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Wednesday, July 12, 2017

The crack that changed the Earth forever

 
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The Short List
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The breakup is official

One of the largest icebergs ever recorded — 1 trillion tons, twice the volume of Lake Erie and roughly the size of Delaware — broke off from an ice shelf in Antarctica. It started with a crack in the Larsen C ice shelf that's been lengthening for months. It finally "calved" off the massive berg sometime between Monday and Wednesday.  We don't really know what's going to happen to the berg. It could hang where it is now, which is extremely cold, meaning it'll stick around for years. Or it could move north where it would melt more quickly. If you're wondering if global warming was the culprit, scientists say there's no direct evidence of that. However, it's widely accepted that warming ocean and atmospheric temperatures have been a factor in earlier disintegrations of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Another busy day in Washington: More Russia, a grilling on the Hill

1. Russia: The White House just can't shake it. President Trump defended his son and attacked the news media Wednesday for coverage of Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting last year with a Russian lawyer. The White House is playing down the meeting. Others say it stinks of collusion.  (Trump's son released emails Tuesday confirming media reports that he agreed to a meeting with a Russian lawyer because he believed the lawyer had dirt on Hillary Clinton.) Read our analysis of the meeting. 2. Trump's nominee for FBI director: Christopher Wray was grilled Wednesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. It comes two months after Trump's abrupt firing of James Comey as he was running the government's inquiry into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Wray vowed he would not be influenced by political pressure. "My loyalty is to the Constitution and the rule of law, full stop,'' he said.

A Japanese history buff just poked holes in another Amelia Earhart theory

American aviator Amelia Earhart, who disappeared 80 years ago, is back in the headlines as theories about her disappearance continue to captivate the world. The History Channel special Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence, which aired Sunday, purported that a long-forgotten photo proved Earhart survived a crash-landing and was taken captive by the Japanese. Within hours of the show's airing, a Japanese history buff called the theory into question. Kota Yamano said a quick Internet search showed the photo was first published in a Japanese photobook in 1935, two years before Earhart went missing. The History Channel is investigating the claims, but it's not looking good for its big scoop. 

Golf's Trump problem

The largest untapped market for golf is girls and women, especially when you count all the daughters of Title IX, millions upon millions of them. USA TODAY Sports columnist Christine Brennan said the U.S. Golf Association did everything in its power Tuesday to turn them all away. Before the 2017 U.S. Women's Open at Trump National, she asked at a news conference, "Does the USGA have a position on sexual assault?" Cue the crickets. Says Brennan: Three supposed leaders of the USGA sat dumbfounded. A female spokesperson in the room said they were there to talk about the competition. Hours later, they emailed her a statement. "[W]hen you're in business with Donald Trump, the man who appeared on the infamous Access Hollywood videotape bragging that he could sexually assault women without having to worry about the ramifications, your values start to fade," she wrote.  Read the full column.

More sad details about what unfolded the night Chris Cornell died

Documents obtained by the Detroit Free Press paint a late-night scene of a frantic wife hundreds of miles away, a dogged bodyguard and a crew of emergency personnel futilely trying to rescue the Soundgarden singer. Chris Cornell was discovered with a band around his neck, unresponsive in a hotel bathroom after a May concert in Detroit. Officials also released audio of a 911 call placed by an apparent hotel employee at 12:56 a.m. reporting a "nonresponsive guest ... inside of Room 1136."

— "The guest was attempting to hang himself," the caller said.
— The 911 operator asked: "He's not breathing?"
— "No," the caller said.

Police had long ago determined Cornell's death was a suicide. "He didn't want to die," Vicky Cornell told People magazine in an interview published last month. "If he was of sound mind, I know he wouldn't have done this."




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