at Algonquin Park, Fairdale - Nelson Hornbeck Park, Norton - Camp Taylor Memorial Park and Sun Valley Park are being affected as the city looks to cut $25 million from its budget due to rising pension obligations. READ MORE: Papa John's, Jamon Brown team up in effort to keep Louisville pools open CHECK OUT WLKY: Live. Local. Late-Breaking. Get the top Louisville news, weather and sports from the team at WLKY   online, anytime.


As a mother of a brown boy, I am always thinking of a way I can protect him from police brutality. How can I teach him to respect police and have love for police, but also to fear the police? What exactly should I tell him? This is a daunting task for any mother of color. Our white counterparts have the luxury of teaching their children that the police are here to protect and serve. Black mothers teach our kids the very same thing, but with a twist   the police may not always serve you. You will be considered Enemy No. 1 as soon as you reach double digits. For African-Americans, police brutality has no borders   it affects African-Americans of all backgrounds. Educated or not, poor or not, you are still in danger of being harassed and targeted by the police. I know, no matter how much I invest in my son's education or raise him to be an extraordinary man, he is still at risk of police brutality. It's no longer "what will I tell my son," but what will I tell my child   girls are victims just as much as boys. For me, it's all about survival. How can I get this child from point A to point B? When I am faced with the question: "What do I tell my son?" I immediately and literally think of survival. In an attempt to prevent harm to my son, I have created a set of instructions for life. Here is the set of instructions I intend on telling my son as a way to save his life. 1. Be a model citizen We have seen time and time again, that in the event of a killing by the hands of police, the media attempts to discredit the victim. My advice to my son is to educate himself and to be a model citizen. African-American men don't have the luxury of being average. You have to be exceptional. Live your life as a man with integrity and class. Be a great person and follow the rules. Spend your life engaging with positive people of all backgrounds. If you fail to create a life for yourself that is the exception, it will be the first place they will attack your character. By being a model citizen, they can no longer attempt to discredit you with past indiscretions or minor infractions, should an issue ever arise. 2. Accept that there are double standards I am a realist. I would love for racism and racial profiling to end, but right now there is   and has always been   a double standard for people of color. My advice to my son is to live his life, knowing there are many negative expectations, stereotypes and misconceptions placed on him. Don't be the stereotype. If you are wronged or mistreated, don't be silent. Stand up for yourself, but know that you must do it in a way that will not appear aggressive. Be the bigger person and take the rational, calm and educated approach. There is definitely a double standard associated with people of color. When you face racism or mistreatment, be smart and outsmart them at their game. Use strategic tactics, like writing a letter to a superior, connecting with like-minded organizations or starting a social media following. We have access to the masses through social media   use it. Use it to raise awareness of a shady situation or to promote change. 3. If you ever come in contact with the police or a person of authority Remain calm. Never reach for anything or try to run. Identify the issue early on. Once you realize it's a race issue, realize this is a fight you can't debate or win on a dark street all alone. Just let the whole scene play out and fix it later. There is no point in trying to reason with them. If they are determined to give you a hard time, they will. In that moment, they have the upper hand. Let them believe they have won, because there is no point in losing your life. Sure, they may violate your rights and disrespect you, but you will live to see another day. You have more power the next day in court than all alone on the street. 4. I would rather you be an advocate than a victim If you find yourself in a predicament with the police, don't allow your ego to get in your way. Be silent and make a mental note of everything, their name, badge, police department, the location of the incident and the entire scene. Never provoke them. We can use this valuable information to file a report, contact the internal affairs division of the department or contact a lawyer. There is more power this way. If they attempt to arrest you, be arrested   don't give a fight. We will find you. Don't be known for losing your life to police brutality   be known for being an advocate. Take your experience, report it, start a movement, start a blog, raise awareness and empower blacks and non-blacks about the issues of police brutality. My approach to my son is not to justify, condone or place blame on victims of police brutality. It is my attempt to protect him. I feel that there are no real guaranteed answers that I can give, but these are the instructions I have to give to keep him safe. My goal is to prepare him for life. The reality is, at some point, he may have an encounter with the police, and my hope is that he employs these strategies. My overall goal is to encourage him to find the means to always make it home.


President Trump was furious. He had just learned that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation went beyond Russia's interference in the 2016 campaign and into the White House   and that Trump himself was now under scrutiny for his actions in office. The next day, he attempted to oust Mueller, only to be thwarted by his White House counsel, according to the special counsel's report. So Trump turned to the one person he could long count on to do his bidding: Corey Lewandowski, his former campaign manager, described by senior White House advisers to investigators as a Trump "devotee." In a private Oval Office meeting, the president dictated a message he wanted delivered to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions: that he needed to give a speech announcing he was limiting the scope of the investigation. Trump's efforts to enlist Lewandowski as a back channel to try to curtail the probe, detailed in 10 pages of Mueller's 448-page report, provides a new window into how far the president went in trying to hold back the special counsel. The episode, which discomfited even some of Trump's most loyal advisers, was read by some legal observers as one of the clearest cases laid out in Mueller's report of potential obstruction of justice by the president. In unequivocal terms, the report states that there was "substantial evidence" that Trump hoped his actions would derail Mueller's investigation and prevent further scrutiny of his campaign and his own conduct. Subscribe to the Post Most newsletter: Today's most popular stories on The Washington Post But senior Justice Department officials took a more skeptical view, which informed Attorney General William P. Barr's later conclusion that Trump could not be charged with obstructing justice, according to people familiar with the thinking. The differing interpretations might help explain how Barr ultimately came to his decision, despite the detailed evidence in Mueller's report. "All the attorney general was deciding was whether this was a prosecutable offense, and we don't bring criminal charges at the department unless we believe we can prove them beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury," a senior Justice Department official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. The White House declined to comment. The president has claimed that Mueller's investigation resulted in his "complete and total exoneration." "Despite the fact that the Mueller Report was 'composed' by Trump Haters and Angry Democrats, who had unlimited funds and human resources, the end result was No Collusion, No Obstruction. Amazing!" he tweeted Thursday. Through a combination of missed opportunities and personal hesitation, Lewandowski never executed Trump's demand. But the roughly month-long period in the summer of 2017 depicted in Mueller's report details repeated and escalating efforts by the president to stymie the Russia probe   laying out evidence that former prosecutors said meets the elements required in an obstruction-of-justice charge. "This is a very significant episode," said Barbara McQuade, who served as a U.S. attorney in Michigan during the Obama administration. "The question is, are all of the elements of obstruction of justice met? Was there an act, was there a sufficient nexus and was there a corrupt intent? Here, the answer is yes, yes and yes." She added: "There are several episodes where I am confident that if this were not the president of the United States, charges would absolutely be recommended. And this is one of them." Former independent counsel Robert W. Ray, however, said he believes the president's conduct in office must be assessed with some nuance   not just to see whether it meets the technical case for obstruction. "It's the president. . . . You've got to have a certain amount of latitude for the president to roam and maneuver in the execution of his constitutional duties," Ray said. He said he was not arguing that the president is above the law but that prosecutors have discretion about whether to charge a crime and always look at more than merely whether the elements of a crime are present. 'Mueller has to go' Trump was already unhappy about the special counsel's investigation when The Washington Post reported on June 14, 2017, that Mueller had broadened his probe to include whether Trump had obstructed justice. The president was now "facing what he had wanted to avoid: a criminal investigation into his own conduct that was the subject of widespread media attention," the report stated. Three days later, Trump called White House Counsel Donald McGahn and directed him to have Mueller removed, according to the special counsel's report. "Mueller has to go," McGahn recalled the president telling him. The White House counsel contemplated resigning but ultimately was persuaded by other Trump aides to stay. He did not follow the president's directive. Trump denied the episode in a tweet Thursday, saying he never told McGahn to fire Mueller. "If I wanted to fire Mueller, I didn't need McGahn to do it, I could have done it myself," he wrote. Since the release of Mueller's report, congressional Democrats have focused on trying to get more information from McGahn, a participant in several key episodes who has drawn Trump's ire for sharing potentially damaging information with prosecutors. But the report indicates that Lewandowski also provided revealing information about his interactions with Trump during an April 2018 interview with the special counsel's office. Lewandowski declined to comment. On June 19, 2017, two days after his call to McGahn, the president summoned Lewandowski to the White House   going outside the government to execute a task his own White House counsel had refused to carry out. Lewandowski had repeatedly proved his loyalty to Trump. He had signed on with the campaign when the New York mogul's candidacy was widely dismissed as a joke. He followed the mantra of "Let Trump be Trump" and offered fiery defenses of his boss. When he was fired from the campaign, he appeared on television that day to praise Trump. By the time he met with the president in the Oval Office that June day, he had refashioned himself as a Washington lobbyist, drawing on his Trump ties. After some small talk, the president turned to the purpose of the meeting, according to the special counsel report. He was angry that Sessions had recused himself from the Russia investigation and had a message he wanted Lewandowski to pass along to the attorney general. "Write this down," the president ordered Lewandowski, prompting the former aide   who had never taken dictation from Trump before   to begin scribbling as fast as possible, to make sure he captured Trump's torrent of frustration. Trump wanted Sessions to deliver a speech declaring that the president was "being treated very unfairly" and that he should not be facing a special counsel investigation "because he hasn't done anything wrong," the report states. Sessions should conclude the speech, Trump told Lewandowski, by announcing he planned to meet with Mueller in order to limit the investigation to future instances of meddling in U.S. elections. The senior Justice Department official said bringing a prosecution on those facts would have been complicated because the obstruction "relies on multiple people in a chain all doing something," including Lewandowski delivering the note, Sessions being persuaded by it and then Sessions moving on the special counsel. "That's a very attenuated chain," the official said. "It's even more attenuated given that the note isn't even an order." McQuade said that Trump's decision to turn to a supporter outside of government such as Lewandowski as his messenger was legally significant, indicating that the president viewed this as an action to be taken outside of official channels. "It will be clear this is coming from Trump himself and not coming from another government official," she said. "It makes the message more powerful. It provides a fair inference of corrupt intent." Ray took a different view, noting that the actions the Mueller report described are certainly within the purview of the president   giving orders to his attorney general, and even choosing to seek out private citizens to accomplish his goals. A president should be able to feel out his role and decide how he thinks it best to carry it out, he said. The Justice Department official said prosecutors would have had to prove not just that Trump wanted to shut down the investigation but that he did so with corrupt intent. The official said there was some evidence that Trump wanted to end the investigation because of the effect it was having on his presidency, rather than to cover up another crime, and noted that Mueller did not conclude Trump coordinated with Russia to interfere in the election. Lewandowski told the president he understood his request but felt uneasy, according to the report. He told investigators that he wanted to have the conversation with Sessions in person, rather than over the phone. He invited Sessions to his office the following evening because he did not want the public record of the meeting if he met with the attorney general at the Justice Department, the report said. Because of a last-minute conflict, the attorney general canceled the meeting. Lewandowski said he stored his notes of Trump's request in a home safe   his standard practice for items he believed were sensitive. But he also began contemplating a way to hand off the task. Former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus told Mueller's team that he vaguely remembered Lewandowski telling him that Trump had asked him to get Sessions to resign   and that Lewandowski was befuddled by the request. "What can I do?" Priebus recalled Lewandowski saying. "I'm not an employee of the administration. I'm nobody." Lewandowski approached Rick Dearborn, a former chief of staff to Sessions who served as a senior White House official, and asked him if he might deliver a message to Sessions, without describing the contents. Dearborn agreed. Lewandowski told investigators that he believed Dearborn would make a "better messenger" than him because of Dearborn's deep relationship with Sessions, but also because he was a government official. On July 19, 2017, Trump and Lewandowski again met alone in the Oval Office. Their encounter came shortly after the New York Times reported that Donald Trump Jr. had met during the campaign with a Russian lawyer who he believed would provide damaging information on Hillary Clinton. Trump again asked Lewandowski if he'd spoken with Sessions about the president's previous request. Lewandowski promised he would soon. The president told his former campaign manager that if Sessions refused, Lewandowski should simply tell the attorney general he was fired, according to the special counsel's report. Before entering the Oval Office, Lewandowski had given his handwritten notes from the previous meeting to Hope Hicks, then the White House communications director, and asked her to type them up. When he left the Oval Office, he ran into Dearborn, and handed him the typewritten version of the message Trump wanted delivered to Sessions. It was the first time Dearborn learned of the contents of the missive. He told Mueller's team that it "definitely raised an eyebrow" and made him uncomfortable. He said didn't want to know where the directive came from   or even think about it anymore. He did not pass along the message to Sessions and discarded the notes. Dearborn declined to comment. Meanwhile, Trump was publicly ramping up his attacks on Sessions. Just hours later, in an interview with the Times that was originally supposed to be off the record, Trump lashed out at his attorney general. He criticized Sessions's decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation and said had he known, "I would have picked somebody else." Later that day, Lewandowski and Hicks discussed the Times interview, according to the report. Lewandowski confided in Hicks about Trump's request that he meet with Sessions, telling her that Trump had told him to tell the attorney general to do the "right thing" and resign, she told investigators. Lewandowski also joked about the absurdity of Trump telling him, a private citizen, that if Sessions refused to meet with him, he should simply tell the attorney general he was fired. Hicks declined to comment. Three days later, Trump ordered Priebus to force Sessions to resign   a directive the then-chief of staff also resisted. But Trump's ire with his attorney general resonated: For the rest of the year, Sessions carried a resignation letter in his pocket every time he visited the White House. 'Substantial evidence' Three elements are required to prove an obstruction-of-justice charge. Prosecutors must show an act had a nexus to a particular proceeding or investigation, that it would naturally impede that proceeding and that it was undertaken with corrupt intent. In the Lewandowski episode, the special counsel indicated there was strong evidence of all three elements, the report stated. By the time Trump issued his directive to his former campaign manager, it had been widely reported that a grand jury investigation was underway as part of the special counsel's investigation. If the president's efforts had been successful, he would have sharply curtailed the scope of Mueller's probe. Finally, the special counsel wrote that there was "substantial evidence" that Trump's intent was to shield himself from scrutiny. The investigation into potential obstruction of justice by the president ended without a final finding by Mueller. The special counsel decided that a Justice Department opinion that a sitting president cannot be indicted limited him from even saying whether a charge should be brought. But the report made it clear prosecutors believed there was evidence of a potential crime. "If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state," it read, adding: "While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him." The Justice Department official said the special counsel's report, though, was not in conflict with Barr's ultimate conclusion. "The special counsel never decided whether this is a prosecutable case, so there's no conflict between the attorney general's decision that it's not and the special counsel's report," the official said. ashley.parker@washpost.com rosalind.helderman@washpost.com matt.zapotosky@washpost.com


Houston will continue to experience light rainfall over the next few days, according to the seven-day forecast from drone-powered weather service Saildrone . Saturday should see the most rain, with a predicted accumulation of 0.46 inches. The next few days will also bring hot temperatures, expected to stick around through Thursday. The weather will bring a high temperature of 95 degrees on Thursday. Skies will partly clear up on Monday. Winds will stay light throughout the week, with the highest speeds on Thursday at just 10 mph. This story was created automatically using Saildrone's local weather forecast data, then reviewed by an editor. We also incorporate historic weather data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.


Here are some common health mistakes nurses try NOT to make. Nurses spend their work lives caring for the sick you'd better believe they know how to keep from getting sick themselves! Click through the gallery above for some common health mistakes nurses try NOT to make. Nibbling on your nails Most people consider nail-biting a bad habit, but there are also serious health risks associated with it, says Angela Campos, RN, a registered nurse who specializes in critical care in Cumberland Foreside, Maine. "Fingernails are an ideal breeding ground for bacteria like E.coli and salmonella that are transmitted by food. When people chew their nails, this bacteria can quickly enter mucus membranes in the mouth leading to illness." If you need help quitting the habit, try these strategies to stop biting your nails . Wearing your shoes in the house "Our shoes act as a vector, picking up allergens dirt, dust, mold spores, chemicals, bacteria, and viruses wherever we go," warns Lauren Bryan, RN, MPH, an infection preventionist at UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. "You can imagine the scenario for cross-contamination: shoes with the stomach bug norovirus on them from the grocery store come home and contaminate the floor where you set your handbag, your child then lifts the purse to get a piece of gum out of the bag, then with bacteria on their hands they put the gum into their mouth. Norovirus can live for weeks on a surface and it only takes a few viral particles to make you sick." So instead of bringing all of that stuff into and around your house, Bryan advises leaving your shoes in the mudroom, garage, porch, or a bin in the entryway. "Just don't set a shoe rack indoors next to an air vent or it will aerosolize all of those particulates on your shoes." And remember to wash your hands or use hand sanitizer after tying your laces or otherwise handling your shoes, she says. Assuming your airplane seat is clean "We all know the downside to the recycled air on airplanes but the seats can harbor all sorts of nastiness, too," says Bryan. "Think about it, folks are trapped in a seat and their coughs, sneezes, mucus, food droppings, etc., all sit on the seat you're about to inhabit. And there's never enough time for the airlines to clean the seat properly [between flights]." Next time you fly, wipe down the armrests, tray table, and seat with a disinfecting or hand-sanitizing wipe before settling in, and try these 17 other strategies for staying healthy on a plane . Sleeping on dirty sheets "Even if they're not stinky or visibly soiled, sheets need to be changed weekly," says infectious disease specialist Natalie Ingmire, MSN, RN, director of quality and patient safety at Centura Health at Avista Adventist Hospital in Louisville, Colorado. Why? Dust mites. The mites themselves aren't harmful to humans, notes Ingmire, but their droppings are known to trigger respiratory problems, especially in those with allergies to the mites. Learn more about why you really need to wash your sheets every week . Never wiping down your purse or wallet How many times have you wiped down your wallet or purse? If you're like most people, probably never. "You may not think to sanitize your purse, but you should," says Ingmire. "All those important things that you keep in it phone, keys, credit cards come in daily contact with the world and can harbor all kinds of nastiness. A nurse will wipe down wallets, purses, and keys with a Clorox wipe once in a while." Ignoring the TV remote on cleaning day "Even if you're a good hand-washer, hands are rarely 100 percent clean at home, and the TV remote catches all those germs," says Ingmire. "So wipe the remote down with a disinfecting wipe, especially on vacation when you have no clue as to the last time your hotel remote was sanitized." You'll also want to know these 12 other items hotels aren't cleaning properly . Borrowing a swipe of lip balm "Sharing makeup or Chapstick is the quickest way to spread cold sores and other infections," says Ingmire. "If I have an eye infection and you use my mascara, you're getting it. And, if I keep using my own infected makeup, I'll keep infecting myself!" So it's important not to share makeup, and to throw yours away and replace it after an infection. If you're not sure if you have an eye infection, check out these clear symptoms of pinkeye . Using kitchen sponges for too long "Sponges are the heavy lifter in the house in terms of cleanup, but if you don't replace them frequently, you'll spread nasty stuff like salmonella everywhere," warns Ingmire. Several studies have found high levels of bacteria in used kitchen sponges, including one published in 2017 in the journal Scientific Reports that found several germs that can cause illness in people, including fecal bacteria (when this shows up in the kitchen, it's usually from meats, not your own bathroom). "I don't own one and never will," says Ingmire. But if you like using sponges to wash dishes and counters, be sure to disinfect them regularly. The Good House Keeping Institute and EMSL Analytical testing lab tested several different methods and found that the number one way to kill bacteria in your kitchen sponge is to soak it for five minutes in a mixture of 3/4 cup of bleach in one gallon of water, then rinse. The second-best method: Soak with water and microwave for one to two minutes. Keeping secrets from your medical provider Being open and honest with your health care providers is incredibly important, but too many people let embarrassment or worry get in their way, says Melissa Rubio , PhD, APRN, a nurse practitioner at the Lung Health Institute. "Sometimes patients will answer what they think their provider wants to hear, rather than what is real," says Rubio. You may say you don't smoke or drink, for example, when you might do so occasionally in a social setting. Or you may say you eat healthier or get more exercise than you really do. "When that happens, providers lose the opportunity to educate patients about a healthy lifestyle, especially if we already think you have a good handle on your health. Trust me, all of us can learn a thing or two about healthier living, and we also realize that our patients are human, and no one is perfect all the time." If you find yourself staying mum and not being truthful because you don't feel comfortable with your particular doctor or have had a bad experience with him or her, "it is perfectly OK to search for a provider who makes you feel comfortable, matches your energy and meets your needs," says Rubio. "We are not offended if you feel that we are not a good match." Start your search with these secrets to finding a good doctor . Not having a regular bedtime "The current lack of respect for sleep in our society that suggests you'll be able to catch up on sleep later is dead wrong. You can never fully catch up on missed sleep," says Valerie E. Rogers , PhD, RN, CPNP, assistant professor, University of Maryland School of Nursing. "The chronic sleep deprivation we subject ourselves to on a daily basis has important consequences for health including weight gain, lowered ability to fight off infections, and poorer heart and digestive health." Not only that, but lack of sleep can also take a serious toll on mental health and fuel depression and/or anxiety, says Campos. Most adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep , according to the National Sleep Foundation. One of the best ways to get it is to set a regular bedtime and stick to it. Incorporate these daily habits for better sleep into your routine . Getting too much light at night "We are healthiest when we maintain our body's alignment with the Earth's day and night cycle," says Rogers. Light from electronic devices and television can delay hormonal processes that help you get sleepy at night, leading to chronic sleep deprivation. "In the evening and at night, dim room lights and use programs on your electronic devices such as cell phones, tablets, and computers that dim the level of light emitted from screens." Or, even better, just shut them off an hour before you intend to go to sleep. Relying on alcohol to relax you Don't use alcohol as a sleeping aid, says Rogers. "The seduction of using alcohol to help you sleep is that it makes you feel sleepy and fall asleep easier. But as your blood alcohol level drops during the night, your sleep is repeatedly disturbed, and you'll probably find you don't feel well-rested in the morning." Another reason you may feel groggy in the morning is that alcohol blocks REM sleep , the most restorative kind, according to the National Sleep Foundation. What's more, alcohol relaxes muscles in your throat which increases snoring and can make sleep apnea worse. Try these surprising foods that will help you sleep instead. Skipping vaccinations Staying up to date on vaccines is important for adults, not just kids, says pediatric nurse practitioner Patsy Stinchfield, RN, vice president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases . "Adults are an important part of the community immunity we all need when adults protect themselves against vaccine-preventable diseases, they also protect others [by not getting sick and spreading the disease further]," explains Stinchfield. What's more, "being current on vaccines can prevent an adult from getting very ill, missing school or work, and having unnecessary expenses related to being sick. Even healthy young adults can be struck with a life-ending disease such as influenza. Prevention is better than treatment." As we age, the immunity gained from certain childhood vaccinations wanes, so she recommends that you review the recommended adult vaccination schedule from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and check your vaccination history at your next doctor appointment. Rubbing your eyes "I always preach to never rub your eyes or pick your nose with dirty hands," says registered nurse Jackie Dardis, RN, BSN, a heart rhythm coordinator at UCHealth. Cold viruses enter the body through mucus membranes such as those in the nose and eyes, so you could be introducing infectious viruses that you've touched during the day directly into your body without knowing it. "You can sit next to somebody all day long that has a cold and not catch it if you never touch your face with unwashed hands." Driving drowsy Driving while sleep deprived is incredibly dangerous, says Terry Cralle , RN, clinical sleep educator and Saatva sleep consultant. "I don't even like the term drowsy driving because it does not sound as serious as it really is. According to the CDC, drowsy drivers have slower reaction times, pay less attention to the road and make poor decisions while driving." Even worse, sleep deprivation impairs our clear thinking and insight. "So even when our performance plummets as a result of sleep deprivation, we will think we are performing just fine," says Cralle. "Unfortunately, we are all busy and too often, the thing we skimp on is sleep." Try one of these 50 simple ways to get better rest tonight. Blasting music in your headphones Listening to too-loud music through your headphones can impair your hearing in two ways: high volume and prolonged duration, explains Ashley Wood, RN, BSN, a contributor at Demystifying Your Health . "It's important to follow the basic rule that the louder the volume, the shorter the duration that you listen should be. In general, you should listen to music for no more than 60 minutes a day at 60 percent of the device's maximum volume this is known as the 60/60 rule. If you listen at max volume, it should only be for about five minutes a day. Both Android and iOS have apps that you can use to set volume controls. This is especially useful for parents who are concerned about their kids listening to music too loudly." If you use your headphones often in noisy places like city sidewalks, invest in a good pair of noise-canceling headphones , suggests Wood. "These are great because by reducing the amount of ambient noise, they allow you to listen to music at a lower volume than you would if you were using regular headphones. Your hearing is incredibly important and once the damage is done, it can't be undone." Brushing, but not flossing Flossing isn't just about the health of your teeth, says Wood. "The plaque that builds up on your teeth also builds ups under your gum line and between your teeth. When there's too much of it, you can end up with gum disease. This might not seem horrible, but it's linked to other health issues, such as stroke, heart disease, and diabetes." Here's how bad it is to not floss your teeth daily . Going overboard on booze It can be easy to drink too much when you're with friends you haven't seen for a while, or at a party where the host keeps filling your glass, says Teri Dreher , RN, owner and CEO of NShore Patient Advocates. But even one drinking binge causes an elevation in liver enzymes, she says. And if this behavior becomes more frequent or you start doing it when having strong negative emotions, there is an even greater risk: "Depression is made worse by alcohol. [And] as people get older, especially if they are alone, they may drift into alcoholism surprisingly easily. If you are in doubt about your drinking tendency, take the '30 day challenge' [where you abstain from alcohol for 30 days] and if you cannot abstain and need help, find a local AA meeting or rehab right away. Alcoholism does not only cause physical damage but heartbreaking family stress that can be remedied if caught in time. It is never too late to quit drinking." Use these 17 tips to help you cut back on drinking . Letting people hold your newborn "As a neonatal nurse practitioner who has cared for thousands of critically sick babies, this is one major thing I'd love to see new parents stop doing that puts their newborns at risk," says Traci Powell, MSN, APRN, a neonatal nurse practitioner at Nemours in Clermont, Florida. "A newborn doesn't have a developed immune system and hasn't yet received vaccines. Things like one sneeze from a stranger, a snotty little toddler running by the stroller, or even a grandma type in the baby's face who doesn't yet know that the next day she'll be hit with the flu that's cranking up in her body could all cause the baby to end up in intensive care with severe infection and possibly even meningitis causing permanent neurological damage at best and death at worse. Parents need to keep their newborns safely at home while their immune systems build." Not washing up after pumping gas How many times have you stopped to sanitize or wash your hands after filling your car with fuel? "This is a small change that can make a big difference," says emergency room nurse Lauren Mochizuki, RN. "Imagine all the different people that touch the pump every day. Now imagine taking all those germs, and ingesting them the next time you eat after you haven't washed your hands! That pump can host a variety of different bacteria. S. pneumoniae and S. Pyogenes can live on inanimate objects for an extended time, and this is an easy way to contract strep throat or a respiratory infection." We come into contact with more germs than we think; here these are the 10 other things you should always wash your hands after touching.


Training camp is rapidly approaching for the Kansas City Chiefs. Chiefs players will have reported to training camp by July 26 and everyone is wondering whether defensive tackle Chris Jones will be among them. Jones has held out throughout OTAs and minicamp in hopes of coming to agreement with the team on a contract extension that keeps him in Kansas City. According to a new report from Yahoo Sports' Terez Paylor, the Chiefs and Jones haven't made any headway in their talks of a contract extension in the recent weeks leading up to training camp. There has been "no change" in the situation between Jones and the Chiefs. As we know, deadlines prompt action in the NFL, and with 11 days to go until veterans report to training camp, things could change in a hurry. There has been no change in the Chris Jones situation in recent weeks, a source tells me. That could always change, but he does still have to report to camp by Aug. 6 to receive an accrued season toward free agency. - Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) July 15, 2019 The real deadline for Jones to be at St. Joseph, Missouri for training camp is August 6. He needs to report ahead of that date in order to accrue a full NFL season as it relates to free agency. If he fails to report, he won't become an unrestricted free agent in 2020. It's in Jones' best interest to report ahead of that August 6 date. It may even benefit Jones to end his holdout and get into the building as early as possible. There were earlier reports that the Chiefs wanted him in the building and working with the new defensive coaching staff before they were interested in negotiating a contract extension. Other reports say that the main holdup in negotiations is over contract timing and guaranteed money. The Chiefs have yet to extend any of their veteran defenders since the addition of the new defensive coaching staff under Steve Spagnuolo. They have several on expiring deals following the 2019 season like Kendall Fuller, Reggie Ragland and Xavier Williams. It's clear they're working on thorough evaluations for those players as it relates to the teams defensive future and contract extensions. Jones falls into that category and it seems his contract plight won't end, no matter the current impasse in negotiations, until he rejoins the team for training camp. MORE: Poker player argues over dealer chip counting error during crucial all-in hand at WSOP Main Event Roundup: Monica Lewinsky Fire Tweet, Richard Seymour in the Money at World Series of Poker, Robert Kraft New Girlfriend Trysten Hill may be crowning point on Cowboys star-studded defense Report: Broncos ready to draft Devin Bush before trade with the Steelers 4 possible trade destinations for Browns RB Duke Johnson


The Majestic Yosemite can be called the Ahwahnee Hotel again. The National Park Service on Monday reached a $12 million settlement in a long-running legal battle with Yosemite's former facilities operator that permits that name - and several others - to be restored to their historic attractions. "I've said from literally Day One that these names belong with these places, and ultimately belong to the American people," Yosemite National Park spokesman Scott Gediman said Monday. "So to have this dispute resolved is huge." The U.S. government paid $3.84 million of the settlement and Aramark, Yosemite's current concessions operator, paid $8.16 million, Gediman said. The dispute began in 2015 after Delaware North Companies Inc., which had operated the park's restaurants, hotels and outdoor activities, lost a $2 billion contract renewal bid to rival Aramark. Delaware North sued, claiming that when it took over operations in 1993, it had been required to purchase the previous concessionaire's intellectual property, which included the names of the attractions. The company wanted to be paid more than $50 million to allow Aramark to continue using the disputed names. Under the terms of Monday's settlement, Aramark will pay Delaware North to use the names through the end of its contract in 2031. Ownership of the names will then revert back to the federal government, leaving no question as to whether the park can continue using them, Gediman said. Perhaps most important, he said, the litigation has also affected how agreements for national park concessions are structured. Newer deals now specify that private companies can't independently own names and trademarks associated with park attractions. "It set a precedent for the over 400 national park units across the country, which is extremely significant," Gediman said. The Ahwahnee was one of the highest-profile properties renamed in 2016, pending the outcome of the lawsuit, but there were others. Curry Village, a collection of cabins that had carried the name since the 1880s, became Half Dome Village. Yosemite Lodge at the Falls was renamed Yosemite Valley Lodge. Wawona Hotel was renamed Big Trees Lodge, and Badger Pass Ski Area became Yosemite Ski & Snowboard Area. For about three years, signs advertising many of the attractions were simply covered with tarps bearing the temporary names. On Monday, the tarps came down. "People were crying," said Gediman, who was there when the cover was removed from the entrance to Curry Village on Monday morning. Visitors who were gathered at the historic site recalled holding engagements, marriages and even christenings there, he said. "Places like the Ahwanee Hotel and Curry Village, they both bring out such deep emotions in people and people have such connections to them." In addition to the signs, the historic place names will need to be changed back on brochures, hotel menus and other promotional literature. The park can also resume using hundreds of logos and slogans that were in dispute, like "Go climb a rock," which appears on merchandise advertising Yosemite Mountaineering School. It's expected to take several months to restore all the references, Gediman said. Related video: Waterfall appears as lava stream (Provided by BuzzVideos)