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Protests unfold as city reburies remains that could be linked to Tulsa’s 1921 Race Massacre - ABC News

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Analysis on the remains will determine if they are massacre victims.

Protesters gathered outside an Oklahoma cemetery on Friday to decry the reburial of remains exhumed earlier this summer that could be linked to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

The remains of 19 people exhumed from Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa were reinterred Friday in the same place they were found. The remains were exhumed as a part of a city effort to find unmarked burials from the violent event -- which happened 100 years ago -- when a white mob stormed the Greenwood District of Tulsa, a predominantly Black area dubbed "Black Wall Street" on May 31, 1921. The mob destroyed and burned 35 city blocks of the thriving Black neighborhood to the ground.

Oklahoma originally recorded 36 deaths in the brazen attack, but a 2001 commission reported the number was as high as 300.

However, dozens of protesters had gathered to denounce the Friday reburial without a proper funeral ceremony. The burial process was closed to the public.

"It's disgusting and disrespectful that these are our family members and we are outside of the gate and they are inside of the gate where they are," Bobby Eaten, a descendant of a massacre victim, said to ABC Tulsa affiliate KTUL.

The city of Tulsa told ABC News that the reburial went on as planned based on a proposal presented to a public oversight committee that was approved in March, "as on-site forensic analysis, documentation and DNA sampling were complete."

Further, the city had to abide by permit requirements filed with the state's Department of Health and the Tulsa County District Attorney's Office, which required the remains be temporarily interred at Oaklawn Cemetery. An internment plan was required before moving forward with the excavation.

City spokeswoman Michelle Brooks told ABC News that the city remains "committed to transparency during this investigation" and research experts will report their findings from the excavation this fall as well as recommendations for next steps.

All public oversight committee members, the physical investigation team and North Tulsa clergy involved with the exhumation were invited to the reburial, Brooks said.

Brooks said analysis will be done on the remains to determine if they are massacre victims.

"If they are, then we will want to try to match DNA with descendants and let descendants decide where they want them to be buried. If they can't be identified, we would work to establish a permanent memorial," Brooks said.

While on-site forensic analysis and DNA sampling from the remains are complete, she noted DNA matching with potential descendants could take years.

There are two more sites the city is looking at for possible massacre victim remains, KTUL reported.

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The 5 best Amazon deals you can get this weekend - USA TODAY

Meet the me that I’d like to be, and other secrets of my personal website - San Bernardino County Sun

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The crafting of my website turned out to be a metaphor for who I am and who I wanted people to think I am. Was I deliberately trying to be deceiving? I don’t think so, but then again that comment may be deceptive in itself. The answer is I really don’t know.

Not unlike social media, a website is an almost irresistible opportunity to show yourself at your best.

It’s “This is the Me I’d like to be” time.

Maybe I should have two websites. One for public viewing only and a private one to keep me honest.

The latter would be covered with gnarled-up pieces of paper of commentary I didn’t deem worthy. And that is an understatement. If I tried to count them all up just for the last 12 years I have been writing this column, I probably couldn’t count that high. If I go back to all the years I’ve been writing, total, well let’s just say there aren’t enough trash bins to hold it all.

If I step back a little further to my early days, when, like many new writers, I thought anything I wrote was too important to be tossed because sometime down the road the idea could spawn another idea and that would be the big one. Unlike earthquakes, with writing you are always looking for the “big one.”

Mind you, I’m a big fan of keeping notebooks of ideas for future inspiration. Some of those ideas have morphed into columns. Others just gave me a good laugh. But clearly now in the wisdom of my later years, I understand that not all of them were gold.

As time passed, and as much as I have belly-ached about them, computers taught me an important lesson. I learned to hit the delete button. Often. That is likely the reason for whatever limited success I have had as a writer.

I was going to keep this revelation for my secret honesty website but somehow that just seems wrong. The fact that I’m worrying about this may reveal something about my character, but I’m not sure what.

So here is the website I think is me: www.patriciabunin.com. Though one can never be totally sure.

Email patriciabunin@sbcglobal.net follow her on Twitter @patriciabunin

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Trump commands historic attention for an ex-president. That may hurt the GOP. - CNN

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But even as we stand more than six months into Joe Biden's administration, the President is fighting for attention with his predecessor, Donald Trump, to a degree not seen in recent history. The impact of this dynamic could upend expectations about the midterm elections.
Dominating cable news mentions was one of the reasons Biden and Trump won their respective nominations before becoming president.
In the month of July, Biden and Trump have been running about equally in mentions on cable news.
This is really unusual. Four years ago in July, Trump was getting mentioned on cable more than Barack Obama by a 9:1 ratio. Eight years before that, Obama was getting mentioned more on cable than his predecessor, George W. Bush, by a similar margin.
Part of what is happening is that Trump is getting more cable news mentions than usual for a former president. And Biden, for his part, has had his name uttered on cable news far less than Trump did in July 2017.
The attention Trump has commanded isn't just a cable news phenomenon. We see an exaggerated version of it in Google trends as well.
Trump has actually been searched more often than Biden on Google by about a 3:2 ratio during the last 30 days.
Again, this is an outlier in recent history. Searches for Trump were more than 10 times higher than searches for Obama at this point in 2017. And back in 2009, searches for Obama beat searches for Bush by more than a 10:1 margin.
Like with cable news mentions, Trump getting searched so much more relative to Biden is partially because Trump is getting searched a lot for a former president and partially because Biden isn't getting searched anywhere near the levels Trump was during this point in his presidency.
We see how much Trump still dominates the political mindset in the real world. The media tracks his endorsements in political races with a close eye. Trump's thoughts on pieces of legislation continue to make news.
Put another way: Trump matters.
Of course, mattering and helping the Republican Party are two very different things.
Opposition parties generally want the political focus on the current president. Few election traditions are as regular as the president's party losing seats in a midterm election. One of the drivers of seat loss for the president's party losing seats is differential turnout. Members of the president's party are less motivated to vote when they control the White House.
The traditional midterm penalty may hold regardless of Trump being in the news so much. He could drop out of the news cycle as we approach November 2022. There's still a long way to go.
But we honestly don't know what might happen when the current occupant of the White House is fighting for media attention with the former president -- especially, when Trump continues to falsely claim that he won the last election. It could change the turnout dynamic.
The limited polling we have at this point has Democrats saying they are as likely as Republicans to vote in 2022. An Reuters/Ipsos poll taken in June showed that about the same percentage of Democrats (63%) as Republicans (64%) said they were certain to vote in 2022. An average of other polling generally confirms that Democrats are about as motivated as Republicans to vote.
This doesn't look like the polling with concern to turnout at this point in either 2009 or 2013 for the upcoming midterm, when there was a Democratic president. Republicans usually have a clear turnout advantage in midterms with a Democratic president.
The pattern in special elections during the Biden administration has not pointed to a big shift toward the Republicans just yet. That's very much unlike what was happening in 2017 at this time.
And remember, Democrats were able to pick up two Senate seats in Georgia in January. Republicans didn't have a turnout advantage you might expect with an incoming Democratic president.
We'll have to keep an eye on these metrics as we approach the midterms. But it seems possible that Trump may continue to make history.

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14 Best Carry-On Suitcases on Amazon for When You're Ready to Travel Again - Teen Vogue

Dubbed the lightest carry-on, this It suitcase is easy to travel with and perfect for lifting over your head into the overhead bin. Don't be fooled by its lightweight material though,it can definitely withstand the test of time.

it luggage World's Lightest Los Angeles Softside Upright

Best Metallic Carry-On 

Your suitcase doesn't have to be boring for it to be functional – this metallic one will make you stand out. Plus, in the case that you do have to check your bag, you'll spot yours from a mile away on the baggage claim. On top of looking chic, it also has multiple compartments, straps, and zippers.

Amazon Basics Hardshell Spinner Suitcase with Built-In TSA Lock

Best Weekend Carry-On 

If you're hopping on a quick flight for a short weekend getaway, this cotton weekender travel bag could be a great option. It can fit under your seat or in the overhead compartments and will certainly garner lots of compliments thanks to its eye-catching pattern. 

The best part though? This bag is two-in-one, so you can throw it over your shoulder or attach it to a luggage handle (in the case that you do happen to bring checked luggage.) Just make sure you throw on a luggage tag if you are traveling by air.

Vera Bradley Women's Signature Cotton Compact Weekender Travel Bag

Best Airline-Approved Hard-Sided Carry-On Suitcase

With the stamp of approval of Delta, United, American, Southwest, and Allegiant airlines, you'll rest assured knowing you won't have to check this bag last minute at the gate. Built with multi-directional spinning wheels and an ergonomic handle, dragging this through the airport will be a breeze. Plus, its 32 colors give you plenty of options to choose from.

Rockland Melbourne Hardside Expandable Spinner Wheel Luggage

Best Carry-On to Navigate Crowded Airports 

Let's be honest: Airports can be overwhelming. Add a crowd to the mix and you've got yourself complete and utter chaos, especially if you're traveling alone. Use this carry-on's 360-degree wheels to navigate your way through the disarray.

SwissGear Sion Softside Luggage with Spinner Wheels

$100

Amazon

Best Expandable Carry-On

Here's the scenario: It's the night before your flight. You're all packed and ready to go when you suddenly realize your bag is missing so many things. To combat this common problem, opt for an expandable suitcase. This bag fits perfectly within airline regulations but leaves you ample space to pack everything you need and more. Seriously, even with all your necessities packed, you'll still have plenty of room to pack all of those last-minute additions. 

Samsonite Freeform Hardside Expandable with Double Spinner Wheels

$129

Amazon

Best Carry-On for College

If you plan to fit your dorm essentials into one carry-on, you will need space. With its multiple multi-use interior pockets and extra space inside, this suitcase provides tons of room for your last-minute back-to-school wardrobe additions and dorm room décor (hello, string lights!)

The best part? Nobody will actually know that you majorly overpacked, thanks to its expandable interior. Reviewers say you can fit twelve outfits (or more, depending on the season) as well as shoes and bags. Does that sound like enough space for you?

Coolife Luggage Expandable Suitcase

Best Carry-On for Quick Flights 

Maximize the minimum space you have in a carry-on suitcase by traveling with this canvas tote duffel. It's perfect for short flights as you can pack all the essentials without sacrificing an inch of space. Use this carry-on when you plan to head home for a little weekend away from college or on the trip home for Thanksgiving or Spring Break. You'll have enough space for a few outfits, a pair of shoes, toiletries, and anything else you think you'll need.

BAOSHA Canvas Leather Duffel Bag Carry on

Best Carry-On for Business Meetings

Heading to a new city for a job interview? Grab this carry-on from Travelpro. It's ultra-lightweight, secure for lugging around, and fits conveniently under the seat in front of you. Although this carry-on has plenty of space, it's not big enough for longer business trips so make sure you take note of that before you pack.

Travelpro Maxlite 5 Lightweight Underseat Carry-on

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A Plant That ‘Cannot Die’ Reveals Its Genetic Secrets - The New York Times

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Events in the genome of Welwitschia have given it the ability to survive in an unforgiving desert for thousands of years.

The longest-lived leaves in the plant kingdom can be found only in the harsh, hyperarid desert that crosses the boundary between southern Angola and northern Namibia.

A desert is not, of course, the most hospitable place for living things to grow anything, let alone leafy greens, but the Namib Desert — the world’s oldest with parts receiving less than two inches of precipitation a year — is where Welwitschia calls home.

In Afrikaans, the plant is named “tweeblaarkanniedood,” which means “two leaves that cannot die.” The naming is apt: Welwitschia grows only two leaves — and continuously — in a lifetime that can last millenniums.

“Most plants develop a leaf, and that’s it,” said Andrew Leitch, a plant geneticist at Queen Mary University of London. “This plant can live thousands of years, and it never stops growing. When it does stop growing, it’s dead.”

Some of the largest plants are believed to be over 3,000 years old, with two leaves steadily growing since the beginning of the Iron Age, when the Phoenician alphabet was invented and David was crowned King of Israel.

By some accounts, Welwitschia is not much to look at. Its two fibrous leaves, buffeted by dry desert winds and fed on by thirsty animals, become shredded and curled over time, giving Welwitschia a distinctly octopus-like look. One 19th-century director of Kew Gardens in London remarked, “it is out of the question the most wonderful plant ever brought to this country and one of the ugliest.”

But since it was first discovered, Welwitschia has captivated biologists including Charles Darwin and the botanist Friedrich Welwitsch after whom the plant is named: It is said that when Welwitsch first came across the plant in 1859, “he could do nothing but kneel down on the burning soil and gaze at it, half in fear lest a touch should prove it a figment of the imagination.”

In a study published this month in Nature Communications, researchers report some of the genetic secrets behind Welwitschia’s unique shape, extreme longevity and profound resilience.

Jim Leebens-Mack, a plant biologist at the University of Georgia not involved in the study, said it “gives us a foundation for better understanding how Welwitschia does all the crazy stuff that it does.” The Welwitschia genome reflects the plant’s arid and nutrient-poor surroundings. And its genetic history seems to correspond with environmental history.

Approximately 86 million years ago, after a mistake in cell division, the entire Welwitschia genome doubled during a time of increased aridity and prolonged drought in the region — and possibly the formation of the Namib Desert itself, said Tao Wan, a botanist at the Fairy Lake Botanical Garden in Shenzhen, China, and lead author of the study. He said that “extreme stress” is often associated with such genome duplication events.

Dr. Leitch, a co-author of the study, added that duplicated genes are also released from their original functions, potentially taking on new ones.

However, having more genetic material comes with a cost, Dr. Wan said. “The most basic activity for life is DNA replication, so if you have a big genome, it is really energy consuming to maintain life,” especially in such a harsh environment.

To make matters worse, a large amount of Welwitschia’s genome is “junk” self-replicating DNA sequences called retrotransposons. “Now that junk needs to be replicated, repaired,” Dr. Leitch said.

The researchers detected a “burst” of retrotransposons activity one to two million years ago, most likely because of increased temperature stress. But to counteract this, the Welwitschia genome underwent widespread epigenetic changes that silenced these junk DNA, through a process called DNA methylation.

This process, along with other selective forces, drastically pared down the size and energetic maintenance cost of Welwitschia’s duplicated library of DNA, Dr. Wan said, giving it “a very efficient, low-cost genome.”

The study also found that Welwitschia had other genetic tweaks hidden up its leaves.

The average plant leaf grows from the plant’s apexes, or the tippy-tops of its stem and branches. But Welwitschia’s original growing tip dies, and leaves instead pour out of a vulnerable area of the plant’s anatomy called the basal meristem, which supplies fresh cells to the growing plant, Dr. Wan said. A large number of copies or increased activity of some genes involved with efficient metabolism, cell growth and stress resilience in this area may help it continue to grow under extreme environmental stress. In a warming world, the genetic lessons Welwitschia has to offer may help humans breed hardier, less thirsty crops.

“When we see that the plant is able to live in this environment for so long and preserve its DNA and its proteins, I really feel like we can find hints for how to maybe improve agriculture,” Dr. Leebens-Mack said.

The study also underscores the importance of curiosity-driven research. When you encounter two leaves growing in a desert against all odds, kneel down in the burning soil and take a closer look.

“From weird things, you discover weird things that help you understand things that you didn’t know you didn’t understand,” Dr. Leitch said.

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Home Prices Are Soaring. Is That the Fed’s Problem? - The New York Times

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Low interest rates are one reason that the housing market has taken off. They are far from the only one.

Robert S. Kaplan, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, has been nervously eyeing the housing market as he ponders the path ahead for monetary policy. Home prices are rising at a double-digit pace this year. The typical house in and around the city he calls home sold for $306,031 in June of this year, Zillow estimates, up from $261,710 a year earlier.

Several of Mr. Kaplan’s colleagues harbor similar concerns. They are worried that the housing boom could end up looking like a bubble, one that threatens financial stability. And some fret that the central bank’s big bond purchases could be helping to inflate it.

“It’s making me nervous that you’ve got this incipient housing bubble, with anecdotal reports backed up by a lot of the data,” James Bullard, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said during a call with reporters Friday. He doesn’t think things are at crisis levels yet, but he believes the Fed should avoid fueling the situation further. “We got in so much trouble with the housing bubble in the mid-2000s.”

Policymakers don’t need to look far to see escalating prices, because housing is growing more expensive nearly everywhere. Buying a typical home in Boise, Idaho, cost about $469,000 in June, up from $335,000 a year ago, based on Zillow estimates of local housing values. A typical house in Boone, N.C., is worth $362,000, up from $269,000. Prices nationally have risen 15 percent over the past year, Zillow’s data shows, in line with the closely watched S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index of home prices, which rose a record 16.6 percent in the year through May.

Bidding wars are frustrating buyers. Agents are struggling to navigate frantic competition. About half of small bankers in a recent industry survey said the current state of the housing market poses “a serious risk” to the United States economy. Lawmakers and economic policymakers alike are hoping things calm down — especially because frothy home prices could eventually spill into rent prices, worsening affordability for low-income families just as they face the end of pandemic-era eviction moratoriums and, in some cases, months of owed rent.

Industry experts say the current home price boom emerged from a cocktail of low interest rates, booming demand and supply bottlenecks. In short, it’s a situation that many are feeling acutely with no single policy to blame and no easy fix.

Fed officials face a particularly tricky calculus when it comes to housing.

Their policies definitely help to drive demand. Bond-buying and low Fed interest rates make mortgages cheap, inspiring people to borrow more and buy bigger. But rates aren’t the sole factor behind the home price craze. It also traces back to demographics, a pandemic-spurred desire for space, and a very limited supply of new and existing homes for sale — factors outside of the central bank’s control.

“Interest rates are one factor that’s supporting demand, but we really can’t do much about the supply side,” Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, explained during recent congressional testimony.

It’s an unattractive prospect to pull back monetary support to try to rein in housing specifically, because doing so would slow the overall economy, making it harder for the central bank to foster full employment. The Fed’s policy-setting committee voted Wednesday to keep policy set to full-support mode, and Mr. Powell said at a subsequent news conference that the economy remains short of central bank’s jobs target.

But central bank officials also monitor financial stability, so they are keenly watching the price surge.

Demand for housing was strong in 2018 and 2019, but it really took off early last year, after the Fed cut interest rates to near-zero and began buying government-backed debt to soothe markets at the start of the pandemic. Mortgage rates dropped, and mortgage applications soared.

That was partly the point as the Fed fought to keep the economy afloat: Home-buying boosts all kinds of spending, on washing machines and drapes and kiddie pools, so it is a key lever for lifting the entire economy. Stoking it helps to revive floundering growth.

Those low interest rates hit just as housing was entering a societal sweet spot. Americans born in 1991, the country’s largest group by birth year, just turned 30. And as Millennials — the nation’s largest generation — were beginning to think about trading in that fifth-floor walk-up for a home of their own, coronavirus lockdowns took hold.

Suddenly, having more space became paramount. For some, several rounds of government stimulus checks made down payments seem more workable. For others, remote work opened the door to new home markets and possibilities.

Reina and David Pomeroy, 36 and 35, were living in a rental in Santa Clara, Calif., with their children, ages 2 and 7, when the pandemic hit. Buying at California prices seemed like a pipe dream and they wanted to live near family, so they decided to relocate to the Boulder, Colo., area, near Mr. Pomeroy’s brother.

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They closed in late July, and they move in a few days. Ms. Pomeroy was able to take her job at a start-up remote, and Mr. Pomeroy is hoping that Google, his employer, will allow him to move to its Boulder office. The pair saw between 20 and 30 houses and made — and lost — six offers before finally sealing the deal, over their original budget and $200,000 above the $995,000 asking price on their new 5-bedroom.

Their experience underlines the other key issue driving prices up: “There’s not enough inventory for everyone that’s looking,” said Corey Keach, the Redfin agent who helped the Pomeroys find their home.

Home supply fell across the residential real estate market following the mid-2000s housing bust, as construction slumped thanks in part to zoning regulations and tough financing standards. Shortages in lumber, appliances and labor have emerged since the pandemic took hold, making it hard for builders to churn out units fast enough.

“The rapid price appreciation we’re seeing is Econ 101 unfolding in real time,” said Chris Glynn, an economist at Zillow.

There are early signs that the market might be bringing itself under control. Applications for new mortgages have slowed this year, and existing home inventories have risen somewhat. Many housing economists think price increases should moderate later this year.

And while the heady moment in American housing does have some echoes of the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis — borrowing made cheap by the Fed is enabling ambitious buying, and investors are increasingly jumping into the market — the differences may be even more critical.

Homeowners, like the Pomeroys, have been more able to afford the homes they are buying than they were back in 2005 and 2006. People who get mortgages these days tend to have excellent credit scores, unlike that earlier era.

And a big part of the problem in mid-2000s lay on Wall Street, where banks were slicing and dicing bundles of mortgages into complicated financial structures that ultimately came crashing down. Banks were holding a lot of those inventive securities on their balance sheets, and their implosion caused widespread pain in the financial sector that brought lending — and thus business expansions, hiring and spending — to a screeching halt.

Banks are now much better regulated. But that isn’t to say that no financial stability risks hide in the current boom.

The home price run-up could also help to keep inflation high. The government measures inflation by capturing the costs of what people are regularly consuming — so it counts housing expenses in terms of rents, not home prices.

But a skyrocketing housing market is connected to rising rents: it makes it harder for people to make the leap to homeownership, which increases demand for rentals and pushes rents up. That can matter a lot to inflation data, since housing costs tied to rents make up about a third of one key measure.

So what can the Fed do about any of this? Officials, including Mr. Bullard, have suggested that it might make sense for the Fed to slow its monthly purchases of Treasury debt and mortgage-backed securities soon, and quickly, to avoid giving housing an unneeded boost by keeping mortgages so cheap.

Discussions about how and when the Fed will taper off its buying are ongoing, but most economists expect bond-buying to slow late this year or early next. That should nudge mortgage rates higher and slow the booming market a little.

But borrowing costs are likely to remain low by historical standards for years to come. Longer-term interest rates have fallen even as the Fed considers dialing back bond purchases, because investors have grown more glum about the global growth outlook. And the Fed is unlikely to lift its policy interest rate — its more powerful tool — away from rock bottom anytime soon.

Ideally, officials would like to see the economy return to full employment before lifting rates, and most don’t expect that moment to arrive until 2023. They’re unlikely to speed up the plan just to cool off housing. Fed officials have for decades maintained that bubbles are difficult to spot in real time and that monetary policy is the wrong tool to pop them.

For now, your local housing market boom is probably going to be left to its own devices — meaning that while first time home buyers may end up paying more, they will also have an easier time financing it.

“We felt a little bit more comfortable paying more for the house to lock in low interest rates,” said Mr. Pomeroy, explaining that they could have compromised on amenities they wanted but didn’t.

“Interest rates are so low and money is cheap,” he said. “Why not do it?”

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Katie Ledecky - What you need to know about the swimming star at the 2021 Olympics - ESPN

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Katie Ledecky entered these Olympic Games with an opportunity to become the most decorated female athlete in history. The swimmer accomplished that feat with her third straight gold in the 800-meter freestlye. Her six career inidividual gold medals are three shy of tying Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina's such record of nine.

The 24-year-old Ledecky made her Olympic debut in 2012 at the age of just 15 and is competing in her third career Olympic Games. As Ledecky continues swimming towards history, let's examine the dominance of her career and what's to come.

6: That is the age Ledecky first discovered her passion for swimming. In fact, her mother swam at the University of New Mexico.

4: Ledecky has four distinct hobbies when she isn't swimming. Outside the pool, she enjoys playing piano, chess and Scrabble. She also volunteers in her spare time. Notable charities she contributes to include Catholic Charities, Shepard's Table, Bikes for the World and Wounded Warriors.

By the time Ledecky earned her driver's license, she already sported two world records, four world championships and a gold medal won in 2012. In fact, Ledecky was Team USA's youngest swimmer in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.

15:07.57: In 2018, during her final career appearance in the NCAA championships for Stanford, Ledecky swam the 1650-yard freestyle in the dominant fashion she knows best. She managed to lap her respective opponents in the aforementioned time, nearly 30 seconds ahead of the 2nd place finisher.

15: Ledecky finished her NCAA career with 15 swimming records and eight national titles despite leaving two years of eligibility on the table. Those records include marks in the 500 free, 1000 free, 1650 free, 400 free relay and 800 free relay.

3: Ledecky currently holds world records in the 400m/800m/1500m freestyle. The last event made its Olympic debut this year. Ledecky has set the world record in the 1500m on six different occasions. In fact, each of the eight best times in the women's 1500m free belong to Ledecky, who set the world record of 15:20.48 back in 2018.

7: The dominant swimmer became the first woman to win the 200- and 1,500-meter freestyle on the same day in July. In fact, both her races took place 75 minutes apart. With her victories in Tokyo, Ledecky joined the women's top-five for most all-time Olympic gold medals. Larisa Latynina (9) currently ranks first.

36: That is Ledecky's total medal count in international competition between the Olympics, World Championships and Pan Pacfici Championships. The first of those came in the women's 800m freestyle in the 2012 London Games. That was 3,280 days ago entering today.

ESPN Stats and Information contributed to this story.

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Philadelphia man convicted of murder is freed by evidence that was on file for more than 30 years - CNN

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"I feel exceedingly joyful, happy, that finally, you know ... after 30 or more years, after constantly knocking on the door for somebody to please hear me, that day finally came," 60-year-old Curtis Crosland told CNN.
He has now returned home to his five children, fiancée and 32 grandchildren. "It's a great feeling to still be dad, to be wanted and desired, and open arms to receive you, that's been the greatest part of being exonerated, that I come home to a loving family that wants and needs me," said Crosland.
Crosland's conviction -- based on testimony from two witnesses who later recanted statements they had made implicating him in the case -- was overturned in June.
His exoneration came after months of work by the Philadelphia Conviction Integrity Unit, established in 2018 by the office of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. The unit was set up to investigate claims of innocence and wrongful conviction. Crosland's is the 22nd exoneration in which the unit has been involved, according to a news release from the CIU.
Crosland was found guilty in 1991 of second-degree murder, robbery, and possessing an instrument of crime in the 1984 killing of a Philadelphia store owner.
Documents that could have helped acquit or exonerate him were in files at the Philadelphia Police Department and the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office from the beginning of the case, according to the lawsuit. The documents contained troubling information regarding the credibility of two key witnesses as well as police records which pointed to another suspect, the lawsuit states.
But that information was suppressed and there was no other evidence that connected Crosland to the crime, the CIU said in the news release.

The killing of 'Tony' Heo

Il Man "Tony" Heo is pictured with his two children in 1977 or 1978.
Il Man "Tony" Heo, a Philadelphia grocery and deli store owner, was killed by a masked shooter in 1984. Heo was shot just minutes before he was due to close his store for the night, according to Heo's son Song Il "Charles" Heo.
"He was a really fun guy, humorous, positive, smiling, joking person," said Heo's son. Heo said his father was very well liked in the community and had a reputation for helping people.
The crime went unsolved for years and Crosland did not become a suspect until 1987, according to his lawyer, Claudia Flores.
Crosland was working as an assistant to a physical therapist and in 1987 was preparing to attend college in hopes of becoming a physical therapist himself.
"I got a knock at my door (from police), I remember telling my wife and son 'I'll be back,' because I didn't do anything. I never came back. I never knew what I did, until they told me what I was accused of. It's like a kidnap," said Crosland.

Witnesses recanted

The two witnesses upon whose testimony Crosland's conviction hinged had later recanted their statements implicating him, according to the lawsuit.
One of them, Delores Tilghman, told police in 1988 that she overheard a conversation where Crosland and others were "talking about the murder." She later recanted that statement, according to the lawsuit.
A second witness, Rodney Everett, told police officers that Crosland confessed to him that he carried out Heo's killing. Everett was himself in jail at the time, and hoping for a deal, the lawsuit states. Everett later testified that he had lied when implicated Crosland, according to the lawsuit. Documents which included Everett's statements were found in police and district attorney's files by the CIU.
Flores said it's common for "jailhouse snitches" to provide information to authorities to obtain leniency in their own cases. Everett told Flores when she interviewed him about Crosland's case that he felt coerced by police to give testimony, she said.
"It was just very brutal. They threaten you. They will use your family and they will tell you what they will do to your family, taking your kids," Everett told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
CNN has reached out to Tilghman and Everett for comment but has not heard back.
Krasner said the Philadelphia police and district attorney's office have historically violated their duty to seek justice and uphold the Constitution.
"Too often, they engaged in and tolerated horrendous abuses of power. Numerous police officers coerced confessions through physical abuse, verbal threats, and violations of constitutional rights," Krasner said in a CIU report.
CNN has also requested comment on the Crosland case from the Philadelphia Police Department, but has not received a response.

Criminal justice system 'broke'

Crosland said his case illustrates how the criminal justice system is "broke, it's unfair, it's unconstitutional."
He maintained his innocence while in prison and filed multiple petitions, acting as his own lawyer, which he says he learned to do while studying law books in the prison's library.
"You have poor, indigent men that have no access to have a good defense. The system should be designed that every man be treated equally," Crosland said.
Crosland said he went to court every year during his time in prison to assert his innocence, but faced closed doors from the courts. "I don't think I ever had a full night's sleep, but I always told myself the day I'm exonerated I'm going to get my full night's sleep," he said.
Crosland said his faith in God kept him strong -- but that prison was still a "hellish" struggle every day.
It's challenging to have someone tell you when you are allowed to do basic things such as wake up, shower, or work, "especially by young (prison) guards who can sometimes be disrespectful," he said.
One of the toughest challenges for Crosland, he said, was being away from his family.
One his sons, Risheen Crosland, was only 2 years old when his father was sent to prison. When Crosland was exonerated, Risheen was 36 and had two children of his own.
"We faced a lot of childhood trauma not having a father ... and grew up in poverty," Risheen Crosland told CNN. "We didn't have new clothes, wearing hand me downs, having to be hungry at times ... gas turned off, electricity turned off," he said.
Beyond lacking financial security, he didn't get to form a normal relationship with his dad, he said. "I didn't learn how to ride a bike, play catch, play basketball or football (with my dad)." I didn't have those things growing up with my dad," he said.

Victim's son believes racism played a role

Heo said he is happy that Crosland has finally been exonerated in his father's killing. "I firmly believe Crosland should have been a free man," he said.
Curtis Crosland and his daughter Wadiyah posed for this picture while Crosland was still in prison.
Heo believes racism played a role in how the police and the prosecutor tried Crosland's case -- and that the prosecutor was racially prejudiced against his own family.
"I think the prosecutor took advantage of my mom's inability of understanding all the complications of the legal matter. They didn't feel responsible to explain all the legal details to us," he said.
"There was no translator during court proceedings, they were using Latin words. I didn't know what was being said, I didn't have a phone with Google, a lot of things slipped by."
Flores said every level of the criminal justice system is permeated with systemic racism, which contributed to Crosland's wrongful conviction.
"Most people serving life in prison without parole in Pennsylvania are Black men. Probably most of these police officers involved are white. It's a system saturated with systemic racism at every step. From the way crimes are investigated, to jury selection, to the fact that most prosecutors and judges are white," she said.

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CDC shares 'pivotal discovery' on Covid-19 breakthrough infections that led to new mask guidance - CNN

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Experts say that vaccination makes it less likely that you'll catch Covid-19 in the first place -- but for those who do, this data suggests they could have a similar tendency to spread it as unvaccinated folks.
"High viral loads suggest an increased risk of transmission and raised concern that, unlike with other variants, vaccinated people infected with Delta can transmit the virus," Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement Friday.
The study, published by CDC Friday, describes 469 Massachusetts residents who were infected in a July outbreak in Barnstable County, which includes the summer vacation destination Provincetown. No deaths were reported among them.
About 74% -- or 346 cases -- had been fully vaccinated. Of those cases, 79% reported symptoms. Genetically sequenced cases revealed the Delta variant as the main culprit.
The researchers found evidence that viral loads were similar among 127 fully vaccinated people and 84 others who were unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. Viral load is a proxy for how likely someone might be to transmit the virus to others.
On Tuesday, Walensky previewed these findings while unveiling guidance that people in areas with "high" or "substantial" Covid-19 transmission should resume wearing masks indoors. Over 75% of the US population live in these areas.
The finding that the Delta variant resulted in similar viral loads "was a pivotal discovery leading to CDC's updated mask recommendation," Walensky said Friday.
"The masking recommendation was updated to ensure the vaccinated public would not unknowingly transmit virus to others, including their unvaccinated or immunocompromised loved ones."

Questions remain

Prior to Delta, vaccination was known to impact factors that likely influence transmission. Not only did vaccinated people tend to have lower viral loads, but they also had milder symptoms and were sick for less time.
But research has shown that Delta spreads more aggressively. Earlier this month, for example, Chinese scientists described viral loads that were about roughly 1,000 times higher with Delta than earlier strains.
On Thursday, a CDC internal document said the Delta variant was roughly as transmissible as as chickenpox, whereas an early strain was closer to the common cold. This means that, under certain conditions, an infected person may have transmitted to two or three people, on average, early in the outbreak. But now, with Delta, that number could be five to nine.
"It's one of the most transmissible viruses we know about. Measles, chickenpox, this -- they're all up there," Walensky told CNN late Thursday.
The CDC document also cited reports indicating the variant might cause more severe disease, as well.
But even with similar viral loads, it's not a foregone conclusion that vaccinated people are necessarily as contagious as unvaccinated people.
"This is intriguing data, it's important, but I'm not positive that you're equally as infectious if you're vaccinated," said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the research.
Gandhi said there are multiple parts to the immune system -- including antibodies and T cells -- that raise important questions around using viral load, which is measured by PCR tests, as a proxy for how contagious someone is.
The new report says that "microbiological studies are required to confirm these findings" of similar viral loads among breakthrough infections. It also notes that "asymptomatic breakthrough infections might be underrepresented" because they are less likely to be detected.
Earlier this week, Walensky said that ongoing outbreak investigations will help uncover more about what happens when these breakthrough infections do occur.
"We are now continuing to follow those clusters to understand the impact of forward transmission of those vaccinated people," she said. "But again, I want to reiterate, we believe the vast majority of transmission is occurring in unvaccinated people and through unvaccinated people."

Even more reason to get vaccinated

Even with Delta, Covid-19 vaccines still reduce the spread of the virus. Moreover, vaccinated people are far less likely to end up in the hospital.
The CDC internal document estimated that vaccines reduce the risk of severe disease or death 10-fold or greater, and they reduce the risk of infection three-fold.
"Getting vaccinated continues to prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death -- even with Delta," Walensky said this week.
Among the Massachusetts residents in the latest study, none died and only five were hospitalized.
Of those five, one person was unvaccinated and had underlying medical conditions, and four were vaccinated. Among the vaccinated group, one had received the Pfizer vaccine, and the remaining three had received Johnson & Johnson. The vaccinated individuals ranged in age from 20 to 70, and two had underlying health conditions.
Additional infections were identified among visitors from at least 22 other states who visited the area from July 3 through 17. Thousands gathered for summer festivities, and infected people reported going to "densely packed indoor and outdoor events at venues that included bars, restaurants, guest houses, and rental homes," the study says.
Although these findings motivated CDC to update its guidance for areas with higher levels of viral transmission, the study notes that Barnstable County was not one of those areas until the outbreak. Between July 3 and 17, daily new cases rose from a 14-day average of 0 to 177 cases per 100,000 residents.
The study suggests that "even jurisdictions without substantial or high COVID-19 transmission might consider expanding prevention strategies, including masking in indoor public settings regardless of vaccination status."
"The measures we need to get this under control -- they're extreme. The measures you need are extreme," Walensky told CNN late Thursday.
The study also notes that breakthrough infections are expected, especially as the slice of the population that's vaccinated grows larger. "As population-level vaccination coverage increases, vaccinated persons are likely to represent a larger proportion of COVID-19 cases," the authors wrote.
CNN previously reported on the outbreak connected to Provincetown. In total, at least 882 cases have been linked to the cluster so far, about 60% of whom were Massachusetts residents, according to local officials.
The town manager of Provincetown, Alex Morse, told CNN Friday that the town appeared to be taking a favorable turn -- with an indoor mask mandate in place and a test positivity rate that's on the decline.
"We think we're heading in the right direction, but obviously concerned about what's happened here in the last few weeks," Morse told CNN's John Berman.
A source familiar with the CDC's decision to update its recommendations previously told CNN that, in addition to the viral load findings, the overall prevalence of Delta and lower-than-hoped vaccine uptake played key roles in the latest iteration of the guidance.

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