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This would likely be an easier column to write if I were more familiar with the life and work of Beyonce’, but even I know that she’s a very popular singer with significant music sales and well attended concerts. In terms of the latter revenue stream, events of that magnitude always require security staff on hand to keep the rowdy fans under control and that’s a thriving business in America. What’s less often discussed is the fact that off duty police officers frequently take such jobs and do their moonlighting work with the full blessing of their bosses. It’s not...

BREAKING Ben Carson on Hannity: I support Donald Trump over GOP establishment: #Trump2016 #AlwaysTrump https://t.co/L1o8jKzwVv— Debi #AlwaysTrump (@new_debis) March 8, 2016

So sweet and adorable! This little girl is wonderful

**SNIP** Health officials say the "ReThink Your Drink" campaign is aimed at reducing the amount of sugar-sweetened beverages that Alabamians have in their diets. They say a 20-ounce soda or sweetened tea can have 240 calories from sugar.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/2684115743001/96-year-old-widower-makes-billboard-chart-history/

A man's quest to overcome his fear of rejection by making at least one crazy request a day for 100 days was throttled last week when a Krispy Kreme employee accepted his order for five doughnuts linked together in the colors and shape of the Olympic symbol. "It's only my third day and I have already failed," Jia Jiang wrote on his 100 Days of Rejection Therapy blog. "But I did so with such amazement and happiness." When the 31-year-old approached the register to make his "specialized" doughnut order, Jackie Braun, a shift leader at an Austin, Texas, Krispy Kreme,...

A new law proposed by MK Zvulun Orlev (Bayit Yehudi), who is chairman of the Knesset Children's Rights Committee, would prevent parents from giving their children “weird” or strange names that other children were likely to make fun of. The law would forbid parents from naming their children with names that “hurt their welfare or their feelings.” The law, to be presented Sunday for the approval of the Ministerial Law Committee, would establish a “public names committee” which would include experts such as social workers, psychologists, and educators, that would confer with the relevant government ministries on “unacceptable” names that...

Though not very well known in the United States, at least until the past few years, the miracle fruit is a cranberry like fruit that has the unique property of being able to make acidic or bitter foods taste sweet. And while the protein that makes this possible has been known for quite a while, just how exactly it did its trick has been a mystery; until now. A team of Japanese and French researchers working together have solved the puzzle and have published the results of their efforts in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Miracle fruit,...

Beijing officials reaffirmed China's commitment to the euro currency and the European economy as uncertainty grows over whether E.U. officials can quickly recover from their debt crisis. In a statement to reporters, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said he hopes Europe has the ability and wisdom to overcome its debt crisis and ensure the safety of Chinese investments. Approximately 25 percent of China's huge $2.8 trillion foreign exchange reserves are invested in euro-dominated assets, making Beijing vulnerable if the currency declines. While some analysts say China must stay the course despite deepening crisis in member states such as Italy and...

AN ANGEL IN THE POST OFFICE Date: 2007-11-23, 10:55PM MST This is one of the kindest things I've ever experienced. I have no way to know who sent it, but there is a kind soul working in the dead letter office of the US postal service. Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month. The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her...

Republican Ron Johnson now leads incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold by 12 points in Wisconsin’s race for the U.S. Senate. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Johnson picking up 54% support, while Feingold, who is running for his fourth term in the Senate, gets 42% of the vote with leaners included. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, and two percent (2%) more are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) The latest numbers move this race to Leans Republican from a Toss-Up in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Balance of Power rankings.

By NBC News Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 4:47pm An Illinois community is mourning the death of 7-year-old Jason Walter after the boy was viciously attacked by four dogs Wednesday. Walter, his brother and mother were visiting Eric Shanklin at his rural home in Marshall County where the incident took place. According to Marshall County Sheriff Rob Russell the 7-year-old was mauled by three pit-bulls and a mixed-breed in Shanklin's driveway early Wednesday morning. Family members called 911.

Sweet little hobby Create a buzz, and help distressed bees, with your own hive JANET CARSON SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE While some people fear bees and many worry about getting stung, these little insects more than redeem themselves as the primary pollinators of plants worldwide. Today is National Honeybee Appreciation Day — well deserved because it’s estimated that more than 80 percent of flowering plants and almost a third of human food crops need bees as pollinators. Reports have been claiming the loss of bee populations is due to mites, pesticides and human activities. Many species of pollinators, including bees,...

LOCATION: Jericho THE SKINNY: It’s the concept that never seems to die, and that’s a good thing according to JERICHO executive producer/director. While promoting his new horror TV series HARPER’S ISLAND for CBS (airing midseason), Turteltaub tells iF that he’s really happy about JERICHO’s first season being re-aired Sunday nights on the CW.

When Robert Dynes departed as president of the University of California, we hoped his pattern of outlandish compensation for his staff and others would depart with him. It didn't. It merely took another form, which became public in April when UC Berkeley Police Chief Victoria Harrison retired with a lump-sum package of $2.1 million and was immediately rehired as UC Berkeley police chief with higher pay than she had earned before her retirement. At the least, Harrison's rehiring broke the UC regents' rules, which limit retirees to one year of work and no more than 19 hours a week. It...

The more important issue than Senator Obama’s choice of words, is the world view underneath them. By using voter’s adverse economic circumstances to rationalize his cultural beliefs, Barack Obama has reintroduced what has been a defining question in American politics for more than generation: Why do so many working-class voters cast their ballots on social and values-based issues like gun ownership, abortion and same-sex marriage rather than on economic policy prescriptions?These voters — known as “the silent majority” in the 1970s, “Reagan Democrats” in the ’80s, and as “values voters” during the last two election cycles — have long been...

Sweet Potato Promises Hunger Relief In Developing Countries ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2007) — Sweetpotatoes, often misunderstood and underrated, are receiving new attention as a life-saving food crop in developing countries. According to the International Potato Center, more than 95 percent of the global sweetpotato crop is grown in developing countries, where it is the fifth most important food crop. Despite its name, the sweetpotato is not related to the potato. Potatoes are tubers (referring to their thickened stems) and members of the Solanaceae family, which also includes tomatoes, red peppers, and eggplant. Sweetpotatoes are classified as "storage roots" and belong...

More than 140 years after the Civil War ended, a Mason-Dixon line of sorts still persists when it comes to iced tea. Order an iced tea at a restaurant in the Deep South or Texas, and the frosty beverage set before you likely will be a world away from what you’d be served in New York or Chicago. Sweet tea, as Southerners call their iced tea, is named for its two key ingredients – tea and lots of sugar. There’s no such thing as an unsweetened sweet tea. And unlike its summer-loving Northern counterpart, sweet tea is consumed year-round. “About...

Today Bill OReilly blamed "Sugar" for our obseity. HE, like most Americans, has confused High Fruitose Corn Syrup with Sugar. In the Days when Soft Drinks and Fast Food actually used Sugar, 12 ounces was a BIG Pepsi. When Donut Batter included real Sugar, a box of a Dozen was expected to sevre 6 or more. We got Full, not FAT. Then Cuba fell to Castro. Industry discovered "Corn sweeteners". Today, Government and the Media call "High Fruitose Corn Syrup" SUGAR. Then they blame "SUGAR" for our Obeisity.

FORT HUACHUCA — On Sept. 11, 2003, Ronald Fruchey was beginning Army basic training. In March of that year, the United States and its coalition partners attacked Iraq. On Monday, Fruchey, now a specialist with Company C, 40th Signal Battalion, held his 6-month-old daughter Eliana. Monday was 9/11, five years after the U.S. was attacked by terrorists and three years after he started basic training to become a soldier, and it was the day he came home from Iraq. While Sept. 11, 2001 and 2003, both have special meanings, for Fruchey it is this year’s Sept. 11 that has the...