Group: Terminally ill woman follows through on decision to end her life, dies in Oregon

A terminally ill woman who had decided to end her life after being told her illness would be long and painful has died, advocacy organization Compassion & Choices said Sunday.
Brittany Maynard, 29, who moved to Oregon where the “Death with Dignity Act” allows people to choose to die using medication, was diagnosed with a progressive brain tumor called glioblastoma multiforme. The average life expectancy is 14 months.
Compassion & Choices said in a statement that Maynard took lethal drugs prescribed by a doctor on Saturday and was surrounded by her family. 
"She died as she intended - peacefully in her bedroom, in the arms of her loved ones," the statement said. 
The group said the Maynard family has asked for privacy. The family did not release a separate statement confirming the death. 
Her story went viral after she posted a video on her website, The Brittany Maynard Fund, explaining her decision to end her life rather than try to fight the disease.
“If all my dreams came true, I would somehow survive this,” she said in a video. “But I likely won’t.”
Maynard chose Nov. 1 to die, but later said she would decided to postpone the day, saying she still shared enough joy and laughter with her family and friends that “it doesn’t seem like the right time right now, but it will come because I feel myself getting sicker; it’s happening each week.”
Maynard’s last days were spent completing a bucket list that included a trip to the Grand Canyon, and surrounding herself with her family.
The California native was diagnosed with a progressive brain tumor shortly after her wedding last year.
In a video, Maynard said the worst thing that could happen to her --- the most terrifying aspect – would be to wait too long and her autonomy be taken away by the disease.
In the video, Maynard said she takes walks with her family and husband, which “give her the greatest feelings of health I have these days” and that her condition continues to worsen every day.
About a week before she filmed the video, Maynard had her most terrifying set of seizures, two in a day, which is unusual.
“I remember looking at my husband’s face and thinking ‘I know this is my husband but I can’t say his name,’ and ended up going to the hospital for that one.”
Dan, her husband, said they were taking things one day at a time.
“You take away all the material stuff, all the nonsense we seem to latch on to as a society and you realize that those moments are really what matter,” he said.
Maynard hopes that after her death, her husband can be happy and have a family.
Maynard said she has gained 25 pounds in the past three months because of her prescription medications and that she finds it hard to look at herself in photos or the mirror because her body has become so unrecognizable.
Since Maynard’s story went viral, she has been working to raise awareness of end-of-life rights by working with Compassion & Choices, and The Brittany Maynard Fund. She has also been traveling and spending time with her family.
“Sadly, it is impossible to forget my cancer. Severe headaches and neck pain are never far away, and unfortunately the next morning I had my worst seizure thus far. My speech was paralyzed for quite a while after I regained consciousness, and the feeling of fatigue continued for the rest of the day,” Maynard said on her website.
“The seizure was a harsh reminder that my symptoms continue to worsen as the tumor runs its course. However, I find meaning and take pride that the Compassion & Choices movement is accelerating rapidly, thanks to supporters like you,” Maynard said.
Maynard had said she planned to die in her bedroom at home surrounded by her husband, mother, step-father and best friend.

World Trade Center reopens for business 13 years after 9/11 devastation

Thirteen years after the 9/11 terrorist attack, World Trade Center is opening for business again.
Conde Nast will start moving Monday into One World Trade Center, a 104-story, $3.9 billion skyscraper that dominates the Manhattan skyline.
It's the centerpiece of the 16-acre site where the decimated twin towers once stood and where more than 2,700 people died on Sept. 11, 2001, buried under smoking mounds of fiery debris.
"The New York City skyline is whole again, as One World Trade Center takes its place in Lower Manhattan," said Patrick Foye, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that owns both the building and the World Trade Center site.
He said One World Trade Center "sets new standards of design, construction, prestige and sustainability; the opening of this iconic building is a major milestone in the transformation of Lower Manhattan into a thriving 24/7 neighborhood."
With the construction fences gone, America’s tallest building is considered by Conde Nast CEP Chuck Townsend as the, “most secure office building in America.”
About 3,000 employees will join the 170 expected to move in Monday in 2015. The publishing giants will take over five floors of the building.
The building is 60 percent leased, with another 80,000 square feet going to the advertising firm Kids Creative, the stadium operator Legends Hospitality, the BMB Group investment adviser, and Servcorp, a provider of executive offices.
The tower overlooks the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. Its aim is to honor those who died in the terrorist attacks.
For years, the grisly pit where workers found mostly body parts was dubbed the "ground zero" of the aerial terror attack.
At night, the incandescent steel-and-glass behemoth can be seen from vessels in New York Harbor approaching Manhattan.
Soon, an observation deck will be open to the public.
The eight-year construction of the 1,776-foot high skyscraper came after years of political, financial and legal infighting that threatened to derail the project.
The bickering slowly died down as two other towers started going up on the southeast end of the site: the now completed 4 World Trade Center whose anchor tenant is the Port Authority, and 3 World Trade Center that's slowly rising.

Ballot issues on abortion, pot, guns have potential to boost Election Day turnout

Nearly 150 ballot measures across the country -- including ones on abortion, guns and marijuana -- will be voted on Tuesday, key issues that have the potential to influence voter turnout in state and national races.
Voters in Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia will vote on measures that would allow recreational use of marijuana for adults.
The measures in Oregon and Alaska would allow for the retail sale of pot to anyone old enough to drink. The measure in the District of Columbia would make it legal to grow and possess marijuana, but not sell it.
And in Florida, residents will decide whether to make their state the 24th to allow marijuana use for medical reasons.
The measure has divided the rivals in Florida's closely contested gubernatorial race between Republican incumbent Rick Scott and Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, who supports the proposal.
The debate in Florida usually generates talk of young people potentially flooding the polls. But seniors, who flock to the state to retire, are the most reliable voters and could be key to the outcome of the measure.
A total of 147 ballot measures will go before voters on Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Three measures related directly or indirectly to abortion have sparked sharp debate in several states.
In Colorado, a "personhood" amendment would add fetuses to those protected by the state's criminal and wrongful death act. Opponents say it could lead to a ban on abortions. Supporters say it's intended to strengthen protections for pregnant women.
Colorado Sen. Mark Udall  is relying on women voters to help him win re-election in his close race with Republican challenger GOP Rep. Cory Gardner.
Similar measures are on the ballot in North Dakota and Tennessee.
In Massachusetts, voters will decide on a ballot measure to repeal a 2011 law authorizing development of a slots parlor and up to three resort casinos. The state has none now.
Washington voters will be faced with two competing gun-related measures.
One seeks background checks for all gun sales and transfers, including private transactions. The other would prevent any such expansion covering purchases from private sellers.
Six states require universal background checks for all sales and transfers of firearms. Washington's law, like the federal law, requires checks for sales or transfers by licensed dealers but not for purchases from private sellers.
Colorado and Oregon have measures that would require labeling of certain genetically modified foods. Each proposal would apply to raw and packaged foods produced entirely or partially by genetic engineering, but would not apply to food served in restaurants.
Midterm elections typically have a lower turnout than election years with a presidential race. And voter enthusiasm is often lower for the party that occupies the White House.
A recent study by Tufts University found turnout is higher in states with a referendum, compared to states without them and that the situation is particularly more prevalent in midterm elections. The study also found that the increased turnout can be attributed to “campaigns that use a ballot measure to mobilize voters.”
However, media coverage of the issue also appears necessary to increase the turnout, according to the study.
In Florida and elsewhere across the country, a greater percentage of seniors vote than any other age group, and their share of the total electorate is even more pronounced in years without a presidential contest.
President Obama has tried in the closing weeks of the midterms to appeal to African-American voters, who typically cast ballots for Democratic candidates, to get out and vote.
The African-American turnout will be vital to Democrats’ hopes in states such as Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana and North Carolina that will help determine control of the Senate.

Puppet Cartoon

Orman's Republican 'clown' comment in Kansas offends Dole, Sen. Roberts

Kansas Independent Senate candidate Greg Orman’s suggesting on Friday that top Republicans barnstorming the state for GOP incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts is nothing more than a “Washington Establishment clown car” got a sharp response from former Kansas GOP Sen. Bob Dole.
“I don't think I've ever been called a ‘clown’ before. I'm disappointed by Mr. Orman's statement," said the 91-year-old Dole, who was also the GOP presidential nominee in 1996 and served 35 years in Congress.
Orman, in an unexpected, too-close-to-call race with Roberts, made the remark at a campaign stop.
"Mr. Orman’s personal attacks and disdain for Senator Dole and other Republican leaders have no place in this campaign,” Roberts said. “If he wants to attack me, that’s fine because I’m used to being attacked by liberals. But Mr. Orman owes Senator Dole an apology.”
He also told Fox News on Saturday the comment was a “cheap shot” and proves how out of touch the Orman campaign is because nobody running for public office would ever criticize Dole.
“It’s unfortunate,” Roberts said.
The Orman campaign told the Kansas City Star that the candidate did not intend to slight Dole or anyone else at the rally.
Orman has based his campaign on his disdain for both major political parties.
But Democrats and Republicans have something the Kansas City businessman could really use right now: an established get out the vote operation.
In most elections, making sure that friendly voters cast their ballots is more important for a candidate in a race's final days than wooing new supporters.
Roberts, who is seeking a fourth term, has several thousand GOP campaign workers and volunteers armed with the latest voter information who are making sure his likely supporters vote in person or by mail, in addition to Dole and other Republican heavy weights helping him on the campaign tour.  
This week, the National Republican Senatorial Committee dispatched a top operative to help oversee his phone bank, door-knocking and transportation efforts.
Orman, 45, hopes that a quickly assembled turnout effort using new voter data techniques and about 800 volunteers will make up for his lack of a party apparatus.
Orman, whose campaign surged in September when the Democratic challenger dropped out of the race, is trying to appeal to voters disgusted with partisan gridlock in Washington. He is especially targeting registered independents, who make up 30 percent of Kansas' electorate, along with any Republicans tired of Roberts, 78, after his four decades in Washington. Forty-two percent of GOP voters supported Roberts' opponent, a Tea Party advocate, in the primary.

Debate moderator apologizes for accusing Scott Brown of botching NH geography

A debate moderator apologized to Republican New Hampshire Senate candidate Scott Brown Thursday night after accusing him on-air of botching his state geography -- though Brown technically was correct. 
The meandering conversation about New Hampshire regions started after WMUR reporter James Pindell asked Brown at the debate Thursday about what is going "right" and "wrong" in the economy of Sullivan County, which hugs the western edge of New Hampshire. 
Scott, who used to represent Massachusetts in the Senate, has faced "carpetbagger" accusations throughout his campaign to unseat Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire. In response to Pindell's question, Brown launched into a general answer about different regions of the state. 
"Geography plays a role along the southern border. We have more jobs, we have more opportunity, infrastructure, and other opportunities up north are difficult," he said. "One of the biggest opportunities is tourism. One of the biggest opportunities are ski areas and trails for snowmobiles -- I support those efforts." 
Pindell then interrupted to remind Brown they were talking about Sullivan County. "I think you were talking about the North Country," he said. 
Brown responded: "I'm talking about any place past Concord, actually, and the challenges of our state." 
This is where the disagreement arose. After Brown listed several "challenges," Pindell interrupted again, his voice raised. 
"Sullivan County is west of Concord," he said. "It's not north of Concord, Senator Brown. So what do you see as going well and what's not going well there?" 
Brown maintained that "the challenges are the same in every county in our state." 
Pindell then pitched to Shaheen, with the introduction, "Of course you've been that county's governor and senator for 12 years."
Brown's campaign reportedly claimed afterward that the GOP candidate was referring to Mount Sunapee, a ski resort in Sullivan County he had visited. 
Though New Hampshire Democrats seized on the exchange to mock Brown, Pindell later acknowledged that, while Sullivan County is west of Concord, much of it also lies north of the capital. 
Pindell also went on air to apologize. 
"I said that Sullivan County was west of Concord, not north of Concord. The truth is, it's both. So on this point, Scott Brown was right, I was wrong, and I apologize to Scott Brown and to both campaigns," he said. The incident was reminiscent of an exchange during a 2012 presidential debate where CNN's Candy Crowley corrected Mitt Romney on a point about Benghazi, though the matter was in dispute.

Governor's race in 'deep-blue' Maryland now among tightest, garnering big money and interest

The campaign for Maryland GOP gubernatorial nominee Larry Hogan earlier this week enthusiastically predicted that a win Tuesday would be the surprise, upset victory of the midterm elections.
And it might well be correct.
Left off essentially everybody’s list of hot governors’ races, the tightening Maryland contest has now captured the national spotlight with big outside money and A-list politicians coming in to close the deal for Hogan or Democratic nominee Anthony Brown, who has served eight years as Gov. Martin O’Malley’s lieutenant governor.
That Hogan, a businessman and son of a former congressman, would even be close this late is a surprise.
Democratic voters outnumber Republicans 2-to-1 in Maryland. And only two Republicans have held the governor’s office the past four decades.
But a sluggish local economy and years of tax increases by the O’Malley administration -- including an infamous “rain water tax" -- appears to have voters looking for a change.
Brown had led the race by double digits from the start. But recent polls -- including one by The Baltimore Sun in mid-October that indicated Brown ahead by just 7 percentage points -- have shown his lead starting to slip.
However, the turning point seemed to occur after a Republican-sponsored poll released Monday showed Hogan trailing Brown by just 2 percentage points, 46-to-44 percent.
“It’s a little crazy right now, but we believe everything is now breaking our way,” Hogan said Wednesday from the campaign trail. “The timing is perfect. The momentum is there for Democrats and independents. There’s a full-scale tax revolt in deep-blue Maryland.”
Though the poll was commissioned by the Hogan campaign, pollsters, Democrats, Republicans and essentially everybody else with an interest in the midterms took notice.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, arrived Tuesday in Maryland, for his third visit of the cycle, and was followed two days later by Hillary Clinton, whose many titles now include one of the most influential Democrats on the campaign trail.
And within the past four days, two of Washington’s most respected, nonpartisan pollsters have changed their handicap of the race to show Brown on less-sure footing.
On Friday, the Cook Political Report moved the race into its “tossup” category. And on Wednesday, the Rothenberg Political Report shifted the race for Democrats from “favored” to the lesser “lean.” 
Hogan spokesman Adam Dubitsky suggests Maryland Democrats have taken Hogan too lightly, pointing out that Brown, a Harvard law school graduate who served in Iraq, said during his tough primary race that winning the general election would just be “a little bit of a mole hill.”
The Brown campaign did not return calls seeking comment. However, campaign spokesman Justin Schall has downplayed the notion that the national attention suggests Brown is fading.
"That is Republicans' wishful thinking," he told The Sun.
The last Republican to win the Maryland governorship was Robert Ehrlich in 2002. He was preceded by Spiro Agnew in 1967. Ehrlich was defeated in 2006 by O’Malley, who must leave as a result of term limits and appears to be strongly considering a run for president in 2016.
President Obama, who took nearly 62 percent of the Maryland vote in 2012, has also campaigned for Brown.
The RNC and its counterpart, the Democratic Governors Association, will reportedly spend $1.5 million collectively on TV ads.
And a political action committee for former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has pledged to spend $500,000 on its own TV ads, to hammer Hogan’s National Rifle Association endorsement.
While national political reporters largely saw Brown’s biggest liability as the failed rollout of the state’s ObamaCare exchange that Brown oversaw, state Republicans have clearly made the race about taxes and have tried to convince Marylanders that a vote for Brown is a vote for a third term of tax increases.
“It’s not fear of raising taxes,” said Rob Carter, former finance chairman for the Maryland Republican Party. “It’s an absolute certainty.”
O’Malley has signed into law 40 new taxes while in office, according to Forbes.com.
He signed the rain water tax bill  in 2012, in response to an Environmental Protection Agency mandate on cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay. Property owners in 10 jurisdiction including Baltimore City now pay an annual fee that ranges from rough $26 to $256.
“Anthony Brown means eight more years of Martin O’Malley,” Carter said. “They are two peas in a pod.” 

Republicans cheer Tahmooressi's release, question Obama's role

Republicans on Saturday welcomed the news of Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi being released from a Mexico prison and the efforts by GOP congressmen to help broker a deal but questioned whether the Obama administration did enough.
“President Obama still isn’t using all of the tools and levers that we have as the world’s lone super power, whether it is as simple as getting Sgt. Tahmooressi released from custody to defending our interests or protecting our allies in the Middle East,” Arkansas GOP Rep. Tom Cotton told Fox News.
Cotton, who is now running for Senate, wrote Obama asking him to intervene.  
A Mexican judge on Friday ordered Tahmooressi’s immediate release, after he spent seven months behind bars for crossing the border with loaded guns.
The judge said Tahmooressi should be freed because of his mental state. But he did not make a determination on the illegal-arms charges against the Afghanistan veteran diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a Mexican official who had knowledge of the ruling but was not authorized to give his name.
California GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher told The Washington Times that Obama was “AWOL” throughout the process.
Rohrabacher said he, fellow California GOP Rep. Ed Royce, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Arizona GOP Matt Salmon fought for Tahmooressi’s release after President Obama did not.
“The president, who is also the commander in chief, didn’t do his job,” Rohrabacher told the newspaper. “There is a lack of concern for this man, for this American hero who served our country. As commander in chief he showed a total disdain and non-interest in an American hero who served us in Afghanistan and a total disregard for the fact that he was suffering.”
Tahmooressi has said he took a wrong turn on a California freeway that funneled him into a Tijuana port of entry with no way to turn back.
"It is with an overwhelming and humbling feeling of relief that we confirm that Andrew was released today after spending 214 days in Mexican Jail," his family said in a statement.
Former 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called the announcement of Tahmooressi’s release “wonderful news.”
But Palin also said she was disappointed to hear reports that the White House “never did fight” for his freedom.
“If true, then President Obama once again broke that sacred commitment to never leave an American behind,” she said on her Facebook page. “If I'm wrong on this, I'll be more than happy to acknowledge the president's efforts to see an honored vet set free.”
Republican and Democratic politicians had held talks with Mexican authorities to urge his release. A U.S. congressional committee also held a public hearing to pressure Mexico to free him.
Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he was "elated" by the news and that Tahmooressi’s PTSD will be treated by specialists in the United States.
"As I said after visiting Andrew in the Mexican jail, he needs to come home to the United States to be with his mother, Jill, and the support network of friends I know to be standing by to help him,” Royce said.
Richardson, who grew up in Mexico and has negotiated on a range of international issues, said he met with Tahmooressi in jail in the border city of Tecate, and he had talked to Mexican officials to urge them to release him on humanitarian grounds.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., also applauded his release.
"As a mother, my heart is with Jill Tahmooressi tonight and I can only imagine the many emotions she must be experiencing, namely the relief in knowing her son is coming home and that they will soon be reunited.”
Mexican authorities, however, had made clear that they would not be influenced by politics and that the matter was in the hands of its courts.
The Mexico Embassy said the judge’s rule was the correct legal decision but disputed allegations that U.S. officials were blocked from seeing Tahmooressi.
“From the first moment of his arrest up until his release, U.S. consular officials had access to him,” the embassy said in a statement.
In Mexico, possession of weapons restricted for use by the Army is a federal crime, and the country has been tightening up its border checks to stop the flow of US weapons that have been used by drug cartels.
His attorney, Fernando Benitez, had pushed for the 26-year-old Florida man to be released because Mexico has no experience in treating combat-related PTSD, even in its own soldiers.
Benitez had argued that Tahmooressi carries loaded guns with him because his weapons, which were bought legally in the U.S., make him feel safer. He added that the veteran is often distracted, which could have contributed to him becoming lost.
Still, Mexican prosecutors maintained Tahmooressi broke the law.
Tahmooressi was carrying in his truck a rifle, shotgun, pistol and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
After being jailed in Tijuana, Tahmooressi's mother said, he tried to kill himself by cutting his neck with a shard from a light bulb in his cell because the guards and inmates threatened to rape, torture and kill him and he feared she would be in danger.
He was transferred to another prison, where a pastor visited him regularly and the Mexican government says he was under medical observation.
But a psychiatrist hired by Mexican prosecutors to examine the Afghanistan veteran agreed with the defense that he should get PTSD treatment in the United States, noting in a Sept. 30 report that Tahmooressi, who now serves in the Marine reserve, feels like he is constantly in danger.
Tahmooressi did not admit wrongdoing, and he still maintains his innocence, his attorney said.
His mother has said her son's time in a Mexican jail has been worse than his two tours in Afghanistan.
Tahmooressi left Florida for San Diego in January to get help after dropping out of college, unable to concentrate or sleep, his mother said.
The case marks one of the first times Mexico made a ruling on PTSD — though the psychological wound is increasingly used in U.S. courts, especially in arguing for reduced sentences.