Police say woman's lie diverted manhunt for Illinois officer's killers

Police searching for the suspected killers of an Illinois officer said the manhunt was diverted early Thursday by a woman who lied about seeing two suspicious men near the scene of the murder.
Kristen Kiefer, 30, has been charged with disorderly conduct and falsifying a police report. Authorities said she was being held at the Lake County jail pending a bond hearing.
Police said they responded to a 911 call made by Kiefer at approximately 9:20 p.m. local time in Volo, about 5 miles south of Fox Lake, where Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz was fatally shot Tuesday after he pursued three suspicious men into a swamp.
Kiefer told police she had pulled over to the side of the road with car trouble when she saw two men, one white and one black, near a cornfield. She claimed they tried to get into her car, but fled because they feared she was going to call the police.
Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Christopher Covelli says about 85 federal, state and local law enforcement officials responded to the scene after Kiefer's report. They were joined by 11 police dogs and three air support units in the search, which lasted approximately five hours.
Police said Kiefer initially insisted that her account was true, but later admitted that she had lied. She said she was seeking attention from a family that employs her as a nanny and that she chose the location because it was close to where Gliniewicz had been shot.
The search for the suspects continues.

Former Clinton aide who helped set up server to plead Fifth Amendment to avoid subpoena

A former aide to Hillary Clinton who helped set up her private email server has told at least three congressional committees that he will invoke his Fifth Amendment right to avoid testifying against his former boss, Fox News has confirmed.
Bryan Pagliano, who worked on Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign before helping install the so-called "homebrew" server system in her Chappaqua, N.Y. home, was asked to testify about the server by the House Select Committee on Benghazi, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
"Mr. Pagliano’s legal counsel told the committee yesterday that he would plead the 5th to any and all questions if he were compelled to testify," a spokesperson for Judiciary Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, told Fox late Wednesday.
The letter from Pagliano's attorney Mark MacDougall cited the ongoing FBI investigation into whether classified national security information was mishandled when it passed through Clinton's server.
"While we understand that Mr. Pagliano’s response to this subpoena may be controversial in the current political environment, we hope that the members of the Select Committee will respect our client’s right to invoke the protections of the Constitution," MacDougall wrote.
The Washington Post reported that Pagliano had been subpoenaed by the Benghazi committee Aug. 11 and committee chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. had ordered that he appear for questioning Sept. 10. Gowdy had also demanded that Pagliano provide documents related to all servers or computer systems controlled or owned by Clinton between 2009 and 2013.

More on this...

• Mark Levin calls for full investigation into Clinton server

• Hillary Clinton, the GOP and 2016

The Post reported last month that Pagliano had worked as an IT director on Clinton's ill-fated 2008 presidential campaign, and was asked to oversee the installation of Clinton's server to handle her correspondence while secretary of state. He was paid by a political action committee tied to Clinton until April 2009, when he was hired by the State Department as an IT specialist. The Post reported Wednesday that Pagliano left the department in February 2013 and now works for a technology contractor that provides some services to the State Department.
The Benghazi committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said that Gowdy had issued the subpoena unilaterally in an effort to smear Clinton.
"Although multiple legal experts agree there is no evidence of criminal activity, it is certainly understandable that this witness’s attorneys advised him to assert his Fifth Amendment rights," Cummings told the Post, "especially given the onslaught of wild and unsubstantiated accusations by Republican presidential candidates, members of Congress and others based on false leaks about the investigation."
Clinton, the Democratic presidential frontrunner, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing related to her private server.

Voting Democrat Cartoon

Steinle family announces lawsuit against gov't agencies in SF murder

The family of Kate Steinle, in an emotional press conference, announced a lawsuit Tuesday against government agencies that they consider partly responsible for her murder because of their handling of the illegal immigrant suspect and the murder weapon itself. 
Steinle, 32, was shot dead while walking on a San Francisco pier on July 1. Suspect Juan Francisco Sanchez, who has admitted he fired the fatal shot, is an illegal immigrant who had been deported five times before he was transferred from federal custody to a San Francisco jail earlier this year to face outstanding marijuana charges. Yet he was released in April after prosecutors dropped the pot counts, despite a federal request to detain him until immigration authorities could pick him up.
The Steinle family announced Tuesday with their legal team that they have filed three claims -- against San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, the Bureau of Land Management and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“We feel as though we’ve exhausted avenues, we’re frustrated and we’re here to make sure a change is made so nobody has to endure the pain that my mom and dad and I go through on a daily basis because the system failed our sister,” Kate’s brother Brad Steinle told reporters.
The claims are the first steps in filing lawsuits against the agencies, should they deny the claims or not respond. The family, which is seeking unspecified damages, alleges a lack of oversight from the government agencies directly contributed to Steinle’s death.
The Bureau of Land Management is accused of not taking appropriate care of the handgun that was stolen and used to shoot Steinle. The claim alleges the gun was stolen after it was inappropriately stored in a backpack in an unoccupied car. Regulations say the guns need to be kept unloaded, away from ammunition and in a locked case.
Mirkarimi is accused of wrongly ignoring the ICE request to detain Sanchez -- though the sheriff has said he was only following city policy.
“There was nothing, according to the mayor, that prevented this sheriff from picking up the phone and notifying the federal agency responsible for detention and deportment that there was a man in custody with this history,” attorney Frank Pitre said.
“The sheriff, we’ve alleged in the claim filed today, acted in excess and in abuse of his authority" by restricting communication with federal agents, Pitre said.
The Steinles' claim against ICE alleges the agency had been informed by Mirkarimi that he would not follow their requests unless they issued a court warrant. Yet ICE did not obtain those documents, the claim says.
Emotions were high at the press conference, with Steinle's father telling reporters that the moments of his daughter’s death haunt him every night.
“I’m walking down the pier arm in arm with my daughter and close friend. She stops, takes a selfie, turns around and is shot. As she fell she said, 'Dad, help me.' That’s my bed time story. Every night.”
Steinle’s mother Liz told reporters that Kate is making them strong and their focus is on changing laws.
“I feel her strength, and I know she’s proud of what we’re doing. We just want to make her proud. It’s about making this a better world for everyone. These laws need to be changed. It’s not okay to have these people, who are violent felons, in the United States,” Steinle said.
Sanchez has claimed that while he fired the fatal shot, it was an accident.

The Ice War Cometh? Russia makes play for Arctic, Obama seeks more Coast Guard icebreakers

While visiting Alaska and becoming the first American president to enter the Arctic Circle, President Obama announced Tuesday he would speed up the acquisition of icebreakers to help the U.S. Coast Guard navigate an area that Russia and China increasingly see as a new frontier.
The announcement is the latest power play in the Arctic north, where melting ice has led to a race for resources and access.
Forty percent of the world's oil and natural gas reserves lie under the Arctic. Melting ice also would lead to new shipping routes, and Russia wants to establish a kind of Suez Canal which it controls. More than a Cold War, Russia may be preparing for an Ice War, and the Pentagon is taking note.
Last March, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a snap, full combat military exercise in Russia's Arctic north to mark the anniversary of his annexation of Crimea -- with 40,000 Russian troops, dozens of warships and submarines.
At the American Legion on Tuesday, the U.S. defense secretary warned against complacency.
“We do not seek to make Russia an enemy,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said. “But make no mistake: while Vladimir Putin may be intent on turning the clock back in Russia, he cannot turn the clock back in Europe. We will defend our allies.”
Russia has reestablished Soviet-era military bases across the Arctic and begun building a string of search-and-rescue stations along its Arctic shores. In April, Russia’s economic minister explained the importance.
"For us, the Arctic is mineral resources, transportation, and one also should not forget about fish and sea products, and bio-resources. The potential here is enormous," Alexey Ulyukaev said.
After invading Ukraine, Russia pulled out of the Arctic Council, a consortium of eight countries that includes the U.S.
Asked about Russia’s recent moves in the Arctic, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said: "And so do we have concerns specifically about Russia? I would say … we have concerns about how militaries conduct themselves in the Arctic, but that's for all of the Arctic Council members to discuss."
In 2007, the Pentagon also took note when Russia planted its flag on the seabed under the North Pole for the first time.
Perhaps it was no coincidence that the Kremlin just released a video of Putin working out with his prime minister -- an insight into the psyche of the Russian leader, who is trying to “flex his muscles” in more ways than one.
Meanwhile, the U.S. only has two functioning icebreakers. Russia has 41, with plans to build 11 more. Obama on Tuesday, while highlighting the effect of climate change, announced he will speed up acquisition of these coveted ships though they won’t be ready until 2020.
The commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard has warned the U.S. is already behind.
“Russia has one-eighth the gross domestic product of the United States. Clearly the Arctic is a priority for Russia,” Adm. Paul Zukunft said in February during his “State of the Coast Guard” address. “There's a new ocean opening. Coast Guard authorities mandate our presence wherever U.S. national interests require people and ships to operate.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Army, facing budget cuts, plans to pull out 3,000 troops from Alaska, in what some say is poor timing as the U.S. plays catch-up to Russia in the Arctic.

West Point professor resigns after calling legal scholars 'lawful targets'

 William C. Bradford

A professor who was criticized for writing an article calling some legal scholars treasonous and “lawful targets” in the war on terror has resigned a month after he was hired to teach a law course at the U.S. Military Academy.
An academy spokesman said William C. Bradford resigned on Sunday. He said no further details will be released because of privacy and legal constraints.
Bradford made the comments in an article for the National Security Law Journal earlier this year. In the article, he said legal scholars who criticize U.S. tactics in the war on terror are helping ISIS undermine America. He argued that such academics should be considered enemy combatants and charged with treason.
The publication, which is edited by students at George Mason University in Virginia, apologized in an editorial last week in a response to a barrage of criticism from its readers. Editor-in-Chief Rick Myers repudiated the article, saying the publication is reviewing its selection process “to ensure that we publish high quality scholarly articles.”
Bradford's 95-page article says that liberals dominate legal academia and use their position to undermine public support of U.S. military efforts to combat ISIS. He advocates a number of measures to counter “Islamist sympathizers and propagandists" in academia, including firing them, requiring loyalty oaths and charging them with treason.
"The views in the article are solely those of Dr. Bradford and do not reflect those of the Department of Defense, the United States Army, or the United States Military Academy," Lt. Col. Chris Kasker, a West Point spokesman, said Tuesday in a prepared statement.
Bradford was hired by the academy Aug. 1 and taught five lessons in a common core law course before he resigned, Kasker said.
Bradford told The Washington Post in an e-mail on Tuesday that statements in his article were "taken out of context" by people who hadn't read the entire piece.
The resignation was first reported by The Guardian.

'Blue and Brave': Illinois town rallies around police as search for officer's killer goes on

Dozens of police officers searched without success overnight for three suspects who shot and killed a 30-year veteran of the Fox Lake, Ill. police force.
Lt. Charles Joseph "Joe" Gliniewicz, 52, was shot at approximately 8 a.m. local time Tuesday after he radioed in to tell dispatchers he was chasing three men on foot in Fox Lake. Communication with him was lost soon after. Colleagues who responded found Gliniewicz shot in a marshy area near U.S. Highway 12, a main road through the village of about 10,000 people near the Wisconsin border and about 55 miles northwest of Chicago. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Lake County Undersheriff Raymond Rose told the Chicago Tribune that Gliniewicz's gun was found nearby. He added that searchers were were working with "limited descriptions" of the suspects, described by police as three males, two white and one black, who should be treated as armed and dangerous.
Helicopters aided about 100 officers who searched the area overnight, a sheriff's office spokesman said. Meanwhile, several schools in the area announced that they would be closed Wednesday due to the ongoing manhunt.
As the search went on, dozens gathered for hours along a street in the village to show their support for law enforcement officers.
Thirty-year-old Dan Raminick held a sign that said "Police Lives Matter." He lives a couple miles away and said officers came by Tuesday evening and thanked the crowd.

More on this...

• Illinois manhunt worse than a needle in a haystack?

Caitlyn Kelly, a 22-year-old student, said she felt compelled to come out after other recent police shootings. She held a sign that said "Blue and Brave."
Authorities from across the state and region poured into Fox Lake throughout the day Tuesday, some wearing tactical gear and toting high-powered rifles. Federal agencies, SWAT teams and 48 police dogs assisted in the search for the suspects, Lake County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Christopher Covelli said.
Officers could be seen taking up positions on rooftops and along railroad tracks, scanning the terrain with rifle scopes and binoculars. Others leaned out of helicopters with weapons at the ready. Residents were urged to stay indoors. The service of a local commuter train was halted, and residents who wanted to take their dogs out to relieve themselves were told to stay in their homes — with the job of walking the pets handled by police officers.
An emotional Fox Lake Mayor Donny Schmit described the slain officer as a personal friend, a three-decade member of the department and a father of four sons.
"We lost a family member," Schmit said of the 52-year-old officer known around town as "GI Joe." ''His commitment to the people of this community has been unmatched and will be dearly missed."
"This particular officer is a pillar in my community and definitely going to be missed, and (he) touched so many lives," said Gina Maria, a 40-year-old teacher who lives in the community.
Gliniewicz's death is the third law enforcement fatality in Illinois this year, according to the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. It says firearms-related deaths in the U.S. are down 13 percent this year compared to the same period last year, Jan. 1. to Sept. 1; there were 30 last year and 26 this year.

Back to School: Let the left-wing indoctrination begin

It’s no secret that our nation’s public universities want to transform American young people into a bunch of hyper-sensitive, intellectually-neutered cream puffs. 

But now – they’re trying to deconstruct gender identity by parsing pronouns.
Across the fruited plain, institutions of higher education are turning their taxpayer-funded fiefdoms into gender neutral zones where free thought is outlawed. I’ve got several incidents to share with you – so pour yourself a glass of iced tea and prepare to be dumbfounded.
Click here to join Todd’s American Dispatch – a must-read for Conservatives!  
Consider what happened to Moriah DeMartino, a 21-year-old conservative student at Maryland’s Hagerstown Community College.

Across the fruited plain, institutions of higher education are turning their taxpayer-funded fiefdoms into gender neutral zones where free thought is outlawed.

College officials turned down her request to establish a campus chapter of Turning Point USA, one of the nation’s most influential student non-partisan conservative organizations. Instead, the college suggested she join the political science club.
“I have determined that both Republicans and Democrats, as well as any other political parties, are able to be fairly represented as members of the currently existing club, without the creation of any additional clubs,” Dean of Student Affairs Jessica Chambers told Campus Reform. 
Chambers touted the political science club as a “non-partisan, but inclusive” group that exposes students to “the principles of political science in a true objective manner with respect to all student rights.”
But Miss DeMartino tells me the advisor of the club is an “extremely liberal professor.”
“He’s the man I approached about my club and he instantly shut me down,” she said. “I’m really frustrated right now and I’m really upset.”
For the record, the college does maintain clubs for women’s rights and LGBT students – but not conservatives. No surprise, said Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk.
“More times than not administrators and deans are using their positions of power to block conservative viewpoints on campus,” Kirk told me. “We have seen this time and time again. Administrators have been trying to silence the conservative point of view.”
But when it comes to imposing draconian liberal ideology on students, no one can come close to Washington State University.
Campus Reform reports a number of professors have told students they will be punished if they use words like “illegal alien,” “male,” “and “female.”  
It’s a good thing I didn’t attend Washington State University. I would’ve flunked out during roll call.
The syllabus for a “Women & Pop Culture” class warned students that using any “oppressive and hateful language” could result in a failing grade.
Oh yeah, the professor has a problem with white folks, too.
“Students will come to recognize how white privilege functions in every day social structures and institutions,” the syllabus outlined.
Another professor told white students they are expected to “defer” to non-white students. That’s just a fancy way of telling all the pale faces to shut their pie hole.
Last week I reported on the University of Tennessee’s quest to introduce gender “inclusive” pronouns into the Big Orange lexicon. Instead of he and she, students and professors were encouraged to use words like ze and zir. 
“We should not assume someone’s gender by their appearance, nor by what is listed on a roster or in student information systems,” wrote Donna Braquet, the director of the university’s pride center. “Transgender people and people who do not identify within the gender binary may use a different name than their legal name and pronouns of their gender identity, rather than the pronouns of the sex they were assigned at birth.”
I receive correspondence weekly from parents and students who are troubled by the influence of liberal ideology on university campuses.
And it’s not just happening at public schools. Get a load of what the kids had to endure at American University – a private school in Washington, D.C. 
Incoming freshmen were instructed to introduce themselves by name, hometown and “gender pronoun,” according to Young America’s Foundation (YAF).
“I found that this school has an obsession with political correctness,” Freshman Tristan Justice told The New Guard. “Despite being informed that American University was a very liberal campus, I went to orientation with high hopes that it wasn’t as bad as it sounded, but I was wrong.”
Welcome to an education system operated by the tolerance and diversity crowd, Tristan.
I really feel bad for American moms and dads – I really do. They send off their kids to college as decent, freedom-loving people.  But they return home as gender neutral, secular progressives who can’t figure out whether to leave the toilet seat up or down.
Our institutions of higher learning need a courtesy flush, America.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. His latest book is "God Less America: Real Stories From the Front Lines of the Attack on Traditional Values." Follow Todd on Twitter@ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.

Chinese Cartoon

Huckabee: The staggering stupidity of Iranian self-inspections

Fresh off a golf vacation at Martha’s Vineyard, President Obama is back to doling out disparaging dialogue about critics of his Iran nuclear deal.  Even now, after learning that the deal includes trusting Iran to self-inspect, the president calls opponents “crazies.”  What’s crazy, is putting trust in the hands of Iranian leaders.
They say when the cat’s away, the mice will play. But when America abdicates its leadership role in the world, the rats run riot. President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran is a rat ship.
The latest chapter in this rat-infested deal: the Obama Administration has agreed to Iranian “self-inspections”.  Letting the Iranians “self inspect” their nuclear energy facilities is like letting mass murderers run a gun shop, hoping they’ll behave.
Never in the history of international arms control agreements have American diplomats agreed to something so recklessly ridiculous as “self-inspections”. The International Atomic Energy Agency has pushed for access to the notorious military installation at Parchin for more than a decade, yet the current administration is now willing to trust Iran to “self-inspect” this secret facility?

It makes more sense to make a convicted embezzler your financial planner than to allow the Iranians to "self-inspect" their nuclear sites.

This is absolute insanity. It makes more sense to make a convicted embezzler your financial planner than to allow the Iranians to "self-inspect" their nuclear sites.
While in Israel last week, I met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, members of the Knesset, and numerous security officials. I was constantly asked, "Why does Obama trust Iran?” Iran launches rockets on Israeli children every day. This murderous regime has killed hundreds of American soldiers and has the blood of thousands of Christians, Jews, and Muslims on its hands. It shouldn't take a mushroom cloud for the American people to wake-up!
Iranian negotiators have squeezed every last concession from this Administration, and the Free World has absolutely nothing to show for it. American hostages are still rotting in Iranians prisons. John Kerry meets with Iranian “diplomats” in the morning and the mullahs still chant “death to America” in the afternoon.  Sanctions relief injects $150 billion into Iran’s economy and military, which continues to bankroll terrorism across the globe.
So why do the Iranians negotiate with such confidence? Why do they run circles around John Kerry and convince American diplomats to agree to bizarre concepts like “self-inspection"? Because the mullahs believe they aren’t just dealing with a paper tiger, they are dealing with an inflatable pussycat, full of hot air but ready to deflate at the slightest jab.
Reagan said, “Trust but verify”. Obama’s approach is “trust but vilify” – he trusts our enemies and vilifies those who disagree with him. Let’s face it, this is a horrible deal.  We need to double-down on serious sanctions and tighten the noose on Iran.
Members of Congress are currently enjoying a summer recess vacation, which they certainly don’t deserve. But in two weeks, they will return to Washington where they’ll have the opportunity to kill this deal.  This deal is dangerous, but the “self-inspection” provision makes it a rat-infested absurdity.  I pray that Washington opens its eyes before its too late.

‘Anti-gun stupidity’: Honolulu destroys $575G worth of police firearms

Second Amendment advocates are firing away at a decision by Honolulu officials to destroy $575,000 worth of perfectly good handguns in a move one critic called the “height of anti-gun stupidity.”

Some 2,300 Smith & Wesson 9 mm handguns, including at least 200 that are brand-new and in unopened boxes, were issued to the city’s police department. But with the 2,200-member force upgrading to lighter and less expensive Glock 17s, the guns were set to be permanently holstered. While it is customary throughout the country for departments to auction the guns to law-abiding citizens, including the police who once carried them, or donate them to another department, Honolulu opted to destroy them.
“Mayor Kirk Caldwell and the Honolulu Police Department agreed that they would not allow the guns to be sold to the general public and end up on the streets of Honolulu,” Honolulu Police spokeswoman Michelle Yu told FoxNews.com. “The same goes for selling the individual gun parts that could have been used to assemble a gun.”

“These guns in the hands of lawful civilians could provide an important means of self-defense, especially for low income people who can’t afford them.”
- Alan Gottlieb, Second Amendment Foundation.

Selling the guns, with mandatory background checks to ensure they were only purchased by legal owners, could have netted the city $575,000, according to Hawaii News Now. Several police officers reportedly were interested in buying old service weapons for personal use, and the department has previously sold phased-out weapons to its staff, but this time opted to melt them down two weeks ago.
Yu said no other police departments were interested in the guns.
“Law enforcement in American Samoa initially expressed interest in acquiring some of the guns, but there was a change in administration and the new administration is no longer interested,” she said. “The local sheriff’s department recently replaced their guns, and other county police departments (Kauai, Maui and Hawaii) are looking to replace their Smith & Wessons in the future.”
A representative for Smith & Wesson declined to comment, stating that the company does not provide any information regarding their customers in law enforcement.
Despite Yu’s claims, the Hawaii state sheriffs division – which uses the same gun manufacturer – told Hawaii News Now that no offer for donation was made to them.
Hawaii’s Department of Public of Safety recently replaced its Smith & Wesson firearms with different SIG Sauer models and received a credit of more than $150,000 for trading in its old guns. But Yu no trade-in discount was available and insisted “the only remaining option was to destroy the guns so they don’t end up on the street.”
Destroying working firearms, as well as valuable taxpayer property, was “the height of anti-gun stupidity and will not stop one criminal from getting a weapon,” said Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation.
“These guns in the hands of lawful civilians could provide an important means of self-defense, especially for low income people who can’t afford them,” Gottlieb said. “Or the sale of them could help pay for much needed law enforcement equipment to help keep the public safe.”
Any city the size of Honolulu could use $575,000, said Amy Hunter, spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action.
“There is no reason why these firearms couldn’t be used by law enforcement or sold to law-abiding citizens, the proceeds of which could go to much-needed infrastructure, programs, training, etc,” she said.
The Hawaii Rifle Association’s President Harvey Gerwig, together with safety training non-profit Lessons in Firearms Education President Bill Richter wrote directly to Caldwell over the issue, emphasizing that “in these times of lean budgets and continual cost cutting to needed city services, to throw away a half a million dollars seems senseless.”
“The reason your office and HPD gave for not selling to the public seemed to be a slight on those legal gun owners who would have purchased them and who supported you during your election,” the letter continued. “You should be ashamed for suggesting that the good citizens of Hawaii cannot be trusted with buying HPD’s surplus guns for fear of them falling into criminal hands when record numbers of firearms have been bought by those same citizens for the last ten years without any such problems.”
Over the last 15 years, the number of guns registered in Hawaii increased dramatically. Data released by the Hawaii Attorney General’s Office shows that 420,409 firearms were registered from 2000 to 2014, in addition to the already existing one million firearms in a state that has an estimated population of 1.4 million.
Hawaii has one of the lowest gun death rates in the nation, which some attribute to its spike in ownership per capita, while others claim it is a result of its strict gun control laws.
Caldwell’s office declined to elaborate on Yu's comments. The Hawaii Police Officers Union, did not respond to requests for comment.
But while the destruction of the guns generated criticism from the gun rights community, others have welcomed it.
“It beats putting those (guns) back on the streets,” said Ladd Everitt, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “There are so many loopholes in federal law that dangerous people often get guns legally in this country.
“There's a reason that Hawaii has the lowest gun death rate in the country,” he added. “They'd rather see guns destroyed than families.”

Supreme Court rules against Kentucky clerk in gay marriage case

 Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis

MOREHEAD, Ky. –  The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against the Kentucky county clerk who has refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses, and the clerk will arrive at work Tuesday morning to face her moment of truth.

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis will have to choose whether to issue marriage licenses, defying her Christian conviction, or continue to refuse them, defying a federal judge who could pummel her with fines or order that she be hauled off to jail.
"She's going to have to think and pray about her decision overnight. She certainly understands the consequences either way," Mat Staver, founder of the law firm representing Davis, said on Monday, hours before a court-ordered delay in the case expired. "She'll report to work tomorrow, and face whatever she has to face."
A line of couples, turned away by her office again and again in the two months since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage across the nation, plan to meet her at the courthouse door.
Davis stopped issuing all marriage licenses in the days after the landmark decision. Two gay couples and two straight couples sued her, arguing that she must fulfill her duties as an elected official despite her personal religious faith. A federal judge ordered her to issue the licenses, and an appeals court upheld that decision. Her lawyers with the Liberty Counsel filed a last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court on Friday, asking that they grant her "asylum for her conscience."
Justice Elena Kagan, who oversees the 6th district, referred Davis' request to the full court, which denied the stay without comment. Kagan joined the majority in June when the court legalized gay marriage across the nation.
Meanwhile, a couple that had been turned away went to Rowan County Attorney Cecil Watkins to ask that she be charged with official misconduct, a misdemeanor defined by state law as a public official who "refrains from performing a duty imposed upon him by law or clearly inherent in the nature of his office." The crime is punishable by up to a year in jail.
Watkins cited a conflict of interest and forwarded the complaint to Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, whose office will decide whether to appoint a special prosecutor, generally a county attorney from a surrounding jurisdiction, who would decide whether to file charges.
As the clock wound down for Davis on Monday, the tension intensified between dueling groups of protesters outside her office window on the courthouse lawn.
Hexie Mefford has stood on the lawn waving a flag nearly every day for more than two months. The flag is fashioned after Old Glory, but with a rainbow instead of the red and white bars.
Mike Reynolds, a Christian protesting in Davis' defense, shouted at her that he found the flag offensive: He is an Army veteran, he complained, and they had desecrated the American flag. The two groups roared at each other. The Christians called on the activists to repent; the activists countered that their God loves all.
It was a marked difference from the cordial protests that unfolded there every day since Davis declared she would issue no licenses.
Rachelle Bombe has sat there every day, wearing rainbow colors and carrying signs that demand marriage equality. One particularly hot day, Davis, the woman she was there to protest against, worried Bombe would get overheated and offered her a cold drink. In turn, Bombe said she's checked in on Davis, whose lawyer says she's received death threats and hate mail, to make sure she's holding up despite the difficult circumstances.
"She's a very nice lady, I like her a lot," Bombe said of Davis. "We're on the opposite sides of this, but it's not personal."
On Monday, the Christians stood on the grass and sang "I am a Child of God."
The marriage equality activists chimed in after each refrain: "So are we."

State Department IT staff among those in the dark about Clinton's private email address

Members of the State Department's information technology staff were among those who were unaware that Hillary Clinton was using a private email address during her time as secretary of state, the latest release of messages from Clinton's private server revealed late Monday.

In one email, dated February 27, 2010, an IT worker on the State Department's computer "help desk" sends a message to Clinton's email address inquiring about why one of Clinton's correspondents has been getting a "fatal error" when she tries to send messages to the secretary of state.
Clinton forwarded the email to her top aide, Huma Abedin, asking "Do you know what this is [sic]". Abedin responds, "Ur [sic] email must be back up!!" and explains that a woman named Judith tried to send Clinton an email and called the department's IT team when the message was returned to her.
"They had no idea it was YOU," Abedin writes to Clinton, "just some random address so they emailed. Sorry about that. But regardless, means ur [sic] email must be back!"
Clinton's use of a private email address may have also created logistical problems communicating with State Department aides.
"Well its clearly a state vs outside email issue," wrote Abedin in August 2010, after another aide reported missing some messages from Clinton. "State has been trying to figure it out. So lj is getting all your emazils cause she's on her personal account too."
The State Department released 7,121 pages of emails from Clinton's server late Monday, the fourth and largest release since a federal judge ordered the department to undertake monthly releases of the approximately 55,000 pages of emails Clinton turned over to the State Department last year. The last batch of messages is expected to be released in April.
Clinton and her presidential campaign have repeatedly denied that she inappropriately handled classified information while secretary of state, a question that is currently the subject of a federal investigation.
The latest release also contains messages related to Clinton's iPad, which arrived in June 2010. Aide Philippe Reines informed her that the device had arrived, to which Clinton responded, "That is exciting news -- do you think you can teach me to use it on the flight to Kyev next week?"
Fox News reported in March that Hillary had requested the use of an iPad early in her tenure as secretary of state. However, security and investigative sources told Fox News in March that the device had not been certified as "secure" by the department's technical experts. However, an investigative source told Fox News that Clinton used the device despite the decision.
"I myself am not the most tech savvy person," Clinton wrote in her 2014 memoir, "Hard Choices," although I surprised my daughter and my staff by falling in love with my iPad which, I now take everywhere I travel."
Indeed, Despite approving the creation of a relatively complex email system in her home, Clinton seemed puzzled by basic technology. In a July 2010 exchange, Clinton quizzed Reines on how to charge the Apple tablet and update an application.
Reines asks Clinton if she has a wireless Internet connection, and she replies: "I don't know if I have wi-fi. How do I find out?"
Clinton has previously said she used the private server so she would not inconvenience herself by carrying separate devices for work and personal communications wherever she went. However, her use of the iPad as well as her State Department BlackBerry would appear to undercut her defense that she only wanted to use one device at a time.
The emails also contain a joke from Clinton about using multiple email addresses on her server. In a May 2010 email to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, Clinton says Rice should "please feel free to use (whatever my current address may be!) anytime." Fox News, citing independent research data, reported in March that Clinton appeared to have established multiple email addresses for her private use, and possibly the use of her aides, under the domain of “clintonemail.com."

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As Common Core testing results trickle in, initial goals unfulfilled

LOS ANGELES –  Results for some of the states that participated in Common Core-aligned testing for the first time this spring are out, with overall scores higher than expected though still below what many parents may be accustomed to seeing.

Full or preliminary scores have been released for Connecticut, Idaho, Missouri, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia. They all participated in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, one of two groups of states awarded $330 million by the U.S. Department of Education in 2010 to develop exams to test students on the Common Core state standards in math and English language arts.
Scores in four other states that developed their own exams tied to the standards have been released. The second testing group, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, is still setting benchmarks for each performance level and has not released any results.
Even when all the results are available, it will not be possible to compare student performance across a majority of states, one of Common Core's fundamental goals.
What began as an effort to increase transparency and allow parents and school leaders to assess performance nationwide has largely unraveled, chiefly because states are dropping out of the two testing groups and creating their own exams.
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told state leaders in 2010 that the new tests would "help put an end to the insidious practice of establishing 50 different goal posts for educational success."
"In the years ahead, a child in Mississippi will be measured against the same standard of success as a child in Massachusetts," Duncan said.
Massachusetts and Mississippi students did take the PARCC exam this year. But Mississippi's Board of Education has voted to withdraw from the consortium for all future exams.
"The whole idea of Common Core was to bring students and schools under a common definition of what success is," said Tom Loveless, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "And Common Core is not going to have that. One of its fundamental arguments has been knocked out from under it."
No Child Left Behind, President George W. Bush's signature education law, requires states to test students each year in math and reading in grades three to eight and again in high school. Congress has been debating ways to overhaul the law. The House and Senate have approved differing versions this summer that would maintain the testing requirement but let states decide how to use the results.
The Common Core-aligned tests fulfill the federal requirement, yet are significantly different from the exam that students are accustomed to taking.
Rather than paper-and-pencil multiple choice tests, the new exams are designed to be taken by tablet or computer. Instead of being given a selection of answers to choose, students must show how they got their answer. Answer correctly and get a more difficult question. Answer incorrectly, get an easier one.
Field tests administered last year indicated that a majority of students would not score as proficient in math and reading on the tests. So this summer, states have braced for the results, meeting with parents and principals to explain why the results will be different.
At Los Angeles Unified School District, Cynthia Lim, executive director of the Office of Data and Accountability, said the preliminary results received by the nation's second largest district are "lower than what people are used to seeing." District officials are consulting with school leaders about how to explain to parents and students that new test results should not be compared with old ones.
"I think we are getting richer information about student learning," she said.
Overall, the statewide scores that have been released are not as stark as first predicted, though they do show that vast numbers of students do not qualify as proficient in math or reading.
In Idaho, nearly 50 percent or more of students tested were proficient or above in English language arts. The results were lower for math: less than 40 percent were proficient in five grade levels. In Washington, about half of students across the state earned proficient scores. In Vermont, English proficiency scores hovered below 60 percent and dipped to as low as 37 percent in math.
States using the Smarter Balanced tests are using the same cut scores but different descriptors. What is "below basic" in one state might be "slightly unprepared" in another.
Initially, Duncan said the department would ask the two consortia to collaborate and make results comparable. But while the Smarter Balanced test has four achievement levels, the PARCC exam will have five.
When the testing groups were created, PARCC was a coalition of 26 states and Smarter Balanced 31; some states belonged to both. This year, 11 states and the District of Columbia took PARCC exams. Arkansas, Mississippi, and Ohio have since decided to withdraw from the exams. Eighteen states participated in the Smarter Balanced test this year. Of those, three states have since decided to abandon one or all of the grade level tests.
"It's always disappointing to have a state drop out," said Kelli Gauthier, a spokeswoman for Smarter Balanced. "But we feel really confident in the group that we have."
Sarah Potter, communications coordinator for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said the frequent changes in which test will be given and what students will be tested on has frustrated teachers and parents. The state participated in Smarter Balanced this spring but lawmakers have appropriated $7 million to develop a new state-based assessment plan.
"We are losing that that state-to-state comparability after this year, unfortunately," Potter said. "But our Legislature has said we should have Missouri standards so that is the route we are taking."
Aside from the defections, the exams have also experienced from technical glitches and an opt-out movement that surfaced this spring. Results in Nevada, Montana and North Dakota were hit with widespread technical problems; Nevada counted last year's scores a total loss.
In Oregon, slightly more than 95 percent of students took the exam, just making the federal requirement for participation. For black and special education students, as well as some districts, the requirement was not met, meaning the state could potentially lose federal funds.
Most states have not been able to release test scores before the start of classes, a delay that was expected in the exam's first year, but nonetheless frustrating for some teachers and parents.
"From a high school senior's perspective, it's gotta be really tough," said Renata Witte, president of the New Mexico PTA. "You want to get those college applications in and you need this information to complete them."

O'Malley facing legal questions about buying governor's mansion furnishings at 'junk' prices

Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley is facing questions about whether he violated state ethics rules when buying furniture from the governor’s mansion at cut-rate prices before his departure.

A Maryland assistant attorney general on Friday asked a state ethics commission to rule on whether O’Malley’s purchases violated rules on state property, according to documents obtained by The Baltimore Sun, which first reported the story.
O'Malley and his wife, Catherine O'Malley, reportedly paid $9,638 for 54 pieces of furniture that originally cost taxpayers $62,000.
The O’Malley administration’s Department of General Services sold the items after declaring them "junk." But an agency rule prohibits the preferential sale of state property to government officials, according to the paper.
The agency also allegedly permitted the sale without seeking bids or notifying the public that the items were for sale.
O’Malley and his wife, a Baltimore District Court judge, reportedly earned a combined $270,000 in state salaries last year.
Representatives for O'Malley, who retired as governor in January because of term limits, said he followed proper procedures and that the furniture was authorized to be discarded.
Among the purchased items were armoires, beds, chairs, desks, lamps, mirrors, ottomans and tables, according to The Sun, in a remarkably detailed, 1,596-word story.
The furniture was used in the residential sections of the mansion, not the public areas. But the sum of the items reportedly was essentially equal to most of the mansion’s taxpayer-purchased furnishings.
The depreciation formula for the items was devised by the Annapolis Capital Complex.
According to the inventory list, the O'Malleys paid $449 for a leather couch that the state bought in 2007 for $2,247; $739 for an armoire that the state paid $3,695 for in 2007; and $764 for a second armoire that the state paid $3,822 for in 2007.
John Griffin, O'Malley's former chief of staff, who spoke on behalf of the former governor, told The Sun that he thinks proper procedure was followed.
Former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich Jr. faced similar scrutiny after purchasing furniture when he left office in 2008, but to a lesser extent. He paid the state $992 for 21 furnishings that had cost the state $9,904.
Ehrlich, a Republican, purchased mostly low-cost linens, mattresses, pillows, lamps and bunk beds used by his two sons, at prices also set a depreciation formula.

Democrats end summer meeting with no resolution to support Obama's Iran deal

The Democratic National Committee reportedly failed this weekend to pass a resolution supporting President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, with Congress set to vote on the issue as early as next week.

Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the committee chairwoman, prevented the resolution from being considered at the group’s summer meeting this weekend in Minneapolis, sources told The Washington Post, which first reported the story.
Obama and his White House team have worked diligently to get enough Capitol Hill votes for the resolution to pass, amid strong opposition from the Republican-controlled House and Senate.
Vice President Biden, in fact, spoke with DNC members on a conference call Wednesday to help garner support. And the group failing to pass such a resolution is largely being considered at setback for what would likely become Obama’s signature foreign policy victory.
Some congressional Democrats who are Jewish also oppose the deal, fearing it will put Israel at greater risk of attack by neighbor and bitter rival Iran. Among them is New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is expected to become the next Senate Democratic leader.
If the deal is approved, the United States and five other world powers would lift billions of dollars in crippling economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for the rogue nation curtailing its nuclear-development program.
The House and Senate are expected to have enough votes to pass a resolution of disapproval for the deal. However, Obama will almost assuredly veto the resolution, and neither chamber is projected to have the two-thirds majority needed to override the presidential veto.
The Post reports two conflicting arguments about why perhaps members didn’t vote on the resolution -- that procedural issues prevented a vote or it was thwarted by Wasserman Schultz, who is Jewish and whose south Florida district has many Jewish voters.
No such proposal was drafted in advance of the meeting, and the one presented failed to qualify as an emergency procedure, The Post reported, according to sources.
Still, at least 160 committee members signed an alternative “Special Letter to the President" in which they pledged their support for Obama's leadership in the negotiations and agreed that placing strict limits on Iran's nuclear program is “an important victory for diplomacy.”
The letter was prepared by James Zogby, the co-chairman of the group's Resolutions Committee.
Zogby and Christine Pelosi, chairwoman of the California Democratic Party Women’s Caucus, made a blog post Saturday on the Huffington Post website in which they listed the names of those who have so far signed the letter.
Wasserman Schultz, who has not said whether she will vote in favor of the Iran agreement, was not listed among those who signed the letter.
If Wasserman Schultz indeed blocked the vote, this would not be the first time she has faced criticism about putting her political future ahead of the party’s.
As far back as 2012, Obama political advisers had purportedly taken steps to replace Wasserman Schultz as chairwoman, and her relationship with the White House has since been strained.

Ohio lawmakers slam Obama plans to rename Mt. McKinley 'Denali' during Alaska trip

Ohio lawmakers reacted angrily Sunday to the White House's announcement that President Obama would formally rename Alaska's Mt. McKinley — North America's highest peak — "Denali" during his trip to The Last Frontier this week.

"Mount McKinley ... has held the name of our nation's 25th President for over 100 years," Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, said in a statement. "This landmark is a testament to his countless years of service to our country." Gibbs also described Obama's action as "constitutional overreach", saying that an act of Congress was required to rename the mountain because a law formally naming it after McKinley was passed in 1917.
"This political stunt is insulting to all Ohioans, and I will be working with the House Committee on Natural Resources to determine what can be done to prevent this action," Gibbs said.
The Ohio delegation's disappointment at the decision cut across party lines.
"We must retain this national landmark's name in order to honor the legacy of this great American president and patriot," Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, whose district includes McKinley's hometown of Niles, in eastern Ohio.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, also blasted the decision as "yet another example of the President going around Congress", while House Speaker John Boehner said the naming of the mountain after McKinley was "a testament to [the 25th president's] great legacy .. I am deeply disappointed in this decision.
The state of Alaska has had a standing request to change the name to "Denali"  — a native Athabascan word meaning "the high one"  — dating back to 1975, when the legislature passed a resolution and then-Gov. Jay Hammond appealed to the federal government.
But those efforts and legislation in Congress have been stymied by members of Ohio's congressional delegation. Even when Mount McKinley National Park was renamed Denali National Park in 1980, the federal government retained Mount McKinley as the name of the actual peak, which rises 20,320 feet above sea level.
"With our own sense of reverence for this place, we are officially renaming the mountain Denali in recognition of the traditions of Alaska Natives and the strong support of the people of Alaska," said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.
The White House cited Jewell's authority to change the name, and Jewell issued a secretarial order officially changing it to Denali. The Interior Department said the U.S. Board on Geographic Names had been deferring to Congress since 1977, and cited a 1947 law that allows the Interior Department to change names unilaterally when the board fails to act "within a reasonable time." The board shares responsibility with the Interior Department for naming such landmarks.
In 1896, a prospector in the mountains of central Alaska named the range after William McKinley upon learning that he had been nominated as a candidate for U.S. president.
McKinley became the country’s 25th president and was assassinated in 1901, six months into his second term. The 20,000-foot-tall peak had been previously known as Denali -- generally believed to be central to the Athabascan tribe's creation story and the site of significant cultural importance to many Alaska natives, according to the White House.
Denali also is an Athabascan word meaning "the high one" and is widely used across the state today, according to the White House.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who had pushed legislation for years to change the name, said Alaskans were "honored" to recognize the mountain as Denali.
"I'd like to thank the president for working with us to achieve this significant change to show honor, respect, and gratitude to the Athabascan people of Alaska," Murkowski said in a video message recorded atop the mountain's Ruth Glacier, with cloudy snow-capped peaks behind her.
Obama will not personally visit the peak during his stay in Alaska, which runs through Wednesday. He'll spend much of the trip in Anchorage, south of the peak, where he will attend a State Department-sponsored meeting on climate change, titled GLACIER/Global Leadership in the Arctic Conference.
The conference will bring together foreign ministers of Arctic nations and key non-Arctic states with scientists, policymakers and stakeholders from Alaska and the Arctic, the White House said.
“The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world and is experiencing the consequences,” the White House also said Sunday.
Supporters of the global warming theory say those changes include higher average temperatures and less winter sea ice, which is allowing for heavy storm surges that the sea ice once kept at bay, the White House said.
On Monday, Obama is scheduled to meet with leaders from the Alaska native community along with Gov. Bill Walker, Lt. Governor Byron Mallott and Murkowski to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation between the federal government and Alaska native tribes. Among the issues scheduled to be discussed is management strategies for fish and wildlife.

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O'Malley, Sander criticize small Democratic debate schedule, suggest its rigged to favor Clinton

Two top Democratic candidates in the 2016 White House race suggested Friday night that party leaders have rigged the debate schedule in favor of frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

“Only four debates … before voters in our earliest states make their decision,” Martin O’Malley, a former Maryland governor, said at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting in Minneapolis. “This sort of rigged process has never been attempted before.”
O’Malley is particularly concerned about the party having just one sanctioned debate each in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states in which primary votes are cast.
“That’s all we can afford?” O’Malley asked. “Is this how the Democratic Party selects its nominee?”
He also argued that limiting the total number of sanctioned Democratic debates to six, including two after the Iowa and New Hampshire votes, is allowing the rhetoric of Republicans candidates to go largely unchallenged.
“Republicans traffic in immigrant hate,” said O’Malley, who has been critical of the debate schedule since it was announced in early August. “We need debate.”
However, he made clear to reporters afterward that he thought the schedule helps Clinton.
Fellow 2016 Democratic challenger Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vermont Independent, was also at the summer meeting and told The Washington Post that he agrees with O’Malley’s argument that the DNC has rigged the debate process.
Sanders has recently been gaining ground on Clinton, but he and O’Malley need debates to get out their message because neither has the estimated tens of million that Clinton has to spend on advertising.
And most political strategists think that frontrunners have the most to lose in debates because they are under constant attack by the challengers.
The wildcard in the Democratic primary is whether Vice President Biden enters the race.
Donors and other Biden backers have been ramping up efforts.
Josh Alcorn, senior adviser for the super-PAC Draft Biden 2016, told Fox News on Sunday that Biden has the potential backing but would have to enter the race before the first debate, Oct. 13, to catch up with the other candidates.
“He may not have the financial resources, but there is a ground swell of support,” Alcorn said. “I think having the vice president on that debate stage is an important part of the campaign.”
The DNC has said its candidates are being given ample opportunity to be on the same stage to debate, defending the schedule.
Clinton has 47.8 percent of the vote, compared to 26.3 percent of Sanders, 14 percent for Vice President Biden, 1.5 percent for O’Malley and 1.3 percent for former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, according to an averaging of polls by the nonpartisan website RealClearPoltics.com.

Texas investigators search for motive behind killing of sheriff's deputy

Texas investigators were trying to determine on Sunday what may have motivated a 30-year-old man accused of ambushing a suburban Houston sheriff’s deputy filling his patrol car with gas in what authorities believe was a targeted killing.

Shannon J. Miles was charged Saturday with capital murder in the killing of Darren Goforth, 47, a 10-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Goforth had gone to the station in Cypress, a middle-class to upper-middle class suburban area of Harris County that is unincorporated and located northwest of Houston, after responding to a routine car accident earlier Friday.
Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said the attack was “clearly unprovoked,” and there is no evidence so far that Goforth knew Miles. Investigators have no information from Miles that would shed light on his motive, Hickman said.
"Our assumption is that he was a target because he wore a uniform," the sheriff said.
The killing has brought out strong emotions from the local law enforcement community, with Hickman likening it to the heightened tension over the treatment of African-Americans by police.
The nationwide "Black Lives Matter" movement formed after the killing of a black man by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, has sought sweeping reforms of policing. Related protests erupted recently in Texas after a 28-year-old Chicago area black woman, Sandra Bland, was found dead in a county jail about 50 miles northwest of Houston three days after her arrest on a traffic violation. Texas authorities said she committed suicide but her family is skeptical that she would have taken her own life.
Hickman and Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson on Saturday pushed back against police criticism, saying there must not be open warfare on law enforcement officials.
"We've heard Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter. Well, cops' lives matter, too," Hickman said.
Local law enforcement officers were worried after the Goforth killing that others could be targeted, he said.
"It gives us some peace knowing that this individual is no longer at large and that he wasn't somebody that would be targeting the rest of the community," Hickman said.
Miles is likely to be arraigned in court on Monday.

Bush fundraisers exit campaign amid sagging poll numbers, Miami says move voluntary

Three of Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush’s fundraising consultants have left the campaign, Fox News confirmed Saturday.

The consultants are Kris Money, Trey McCarley and Debbie Alexander, and they voluntarily left the campaign Friday, according to multiple sources.
Politico first reported the departures and suggested they were the result of personality conflicts and concerns about the strength of the campaign.
However, a Bush campaign source attempted Saturday to minimize the impact of the departures by saying the consultants remain involved in multiple projects outside of the campaign.
In addition, Bush spokesman Tim Miller told Fox News: "Governor Bush has the widest and deepest fundraising operation of any candidate in the field.”
He also said Ann Herberger, a longtime aide with more than two decades of experience in state and national politics, will continue to lead fundraising operations at campaign headquarters in Miami.
Bush, a former Florida governor, was the 2016 GOP presumptive frontrunner. And he had a superior fundraising advantage over essentially all of the other candidates in the party’s huge primary field, in large part because of his family name and connections with Washington Republicans.
Bush and the super-PAC Right to Rise raised a combined $114 million in the first quarter of this year, according to federal records, meeting often-talked-about expectations that the operation could indeed raise that much money.
However, Bush’s poll number have steadily declined since billionaire businessman and first-time candidate Donald Trump entered the race in mid-June.
"This is the time of year that campaigns make staffing changes before settling a final team going forward," Joe Desilets, a Republican strategist and managing partner at the Washington firm 21st & Main, said Saturday. "Jeb is far and away the fundraising leader in the race and has announced other major fundraisers joining his team. ... If Jeb starts dropping in fundraising, it may prove to be a bigger deal, but ... I don't see this as a major problem going forward."
Bush led the GOP field in mid-July with 17.8 percent of the vote, but is now at 9.8 percent, behind Trump at 23.5 percent and retired Dr. Ben Carson at 10.3 percent.
Trump has aggressively and consistently attacked Bush as the frontrunner, criticizing several of his positions including those on immigration and federal spending on women’s health.
Trump’s attacks have also been more personal, saying Bush is “low energy.”
Meanwhile, Bush appears to be taking a non-confrontational approach by largely not responding to the attacks and referring to himself as a “joyful tortoise."
Money, McCarley and Alexander will continue to work for Right to Rise, sources also told Fox News.

Sanders gains on Clinton in latest Iowa poll

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is continuing to gain on Hillary Clinton in Iowa, and is now within 7 points of the frontrunner in the Democratic presidential race, according to a newly released poll.

Clinton remains the first choice of 37 percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers, while sanders is the pick for 30 percent, according to the Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll released Saturday.
"It looks like what people call the era of inevitability is over,” said Pollster J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., which conducted the poll. “[Clinton] has lost a third of the support that she had in May, so anytime you lose that much that quickly it’s a wake-up call."
This is the first time the former secretary of state has seen her support fall under 50 percent among Democrats. The most recent Iowa Poll in May had Clinton leading the field with 57 percent, Sanders at 16 percent and Biden at 8 percent.
"What this new poll shows is that the more Iowans get to know Bernie, the better they like him and what he stands for," Sanders' spokesman Michael Braggs said. "We've seen the same thing in New Hampshire and across the country."
Vice President Joe Biden remains a choice among caucus-goers, even though he has yet to decide if he plans to run. Biden captured 14 percent of the vote, way ahead of candidates Martin O’Malley with 3 percent, Jim Webb at 2 percent, and Lincoln Chafee at 1 percent.
Biden also has the highest favorable rating among the field at 79 percent, compared with 77 percent for Clinton and 73 percent for Sanders.
Sanders’ poll numbers are also being buoyed by a group of voters similar to the ones attracted to President Obama in 2008: young people, liberals and first-time caucus-goers. In the latest poll, Sanders draws 50 percent of the support of those under the age of 45, well above Clinton’s 27 percent and Biden’s 8 percent.
While Clinton’s support has continually dropped among Iowa caucusgoers from 56 percent in January to 37 percent in the latest poll, Steve McMahon, a Virginia-based Democratic strategist told the Des Moines Register, "it's still early, and Hillary Clinton's done this before. She knows what it takes to win."

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