A mere 13 kilometres of highway, and the difference is 184 years behind bars.
Just a ten minute drive north into Canada, and Michael Ilk might expect full parole in only a few years — but that international border means his life is probably over, as far as freedom goes, and the 42-year-old Calgarian will die wearing the orange jumpsuit of the Montana State prison service.
“I don’t see any way to protect the public with him outside of prison,” Lincoln County District Judge James Wheelis told the court, as he sentenced the Calgary man convicted on two counts attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault.
“Who can predict what he will do. Who could have predicted this?”
For firing a 9-mm handgun 14 times at his ex-girlfriend and another man in Eureka, Montana last year and wounding both, the judge determined Ilk should spend life in prison without a chance for parole.
On Monday, he handed the Canadian a staggering 200 years in Montana State Prison, broken down into two 80-year sentences for both charges of attempted deliberate homicide and 20 years per count of aggravated assault, without parole.
“Judge Wheelis takes this kind of thing seriously,” Lincoln County Undersheriff Brandon Huff told Postmedia on Tuesday, in what may be the understatement of the year.
“This was definitely a violent crime, with two people shot.”
Judge Wheelis took the April 15, 2015 shooting so seriously, he actually doubled the sentence recommended by the state.
Thirteen kilometres from the border maybe, but this is obviously a very different world from Canada.
Up here, a sentence of more than a decade for attempted murder is considered shocking, as in 2013, when a Saskatoon judge sentenced Brandon Carelse to 16 years for beating and repeatedly stabbing his estranged wife, leaving her barely clinging to life.
Carelse’s sentence was immediately reduced to 14 years for time served in remand, and despite a history of violent crime, he can expect parole by the time a decade is up.
Ilk, on the other hand, was an upstanding, clean-living citizen when he confronted his ex-girlfriend Hadassah Pereslete and her co-worker Tyler Wilson in a construction site near the Eureka Hills subdivision.
Despite more than a dozen shots fired at their truck, the two victims suffered non-life threatening wounds, and then Ilk made the arrest very easy for police, after chasing their vehicle into the parking lot of the local sheriff’s office.
“Let’s just say it wasn’t a difficult case to solve,” said the undersheriff.
Pereslete was hit in the leg and arm and Wilson was shot in the arm and hand.
Throughout the trial, Ilk maintained the shooting was self-defense, stating Wilson shot at him first after he’d been asked to come to the construction site.
“I’m not a horrible and violent person,” Ilk told the court before he was sentenced.
“I believed I needed to defend myself. If I could change that day, I would in a second.”
But his plea didn’t help his case, nor did the character-witness testimony of family and friends, including three Calgary law enforcement officials, among them his brother-in-law Michael Ferguson, who called the 2015 incident totally out of character for the kind, normally gentle man.
As with the guilty verdict from a jury in June, the sentencing date was an emotional affair, for those who may never see Ilk on the outside again.
Ilk’s lawyer did not return calls on Tuesday, and there is no word yet on an appeal, but in the meantime, at least one of the two victims, who are each suing the shooter for $1 million, is publicly calling the guilty verdict a victory.
“We won!” was Pereslete’s two word exclamation on Facebook, where the 23-year-old has been regularly posting about the shooting.
Pereslete dated and lived with the Calgarian from June, 2012 to January, 2015, after which point she testified Ilk was sometimes abusive and threatening.
Since the shooting, she’s used social media as a conduit for statements about the trial.
“The truth won. Justice won. Humanity won. Life won. We won,” she posted to Instagram.
“This has been the biggest week of my life and I’m happy to say, it’s finished. Goodbye forever, michael ilk.”
mplatt@postmedia.com

Calgarian jailed for 200 years in Montana


A mere 13 kilometres of highway, and the difference is 184 years behind bars.


CHUUK STATE, Micronesia — The U.S. Coast Guard says two stranded mariners were rescued Friday after crews saw their "SOS" in the sand on an uninhabited island in Micronesia, Hawaii News Now reports.
A U.S. Navy aircraft crew spotted the pair on the beach and gave their location to the Coast Guard in Guam. Hawaii News Now says the two, who had no emergency equipment, were picked up and taken to a patrol boat.
The Coast Guard received a report about the couple’s 18-foot vessel going missing on Aug. 19. Hawaii News Now says the two departed Weno Island on Aug. 17, and they were expected to arrive at their destination to Tamatam Island the next day.
Hawaii News Now says that on Wednesday, a ship noticed flashing lights from the uninhabited Chuuk State island where the two were later found. The U.S. Navy was alerted and spotted the survivors on the beach.

'SOS' in sand leads to rescue of 2 people stranded on island


The U.S. Coast Guard says two stranded mariners were rescued Friday after crews saw their


OTTAWA -- The Liberal government is putting the United Nations on notice that Canada is ready to provide money and, more importantly, troops for peacekeeping missions around the world.
Up to 600 Canadian soldiers -- including engineers and medical units -- are being committed to future peacekeeping operations, as well as equipment such as helicopters and planes, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion said Friday.
"It is time for Canada to choose engagement over isolation," Dion told a news conference in Saguenay, Que., where Liberal MPs are taking part in a two-day caucus retreat.
"(It is) time to act with responsible conviction as a determined peacebuilder."
The additional soldiers represent a dramatic increase over the 19 Canadian troops deployed on peacekeeping missions at the end of July, bringing the total more in line with the number of Canadian blue berets deployed in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Sajjan said Friday's announcement signals that Canada is committed to re-engaging in a full spectrum of multilateral peace operations, but he also warned that the landscape has changed dramatically in the last 20 years.
"Around the world, the nature of conflict is changing and it's more complex than ever," Sajjan said.
"Today, peace support operations are conducted where there may be no peace to keep, or where the fragile peace constantly teeters on the edge of violence. We need to understand conflict better. We need to look at the root cause of conflict, and think of innovative ways to move forward."
The government is also setting aside $450 million over three years for projects that promote peace and security around the world, including the deployment of police officers and civilian experts.
The UN says 75 Canadian police officers and nine military experts were participating in missions at the end of July.
The commitments are being announced in advance of a major conference in London. Countries are required to make a tangible pledge in order to attend. Canada did not attend last year's summit in Washington, which was organized by U.S. President Barack Obama.
But the big question, which the government has yet to answer, is where Canadian troops would actually end up. The government says no decision has been made, but it's believed Canada will participate in more than one country.
Speculation has been rife that the Liberals are eyeing a mission in Mali, the Central African Republic, South Sudan or the Democratic Republic of Congo. But all four represent complex and dangerous environments, with no easy solutions.
In Mali, for example, 86 peacekeepers have been killed since April 2013. The UN missions in the DRC and South Sudan, meanwhile, have been accused of not doing enough to protect civilians. The political situations in those countries are also extremely volatile.
The Liberals promised during last year's election campaign to return Canada to peacekeeping after more than a decade of dwindling participation. In July, Canada ranked 67th out of 121 nations in terms of the number of troops and police deployed on peacekeeping missions.
Some have questioned the Liberal government's emphasis on peacekeeping given that many UN missions involve dealing with terrorist groups and other non-state actors. There have also been concerns that the military, which also has a large mission in Iraq and will be soon going to Latvia, is being stretched thin.
Sajjan has said the government won't task the military with anything that commanders believe they can't handle.

Liberals pledge up to 600 soldiers, $450-million for UN peacekeeping operations


The Liberal government is putting the
United Nations on notice that Canada is
ready to provide money and, more
importantly, troops for peacekeeping
missions around the world.


Smoke from a fire at a dump in northeast Edmonton led Alberta Health Services to issue a precautionary air quality advisory Tuesday night.
Although the advisory says minor smoke concerns don’t normally cause health issues, it urges residents to keep an eye on conditions in case they worsen.
If it’s possible to taste or smell smoke, the advisory encourages people to minimize physical activity outdoors and, if possible, to stay indoors. Anyone with a respiratory condition should monitor their symptoms.
The advisory is in effect until further notice and will be updated hourly at airquality.alberta.ca.
The fire broke out at the northeast Edmonton Waste Management Facility just before noon Tuesday.
Fire Capt. Greg Holubowich said the fire started in a wood pile measuring 60 square metres wide and 18 metres deep — an area a little larger than two Olympic swimming pools laid side by side.
The nature of the material that’s feeding the fire is elevating the risk to firefighters.
“If there’s some kind of treated wood that may be in the pile there’s a higher risk of more carcinogens, and the off-gassing is much more dangerous than if it was clean wood,” said Holubowich, who said paint may also be involved.
“This type of fire’s very difficult to fight. The water supply is always a concern, in a large area like that heavy equipment is, in all likelihood, going to be needed to turn up the pile so we can get water on it so we can extinguish the fire as quickly as possible.”
With files from CP

Precautionary air quality advisory issued for smoke from dump fire


Smoke from a fire at a dump in northeast Edmonton led Alberta Health Services to issue a precautionary air quality advisory Tuesday night.Although the advisory says minor smoke concerns don't normally cause health issues, it urges residents to keep an eye on conditions in case they worsen.


Singer Miranda Lambert is set to meet the soldier who brought her to tears at a concert in Connecticut last week.
The country star had just started singing her hit The House That Built Me at the Xfinity Center when she spotted Jeff Tudisca’s handmade sign in the crowd and had to stop the show.
The U.S. serviceman’s placard read: “3 combat tours. (Your) voice was the last thing I listened to EVERY NIGHT! THANK YOU!!!”
Many fans assumed the soldier was invited backstage to meet Miranda after the show, but when a local radio DJ discovered that didn’t happen, he decided to set up a meet-and-greet between the pair. It will take place on Friday night, before Lambert’s show at Gillette Stadium in New England.
In an interview with Broadway’s Electric Barnyard, Tudisca admitted he’s very excited to meet the country music superstar, but he’s not quite sure what he’ll say to her.
He also lost it during his emotional connection with Miranda at the Xfinity Center.
In footage from last week’s gig, the singer took Tudisca’s powerful sign and propped it up near her microphone stand while attempting to finish The House That Built Me. She eventually gave up and told fans, “I gotta get a drink. Y’all, I gotta do it!”
She then asked fans to take over and complete the song for her.
Her emotions were also tested the following night in East Rutherford, New Jersey when a cute six-year-old fan named Sebastian asked Miranda to marry him.
“I got engaged today!” Miranda, 32, told the audience at the MetLife Stadium, where she was opening for Kenny Chesney. “There’s a little six-year-old boy here named Sebastian. He asked me to marry him. I said yes - in 25 years.”
The singer then showed off a pink ring on her finger, adding, “Look at this beautiful ring! He got on one knee. He was such a gentleman. It may be my favourite proposal ever.”

Miranda Lambert to meet soldier she sang to sleep


Singer Miranda Lambert is set to meet the soldier who brought her to tears at a concert in Connecticut last week.


NEW YORK — Milos Raonic has a very good memory.
“I think the last time I played him was in San Jose,” Raonic said about American Ryan Harrison, who will be his second-round opponent Wednesday at the U.S. Open.
It was indeed four years ago in San Jose that Raonic defeated Harrison in straight sets in the semifinals of the SAP Open before the Canadian beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in the final. The only other time Harrison and Raonic faced each other on the ATP Tour was in 2011 when the American won in three sets at Indian Wells.
“I know the things he liked to do back then,” Raonic said. “Obviously, times have changed on both sides of the court, mine and his. So I’ll definitely do some research and maybe try to watch a little bit of that match he played (Monday), maybe have a few words with other players that have played him over a recent period of time.”
Raonic also remembers playing Harrison when they were both juniors, saying: “He was younger than me.”
Raonic is 25 now and Harrison is 24, but rankings are much more important than age in tennis. Raonic is ranked No. 6 and Harrison is No. 120, so the Canadian will be a heavy favourite to advance to the third round.
But if Raonic, seeded fifth here, is ever going to win a Grand Slam title, he’s going to have to beat the Big Four: Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. It was Murray who beat Raonic in the final at Wimbledon and if the draw holds up Nadal would be Raonic’s quarter-final opponent here with Djokovic possibly lurking in the semifinal. Murray is in the other half of the draw.
Raonic was asked to describe the status of the Big Four right now after his first-round victory over Germany’s Dustin Brown on Monday night.
“Well, I think it’s a little bit spread out,” the 6-foot-5 serving giant from Thornhill, Ont., said. “You have Roger, who was always there, that is unfortunately unable to be playing at this moment, who is sitting out for a little while (with a knee injury). You have Andy and Novak, who have pretty much led the charge of those big four. Have been leading it at least throughout this year. Rafa is still one of the most dangerous players on tour. You’ve got to navigate your way through. You’ve got to be trying to play your best. Hopefully you face these guys later in tournaments and you can bring your best tennis.”
Raonic could catch three breaks here.
Federer hasn’t played since losing to Raonic in the Wimbledon semifinals and hopes to return from knee surgery in time for the Australian Open in January.
Djokovic has been having problems with his right arm and needed four sets Monday night to beat Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz, ranked No. 247. It marked the first time the world’s No. 1 player had lost a set in the first round of a Grand Slam since 2010. Djokovic’s first serves were only around 100 m.p.h. — about 25 m.p.h. less than normal — and his second serves were in the low 80s. Not a good sign for him going forward.
Nadal won his first-round match in straight sets Monday over Denis Istomin, but was playing with a heavily taped left wrist. That injury forced him to miss Wimbledon.
Murray is the only one of the Big Four who is healthy and could be waiting for Raonic in the final if the Big Canadian can get that far.
Raonic certainly remembers what happened the last time they met.
TOUGH TEST FOR POSPISIL
Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil caught a break by drawing Jozef Kovalik, ranked No. 126, as his first-round opponent and took advantage of it with a straight-sets victory Monday.
But Pospisil, who has a 7-21 singles record this year, will face a much tougher opponent in the second round Wednesday when he faces hard-serving South African Kevin Anderson, who is ranked No. 35. Coming into the U.S. Open, Pospisil had lost in the first round of four of his past five tournaments, starting at Wimbledon.
“I’m a competitor. I hate losing,” Pospisil said after Monday’s win. “I love trying to find ways to win and being on the court and that just hadn’t been the case these last few months. More than anything, it’s just that I was kind of back to my old self on the court in terms of just being there and competing, being a professional, doing what I’m supposed to do right and doing what I love to do. Today that was the main difference.
“I played much better than I’ve been playing, regardless of who my opponent was,” the 26-year-old added. “I’ve played some weaker opponents and didn’t play anything close to the level I played today.
“It was nice to actually play well again for a change.”
Pospisil split with coach Fred Fontang earlier this month and said he has been given a boost by having his brothers, Petr and Tom, with him for the last couple of weeks. They were among the Canadians cheering Pospisil on during his first-round victory.
Pospisil will be fresh after Monday’s win that took just over an hour and a half to complete, but so will the 6-foot-8 Anderson, who took 2:18 Monday to win in straight sets over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.
A Canadian double-header: Pospisil’s match will be the first one on the Grandstand Court, starting at 11 a.m. Wednesday. Raonic’s match will immediately follow on the same court.
NO UPSET HERE
Sam Querrey, who made headlines at Wimbledon when he knocked off Djokovic in the third round, won’t be pulling off any upsets here. The American, who is seeded 29th, was upset by Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (4), 6-7 (0), 6-3, 6-3 his first-round match Tuesday.

Milos Raonic sizes up tennis' Big Four: 'It’s a little bit spread out'


NEW YORK — Milos Raonic has a very good memory.


The derailment of a freight train in the middle of Toronto last Sunday is an urgent warning for us to rethink how dangerous goods are shipped through the most populated neighbourhoods in Canada.
We need immediate action by the federal government to improve rail safety – action which would also improve public transit.
Quite simply, we need a viable plan to separate freight and passenger rail traffic in Canada.
A plan to keep dangerous goods out of urban centres which would also increase the capacity to run more public transit on existing rail lines in urban centres.
It’s 2016 and our Canadian cities have expanded and grown. More people live closer to freight train lines than ever before.
This same train that derailed in Toronto travelled through Mississauga, Ontario’s third largest city.
In the 1800s railways were used to connect our provinces and cities and allowed us to create a Canada.
Cities used railway trains as the engines of their economies to connect people and products. Major cities expanded through the use of trains.
But in today’s modern digital economy we need those same railway lines to move people within an urban centre and between cities, while keeping freight and dangerous goods outside of the urban core.
Last year there was a plan announced by some local governments to fix this problem but there has yet to be urgent action to make it a reality.
The plan is called the “Missing Link”.
In 2015, the cities of Brampton, Cambridge, Guelph, Milton, Mississauga, Toronto, Kitchener and Waterloo developed a business case for the Missing Link.
It is a new rail corridor to connect two exiting freight lines.
The result removes freight traffic from the southern CP and Canadian National Rail (CN) lines, and diverts it to a freight-only rail line.
Then the existing CN and CP freight lines would be free for more commuter service by GO Transit and VIA Rail.
It is a simple plan -- the Missing Link diverts dangerous freight from many cities while expanding commuter transit.
All-day, two-way electrified GO Train service on the Milton and Kitchener lines would become possible, as would high-speed rail.
This idea is not a new one or unique to Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area. It can be implemented in other urban centres across Canada.
In the 1970s new freight-only rail lines were built north of Toronto.
This was done to increase capacity for passenger lines along the shore of Lake Ontario.
This led to development of the Golden Horseshoe and now the Lakeshore rail line is the busiest passenger rail line in Canada.
Population growth in the biggest cities like Toronto has led to unaffordable housing prices combined with some of the worst traffic in the world.
Government knows this growth will only continue.
Yes, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced an enormous infrastructure program. New programs for subways, street cars and other critical infrastructure will start to follow. Those plans will help.
But gridlock is a growing and complex problem.
And sometimes, the most complex problems can have the simplest solutions.
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie told me the Missing Link would allow the Ontario government to achieve its vision for Regional Express Rail.
"Dangerous freight would no longer travel through communities, and most importantly, residents could arrive to their destination more quickly and easily.
“The Missing Link is an ambitious project, but one that will fundamentally change how we live and work in the GTA for a generation to come,” said Crombie.
The federal Liberals need to act now to make the best use of existing rail lines to move more people efficiently, while protecting them from potentially dangerous train derailments in the process.
Warren is a Liberal political strategist and media commentator. He worked for former Toronto mayor Mel Lastman and former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty and is currently a principal at grgadvisors.ca and CEO of Riseley Gaming Inc.

Time to separate freight and passenger rail lines


The derailment of a freight train in the middle of Toronto last Sunday is an urgent warning for us to rethink how dangerous goods are shipped through the most populated neighbourhoods in Canada.


Ding Jinhao, a teenager from China, was shamed internationally on social media after he carved his name into the face of a 3,500-year-old temple relic he recently visited as a tourist in Egypt. Ding's parents were forced to contact local media and apologize for their son, admitting that they hadn't properly educated their child and pleading for society to give him a chance. (Kongyouwuyi/Newspoint)
The Little Mermaid statue, an icon of Copenhagen, Denmark, has been vandalized numerous times. The statue's head and arm have been sawed off, it's been blasted off the rock, possibly with dynamite, and has been covered in various shades of paint. Each time, the statue has been restored. (Fotolia)
Jim Morrison's grave at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris is splashed with graffiti by admirers. A statue of the late singer was placed by the grave, but stolen, as was a flat shield Paris officials put over the grave. (Postmedia Network)
Visitors to England's Stonehenge are kept at bay by ropes. Tourists were once able to approach the stones, but after many began chipping away bits of the rock for souvenirs, protective ropes were erected around Stonehenge. (iStock Photo)
Unknown vandals have previously splashed an oily substance over names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. in 2007. This covered or corroded the names of many people who died in the war. (Fotolia)
Marko Kulju, a Finnish tourist, tore the earlobe off one of the Moai statues, carved of volcanic rock, on Easter Island in March 2008. The damage is seen in the above photo. Kulju faces seven years in prison and a fine of nearly $20,000. (Postmedia Network)
Tourists have taken to writing soccer chants and the names of their love interests on the walls of Peru's famed Sacsayhuaman fortress. Sacsayhuaman was built in the 1100s. (Wikipedia/Håkan Svensson)
Michelangelo's "Pieta" is now behind bullet-proof acrylic glass after a mentally disturbed geologist attacked the Virgin with a hammer and shouted "I Am Jesus" in 1972. In 1991, a vandal attacked Michelangelo's "David" statue, damaging its toes with a hammer before being restrained. (Wikipedia/Stanislav Traykov)
In 2007, five people, thought to be intoxicated, broke into Paris' Musee D'Orsay and punched holes through Claude Monet's "Le Pont d'Argenteuil" painting.
Tourists behaving badly is nothing new, as these famous incidents of vandalism prove. Some of the world's best known art and landmarks have all suffered vandalism at the hands of tourists over the years. After years of various species of trees being cut down on New Zealand's One Tree Hill, a lone pine tree stood next to the obelisk. In 2000, it too was cut down, making One Tree Hill, "No Tree Hill." The government has yet to replant any trees on the hill due to uncertainty over the species to be planted. (Wikipedia)
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- Tourist John Gleason crept through the grass, four small children close behind, inching toward a bull elk with antlers like small trees at the edge of a meadow in Yellowstone National Park.
"They're going to give me a heart attack," said Gleason's mother-in-law, Barbara Henry, as the group came within about a dozen yards of the massive animal.
The elk's ears then pricked up, and it eyed the children and Washington state man before leaping up a hillside. Other tourists -- likewise ignoring rules to keep 25 yards from wildlife -- picked up the pursuit, snapping pictures as they pressed forward and forced the animal into headlong retreat.
Record visitor numbers at America's first national park have transformed its annual summer rush into a sometimes dangerous frenzy, with selfie-taking tourists routinely breaking park rules and getting too close to Yellowstone's storied elk herds, grizzly bears, wolves and bison.
Law enforcement records obtained by The Associated Press suggest such problems are on the rise at the park, offering a stark illustration of the pressures facing some of America's most treasured lands as the National Park Service marks its 100th anniversary.
From Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains to the Grand Canyon of Arizona, major parks are grappling with illegal camping, vandalism, theft of resources, wildlife harassment and other visitor misbehaviour, according to the records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
In July alone, law enforcement rangers handled more than 11,000 incidents at the 10 most visited national parks.
In Yellowstone, rangers are recording more wildlife violations, more people treading on sensitive thermal areas and more camping in off-limit areas. The rule-breaking puts visitors in harm's way and can damage resources and displace wildlife, officials said.
Often the incidents go unaddressed, such as when Gleason and the children approached the bull elk with no park personnel around. Gleason said he was "maybe" too close but felt comfortable in the situation as an experienced hunter who's spent lots of time outdoors.
These transgressions add to rangers' growing workload that includes traffic violations, searches for missing hikers and pets running off-leash in parks intended to be refuges of untrammeled nature
"It's more like going to a carnival . If you look at the cumulative impacts, the trends are not good," said Susan Clark, a Yale University professor of wildlife ecology who has been conducting research in the Yellowstone area for 48 years. "The basic question is, 'What is the appropriate relationship with humans and nature?' We as a society have not been clear about what that ought to be, and so it's really, really messy and nasty."
Recent events at Yellowstone grabbed national headlines
-- A Canadian tourist who put a bison calf in his SUV hoping to save it, ending with wildlife workers euthanizing the animal when they could not reunite it with its herd.
-- Three visitors from Asia cited on separate occasions for illegally collecting water from the park's thermal features.
-- A Washington state man killed after leaving a designated boardwalk and falling into a near-boiling hot spring.
The flouting of park rules stems from disbelief among visitors that they will get hurt, said Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk. "I can't tell you how many times I have to talk to people and say, 'Step back. There's a dangerous animal,' and they look at me like I have three heads," he said.
Inconsistent record keeping, including a recent switch to a new criminal offences reporting system, makes it difficult to identify trends that apply uniformly across the major parks.
But the records reviewed by the AP reveal the scope of visitor misbehaviour is huge. In Yellowstone, administrators and outside observers including Clark say the park's problems have become more acute. That threatens its mission to manage its lands and wildlife "unimpaired" for future generations.
Beyond incidents that lead to citations are many more that result in warnings. More than 52,000 warnings were issued in 2015, up almost 20% from the year before.
Washington state resident Lisa Morrow's son was among the children Gleason led toward the elk. Despite safety advisories -- and numerous examples of visitors getting gored by bison, mauled by bears and chased by elk -- Morrow declared herself unafraid of the park's wildlife. She said she was eager to see a grizzly up close.
"I want to see one right there," Morrow said, pointing to a spot just feet away. "I'd throw it a cookie."
The top 10 parks by visitation collectively hosted almost 44 million people last year, according to National Park Service figures. That's a 26% increase from a decade earlier, or more than 9.1 million new visitors combined at Great Smoky Mountains, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Yosemite and the other national parks on the list.
Yellowstone boasts the most large, dangerous carnivores among those parks, but each has its risks. In Rocky Mountain National Park, it's elk that become more aggressive during mating season. In Yosemite, it's towering waterfalls where visitors insist on swimming near the edge. In the Grand Canyon, it's squirrels habituated to humans and sometimes quick to bite an outstretched hand.
Wenk said the rise in popularity of social media complicates keeping visitors safe.
"You take a picture of yourself standing 10 feet in front of a bison, and all of a sudden a few hundred people see it, and it's reposted -- at the same time we're telling everybody wildlife is dangerous," Wenk said. "They get incongruous messages and then it happens. They get too close, and the bison charges."

Tourists shamed for bad behaviour in national parks


Tourist John Gleason crept through the grass, four small children close behind, inching toward a bull elk with antlers like small trees at the edge of a meadow in Yellowstone National Park.


CHICAGO -- There are no bomb blasts or collisions with burly linemen in Susan Contreras' past. Her headaches, memory loss and bouts of confused thinking were a mystery until doctors suggested a probable cause: domestic violence.
A former partner repeatedly beat her, she says.
"He would hit me mainly in the head so that nobody would see the injuries. He'd hit me in the back of the head so the bruises wouldn't show," the Phoenix woman said.
The abuse from her ex-partner took a heavy emotional toll, Contreras says. But even though he sometimes knocked her out, she hadn't considered that her brain might have been as damaged as her psyche.
"Honestly, there's so many holes in my memory, thinking problems," she said. "My memory is really gone."
Brain trauma in domestic violence survivors has been overshadowed by concerns about injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan war vets, and by effects of repeated head blows in football players. Experts believe many cases go undetected and untreated in abused women, making them vulnerable to problems with thinking, mood and behaviour.
Advocates say the injuries leave some survivors so impaired that they can't manage their jobs and lives. Some even end up homeless.
About one-quarter of U.S. women and 14% of men have experienced severe physical assaults by a partner in their lifetime, including hitting, punching, being slammed against something hard or pushed down stairs, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Head and neck injuries are among the most common, and data suggest that domestic assaults may cause traumatic brain injuries in at least 60 per cent of survivors, according to a research review published this year in the journal Family & Community Health.
Traumatic brain injuries can result from even a single sudden blow to the head. The symptoms may be short-term or long-lasting, and repeated assaults increase chances for permanent neurological damage. Whether that damage can cause the downward spiral that domestic violence survivors sometimes get caught in is unproven, but studies have found these brain injuries are more common in homeless people than in the general population. And there's no dispute that they can cause life-changing disabilities.
"This population is not unlike that of our athletes," said Dr. Javier Cardenas, director of a brain injury program at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. He's a trauma consultant for the National Football League and also treats domestic violence survivors.
Cardenas cited Baltimore Ravens' running back Ray Rice's 2014 attack on his then-fiancee, caught on an elevator video camera. Much of the public discussion about the incident was about whether brain injuries in football players may be linked to violent behaviour off the field. It overlooked a far more obvious injury.
"When Janay Rice was knocked out cold in the elevator, attention was all about how Ray Rice had previous concussions. Nobody mentioned that the woman in the elevator suffered a brain injury right in front of everybody's eyes," Cardenas said.
Traumatic brain injuries include concussions and don't always cause loss of consciousness or damage that can be detected on imaging scans. Symptoms may not occur immediately but can develop over time, making it difficult sometimes to link them with previous abuse.
The brain isn't a hard, fixed organ. It's more like jello, surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid that works like a shock absorber when the head is hit. A violent blow -- from colliding with a linebacker's helmet, from blast pressure after an explosion, or from a partner's angry fist -- can damage brain cells at the point of impact and slam the brain against the skull, sometimes bruising tissue, tearing nerve fibers, or causing bleeding.
Repeated blows have been linked with a degenerative brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy. CTE first made headlines several years ago when it was found in the brains of retired NFL players who had killed themselves. Research linking domestic violence with suicide is sparse, although several small studies have suggested that suicide attempts are much more common among battered women than among those who have not experienced partner abuse.
CTE is linked with memory loss, confusion, mood changes including depression and eventually dementia. Some scientists think domestic violence survivors might be at risk.
"I have no doubt that there are many women who have been abused enough that some of them probably have CTE," said Dr. Robert Cantu, a leading expert on football-related brain injuries and co-director of Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy.
He said medical literature contains just one published case about probable CTE linked with domestic violence -- a 1990 Lancet report about an autopsy on an abused 76-year-old British woman who had developed dementia. Her brain showed abnormalities resembling those seen in the brains of "punch-drunk" boxers.
Survivors often don't seek immediate medical attention, or when they do, they often fear disclosing what caused their injuries. Some wait years, when troublesome symptoms persist or emerge, and then, many victims and doctors don't connect the problems with domestic abuse, said researcher Jacquelyn Campbell, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.
Many physician groups recommend that doctors screen women for domestic violence in emergency rooms or doctor offices, and the Affordable Care Act says insurance plans should cover the screening with no copays. But when screening occurs, questions often don't address traumatic brain injuries, and symptoms are sometimes thought to be a psychological reaction to abuse, so doctors don't probe further, Campbell said.
Jennifer Kershaw, a Columbus, Ohio-area school teacher who won a court victory last year in an abuse lawsuit against her ex-husband, says she doesn't remember doctors ever mentioning traumatic brain injury after her 2013 beating, despite her symptoms.
"He put me in a headlock and punched me in the face I don't know how many times," she said. "Then he kneed me in the face." She said she went to the emergency room with a black eye, broken cheekbone, nausea and dizziness, and still has difficulty concentrating.
Though it's not clear if she did have a concussion or other brain injury, her symptoms are among those many experts say should lead doctors to investigate further.
"If a woman comes in with a black eye" or is otherwise being assessed for domestic violence, "we need to provide some good neurological workups like the help that is being provided to our veterans with traumatic brain injury," Campbell said.
That includes detailed questions about symptoms, physical and mental exams, and sometimes imaging scans if more severe brain injury is suspected.
Susan Contreras, 47, didn't get that kind of exam until almost 10 years after her final beating, after she landed in a Phoenix homeless shelter. A therapist there was concerned about her symptoms and sent her last December to the Barrow institute. The neurological centre has established an unusual program offering an array of free treatment to homeless domestic violence survivors.
Social worker Ashley Bridwell helped create the program after working with homeless shelters and noticing many women with suspected brain injuries.
Many were hit in the head dozens of times, Bridwell said. "Some were slammed into a wall or down a flight of stairs. These women have lived pretty hard lives," and their brain damage can make it hard to navigate out of homelessness, she said.
Sometimes imaging tests show brain scarring that, in a strange way, can be comforting to survivors.
"They feel a sense of relief knowing there is a physical or medical reason for their problems," Dr. Cardenas said.

Fists not football: Brain injuries seen in domestic assaults


There are no bomb blasts or collisions with burly linemen in Susan Contreras' past. Her headaches, memory loss and bouts of confused thinking were a mystery until doctors suggested a probable cause: domestic violence.


Forty four years after the Canada-Russia Summit Series, the World Cup will seek to generate that elusive sense of raw conflict that Ken Dryden calls “us against them”.
“There really isn’t a ‘them’ for us anymore,” said Dryden. who joined ‘72 teammate Pat Stapleton Monday to promote an interactive big-screen stage show with a revolving cast of eight players in the four cities where the maple leaf met the hammer and sickle.
“Canadian fans keep hoping that the Russians will become the next them again. And the assumption is because of our relationship with the United States, it would be great if they became ‘them’. The U.S. is getting better, but you don’t want it to be your once poor cousins, because that would suggest something has happened to (our game).
“For the rest of the world, they do have a ‘them’ and that’s us.”
Perhaps the Cold War conditions of ‘72 can never be re-created when cell towers are now erected where the Berlin Wall once stood. The ‘87 Canada Cup probably came closest with three 6-5 thrillers and Sidney Crosby’s golden goal in 2010. Yet nothing put the country through an emotional wash and rinse cycle like September of ‘72.
Those who played -- a few have passed on and others such as Dryden and Stapleton are at or near 70 -- aren’t looking at the tour to re-hash their individual stories, as much to re-unite and find out from each other what they might have missed in those crazy four weeks. They also want to hear what it was like on the home front while they battled Soviet skullduggery in Moscow to the climactic Game 8.
“There is a time limit on our group,” Stapleton said with a hint of sadness. “But the most important thing about this tour is an educational component (the shows in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver will be recorded for public posterity). People want to know the lessons we learned.”
Until last year, when a sold-out trial of the tour was held in St, Catharines, Dryden completely forgot that he slumped into a bus seat next to Stapleton after the stunning 7-3 Game 1 loss in Montreal and mumbled ‘What just happened?’ Stapleton, a Game 1 scratch, had already been talking to fellow defenceman Bill White about what would be required to get back in the series.
“If you just tell a crowd it was all about team work, they’ve heard that a thousand times,” Dryden said. “It was those little things like Pat and I on the bus or hearing about Rod Gilbert’s brother (who called him ‘a disgrace’ after Montreal). Those are the really revealing things.
“We were in emotional disarray after Game 1. What was it like for Gilbert and Jean Ratelle? They had played 10 years in the NHL and from the time they were eight years old, the puck always belonged to them. Now they’re sitting beside each other asking if either even touched the puck on the last shift. Now they have to find an answer when put in a situation where you have no idea. You know the answer has to be with other people, finding a way to work it out.”
Dryden, Stapleton, Serge Savard, Yvan Cournoyer, Peter Mahovlich, Dennis Hull, Brad Park, Bob Clarke and seldom seen coach Harry Sinden are among the potential list for Toronto.
Stapleton vividly remembered all the telegrams and postcards that flooded into Moscow after the Canadians arrived, trailing in the series and with a couple of unused players bailing for home. The good luck messages all went on the wall outside the dressing room, including one Stapleton saved from Canadian-born bandleader Guy Lombardo.
Far from home, Dryden took heart in reading many of them.
“A lot of the words were terrific, but what really got me was where they were from; Arnprior, Ont., Red Deer, Alta., Amherst, N.S. It was like ‘Holy man, this is from everywhere’.”
Regular tickets for the Toronto show at the Sony Centre range from $81.93 to $341, with some discounts for group purchases and a Meet and Greet/VIP package ranging from $577 to $2,200 that includes drinks and a team-signed sweater.
All 37 players and coaches from ‘72, regardless of ice time, including the families of the deceased, share in any revenue that might result, though Stapleton emphasized “education, entertainment and charity” causes were the three pillars when the team formed its own corporation a couple of years ago.
DA, DA, CANADA
‘Da, Da Ca-na-da, Nyet, Nyet Soviet’.
Ken Dryden recites that chant by Canadian fans at Luzhniki Ice Palace like a favourite childhood nursery rhyme, a memory from Moscow that his team were not alone so far behind enemy lines.
“One fan decided that ‘Go Canada Go’ wasn’t quite enough and came up with Da Da Canada,” Dryden laughed. “All it would take was that one person, then it would be 10 and then all 3,000. All of us players were fans, too, and could imagine being put in that situation.”
When Dryden could finally bring himself to watch highlights of the whole series -- waiting about 15 years because he still found it so nerve wracking -- the footage from Russia was most captivating.
“The sound of the crowd, the different look of the arena. It wasn't so much the games, but hearing Foster Hewitt’s voice. The sound quality wasn’t that great, like an old war correspondent from the battlefront. His thin voice, the crackly sound ... you had a fear the line was going to get cut.”
LHornby@postmedia.com
twitter.com/sunhornby

'72 Summit Series teammates embark on Canadian tour


Forty four years after the Canada-Russia Summit Series, the World Cup will seek to generate that elusive sense of raw conflict that Ken Dryden calls “us against them.”


THE CANADIAN PRESS
BRUDERHEIM, Alta. — It’s meant to cut down on teenage mischief after dark, but some residents and young people in an Edmonton-area town question whether a new kid curfew will make much difference.
Complaints about property damage and unsupervised children wandering around at night led to the bylaw in Bruderheim, a community of about 1,100.
No one younger than 15 is supposed to be in a public place between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.
The bylaw says the curfew is for the “health, safety and welfare of such young people.”
Bruderheim Mayor Karl Hauch says the curfew was prompted by nuisance activities such as taking letters off buildings.
But one resident says there’s nothing to do in the town, so kids will be kids, and one 16-year-old calls the curfew stupid.
“This is Bruderheim and the kids don’t listen to the rules,” the teen said.
Hauch said no one has been caught breaking the curfew since the bylaw was passed July 6. And, if they do, it will be their parents who have to pay a fine of $100 for the first offence and $200 for the second.
There are exceptions for youth coming from work, volunteer activities or school events. Kids are also allowed to be on the sidewalk directly outside their homes.
Bruderheim is not the first community in the province to bring in such a curfew. Last year, the town of Taber in southern Alberta set “quiet hours” between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. for anyone younger than 16. Taber also has fines for swearing, spitting and yelling.
(CTV Edmonton)

Kid curfew: Alberta town says children under 15 have to be off streets at night


It’s meant to cut down on teenage mischief after dark, but some residents and young people in an Edmonton-area town question whether a new kid curfew will make much difference.


The scene near Dundas St. E. and Munro St. where a woman died after multiple gunshots were fired on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016. (Pascal Marchand/Special to the Toronto Sun)
Susan Bryant, an area resident, leaves flowers at the scene Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016 a day after Peggy Ann Smith, 61, was shot dead in a Riverside laneway. CHRIS DOUCETTE/TORONTO SUN)
Toronto Police at the scene Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016 a day after Peggy Ann Smith, 61, was shot dead in a Riverside laneway. CHRIS DOUCETTE/TORONTO SUN)
Toronto Police at the scene Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016 a day after Peggy Ann Smith, 61, was shot dead in a Riverside laneway. CHRIS DOUCETTE/TORONTO SUN)
Toronto Police at the scene Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016 a day after Peggy Ann Smith, 61, was shot dead in a Riverside laneway. CHRIS DOUCETTE/TORONTO SUN)
Toronto Police at the scene Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016 a day after Peggy Ann Smith, 61, was shot dead in a Riverside laneway. CHRIS DOUCETTE/TORONTO SUN)
Peggy Ann Smith, 61, of Toronto, was fatally shot Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016 in the Don Mount Court and Kintyre Avenue area of Riverdale.
TORONTO -
For the third time in recent months, gunfire erupted in a Riverside neighbourhood Saturday evening.
But unlike the first two shootings where nobody was hurt, this time, a 61-year-old grandmother was killed.
"It's just horribly sad," longtime area resident Susan Bryant said Sunday. "It just feels like my neighbourhood is ruined, it's been tainted."
She said the victim often visited her daughter, who lives on Munro St., to help care for her grandchildren.
Toronto Police say the gunshots rang out on Don Mount Ct., the laneway behind the row of government housing near Dundas St. W. and Broadview Ave., just after 6 p.m.
"Officers located a woman, with an apparent gunshot wound, in an alley at the rear of a home," Homicide Det.-Sgt. Hank Idsinga said. "She was pronounced at the scene."
The victim, identified as Peggy Ann Smith, is the city's 48th murder victim of the year.
One area resident, who asked not to be named, said he heard what sounded like two guns firing close to a dozen shots, "Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang."
He said the shots all seemed to be fired directly at the back steps of a home.
The man and several other area residents said the laneway is often teeming with people sitting in lawn chairs behind their homes.
Idsinga said there was a birthday party for a young teenager not far from where the bullets were fired and a BBQ at a nearby townhouse.
"Needless to say, with the number of people out and about in the area on a warm summer night, there was a strong possibility of further injuries or fatalities," he said.
The back porch and windows of two townhouses were still riddled with bullet holes as forensics officers gathered evidence at the scene Sunday morning.
No arrests have been made.
Two young men were seen fleeing the area, heading north towards Dundas St. E.
On May 5, gunshots were fired at the back of a townhouse just a few doors down from where Smith was killed, narrowly missing the residents inside.
Another townhouse just south of Saturday's murder scene was shot up on April 20.
Anyone with information regarding the deadly shooting is urged to call police at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
cdoucette@postmedia.com


For the third time in recent months, gunfire erupted in a Riverside neighbourhood Saturday evening.


MAYFIELD, Ky. — A McDonald’s franchisee says he’s been unable to substantiate claims by two customers who reported finding worms in food at the fast-food chain’s restaurants in two Kentucky communities.
Michael Love, owner-operator of the two restaurants, says inspections of the restaurants by health officials did not uncover any of the problems raised by the customers.
Mayfield resident Madison Stephens told WPSD-TV that she visited the local McDonald’s on Sunday and purchased food for her and her one-year-old son. She says that as she was about to bite into her hamburger, a live worm fell out.
At the McDonald’s in Draffenville, about 25 miles away from Mayfield, Lacey Jo Lovett says she also found a worm in her burger on Tuesday.
Stephens says she contacted McDonald’s about the incident, and they sent her a US$10 gift card.

Worms found in McDonald's burgers in Kentucky, customers claim


A McDonald’s franchisee says he’s been unable to substantiate claims by two customers who reported finding worms in food at the fast-food chain’s restaurants in two Kentucky communities.


MONTREAL -- A Quebec mother says she was shocked that two Grade 3 teachers were wearing aboriginal headdresses and handing them out to students on the first day of classes Monday.
Jennifer Dorner said she found the scene in the Montreal schoolyard distressing and offensive and posted a photo and commentary on Facebook, where it began making the rounds.
"I was pretty horrified, I was hoping that this kind of thing stopped happening a long time ago, but apparently it continues so I took a picture and posted about it," she said in an interview.
Dorner, whose daughter and niece are both Grade 3 students, said her niece Zoe was particularly upset by the headdress and wanted to rip it up.
School board spokeswoman Gina Guillemette says the headdresses -- fashioned from cardboard and coloured feathers -- were distributed to students at Ecole Lajoie as part of a focus on teaching about native communities in Quebec.
Dorner said that explanation is even more upsetting given the very people introducing the topic don't seem to grasp the disrespect of portraying the headdress in this way.
"How can they possibly be teaching an authentic understanding of indigenous culture?" she asked. "It doesn't help their cause to say that. If anything, it makes it even more distressing."
Such headdresses are generally only worn by elders or those who've earned the right to do so.
Non-natives donning them is seen as disrespectful as there is a spiritual and cultural significance attached to them.
Many concert promoters and sporting venues have banned the wearing of such First Nations headdresses as a costume or fashion accessory.
Dorner said a friend who is native has offered to attend a meeting she's requested with the principal at the elementary school in Montreal's Outremont borough.
Zoe's mother, Sarah Dorner, said her daughter refused to wear the headdress.
"My daughter is very sensitive to these things, we lived in New Zealand for most of 2015 so we've had a lot of conversations with her about when it's OK to be invited and to wear a costume or participate in song and dance," she said, referring to Maori culture in New Zealand.
Sarah Dorner said she just wanted her daughter to enjoy her first day of school.
Some of the recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission focus on education and she said the need to implement them is clear.
"I'm hoping that maybe, because this has hit a nerve, they'll consider more appropriate ways of introducing that curriculum," she said.

Montreal mother 'horrified' after aboriginal headdresses given to students


A Quebec mother says she was shocked
that two Grade 3 teachers were wearing
aboriginal headdresses and handing them
out to students on the first day of
classes Monday.


Ottawa jihadi Ashton Larmond was so bent on joining the Islamic State that days after authorities revoked his passport he started making secret plans to leave Canada undetected, crossing first into Alaska, then travelling to Russia by boat, and ultimately to Afghanistan.
Larmond had originally booked a flight for Istanbul to later join ISIL in Syria but authorities invalidated his passport three days before his scheduled Sept. 20, 2013 departure.
Increasingly frustrated about his travel ban, Larmond confided to an undercover RCMP agent that he was making plans to “escape Canada completely off the radar,” according to court filings from Larmond’s surprise guilty plea on Friday. He’s now serving 17 years in prison for counselling a person to carry out a terrorist activity.
In secretly-recorded conversations with the undercover agent, Larmond said he wasn’t afraid of going to prison, and noted that by the time he got out, he’d be a “very bad, well-versed person.”
In a search of his apartment on the day of his arrest — Jan. 9, 2015 — the RCMP found a book of handwritten notes, including co-ordinates for a location near a Russian Arctic port town off the Siberian sea.
Larmond started selling all his belongings and began assembling a survival kit for his jihad journey. At the time of his arrest, he had gathered the following gear: a red waterproof bag, a Zippo lighter, a magnifying glass, a master lock, a Canada Goose patch, “Middle Eastern clothing” with scarves and blanket, all stuffed in a green backpack. He had also purchased a black winter coat and was making inquiries about buying a winter tent, bag liners, camouflage gear, a backpacking frame and a snowmobile.
The Mounties found a list of the items he still needed, including orientation supplies, medical grade stitches, water filtration, orientation equipment, a fishing rod, bear bow (20 arrows), an AR-15 rifle (1,000 rounds), a buck knife, snare trap kit, throwing axe, combat shovel, hacksaw, clothes and camping gear.
The Mounties intensified their sights on Larmond after they intercepted online messages between him and fellow Ottawa convert John Maguire, a one-time hockey-playing punk rocker who radicalized before leaving Canada on Dec. 6, 2012 to join ISIL in Syria. Maguire, believed to have been killed in Syria, appeared in a highly-publicized ISIL recruitment video released on Dec. 7, 2014. In the video, Maguire declared a religious war on Canada and urged other Muslims to either go fight for ISIL overseas or launch attacks on Canadian soil.
In the Facebook and Skype conversations, Larmond said he longed to join his friend and the fight in Syria but visas and permits were a hassle and the RCMP and CSIS were shaking him down.
“I didn’t worry about any of that, just hopped on a plane. This country is very unstable so there was (no) need to worry about a visa or working permit,” Maguire messaged in August 2013.
Larmond and Maguire are said to have met at a lecture in 2012 and built a friendship based on their extremist views of Islam, with a shared desire to wage terrorism abroad.
Months later in November 2013, Larmond texted Maguire saying he was finding it hard to cope in Canada
“I love Canada, but don’t want to live here. I need to get my passport back.” (It had been revoked after he purchased a ticket to Turkey, the same route Maguire used.)
“I’m struggling here,” Larmond said.
“Like I think the government here thinks I’m a criminal/terrorist or something just cause we talk and we friends. Its messed up. Just because I support those who fight against those who kill innocent people,” (sic) said Larmond.
Larmond, a one-time Vanier drug dealer, helped radicalize his less-dominant twin brother Carlos, who pleaded guilty on Friday to trying to leave Canada to commit terrorism abroad. He was arrested at a Montreal airport on Jan. 9, 2015 after checking in for a flight bound for Frankfurt en-route eventually to Syria.
Carlos Honor Larmond, 25, is now serving seven years in prison, along with accomplice Suliman Mohamed, 23, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit terrorism.
The sentencing judge said homegrown terrorism is a virulent form of cancer and that the terror trio’s plans were a betrayal of the teachings of Islam.
The RCMP informant who infiltrated the Ottawa terror cluster was paid at least $800,000, including $250,000 in advance to testify at preliminary hearings that never happened.
The informant, a Muslim convert originally from New Brunswick, went from working at an Ottawa paintball shop to wearing a wire against jihadis — including the Larmond twins, their friend Suliman Mohamed and suspected ISIL fighter Khadar Khalib.

Ashton Larmond's secret plan to join ISIL


Ottawa jihadi Ashton Larmond was so bent on joining the Islamic State that days after authorities revoked his passport he started making secret plans to leave Canada undetected, crossing first into Alaska, then travelling to Russia by boat, and ultimately to Afghanistan.


Selena Gomez is taking an indefinite break from her world tour in order to focus on getting well while she continues to fight her lupus battle.
The Come & Get It singer was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease in 2014 and subsequently checked into a rehab facility to receive treatments and undergo chemotherapy.
Gomez didn't reveal her secret until last October when she released her album Revival, and the 24 year old has been promoting the record since May by performing concerts as part of her Revival Tour.
Although she just wrapped up a leg in Australia earlier this month and is slated to head back onstage in Canada this weekend, the pop star announced on Tuesday she is taking time off from the concert series and other professional commitments to refocus on her health, specifically treating her anxiety, panic attacks and depression, which are all side effects of having the disease.
"As many of you know, around a year ago I revealed that I have lupus, an illness that can affect people in different ways," Gomez tells People in a statement. "I've discovered that anxiety, panic attacks and depression can be side effects of lupus, which can present their own challenges. I want to be proactive and focus on maintaining my health and happiness and have decided that the best way forward is to take some time off.
"Thank you to all my fans for your support. You know how special you are to me, but I need to face this head on to ensure I am doing everything possible to be my best. I know I am not alone by sharing this, I hope others will be encouraged to address their own issues."
Kenneth M. Farber, the co-CEO and co-president of the Alliance for Lupus Research, praised the singer for coming forward with her battle, telling the publication, "it is not commonly known that depression, anxiety and panic attacks can be side effects of lupus. We are so proud of Selena for taking care of herself and bringing awareness to this sometimes very misunderstood illness."
When Gomez was initially fighting lupus in 2014, she cancelled a number of tour dates for what her team then cited as "personal issues", and her subsequent rehab stay prompted her representative to deny suggestions she had a substance abuse problem.
A source close to the star insists that same speculation is untrue in this case yet again, telling People magazine her break from the Revival Tour is "absolutely not related to alcohol or substance abuse" and she was prompted to take a hiatus after she "hadn't felt like herself" over the last couple of months.
"She decided to clear her calendar for the year in order to have this be her priority for future happiness and didn't want to leave any promoters at bay," the insider adds. "She feels relieved that she can now make more sense of why she was feeling the way she was and is optimistic about the future."
It is unclear how long Gomez will be out of the spotlight. She was originally scheduled for three dates in North America in September, a few stops in Europe throughout October and there were even more shows planned in Asia and Latin America until right through the middle of December.

Selena Gomez breaks from tour due to lupus


Selena Gomez is taking an indefinite break from her world tour in order to focus on getting well while she continues to fight her lupus battle.


Jimmy Fallon shocked at the MTV Video Music Awards by dressing up as Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte.
The talk show host was tasked with presenting the Video of the Year award at the annual ceremony on Sunday night, but stole the spotlight himself with a controversial impression of the disgraced athlete.
Jimmy, 41, stepped out in a tracksuit, a gold medal around his neck and a bleach blonde wig, then proceeded to make a series of risky jokes while pretending to be Ryan, who hit headlines when he claimed he was robbed at gunpoint at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
"Is it too late now to say sorry?" Jimmy quizzed the audience, citing Justin Bieber's hit track Sorry to mock the sportsman.
He continued to list various spoof lies as Ryan, who on Friday was charged with a false report after admitting he was in fact intoxicated when he claimed he and his teammates were held at gunpoint by criminals in Brazil.
Jimmy joked he was responsible for all the videos up for the Video of the Year gong, adding, "I had a 30-way with Kanye West. I made Lemonade with Queen Bey. I'm Reezy with the good hair!", in reference to Beyonce's famous lyric which hinted at her husband Jay Z's infidelity.
It didn't stop there though as Jimmy even made comments aimed at Ryan's exaggerated claim by asking the audience who had the best video of the year.
"I can't tell you that," he quipped. "I couldn't tell you even if there was a gun to my head, which there isn't, but I still couldn't choose."
Fellow Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, who presented earlier in the evening, couldn't hide his shock at Jimmy's performance as he was caught on camera saying, "Oh my God!" However he appeared to see the funny side of things, even taking his phone out to document the shenanigans.
"I couldn't tell you even if there was a gun to my head." 🙊#VMAs https://t.co/L55barVLKU — MTV (@MTV) August 29, 2016

Jimmy Fallon shocks with his Ryan Lochte impression at MTV Video Music Awards


Jimmy Fallon shocked at the MTV Video Music Awards by dressing up as Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte.


AMATRICE, Italy -- Strong aftershocks damaged two key access roads into quake-struck Amatrice on Friday, threatening to isolate the tiny hilltop town as hopes dimmed that firefighters would find any more survivors from the earthquake that killed at least 267 people.
Some crumbled buildings in Amatrice cracked even further after the biggest aftershock of Friday morning struck at 6:28 a.m. The U.S. Geological Service said it had a magnitude of 4.7, while the Italian geophysics institute measured it at 4.8.
The shaking ground also damaged one key access bridge to Amatrice, forcing emergency crews to close it. Mayor Sergio Pirozzi said he was working with authorities to find an alternative bypass also to another damaged bridge. "We hope to God it works because otherwise with the damaged stretch of road, we are without any connection" to the main roads.
Even before the roads were shut down, traffic into and out of Amatrice was horribly congested with emergency vehicles bringing hundreds of rescue crews up to Amatrice and dump trucks carrying tons of concrete, rocks and metal down the single-lane roads.
The aftershock was preceded by more than 50 overnight and was followed by another nine in the next hour -- part of the nearly 1,000 aftershocks that have rocked Italy's central Apennine Mountains since the original 6.2 magnitude quake early Wednesday.
Premier Matteo Renzi has declared a state of emergency and authorized 50 million euros for immediate quake relief.
The Italian government also declared Saturday a day of national mourning and scheduled a state funeral to be attended by President Sergio Mattarella.
Rescue efforts continued through the night and into Friday, but more than a day and a half had passed since the last person was extracted alive from the rubble. While Renzi hailed the fact that 215 people had been rescued after the quake, authorities reported a steadily rising death toll that had hit 267 by Friday morning.
Civil protection operations chief Immacolata Postiglione still insisted Friday that the rescue effort hadn't yet switched to a recovery mission. Rescue workers have noted that a person was pulled out alive 72 hours (three days) after the 2009 earthquake in the Italian town of L'Aquila.
"I confirm, once again as we have from the start, that the units that are doing the searches and rescues, including with dogs looking for other people trapped in the rubble, are absolutely fully active," she said Friday.
On the ground, authorities were still struggling to account for all the missing, since that number is still uncertain given the large number of visitors for summer holidays and an annual food festival.
"There is still hope to find survivors under the rubble, even in these hours," Walter Milan, a mountain rescue worker, said Friday. But he conceded: "Certainly, it will be very unlikely."
The vast majority of the dead were found in levelled Amatrice, the medieval hilltop town famous for its bacon and tomato pasta sauce.
The other dead hailed from nearby Accumoli and Arcquarta del Tronto.
Flags will fly at half-staff Saturday on all public offices and a state funeral will be celebrated by a bishop in a gym in Ascoli Piceno for the victims of nearby Arquata del Tronto -- to date, 49 of the dead have come from the tiny town and its hamlet Pescara del Tronto.
The first private funerals were scheduled for Friday, including one in Pomezia south of Rome celebrated by one of Pope Francis' closest collaborators, Bishop Marcello Semeraro.
Across the area, thousands have been forced to abandon their homes, either because they were destroyed or they were determined to be too unsafe. Overnight some 2,100 slept in tent camps, nearly 1,000 more than the first night after Wednesday's quake, in a sign that a significant number had found nowhere else to go.
"I have no idea what I'm going to do now, because I had renovated the house two years ago," survivor Umberto Palaferri said, showing a photo of his collapsed home on his phone. "It was all new and now I don't know what to do. I'm 76 and don't know if I can rebuild it."

Access to Italy town limited after earthquake damages roads


Strong aftershocks damaged two key access roads into quake-struck Amatrice on Friday, threatening to isolate the tiny hilltop town as hopes dimmed that firefighters would find any more survivors from the earthquake that killed at least 267 people.


FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The first commercial flight between the United States and Cuba in more than a half century is scheduled to fly from Fort Lauderdale to the central city of Santa Clara on Wednesday morning, re-establishing regular air service severed at the height of the Cold War.
JetBlue Flight 387 was set to take off at 9:45 a.m. EDT for a 72-minute journey that will open a new era of U.S.-Cuba travel, with about 300 flights a week connecting the U.S. with an island cut off from most Americans by the 55-year-old trade embargo on Cuba and formal ban on U.S. citizens engaging in tourism on the island.
"Seeing the American airlines landing routinely around the island will drive a sense of openness, integration and normality. That has a huge psychological impact," said Richard Feinberg, author of the new book "Open for Business: Building the New Cuban Economy."
The restart of commercial travel between the two countries is one of the most important steps in President Barack Obama's two-year-old policy of normalizing relations with the island. Historians disagree on the exact date of the last commercial flight but it appears to have been after Cuba banned incoming flights during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Secretary of State John Kerry said on Twitter that the last commercial flight was in 1961.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes and a specially selected five-member crew of Cuban-Americans were slated to be on board the 150-seat Airbus A320.
"It's a positive step and a concrete contribution to the process of improving relations between the two countries," Cuba's vice minister of transportation Eduardo Rodriguez told journalists Monday.
U.S. travel to Cuba is on track to triple this year to more than 300,000 visitors in the wake of the 2014 declaration of detente. Cuba's cash-starved centrally planned economy has been bolstered by the boom in U.S. visitors, along with hundreds of thousands of travellers from other nations hoping to see Cuba before more Americans arrive.
Commercial flights are expected to significantly increase the number of American visitors, although it's not clear by how much. Many of the air routes are currently used by expensive charter flights that are largely expected to go out of business with the advent of regularly scheduled service from the U.S.
Hundreds of thousands of Cuban-born Americans fly to the island each year with the chaotic, understaffed charter companies, which require four-hour check-in waits and charge high rates for any luggage in excess of restrictive baggage allowances. Americans without ties to Cuba have found it hard to negotiate the charters, most of which don't accept online bookings or help travellers navigate the federal affidavit still required for U.S. travellers to Cuba.
Cuban officials insist the continuing U.S. ban on tourism will limit the impact of commercial flights to Cuba, but some experts believe the drastic reduction in the difficulty of flying to Cuba could turn the surge in U.S. visitors into a tidal wave. Americans are allowed to visit the island on "people-to-people" cultural and educational visits, among other reasons.
Americans who fit one of 12 categories will now be able to fill out a federal affidavit by clicking a box on an online form and, in many cases, buy their Cuban tourist visa near the check-in counters of U.S. airports. Within weeks, Americans will be able to fly direct from cities including Chicago, Philadelphia and Minneapolis, Miami and Fort Lauderdale to eight Cuban cities and two beach resorts.
The final announcement of routes to Havana, which could be announced Wednesday and start before December, is slated to include flights from Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles and Houston, among others.

Historic flight from U.S. to Cuba set to take off


The first commercial flight between
the United States and Cuba in more
than a half century is scheduled to
fly from Fort Lauderdale to the
central city of Santa Clara on
Wednesday morning, re-establishing
regular air service severed at the
height of the Cold War.


CHICAGO — Two brothers have been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of the cousin of NBA star Dwyane Wade as she was walking to register her children for school, Chicago police announced Sunday.
Darwin Sorrells Jr. and Derren Sorrells, 22, also were charged with attempted murder in Friday’s shooting.
Nykea Aldridge, a 32-year-old mother of four, was pushing her baby in a stroller near the school when two men walked up and fired shots at a third man but hit Aldridge in the head and arm. Police say she wasn’t the intended target, and the baby was not injured.
Nykea Aldridge, mom of 4 and cousin of NBA star Dwayne Wade, killed pushing baby stroller. #Enough #EndGunViolence pic.twitter.com/8STOB9aDlY — Robin Kelly (@Robin42CD) August 27, 2016
Police say the suspects in the shooting have criminal records. Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson plans to release more information at a news conference later Sunday.
Authorities are investigating whether the encounter between the men was a robbery, possibly involving a driver from a ridesharing company, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Saturday.
Chicago has been in the throes of a major uptick in gun violence this year, largely centred in a few South and West Side neighbourhoods, after years of seeing declines. This July alone, there were 65 homicides — the most that month since 2006.
Wade, whose charitable organization, Wade’s World Foundation, does community outreach in the Chicago area, signed with the Chicago Bulls in July after 13 years with the Miami Heat. He and his mother, pastor Jolinda Wade, participated Thursday via satellite in a town hall meeting in Chicago on gun violence hosted by ESPN.
Wade has reacted to his cousin’s shooting only online, tweeting Friday: “My cousin was killed today in Chicago. Another act of senseless gun violence. 4 kids lost their mom for NO REASON. Unreal. #EnoughIsEnough.”
My cousin was killed today in Chicago. Another act of senseless gun violence. 4 kids lost their mom for NO REASON. Unreal. #EnoughIsEnough — DWade (@DwyaneWade) August 27, 2016
Wade also tweeted Saturday morning: “The city of Chicago is hurting. We need more help& more hands on deck. Not for me and my family but for the future of our world. The YOUTH!” adding in a following tweet, “These young kids are screaming for help!!! #EnoughIsEnough.”
The city of Chicago is hurting. We need more help& more hands on deck. Not for me and my family but for the future of our world. The YOUTH! — DWade (@DwyaneWade) August 27, 2016
These young kids are screaming for help!!! #EnoughIsEnough — DWade (@DwyaneWade) August 27, 2016
It is not the first time Dwyane Wade’s family in Chicago has been affected by gun violence. His nephew, Darin Johnson, was shot twice in the leg in 2012 but recovered.

2 charged with murder of Dwyane Wade's cousin, shot in head while pushing baby s


Two brothers have been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of the cousin of NBA star Dwyane Wade as she was walking to register her children for school, Chicago police announced Sunday.


GREENSBURG, Pa. -- A Pennsylvania man who had sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl as part of a vampire role-playing game that included drinking her blood must spend 10 years on probation, the first two confined to his home.
Westmoreland County Richard McCormick Jr. imposed the probation sentence for Jonathan Ryan Davis on Thursday despite calls by prosecutors that he be imprisoned. Davis, of Vandergrift, pleaded guilty in November to statutory sexual assault, indecent assault and corruption of minors for a December 2014 incident with the girl in a church stairwell after both had been drinking.
Davis told police he, the victim, and two other girls drank blood drawn from their arms as part of a role-playing game he read about online. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for the blood-drinking episodes.
Assistant District Attorney Chris Flanigan wanted Davis to spend more than two years in prison. Davis previously was convicted in juvenile court for impregnating a 12-year-old girl. He didn't seem to learn anything from the probation he received in that case, Flanigan said.
But defence attorney Adam Gorzelesky argued that Davis' behaviour and co-operation with police since his arrest warranted probation, which would allow him to continue receiving counselling. Two psychologists testified Davis would benefit from continued counselling.
McCormick's sentence was a compromise that the judge said "will meet the requirements of punishment, rehabilitation and the protection of the community."
While on probation, Davis can't go online for recreational purposes, view pornography, drink alcohol or go to bars and clubs. He also cannot have unsupervised contact with minors.

Vampire role-playing, teen sex net Pennsylvania man 10 years probation


A Pennsylvania man who had sexual
contact with a 14-year-old girl as
part of a vampire role-playing game
that included drinking her blood must
spend 10 years on probation, the first
two confined to his home.


TORONTO -- Canada's insatiable appetite for the Tragically Hip sent the rock band's entire discography back onto the Billboard charts last week.
All 17 Hip albums, ranging from their debut EP to their most recent "Man Machine Poem," found spots on the Billboard Canadian Albums in the wake of the much-anticipated national broadcast of their final tour stop in Kingston, Ont.
Topping the list was the band's 2005 release "Yer Favourites," a greatest hits compilation that was chosen by their fans through a vote on the band's website. The album saw its total consumption rise 238%, pushing it up a spot from second place a week earlier.
Also finding positions in the Top 10 were this year's "Man Machine Poem," holding steady at No. 6, 1992's "Fully Completely," which climbed to eight from 39, and 1989's "Up To Here," which shifted to ninth place from 28 last week.
The Hip's other albums, which include a number of live concert recordings, also found spots on the chart.
Billboard's Canadian album chart is tallied by Nielsen Music and based on album sales, digital song sales and audio on-demand streams.
Interest in the Hip skyrocketed earlier this year when frontman Gord Downie revealed he has terminal brain cancer, but planned to launch a tour across much of the country anyway.
Tickets to the shows sold out almost immediately, leading to CBC picking up a national broadcast of the final tour stop in Kingston. The concert quickly became a major event as fans made plans to host viewing parties and some local communities organized their own public screenings.
CBC's broadcast of the concert averaged just over four million viewers, according to the network.
Overall, the band's total album sales rose 157% from the previous week, Nielsen Music reported, while digital song sales were up 342% and online streams are up 185%.

All 17 Tragically Hip albums land on Billboard's Canadian albums chart


Canada's insatiable appetite for the Tragically Hip sent the rock band's entire discography back onto the Billboard charts last week.


Don Bradway, shown at his home in Hayden, Idaho, moved from California five years ago to join the American Redoubt, among the most motivated of a broader survivalist movement that advocates preparedness and self-reliance. (Matt McClain, The Washington Post)
Chris Walsh of Revolutionary Realty stands in the cellar of an unfinished home for sale in Spirit Lake, Idaho. (Matt McClain, The Washington Post)
Don and Jonna Bradway go for a walk with their dog, Moose, near their home in Hayden, Idaho. (Matt McClain, The Washington Post)
This sign is seen on a property that is for sale in Athol, Idaho. (Matt McClain, The Washington Post)
Todd Savage, a retired Marine who moved to north Idaho from San Francisco and opened American Redoubt Realty, displays a firearm that he routinely carries with him in Sandpoint, Idaho. (Matt McClain, The Washington Post)
Jacob Clad, 22, performs a flip into Lake Pend Oreille near a replica of the Statue of Liberty in Sandpoint, Idaho. (Matt McClain, The Washington Post)
HAYDEN, Idaho - Don and Jonna Bradway recently cashed out of the stock market and invested in gold and silver. They have stockpiled food and ammunition in the event of a total economic collapse or some other calamity commonly known around here as "The End of the World As We Know It" or "SHTF" - the day something hits the fan.
The Bradways fled California, a state they said is run by "leftists and non-Constitutionalists and anti-freedom people," and settled on several wooded acres of north Idaho five years ago. They live among like-minded conservative neighbours, host Monday night Bible study around their fire pit, hike in the mountains and fish from their boat. They melt lead to make their own bullets for sport shooting and hunting - or to defend themselves against marauders in a world-ending cataclysm.
"I'm not paranoid, I'm really not," said Bradway, 68, a cheerful Army veteran with a bushy handlebar moustache who favours Hawaiian shirts. "But we're prepared. Anybody who knows us knows that Don and Jonna are prepared if and when it hits the fan."
The Bradways are among the vanguard moving to an area of the Pacific Northwest known as the American Redoubt, a term coined in 2011 by survivalist author and blogger James Wesley, Rawles (the comma is deliberate) to describe a settlement of the God-fearing in a lightly populated territory that includes Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and the eastern parts of Washington and Oregon.
Those migrating to the Redoubt are some of the most motivated members of what is known as the prepper movement, which advocates readiness and self-reliance in man-made or natural disasters that could create instability for years. It's scenario-planning that is gaining adherents and becoming mainstream in what Redoubt preppers described as an era of fear and uncertainty.
They are anxious about recent terrorist attacks from Paris to San Bernardino, Calif., to Orlando, Fla.; pandemics such as Ebola in West Africa; potential nuclear attacks from increasingly provocative countries such as North Korea or Iran; and the growing political, economic and racial polarization in the United States that has deepened during the 2016 presidential election.
Across the U.S., dozens of online prepper suppliers report an increase in sales of items from water purifiers to hand-cranked radios to solar-powered washing machines. Harvest Right, a Utah company that invented a US$3,000 portable freeze dryer to preserve food, has seen sales grow from about 80 a month two years ago to more than 900 a month now, said spokesman Stephanie Barlow.
Clyde Scott, owner of Rising S Bunkers, said pre-made, blast-proof underground steel bunkers are in big demand, including his most popular model, which sleeps six to eight people and sells for up to $150,000.
"Anybody with a peanut-sized brain," he said, can see that the U.S. economy is in perilous shape because of the national debt, the decline of American manufacturing and the size of the welfare rolls.
Some people worry about hurricanes, earthquakes or forest fires. Others fear a nuclear attack or solar flare that creates an electromagnetic pulse that knocks out the nation's electric grid and all computers, sending the country into darkness and chaos - perhaps forever.
"The list is long; the concerns are many," said Glenn Martin, who lives in north Idaho and runs Prepper Broadcasting Network, an online radio station. "Imagine a societal collapse and trying to buy a loaf of bread in Los Angeles or New York and stores are closed down."
Martin's programming emphasizes gardening, farming and how-to shows about sustainable living more than "doom and gloom," he said, and his audience has grown from 50,000 listeners a month two years ago to about 250,000 a month now.
Online interest in prepper and American Redoubt websites is increasing. Tools that measure online readership show that monthly search traffic to Rawles' survivalblog.com has doubled since 2011; an estimate from SimilarWeb, a Web analytics firm, shows that the site had about 862,000 total visits last month.
Rawles's guidebook, How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It, and his post-apocalyptic survival novel, Patriots, have sold about 350,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan. They are among hundreds of available survivalist books.
In response to all the uncertainty, more and more preppers are not simply stocking up at home. They are moving their homes - to the Redoubt, a seldom-used term for stronghold or fortress.
It is impossible to know exactly how many people have come over the past few years, but newcomers, real estate agents, local officials and others said it was in the hundreds, or perhaps even a few thousand, across all five states.
Here, they live in a pristine place of abundant water and fertile soil, far from urban crime, free from most natural disasters and populated predominantly by conservative, mostly Christian people with a live-and-let-live ethos and local governments with a light regulatory touch and friendly gun laws.
The hearty and adventurous, or those seeking an escape from modernity's leading edge, have long made a new life for themselves in Idaho; Ernest Hemingway came here to live and to die.
The locals regard the newest transplants as benign if odd, several said in interviews.
"The mainstream folks kind of roll their eyes," said state Sen. Shawn Keough, a 20-year veteran Republican legislator who represents north Idaho.
Many drawn to the Redoubt are former police, firefighters and military. Most said they would vote for Donald Trump as the "lesser of two evils," and they said Hillary Clinton would make an already bloated and ineffective government even bigger.
"I don't want to be one of the guys waiting for help," said Patrick Devine, 54, a former paramedic in Los Angeles who moved two years ago at a friend's urging.
Devine said he had firsthand knowledge of chaos and government failure, earned from working numerous shootings and earthquakes, particularly in Haiti in 2010.
"I can't stop it. But I can prepare myself to the best of my ability for anything that does come and be helpful to other people," said Devine, who works at a local gun range and wears a 9mm pistol on his hip.
"I love this place," said Chris Walsh, as he buzzed low over sparkling Lake Coeur d'Alene in his mustard-coloured Beechcraft Bonanza airplane.
A Detroit native, Walsh, 53, runs Revolutionary Realty, which specializes in selling real estate to those moving to the American Redoubt. He said he has sold hundreds of properties in the last five years.
He lives off the grid in a house high on a hill overlooking a lake, producing his own electricity from 100 solar panels. But he is also a few miles from restaurants and shopping in Coeur d'Alene, a popular tourist destination.
Walsh said most of the prepper properties he sells generally have key features: at least two sources of water, solar panels or another alternative energy source, ample secure storage space for a few years' worth of supplies, and a defensible location away from main roads and city centres.
Such amenities don't come cheap; the average property sells for between $250,000 and $550,000, he said, but some go for more than $2 million. Walsh said a basic solar array can cost around $15,000, while more elaborate systems can cost 10 times that.
Walsh said most of his clients regard moving to safer territory as a prudent step against a reasonable fear. But just as important, he said, they get to live a simpler life in a safe, beautiful place.
"What they are doing when they come here is relearning things that their great-great-great-grandfathers and mothers already knew," Walsh said. "What's going on here is a pioneering spirit."
Much of the Redoubt migration is motivated by fears that President Barack Obama - and his potential successor, Hillary Clinton - want to scrap the Second Amendment, as part of what transplants see as a dangerous and anti-constitutionalist movement toward government that is too intrusive and hostile to personal liberties.
"This is a bastion of freedom," said Todd Savage, 45, a retired Marine who moved to north Idaho from "the urban crime-scape" of San Francisco and opened American Redoubt Realty after meeting Rawles a few years ago.
"The bottom line is that our clients are tired of living around folks that have no moral values," Savage said. "They choose to flee tyranny and leave behind all the attributes of the big city that have turned them away."
Savage spoke as he drove his Chevrolet Suburban with an AR-15 rifle tucked next to the driver's seat, a handgun between the front seats, and body armour and more than 200 rounds of extra ammunition in the back - along with a chain saw to move fallen trees and two medical kits, just in case.
"You have GEICO; I have an AR-15," Savage said.
Trevor Treller, 44, who carries a small Smith & Wesson pistol on his hip, moved to north Idaho last year from Long Beach, Calif., and recently paid a little less than $400,000 for a defensible three-bedroom house on five wooded acres.
Treller, a sommelier at a local resort, said Obama was a key factor in his decision. He said the president has inflamed racial tensions in America, presided over a dangerous expansion of the national debt, been "hostile" to Second Amendment rights and failed to curtail the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran.
Treller said any one of those factors could lead to crippling chaos, so he and his wife have laid in food, weapons and ammunition and are installing an iron gate across their long gravel driveway.
"I think there's a very good chance that these things won't happen in my lifetime, but I also think there's a chance that they will," Treller said. "It's extreme collective hubris to think that we're exempt from everything that happened to every single society before us throughout history."
Treller said he settled on Coeur d'Alene after scouring city-data.com, a website where he looked for his ideal mix: conservative election results, low crime rates, solid incomes, low population density, affordable house prices - and few illegal immigrants, because he said they erode "American culture."
Utah is about 83% white, and its three northernmost counties are more than 90 percent white, according to Census Bureau data. Those interviewed in the American Redoubt insisted they are not trying to segregate themselves by race. And while the Aryan Nations white supremacist group was headquartered near Hayden Lake in the 1980s and 1990s, Rawles has described the Redoubt movement as "anti-racist" and said like-minded folks of all races are welcome.
Walsh, the real estate agent, said he saw far more racism in Detroit, where he was raised, than in north Idaho.
"Here, a black person, they're a novelty," Walsh said. "You'll see people walk up to black people here sometimes and just talk to them because they've never spoken to a black person before. In terms of them walking around [saying racist things], you never see it."
Treller's wife, Christina Treller, 38, a critical care nurse at a local hospital, said she initially resisted her husband's proposal to move to Idaho. Now she loves their new Victorian-style house in the woods, with its fresh well water and clean air, and fruit and nut trees that they recently planted.
Having lived through the 1992 riots after Los Angeles police were acquitted in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, she said she views society as more fragile than most people realize.
"I'm being wise," she said.
In north Idaho, the narrow panhandle that stretches to the Canadian border, many people on the streets of pretty towns such as Coeur d'Alene, Sandpoint and Bonners Ferry have never heard of the American Redoubt.
That's mainly because of the prepper ethos of privacy - most don't even tell their neighbours they have years' worth of food in a safe room.
Several locals did express unease about their new ammo-stockpiling neighbours.
"I don't have a problem with preppers, but it's the extremists people don't want around - the fringe, the radicals. That's the concern I hear from people," said Mike Peterson, a real estate agent in Bonners Ferry and retired Los Angeles firefighter and EMT.
Keough, the state senator, recently fought off a tough GOP primary challenge in which she was labelled a "progressive traitor" by Alex Barron, a blogger who calls himself the Bard of the American Redoubt.
"We're certainly not oblivious to the turmoil in the world and not oblivious to the huge challenges we have at the national level," Keough said. "But those who subscribe to the 'world is coming to an end' theory, people tend to shake their heads at those folks. They come across as paranoid."
State Rep. Heather Scott, a Republican who represents north Idaho, said the newcomers have adapted smoothly.
"I have met many people, especially recently, who have moved here after being inspired by the idea of the American Redoubt," she said. "I haven't heard any of them speak about the 'end of the world' but rather the appreciation for a simpler and safer life."
Scott said preparing for a natural or man-made disaster was "simply prudent," because, "Economic experts are consistently saying that global markets are at risk, and they are telling people to take precautions to weather through an economic crisis."
Don Bradway dug into a plate of homemade enchiladas in the kitchen of the cozy house he and Jonna bought for $259,000in 2010.
What they have looks like an idyllic retirement experience: his and hers recliners in front of a big-screen TV, a "side-by-side" all-terrain vehicle in the barn, an art studio for retired nurse Jonna, a carpentry and machine shop for retired firefighter and EMT Don, and a sweet-natured dog named Moose.
Their 30-year-old son, who moved to Idaho with them, lives nearby.
Don, who's a member of the GOP Central Committee of Kootenai County, won't say exactly how much food and supplies they have on hand.
"There are some things you don't talk about," he said. "But the Bradway motto is that it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it."
As Don sees it, you need look no further than the economic chaos in Venezuela, with its hungry people storming grocery stores, to see that a society-ending economic collapse could easily happen anywhere.
"We pray to God that it never happens," he said, finishing his refried beans.
But if it does, he said his "fellow thinkers" in the American Redoubt are prepared.
"They know they can depend on the Bradways to help them," he said.

Preparing for the end of the world in Idah


Don and Jonna Bradway recently cashed out of the stock market and invested in gold and silver.