Mark Memmott

Mark Memmott appears in the following:

Don't Worry, They Say, 100-Foot Asteroid Will Miss Us Today

Wednesday, March 05, 2014

Don't say you weren't warned.

But also don't worry, the experts say.

As we wrote last month when an asteroid measuring about 900 feet long passed near enough to Earth to generate headlines about a "close encounter," more rocks are always headed our way.

And as

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Job Growth Was Weak Again In February, ADP Survey Shows

Wednesday, March 05, 2014

Private employers added only 139,000 jobs to their payrolls in February and job growth in January was even less than previously thought, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report.

The news is a sign that Friday's much-anticipated employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also may ...

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Overruled: Gov. Says Kentucky Will Appeal Same-Sex Marriage Order

Wednesday, March 05, 2014

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear says his state will hire outside counsel to appeal a federal judge's order to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages.

The governor's announcement follows word from the state's attorney general, Jack Conway, that his office will not pursue such an appeal.

Both men are Democrats.

After ...

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Time For Tense Negotiations In Ukraine, Kerry Says

Wednesday, March 05, 2014

This post was updated at 5:10 p.m. ET.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said all sides agree that the crisis on the Crimean Peninsula must be resolved through dialogue, but he acknowledged there has yet to be one-on-one discussions between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart.

...

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'12 Years A Slave' Leads To Correction Of 161-Year-Old Story

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

Here's something of another victory for new media over old media.

The New York Times on Tuesday corrected a 161-year-old report about the enslavement of Solomon Northup, after a Twitter user pointed out that the story had twice misspelled Northup's name — including in the headline.

Northup is ...

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Obama's $3.9 Trillion Budget Would Produce $564 Billion Deficit

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

As expected, President Obama on Tuesday unveiled a $3.9 trillion budget plan for fiscal 2015 that his number crunchers say would produce a $564 billion deficit.

The gap between spending and revenue, while large, would be down from more than $744 billion this fiscal year and a record ...

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Kentucky Won't Appeal Order To Recognize Same-Sex Marriages

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

"Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway will not appeal a federal judge's order that the state must recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages," NPR member station WFPL reports from Louisville.

"From a constitutional perspective, Judge Heyburn got it right," Conway said in announcing his decision on Tuesday, the station adds.

We ...

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$2 Million Settlement Closes Ohio's 'Caged Kids' Case

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

A notorious story that became known as the "caged kids" case after 11 young children were rescued from an Ohio home nearly a decade ago has gotten to its final chapter.

The 11 victims have reached a $2 million settlement with Ohio's Stark County where three of them had lived ...

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For Those Itching To Etch, Great Wall Now Has A Graffiti Zone

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

Chinese authorities are trying to contain a growing problem — graffiti written on and carved into the stones of the Great Wall of China — by giving tourists a designated section on which they can leave their marks.

China News Service reports that "Mutianyu, a famous section of ...

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At Last, No News Is Good News When It Comes To The Weather

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

We wouldn't normally post a map that basically says there's nothing happening.

But after a winter highlighted by visits from the polar vortex, an ice storm that shut down Atlanta, frozen-over Great Lakes and a scary-sounding type of storm known as a bombogenesis, ...

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Putin Says Those Aren't Russian Forces In Crimea

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

(We updated this post at 11:55 a.m. ET.)

Russian soldiers have not occupied government buildings and surrounded Ukrainian military bases on the Crimean Peninsula, Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted Tuesday during a news conference near Moscow at which he gave an account of recent events that contradicts reports from the ...

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Russia Denies Issuing Ultimatum Or Warning Ukraine Of 'Storm'

Monday, March 03, 2014

Update at 12:45 p.m. ET: "Total Nonsense," Russian Official Reportedly Says:

Any claims that the Russian military has warned Ukraine to surrender in Crimea or face an assault on Tuesday are "total nonsense," a Russian Defense Ministry official says, according to The Voice of Russia.

The unidentified official ...

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Boy Scouts' Ban On Gay Leaders Leads Disney To End Grants

Monday, March 03, 2014

This news that broke locally in Florida last week is starting to grab headlines and attention across the nation:

"Disney Ends Funding To Boy Scouts Over Gay Policy." (The Associated Press)

Here's how The Orlando Sentinel, one of the first outlets to report the news, frames ...

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Here's Ellen's Star-Stuffed Oscar Selfie That Broke Twitter

Monday, March 03, 2014

A group selfie that host Ellen DeGeneres organized at the start of Sunday's Oscars show is now in the record books.

According to Twitter, it's the "most retweeted Tweet, ever." As of about 8:45 a.m. ET Monday, the shot of Ellen with stars such ...

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Pistorius Pleads Not Guilty, Witness Tells Of Hearing Screams

Monday, March 03, 2014

"The first witness at Oscar Pistorius' murder trial told the court on Monday she heard 'bloodcurdling screams' from a woman followed by shots," Reuters writes.

It was, the wire service adds, "a dramatic opening to a case that could see one of global sports' most admired role models ...

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What A Blast: As Snow Ends, Wicked Cold Moves In

Monday, March 03, 2014

Update at 6:11 p.m. ET. Now The Cold:

Most of the snow is now off shore. What comes next is bitter — perhaps historic — cold for parts of the Midwest and East that's more reminiscent of January, than the beginning of meteorological spring. Here's how Accuweather sums ...

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After Entering Crimea, Where Will Russia Stop?

Monday, March 03, 2014

Update at 1 p.m. ET. Our Latest Head And Link, Part II:

Russia Denies Issuing Ultimatum Or Warning Ukraine Of 'Storm'

The top of that post:

"Any claims that the Russian military has warned Ukraine to surrender in Crimea or face an assault on Tuesday are 'total nonsense,' ...

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Batman? Zorro? Lone Ranger? No, That Masked Man Is LeBron

Friday, February 28, 2014

Broken noses are part of the game for NBA players. Elbows fly. Bodies collide. Balls ricochet.

Beaks get bonked.

Many nights, you'll see at least one player from across the 30-team league protecting his still-sensitive schnoz with a clear plastic mask.

But not the current best player in the game.

...

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California's Getting Drenched, But Drought Is Far From Over

Friday, February 28, 2014

The heavy rains forecast for much of drought-stricken California have indeed descended on the state.

Here's Friday's headline from Southern California Public Radio: "LA Rain: 2nd Storm Hits Overnight With Heavy Rain, Flooded Freeways."

The Los Angeles Times sums things up this way: "L.A. Storm ...

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Economy Grew Less Than Thought As 2013 Came To A Close

Friday, February 28, 2014

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.4 percent annual rate in fourth-quarter 2013, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said Friday, as it significantly cut its estimate of how much gross domestic product grew during the last three months of the year.

When the bureau issued his ...

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