1:06 Friends, family honor memory of Braden Edgar at memorial Pause
3:18 Pete Carroll on Seahawks' win over Dallas in 3rd preseason game
2:28 Cascade Christian's speed, athletes have it planning for postseason
1:39 South Sound QB competition -- Sumner
1:58 Human remains found at Gig Harbor construction site
2:30 Fire-ravaged Puyallup school buses a grim sight
0:39 Allenmore offices evacuated because of odor
4:12 WATCH: Franklin Pierce QB Willie Patterson is small in stature, gargantuan in game
1:25 WATCH: South Sound QB competition – Franklin Pierce
1:24 Bethel teachers rally for contract

Revealing exhibit at Fox Island museum focuses on changes to undergarments


The idea for “Underwear Throughout the Ages,” on display at the Fox Island Historical Society Museum until Sept. 1, came about because of the great amount of clothing donations to the museum from individuals in the area over decades. Curators also thought it would be a neat exhibit with intricate articles of clothing to put on display.


Big names highlight lineup for Saturday’s Olalla Bluegrass and Beyond Festival


Organizers have pulled out all the stops with the lineup for the 25th annual Olalla Bluegrass & Beyond Festival on Saturday (Aug. 20).


Boy Scout builds fence around iconic tree at Sehmel Park


There is a beautiful, enormous tree in PenMet Parks’ Sehmel Park at which, more than once, I’ve taken photos of Boy Scouts engaged in projects near. The latest of these was to catch the final act of Boy Scout Troop 212’s Eagle Scout project by Anders Carlson, who’d decided the tree needed protection and chose as his Eagle project creation of a guardian split rail fence.


Chalk the Harbor contest winners announced


The Chalk the Harbor competition, hosted by Gig Harbor Downtown Waterfront Alliance, took place last month on the downtown waterfront and featured more than 250 chalk artists of all ages. The following contestants received a Certificate of Award for placing first in the category they competed in:


Police, firefighters, military personnel and even a few stormtroopers came together Tuesday night for National Night Out in Gig Harbor.

WATCH: Take flight on a visiting B-25 Mitchell


Alaskan native, Gig Harbor resident writes children’s book on Tlingit people


Roy Peratrovich Jr.’s children’s book, “Little Whale,” was recently published by the University of Alaska. Peratrovich Jr., a Gig Harbor resident, is of Tlingit descent. The Tlingit are an indigenous people of the southeastern part of Alaska.


Faith: Gig Harbor youths gather in preparation for missionary service to the world


Some 20 Gig Harbor leaders from the seven congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently gathered to train and inspire 44 young men who are preparing to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world as missionaries.


Community welcomes exchange student from Japan with open arms


Under the Lions International Youth Exchange Program, the Key Peninsula Lions Club has hosted Yuki Nakata from Fukuoka, Japan since Aug. 3.


1:06 Friends, family honor memory of Braden Edgar at memorial Pause
3:18 Pete Carroll on Seahawks' win over Dallas in 3rd preseason game
2:28 Cascade Christian's speed, athletes have it planning for postseason
1:39 South Sound QB competition -- Sumner
1:58 Human remains found at Gig Harbor construction site
2:30 Fire-ravaged Puyallup school buses a grim sight
0:39 Allenmore offices evacuated because of odor
4:12 WATCH: Franklin Pierce QB Willie Patterson is small in stature, gargantuan in game
1:25 WATCH: South Sound QB competition – Franklin Pierce
1:24 Bethel teachers rally for contract

Fly In Drive In event connects Gig Harbor community with Tacoma Narrows Airport, local nonprofits


The inaugural Fly In Drive In movie night is set for Saturday (Aug. 27) as a fundraiser for Friends of Tacoma Narrows Airport and the Gig Harbor Film Festival. Vintage airplanes, automobiles and Disney’s “Planes” movie will be shown, along with food from community businesses at this family-friendly event.


Slater: Summertime is a time for gathering


Our recent family reunion was a scorcher as far as some of us native Washingtonians are concerned, but others loved it, especially those from California. We had at least 60 this year, with the inclusion of relatives who’ve never been to one or hadn’t been for many years.


The health minister may have paid back some of the money she spent on an expensive car service, but Canadian Press reporter Kristy Kirkup tells Evan Solomon why Jane Philpott will still be under the microscope.

Why Jane Philpott's limo scandal isn't over


Just how fast is Canada’s swimming sensation? After years away from the pool, former competitor Levi Nicholson went to her home training ground to find out

Penny Oleksiak takes the 60-Second Challenge


Penny Oleksiak won four medals in Rio, where she set an Olympic record in the pool. Watch her take on our 60-Second Challenge.


Justin Trudeau on his constant visibility


Martin Patriquin talks to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about his choice to prioritize public appearances.


Justin Trudeau on his constant visibility (with captions)


VIDEO: Olympics - Best photos from August 18


I’ve only just got back from my summer holidays, but it seems autumn is already here. Soon we will not be able to walk along a pavement without having to battle our way through a pile of mouldy old leaves, hoping something nasty isn’t hidden beneath.
How do we know this? By watching TV. The signs the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness has arrived are there. The X Factor ‘X’ is upon us, like some civilisation-ending asteroid of hyperbole about to create a crater of mediocrity on the national psyche.
Strictly Come Dancing’s annual sequinathon is also about to start, the celebs and Ed Balls already practising their rictus grins and desperate, ‘vote for me’ hand signals.
And the main TV channels are all pushing the new series of returning favourites and hoped-for hits, all of which we are expected to embrace as televisual hot water bottles as the nights draw in.
The BBC is first out of the blocks, with August not yet over. The first of their ‘major new dramas’ – all the BBC’s new dramas are major, it seems – is One of Us (BBC1, Tuesdays, 9pm).
At first glance, this is not comforting autumn viewing. A young pair of newlyweds, expecting their first child, are murdered, the families left to deal with the emotional fallout.
Then the killer pitches up in their hometown, a remote Highland fastness, and after a conveniently wild and stormy night, ends up dead in a barn.
It’s aiming for gritty and modern, there’s snot involved when people cry – which they do, a lot, and the famously mucus-y Juliet Stevenson stars – but by the end, when we’re left with a kind of locked room mystery, no shortage of suspects, and the police on their way, it’s all got a bit Agatha Christie, and what could be more comforting than that?
Well, the Great British Bake-Off (BBC1, Wednesdays, 8pm), that’s what. If you want something warm and snuggly this autumn, climb under the John Lewis 24-tog paisley comfort blanket of the Bake-Off with Mel, Sue, Paul, Mary and the 11 remaining contestants, and don’t get out until Christmas.
Play Mel and Sue innuendo bingo, guess whose Genoese sponge will collapse and marvel at Candice’s purple lipstick.
It’s what autumn nights were made for.


I’ve only just got back from my summer holidays, but it seems autumn is already here. Soon we will not be able to walk along a pavement without having to battle our way through a pile of mouldy old leaves, hoping something nasty isn’t hidden beneath.


In the final, chaotic months of the Second World War, a young German soldier pits himself against the remnants of the brutal SS in a bid to save the woman he loves.
But it’s a race against time as the merciless Soviet army is closing in with only one single-minded aim… to wreak revenge on their despised German enemy.
Irish-born William Ryan, author of a string of crime novels set in 1930s Stalinist Russia, moves out of what has become his ‘home’ territory and into the dying days of the Second World War in a thrilling, beautifully written and breathtakingly powerful story of evil, inhumanity, love, hope and redemption.
One man’s crusade to right the wrongs of his countrymen and repay a haunting personal debt becomes a gripping battle for survival in an Upper Silesian village in central Europe where he grew up.
In 1944, Paul Brandt, a soldier in the German army, returns wounded and consumed with guilt from the bloody chaos of the Eastern front to his village home in Silesia, annexed from Poland by the Germans.
Brandt’s face is badly disfigured by a Soviet explosion during the retreat from Russia and he has lost both an arm and his enthusiasm for life. But, deeply ashamed of his enforced military service with the Wehrmacht and haunted by an event at the start of the war, he is determined to make amends.
Much has changed in his village where the residents live in the dark shadow of an SS rest hut, a luxurious retreat for the Nazis who manage the nearby concentration camps. Modelled to look like a pre-war holiday camp, the rest accommodation is run by a small group of female prisoners who, against all odds, have so far survived the war.
When, by chance, Brandt glimpses one of these prisoners, he realises that she is a face from his guilty past and he knows he must find a way to access the hut. His fate has been tied to Agneta Gruber since their arrest five years before and now he must do all he can to protect her.
As a wounded German hero, Brandt secures a job as the rest hut’s steward but, with the Russian offensive moving ever closer, the days of the Nazi ‘holiday camp’ and its SS inhabitants are numbered.
And while hope for Brandt and the female prisoners grows tantalisingly close, the danger is also now greater than ever. Because in a forest just to the east, a young female Soviet tank driver awaits her orders to advance…
Ryan moves up a gear in this brilliant, emotionally-charged story which combines a poignant romance with an edge-of-the-seat thriller. But what impresses most is the author’s powerful writing which blends taut action sequences with passages of soaring literary beauty.
Inspired to write the novel by photographs of some of the worst perpetrators of the Holocaust relaxing and enjoying themselves at the real-life Silesian rest hut at a time when Auschwitz was at its most lethal, Ryan wrote this story from the heart.
And Brandt’s one-man mission, set amidst the terror, uncertainty and turmoil of the disintegrating Nazi machine, is certainly portrayed with mesmerising atmosphere and shocking veracity.
The dark and ever present threat of the ruthless SS masters and the approaching menace of the Soviet army are thrown into stark relief by the quiet power and unquenchable flame of enduring love.
A modern classic from a master storyteller…
(Mantle, hardback, £16.99)

Book reviews: The Constant Soldier by William Ryan


In the final, chaotic months of the Second World War, a young German soldier pits himself against the remnants of the brutal SS in a bid to save the woman he loves.


Email verification
Thank you for verifying your email address.
Verification link has expired, please sign in and click on resend verification email from your profile page.
Verification link has expired, please click on resend verification email from your profile page.

Can you match these stars to the year they switched on the Blackpool Illuminations?


Showbiz royalty Dame Barbara Windsor has been announced as this year’s guest of honour at the Illuminations Switch-On ceremony.


From poet John Keats to Prince Charles, and from life-changing scientists to prize-winning authors, some of the world’s most famous people have relied on ‘bedders’ to see them through their toughest student days at Cambridge.
In her fascinating account of just some of the hundreds of working-class women who have looked after the students of Cambridge University, Catherine Seymour, whose grandmother and great-grandmother were bedders, reveals their secret lives, heartaches and joy.
For centuries, the university’s bedders – the equivalent at Oxford is a ‘scout’ – have cleaned, tidied, made beds, dispensed advice and physical aid, and offered a reassuring maternal presence to generations of nervous, lonely students.
Bedders still look after today’s Cambridge students but the work they do, and the young people they care for, have changed over the last decades.
Until the 1980s, bedders carried buckets of coal up the stairs to light fires in the rooms of the fellows as well as dusting, tidying, taking away rubbish and, in some colleges, making the students’ breakfasts.
It was hard work but it came with privileges and offered an experience unlike other jobs available to working-class women. Some of the bedders had previously worked in shops or as waitresses, cleaners, factory hands and other low-paid manual jobs.
The college offered them family-friendly hours, starting work early but allowing them to get home in time for lunch and to make an evening meal for their children. Often bedders would pay neighbours to look after their pre-school youngsters.
In the first half of the 20th century, some of the upper class (male) students saw their bedders as simply servants but for many others, these women who instructed them on everything from dressing properly to combing their hair, were the only warm, motherly presence in an otherwise cold, paternalistic environment.
In turn, many bedders enjoyed their glimpse into a world they knew little about and during her research Seymour discovered that the women appreciated the genuine return of affection from students who often left gifts for them at Christmas, term ends and after graduation.
And for some of the bedders who got to know their students well, graduation was almost like watching their own children leave home.
In these unique, vivid and often moving stories, inspired by the accounts of bedders from the 1920s to the 1960s, we meet women who endured the Second World War and then had to contend with poverty, ill health and bereavement.
For 16-year-old Joyce, who lived in one of the poorest streets in Cambridge, the college building where she was about to start work represented privilege, wealth, a life she would never live. What she never expected was to find herself mothering, chastising and sometimes even covering up for ‘her boys.’
These hard-working women loved, lost and loved again. But their friendships gave them strength, and their work gave them happiness, and even a lasting connection with their charges, some of whom would go on to run the country.
As much a social history as the individual stories of the bedders, The Staircase Girls is a memorable and eye-opening glimpse into the remarkable lives of a very special group of women.
(Pan, paperback, £7.99)

Book review: The Staircase Girls by Catherine Seymour


From poet John Keats to Prince Charles, and from life-changing scientists to prize-winning authors, some of the world’s most famous people have relied on ‘bedders’ to see them through their toughest student days at Cambridge.


Sorry, we're having problems with our video player at the moment, but are working to fix it as soon as we can
The M6 southbound was blocked in Lancashire this afternoon after a “serious” traffic accident in which a person was hit by a vehicle.
The North West air ambulance was called to the scene between junction 28 at Leyland and junction 27 at Standish
Picture and video supplied by Jack
Police have closed all three lanes.
The road was blocked and queuing traffic was reported at 2pm.
Motorists have been warned to expect delays on the M6 and on surrounding routes.
Police said this afternoon the motorway would remain closed for “several hours”.
The northbound carriageway was briefly closed but was reopened about 2.30pm.
Police said: “The M6 has been closed southbound at J28 following an incident.
“We are advising motorists to avoid the area and use alternative routes.”

UPDATED: M6 blocked in Lancashire after person hit by vehicle


The M6 southbound was blocked in Lancashire this afternoon after a “serious” traffic accident in which a person was hit by a vehicle.


The types of cookies we, our ad network and technology partners use are listed below:
Revenue Science ► A tool used by some of our advertisers to target adverts to you based on pages you have visited in the past. To opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.
Google Ads ► Our sites contain advertising from Google; these use cookies to ensure you get adverts relevant to you. You can tailor the type of ads you receive by visiting here or to opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.
Digital Analytics ► This is used to help us identify unique visitors to our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot use this to uniquely identify individuals and their usage of the sites.
Dart for Publishers ► This comes from our ad serving technology and is used to track how many times you have seen a particular ad on our sites, so that you don't just see one advert but an even spread. This information is not used by us for any other type of audience recording or monitoring.
ComScore ► ComScore monitor and externally verify our site traffic data for use within the advertising industry. Any data collected is anonymous statistical data and cannot be traced back to an individual.
Local Targeting ► Our Classified websites (Photos, Motors, Jobs and Property Today) use cookies to ensure you get the correct local newspaper branding and content when you visit them. These cookies store no personally identifiable information.
Grapeshot ► We use Grapeshot as a contextual targeting technology, allowing us to create custom groups of stories outside out of our usual site navigation. Grapeshot stores the categories of story you have been exposed to. Their privacy policy and opt out option can be accessed here.
Subscriptions Online ► Our partner for Newspaper subscriptions online stores data from the forms you complete in these to increase the usability of the site and enhance user experience.
Add This ► Add This provides the social networking widget found in many of our pages. This widget gives you the tools to bookmark our websites, blog, share, tweet and email our content to a friend.


The transfer stories from at home and abroad on deadline day


Firefighters were called to a garage in Wigan when a blaze broke out.


Trapped in a marriage to an abusive, violent police officer, battered wife Joanna West has no one to turn to… until a stranger offering help walks into her life.
For the first time in years, Joanna and her young daughter have the chance to flee, but can you ever really escape from a brutal, vengeful husband?
Moved and inspired by the testaments of abused wives, former journalist Tamara Dietrich tackles the scourge of domestic violence head on in a highly original and powerfully imagined debut novel which melds menace with paranormal magic.
The Hummingbird’s Cage, a hard-hitting, page-turning thriller with an intriguingly soft middle, almost defies genre as Dietrich weaves seamlessly between gut-wrenching cruelty and spiritual sublimity in a tale of hope, despair and redemption.
Everyone in Wheeler, New Mexico, thinks that Joanna West leads the perfect life. She is married to Jim, the dashing deputy sheriff of McGill County, and has a beautiful seven-year-old daughter, Laurel.
But the truth is that Joanna is married to a monster who regularly beats her, subjects her to verbal and mental abuse and has isolated her from the people who live around her. Once upon a time she would have challenged him but now every time Joanna cries, ‘more of me washes away.’
Ten years ago, Joanna was swept off her feet by handsome Jim, her head turned by his uniform and ‘bad-boy grin’ but now she is trapped in a violent marriage and, with a young child to care for, escape seems impossible.
But then Bernadette, Jim’s feisty biker chick ex-girlfriend, turns up with an escape route. On the run, Joanna and Laurel stumble upon Morro, a charming and magical village that seems to exist out of time and place.
Farmer Olin Farnsworth and his wife Jessie offer her sanctuary and soon, between the comfort of her new home and blossoming friendships, Joanna’s soul begins to heal, easing the wounds of a decade of abuse.
But her past – and her husband – aren’t so easy to escape. Unwilling to live in fear any longer, Joanna must summon a strength she never knew she had to fight back and forge a new life for her daughter and herself....
Dietrich delivers a clever and compelling first novel, conjuring up a mysterious but idyllic town suspended somewhere between reality and fantasy, and juxtaposing this haven of peace with the terrifying threats that lie behind and beyond.
To read The Hummingbird’s Cage is to experience high emotion and high drama and to understand the visceral realities of domestic violence, but there is also the opportunity to marvel at the power of love and hope, and to rejoice at the human capacity to reach out and find redemption.
A heartbreaking tale written with insight, beauty and honesty…
(Orion, paperback, £7.99)

Book review: The Hummingbird’s Cage by Tamara Dietrich


Trapped in a marriage to an abusive, violent police officer, battered wife Joanna West has no one to turn to… until a stranger offering help walks into her life.


Meet a witch on a dangerous mission, a fabulous fantasy queen and a cast of colourful picture book stars in a glittering array of new titles from Macmillan Children’s Books.
Age 9 plus:
Fire Witch by Matt Ralphs
English history, thrilling adventure and a bewitching heroine…
Matt Ralphs is back with Fire Witch, the red-hot sequel to Fire Girl, and our fiery, fearless witch Hazel must gather her wits and steel her nerves to join her enemies and try to save her mother.
Packed with intrigue, danger, nail-biting tension and flashes of rib-tickling humour, these page-turning stories featuring an extraordinary girl are addictive reading for young fans of fantasy, drama and… witches!
The Civil War in England is over, Oliver Cromwell rules the land and a new battle is raging… between the people and the witches. Twelve-year-old HazelHooper is no ordinary girl. She is a Fire Witch, she can wield and manipulate flame and she is getting stronger all the time. But she is also angry because her mother Hecate had to sacrifice herself to the demon world in order to stop a demonic invasion. Hazel must fight on alone and she is determined to get her back, whatever the cost.
Her only chance to find Hecate is to seek advice from brilliant demonologist Nicolas Murrell, the Order of Witch Hunters’ most prized prisoner, and the man who summoned the demon responsible for Hecate’s fate. With only Bramley, her grumpy dormouse familiar for company, Hazel must disguise herself as a boy and infiltrate the black heart of the Order of Witch Hunters to speak to Murrell before he is executed. But can he be trusted? Will Murrell reveal to his captors that their newest apprentice is actually… a witch?
Ralphs has always been fascinated by witches, ghosts and anything that sends a shiver down his spine and this magical series is the perfect creation of his high-flying, super scary imagination.
A world of supernatural in the midst of terrifying real history…
(Macmillan, paperback, £6.99)
Age 10 plus:
The Hunting of the Princes by Peter F. Hamilton
Also dabbling in the wondrous world of fantasy is Peter F.Hamilton, the UK’s bestselling adult science fiction author, who was inspired to write for a younger audience by his own two children.
The Hunting of the Princes is the second book in his original and gripping Queen of Dreams trilogy which began with The Secret Throne and has all the hallmarks of a memorable modern classic.
Sprinkled with atmospheric black and white illustrations by Rohan Eason, this gorgeous fantasy series is a vivid, magical adventure featuring amazing kingdoms, daring quests and deadly menace.
Taggie Paganuzzi has had a busy year in the beautiful old market town of Stamford in Lincolnshire. Her mum was a Third Realm sorceress and now Taggie has inherited her family’s magical powers. From finding out she is the queen-to-be of a magical realm to learning to use her magic skills and discovering that the King of Night wants her dead, there have been a lot of ‘firsts.’
Assassins have been targeting royal heirs throughout the magical realms and now someone has tried to kill Taggie whilst she was cycling back to her home. Everyone thinks the King of Night’s army, the Karrak invaders, are responsible and that war is inevitable. But Taggie has found out two very interesting facts. Firstly, that the Karraks come from a cold, dark universe and cannot abide warmth and light. And secondly, that there was once a gate to this universe, now lost in the mists of time. If Taggie and her friends can find the gate, perhaps they can also stop the war? But to do that, they need to find a Karrak willing to take their side…
Hamilton conjures up a thrilling alternative world in which good must overcome evil, children are pitted against powerful enemies and a fantastic cast of amazing animal characters add to all the fun and fantasy. Don’t miss it!
(Macmillan, paperback, £6.99)
Age 3 plus:
Flying Lemurs by Zehra Hicks
This funny, reassuring story about overcoming fears and discovering hidden talents is the latest inspirational book from Macmillan’s new imprint for young children, Two Hoots.
A zingy, zany tale bursting with high-octane energy and an adorable cast of high-flying animals, this gorgeous circus-themed odyssey comes from talented author and illustrator Zehra Hicks whose speciality is telling stories through pictures.
Everyone in the lemur family is good at jumping, a talent which comes in handy as they are all circus performers. Mum is a brilliant trapeze artist, Dad’s trampoline routine is absolutely huge and Grandma’s speciality is being shot from a cannon.
Unfortunately little Lemur is not so good at jumping… in fact, he’s not even a fan of heights. He just can’t jump, no matter how hard he tries. But there are other things that Lemur is good at – throwing custard pies, skateboarding and playing the tambourine – so maybe with a bit of practice, he can become the best circus performer of them all!
Hicks ramps up the visual and verbal drama of this fun and warm-hearted story with her multi-textured illustrations, painted here by using bamboo and a bold palette of colours. Having fun, accepting life’s triumphs and disasters, and discovering the importance of family love all come under the spotlight in a sparkling and inspirational picture book.
(Two Hoots, paperback, £6.99)
Age 3 plus:
More People to Love Me by Mo O’Hara and Ada Grey
Modern families come in all shapes and sizes… and sometimes they are extra super-sized!
Mo O’Hara, author of the popular My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish series, delivers the perfect picture book for the step family generation in this moving story about a little girl with so many branches to her family tree that she runs out of space to draw them all.
Asked by her teacher to draw her family tree, the little girl just doesn’t know where to start. She’s got her mum and dad, her sister Cee Cee, her stepdad David and her stepmum Sharon. And then there are her mum’s new baby twins, her step brother Michael and no one must forget about Happy the tortoise. But the tree is starting to get rather crowded because there are all the grandparents to fit in as well. There’s only one thing for it, the family tree is going to have to grow!O’Hara was inspired to write by her own children’s positive experiences of being part of an extended family and felt that this was
rarely depicted in picture books. The result is a warm and moving tale about one little girl and her family that keeps on growing.
The gentle, reassuring and playful story is complemented by Ada Grey’s charming illustrations, reinforcing the message that every family is different and the bigger the family, the more people there are to love… and to love you back!
(Macmillan, paperback, £6.99)
Age 3 plus:
The Hippopandamouse by Jools Bentley
Nobody’s perfect… and sometimes being imperfectly different makes you special!
Author and illustrator Jools Bentley plays with traditional expectations in this cute and clever story about a little princess who falls for the only toy in the shop that doesn’t have a name.
Princess Flo has pocket money to spend so she heads off to Fluffley’s Fine Toys, the best toy shop in town. Everybody there has been working very hard to prepare for her visit – so hard, in fact, that one of the cuddly toys has ended up as a strange mix of a hippo, panda and mouse. The shop’s owner Miss Fluffey is eager to show Princess Flo the cuddly teddies, cute kittens and perky penguins, all perfect for a royal princess. But to everyone’s horror, Princess Flo spots the strange looking toy. The part hippo, part panda and part mouse is a total and utter mistake! But Flo loves this toy being different, seeing something unique and special in the strange animal. All he needs now is a name… Hippopandamouse!
Wise, witty and wonderfully warm-hearted, the tale of The Hippopandamouse is a beautiful, big-hearted story, gorgeously illustrated and simply perfect for little princesses everywhere.
(Macmillan, paperback, £6.99)
Age 3 plus:
Prince Ribbit by Jonathan Emmett and Poly Bernatene
Hop, skip and jump into this brilliant new picture book from top team Jonathan Emmett and Poly Bernatene.
Well-loved fairy tale, The Frog Prince, gets a dashing, daring makeover as ever popular author Emmett and talented illustrator Bernatene put a devilishly clever twist in the not-so-handsome frog’s tail.
One day, Princess Martha and her sisters, Princess Lucinda and Princess Arabella, are listening to the story of The Frog Prince. Lucinda and Arabella love romantic tales and their happily-ever-after endings, but Martha isn’t so sure. She prefers facts to fairy tales, and likes real frogs more than enchanted ones, and besides, clever Martha knows that not everything written in books is true.
Unknown to the sisters, a clever little frog is listening to the story and it sparks a bright idea. If he can convince the gullible princesses that he is actually a prince, perhaps he could start getting some royal treatment of his own. So is Prince Ribbit really a handsome prince, or just a plain, ordinary frog?
There’s only one way to find out… pucker up princesses, it’s time for true love’s kiss!
Emmett works his own brand of fairy tale magic as he transforms a classic tale into a feast of smiles and smoochy surprises while Bernatene’s stunning and superbly detailed illustrations provide a feast of colour and fun.
A picture book that all the family can enjoy…
(Macmillan, paperback, £6.99)
Age 3 plus:
Dear Zoo Drawing and Colouring Book by Rod Campbell
Rod Campbell, creator of the classic, much-loved Dear Zoo books, has been a trusted name in early learning for over 30 years and he’s back with this inspirational first drawing and colouring book.
Dear Zoo, an ingeniously simple, lift-the-flap book with touches of gentle humour, introduces pre-school children to the wonder and variety of wild animals, and now a new generation can join in all the fun and draw their very own zoo full of amazing creatures.
There are 32 pages of drawing, colouring and doodling featuring all the animals from the original story. At the top of each page, little ones are told what to draw and given a helping hand with many of the pictures already started.
Packed full of simple activities that are perfectly pitched for pre-schoolers, the book’s large, square, extra thick pages can be peeled off the pad, stuck to walls at home or even put in a frame if they are special mini-masterpieces.
Draw bananas for the naughty monkey, give the fierce lion big sharp teeth, design a bowl for a frisky puppy or give a camel a big smile. The Dear ZooDrawing and Colouring Book is the ideal first lesson for budding young artists and dedicated toddler doodlers.
(Macmillan, paperback, £5.99)

Book reviews: History, fantasy and animal magic with Macmillan


Meet a witch on a dangerous mission, a fabulous fantasy queen and a cast of colourful picture book stars in a glittering array of new titles from Macmillan Children’s Books.


With GCSE Results Day finally upon us, hundreds of thousands of teenagers across the country will be weighing up their options for the future.
Although A-levels remain the traditional educational route after GCSEs, they are not the only option. More and more students are turning towards apprenticeships and further education as real alternatives.
Many of the teenagers picking up their results have already been in education for the best part of 12 years.
But, these days teenagers, up to the age of 18, are legally required to stay in education, training or get a job with accredited training, something the government calls 'raising the age of participation'.
Being in further education or training doesn’t mean teenagers have to stay in the same school. There are lots of options.
So, for those students who didn’t do so well in their GCSEs, or don’t find the prospect of another two years at school studying A-levels appealing, here are our top three options for life after GCSEs.
Do an apprenticeship
Apprenticeships have had some mixed press. The quality and rates of pay have been in the news, but there are lots fabulous apprenticeship opportunities out there and lots of organisations who can help, and offer you the right information; checkout The Student Room’s new Apprenticeship Hub it’s full of accurate and up-to-date information and it can even help to dispel some of those apprenticeship myths.
We found a fabulous apprenticeship scheme with national company, Be Wiser Insurance - they offer a starting salary of £14,000. There are other companies doing similar, so do your homework.
Do a traineeship
Not quite ready for an apprenticeship? Need to work on your skills? Don’t worry there are lots of opportunities for you to complete a traineeship – Have a look at what a company like EDF Energy can offer you.
Go to your local college
There are two types of college – 6th Form college and Further Education college. 6th Form Colleges are mostly geared up for students between 16 and 18 years old, and tend to concentrate on academic education. Further Education colleges are generally much bigger than 6th Form colleges and offer a wider range of subjects, including vocational education (Btecs and NVQs), and they’re not just for teenagers. Further Education colleges offer adult education and higher education too.
The GOV.UK website can help you find more information about courses offered by schools and colleges in your area if you’re between 14-19.
Have you got something to share on the story? Were you there? What do you think? - Send your pictures, videos or story and we'll publish the best × Continue the story Life after GCSEs Loading ... Add up to 3 photos or 1 videos to the story There's been a problem uploading your files. Please try again. By uploading your file you agree to our Terms and Conditions × Continue the story Sign in to contribute sign in shape the news in your area...


With GCSE Results Day finally upon us, hundreds of thousands of teenagers across the country will be weighing up their options for the future.


Tuesday’s transfer stories from the newspapers and web


Sorry, we're having problems with our video player at the moment, but are working to fix it as soon as we can
The M6 southbound was blocked in Lancashire this afternoon after a “serious” traffic accident in which a teenage male was hit by a vehicle.
The North West air ambulance was called to the scene between junction 28 at Leyland and junction 27 at Standish
Picture and video supplied by Jack
Police closed all three lanes.
The road was blocked and queuing traffic was reported at 2pm.
Motorists were warned to expect delays on the M6 and on surrounding routes.
Police said this afternoon the motorway would remain closed for “several hours”.
The northbound carriageway was briefly closed but was reopened about 2.30pm.
Lancashire police said: “The M6 has been closed southbound at J28 following an incident.
“We are advising motorists to avoid the area and use alternative routes.”
The “serious” incident happened on the M6 southbound close to Charnock Richard Services.
Police were called at approximately 1.45pm to reports a pedestrian had been involved in a collision with a vehicle. The pedestrian is critically injured.
Chief Insp Damian Kitchen, of Lancashire Police, said: “We recognise the disruption this is causing and are working hard to re-open the road as soon as possible.
“However, at this time of day, delays through rush hour and beyond are inevitable.
“Please plan either alternate routes or delay your journey. Surrounding roads and towns are also likely to become congested.”
The motorway was finally reopened at about 5.30pm.

UPDATED: M6 reopens in Lancashire after pedestrian hit by vehicle


The M6 southbound was blocked in Lancashire this afternoon after a “serious” traffic accident in which a teenage male was hit by a vehicle.


Thursday’s transfer news from the papers and web


This week, F1’s 2016 Limited Edition hits pole position on Xbox One, Tropico 5’s Complete Collection is let loose on PS4 and Overcooked sizzles on Xbox One.
Elsewhere, Reigns and Midnight Star Renegade land on smartphone and tablet
F1s 2016 Limited Edition
GAME OF THE WEEK:
Title: F1 2016 Limited Edition
Platform: Xbox One
Genre: Racing
F1s 2016 Limited Edition
Price: £41.99
ASIN: B01GCBP6MW
Startlingly real racing action
Yet again, Lewis Hamilton is leading the way again in the F1 stakes this year, and now you can step onto the virtual circuits in F1 2016, putting you in control of his high-speed destiny or, indeed, any of the other drivers on this year’s racing roster. This annual racing release has been tweaked and tinkered with to pull further away from the competition, delivering an excellent racing experience that handles just as brilliantly as it looks. We’ve got the introduction of the safety car and virtual safety car this year, as well as the Baku circuit in Azerbaijan and the new Haas F1 team, while under the hood there’s the usual ultra-realistic career mode for players to tackle, as you, your agent, engineer and team search for the perfect recipe for success. It’s perhaps one for seasoned drivers, offering the most intense on-track action, and will no doubt lead to a few race-ending crashes, realised in superb 1080p high definition. F1 gaming continues to feel fresh, and this 2016 iteration will give you renewed vigour to step into the pits and find your own high-speed path to glory.
89%
Title: Tropico 5 Complete Collection
Platform: PS4
Genre: Strategy
Price: £31.99
ASIN: B01H39NXPE
An awesome island adventure
Packed with a host of new gameplay features and new artwork designed from scratch, Tropico 5 has taken the series in a new direction - dynasties! You, as El Presidente, must first take control of the infamous island of Tropico during early colonial times and then guide it through the centuries as the world changes and moves ever forward. You’ll need to tackle the changing needs of your people, as well as opposing governments and factions, all the while laying the foundations for your own dynasty. Can you survive both World Wars, prosper through the Great Depression, rule as an iron-fisted dictator through the Cold War and advance your country to modern times and beyond? From advanced trading mechanics and technology, to scientific research trees and island exploration, Tropico 5 is a fabulous tycoon experience, which sticks to the series’ well worn path with the addition of some excellent add-on packs in this PS4 Complete Collection. Whether you’re forging your own way in the ultra-liberating sandbox mode or tackling the challenges together with pals online, this is an island adventure you can’t refuse.
85%
Title: Overcooked
Platform: Xbox One
Genre: Arcade
Price: £12.79
ASIN: N/A - Download from Xbox Store
You’ll be desperate for seconds
Overcooked is a chaotic co-op cooking game that charges you to work as a team as you and your fellow chefs prepare, cook and serve up a variety of tasty orders before the baying customers storm out in a huff. In single player mode, you’ll toggle between two chefs, carefully maximising your time for all the tasks you need to complete to get your dishes prepped. You have the option of controlling both with the two controller sticks, but this is pretty tough to wrap your head around. Your cooking environments don’t make it any easier, too, as you might be slinging ingredients from one fast moving truck to another or even slipping around in an icy arctic location. The co-op local multiplayer is where the action becomes totally crazy, and you’ll need well-planned teamwork to progress through each increasingly difficult scenario. The pursuit of culinary perfection and deep strategic elements complement the fun cartoon visuals perfectly, and this is a game that’ll keep you hungry for more.
85%
Title: Reigns
Platform: iPhone/iPad
Genre: Strategy
Price: £2.29
ASIN: N/A
A strategy card game that proves it’s tough at the top
Reigns is an interesting little app concept. Essentially a leadership simulator, in your position of power you are constantly approached by people “cards” from your kingdom and must take decisions for each differing request that maintain a balance of respect from the church, the community and the army, as well as keeping your bank balance healthy. You’ll generally find your finger swiping left to answer negatively to a request and right for positive. You can also hold your swipe to see more details about what you’re about to say. Random events and special cards will also throw some tasty challenges into the mix, and as you build harmony across the board, your score (or years in charge as ruler) increases. Get it wrong, and your castle will be stormed and you’ll be killed, only to start again from scratch as a brand new leader. It’s an interesting premise with slick, simple controls that will present all sorts of dilemmas for you to deal with before you get off the bus for work!
80%
Title: Midnight Star Renegade
Platform: iPhone/iPad
Genre: Shooter
Price: Free (with in-app purchases)
ASIN: N/A
On-rails shooter star struggles to shine
The original Midnight Star has been crunched and compressed in Renegade to try to recreate the high-energy on-rails shooter experience that worked so well first time out. Alien annihilation is the name of the game as you move through each set-piece, tapping on the screen to shoot, pinching to zoom and using other buttons on-screen to shift your viewpoint or throw grenades. Renegade forces more control upon your character by making your swipe to move as well as all the above, and it does make the action overwhelming at times. Rather than becoming fantastically frenetic, it actually makes the whole experience of bit of frustrating mess. And, with stripped back game modes, repetitive level designs and similar enemies, the boiling down of Midnight Star results in a title that may be fun for an hour or two, but quickly loses its lustre.
62%
WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT?
As gamers’ Pokemon Go creature collections have probably swelled significantly over the mobile app’s first few weeks of launch, the coffers of developers Niantic have become similarly stuffed. Estimates from Sensor Tower suggest that global revenues for the game have surpassed 200 million dollars in the app’s first month of availability. This commercial performance eclipses that of Clash Royale, another highly successful gaming app with in-app purchases, which registered 120 million dollars of revenue in the same time frame.
Meanwhile, in the charts this week, No Man’s Sky stormed enjoyed intergalactic sales success, debuting at the number one and nudging GTA V down to second, while Uncharted 4 also toppled down from two to five.
GAME CHART ALL FORMATS FULL PRICE
1. No Man’s Sky
2. Grand Theft Auto V
3. Overwatch
4. LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
5. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
6. Rocket League
7. FIFA 16
8. Doom
9. Call of Duty: Black Ops III
10. Minecraft: Xbox Edition
Leisure software charts compiled by Chart Track, (c) 2016 UKIE Ltd

Games Central: Startlingly real racing action in F1’s 2016 Limited Edition


This week, F1’s 2016 Limited Edition hits pole position on Xbox One, Tropico 5’s Complete Collection is let loose on PS4 and Overcooked sizzles on Xbox One.


Email verification
Thank you for verifying your email address.
Verification link has expired, please sign in and click on resend verification email from your profile page.
Verification link has expired, please click on resend verification email from your profile page.

Can you get 10/10 in our retro games quiz?


As the pound continues to go in the dollars favour 42% of Americans say they are more likely to visit the UK for a holiday, according to new data* from Hotels.com™.
London topped the list of destinations Americans would most like to visit (88%), with Cambridge (41%) and Liverpool (39%) closely vying for second place for statesiders looking for a cultural fix. The unexpected winner, however, was Grimsby with more respondents keen on visiting the northern fishing town than the majestic Snowdonia.
The Royal Family still has huge appeal for visitors from the States with Buckingham Palace the attraction they'd most like to visit (76%) with the home of the crown jewels (the Tower of London, 65%) and royal wedding venue, Westminster Abbey, (52%) also in the top five attractions. Finishing off the royal fever, Kate Middleton was the number one celebrity Americans would most like to meet, closely followed by Her Majesty the Queen. In a girl power worthy line up, the top five famous faces respondents would most like to meet were all women:
1.Kate Middleton (46%)
2.The Queen (45%)
3.JK Rowling (31%)
4.Adele (30%)
5.Kate Winslet (27%)
It seems Britain's culinary kudos isn't as poor as it once was with 68% of Americans keen to try the cornerstone British cuisine – the humble fish and chips. However, sweet treats rounded out the top five with apple crumble (44%), cream tea (43%) and a traditional afternoon tea (39%) just behind a full English (48%).
When quizzed on their perceptions of Britain as a nation many stereotypes rung true with a third of Americans believing Brits loved their pubs and that it always rains (only during a great British summer of course). Yet it seems Americans love our chit chat, as almost three quarters state their favourite thing about Brits is our accents and over a third love our sense of humour.
Simon Matthews, Senior PR Manager of Hotels.com Brand comments, “The fact that some Americans want to visit Grimsby on their next trip proves they must be really savvy about where to get the best British grub, as we all know Grimsby is famous for its Fish and Chips! The rising interest from our American cousins is likely more to do with the strong dollar than the draw of our culinary delights, however it would be a welcome boom for the UK travel industry.”
*2,000 adults from the U.S. were polled by One Poll, commissioned by Hotels.com in July 2016

Americans flock to the UK thanks to Kate Middleton and Fish & Chips


As the pound continues to go in the dollars favour 42% of Americans say they are more likely to visit the UK for a holiday, according to new data* from Hotels.com™.


An exotic island lying in the glittering Arabian Sea, spotless white beaches and acres of lush coconut groves…
Sounds like the perfect place for a getaway, but gorgeous Lace Island is awash with dark secrets and lies that bind together two women from two generations, destined to meet on a dramatic and emotional collision course.
Make room in your holiday luggage this summer for Joanna Rees’ sizzling tale of romance, adventure, intrigue and betrayal inspired by a family holiday to Kerala, a state on India’s tropical Malabar Coast, famed for its stunning palm-lined beaches and abundant wildlife.
Brimming with glitz, glamour and some hard-hitting grit, The Girl from Lace Island sweeps readers away to some of the world’s most seductive locations whilst delivering a captivating story about two lives mysteriously linked to a faraway island.
In 1989, fun-loving fourteen-year-old Leila could not be happier. She has grown up on Lace Island, an exotic location which was inherited by her mother Bibi. Leila lives in the old plantation house with her mother and stepfather Chan, and spends her days in the company of local boy Rasa.
Near the beach are Bibi’s luxury bungalows where super-rich, and often famous, guests fly in to spend relaxing, private holidays away from intrusive camera lenses and where no behaviour or demand is deemed too outrageous.
But Leila’s idyllic life comes to an abrupt end when her mother is persuaded by one of her guests to send her daughter away for an education at a cold English boarding school. The teenager feels friendless, bullied and too foreign to ever fit in and soon she’s desperate to get back to her family and her beloved island.
But in her absence, Leila’s paradise has changed beyond all recognition and the life she once adored is now just a memory. Worse still, everyone and everything she loves is in terrible danger.
In 2016, Jess has spent her childhood in orphanages and lives in a depressing tower block in south London. She does kickboxing to channel her inner anger and dreams of far-off places, of white sandy beaches and warm tropical seas.
When Jess gets her longed-for job as airline cabin crew, all those dreams suddenly appear to be coming true, especially when she is swept off her feet by the handsome and charismatic millionaire Blaise who is a first class passenger on a long-haul flight to Miami.
But Jess has a troubled past, and her present is about to become complicated and dangerous when Blaise asks her to marry him.
These two women, both of their lives scarred by disaster and betrayal, will set out on a mission to discover the truth about Lace Island, but will their search for paradise be a price too high to pay?
Rees, a bestselling author who teaches creative writing in schools and libraries, works her trademark escapist magic in this addictive, fast-paced story which is perfectly formed and carefully crafted for sun loungers everywhere.
Sit back and enjoy…
(Pan, paperback, £7.99)

Book review: The Girl from Lace Island by Joanna Rees


An exotic island lying in the glittering Arabian Sea, spotless white beaches and acres of lush coconut groves…


Sorry, we're having problems with our video player at the moment, but are working to fix it as soon as we can
The M6 southbound was blocked in Lancashire this afternoon after a “serious” traffic accident in which a pedestrian was hit by a vehicle.
The North West air ambulance was called to the scene between junction 28 at Leyland and junction 27 at Standish
Picture and video supplied by Jack
Police closed all three lanes.
The road was blocked and queuing traffic was reported at 2pm.
Motorists have been warned to expect delays on the M6 and on surrounding routes.
Police said this afternoon the motorway would remain closed for “several hours”.
The northbound carriageway was briefly closed but was reopened about 2.30pm.
Lancashire police said: “The M6 has been closed southbound at J28 following an incident.
“We are advising motorists to avoid the area and use alternative routes.”
The “serious” incident happened on the M6 southbound close to Charnock Richard Services.
Police were called at approximately 1.45pm to reports a pedestrian had been involved in a collision with a vehicle. The pedestrian is critically injured.
Chief Insp Damian Kitchen, of Lancashire Police, said: “We recognise the disruption this is causing and are working hard to re-open the road as soon as possible.
“However, at this time of day, delays through rush hour and beyond are inevitable.
“Please plan either alternate routes or delay your journey. Surrounding roads and towns are also likely to become congested.
“We will release further information when we are able.”

UPDATED: M6 blocked in Lancashire after pedestrian hit by vehicle


The M6 southbound was blocked in Lancashire this afternoon after a “serious” traffic accident in which a pedestrian was hit by a vehicle.


We’ve teamed up with Nickelodeon to give you the chance to attend the first-ever UK SLIMEFEST in Blackpool on Saturday September 3rd.
Featuring performances from Alesha Dixon, Conor Maynard, Diversity, The Tide and appearances from Nickelodeon stars Jack Griffo and Kira Kosarin, it’s set to be the slimiest music concert of the Summer.
Slimefest 2016
We’re giving away a VIP family prize package which includes:
4 x General Admission Switch On wristbands on Friday 2nd September 2016
4 x Tickets for the 11am SLIMEFEST concert on Saturday 3rd September 2016
4 x Wristbands for Blackpool Pleasure Beach for Saturday 3rd September 2016
2 x Exclusive official SLIMEFEST Hype® Bag (kids only)
1 x Apple iPad mini 2 7.9” 16gb
Or if you want to guarantee your ticket to the coolest kids’ event of the year, we have an exclusive 2for1 SLIMEFEST ticket offer for you. Just visit nick.co.uk/slimefest and enter FEST02 to get your exclusive 2for1 discount.
All you have to do to have the chance to win this fantastic prize is answer the following question:
Q: Which Britain’s Got Talent judge is performing at Nickelodeon’s SLIMEFEST?
Email your answer with Slimefest in the subject field, adding your name, address and daytime telephone number to competitions@lep.co.uk to arrive by midnight August 31st. Standard competition rules apply, entries merged across JP north west titles.
Have you got something to share on the story? Were you there? What do you think? - Send your pictures, videos or story and we'll publish the best × Continue the story Win tickets to Nickelodeon's Slimefest and Illuminations Switch On Loading ... Add up to 3 photos or 1 videos to the story There's been a problem uploading your files. Please try again. By uploading your file you agree to our Terms and Conditions × Continue the story Sign in to contribute sign in shape the news in your area...


We’ve teamed up with Nickelodeon to give you the chance to attend the first-ever UK SLIMEFEST in Blackpool on Saturday  September 3rd.


Win tickets to Nickelodeon's Slimefest and Illuminations Switch On


The types of cookies we, our ad network and technology partners use are listed below:
Revenue Science ► A tool used by some of our advertisers to target adverts to you based on pages you have visited in the past. To opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.
Google Ads ► Our sites contain advertising from Google; these use cookies to ensure you get adverts relevant to you. You can tailor the type of ads you receive by visiting here or to opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.
Digital Analytics ► This is used to help us identify unique visitors to our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot use this to uniquely identify individuals and their usage of the sites.
Dart for Publishers ► This comes from our ad serving technology and is used to track how many times you have seen a particular ad on our sites, so that you don't just see one advert but an even spread. This information is not used by us for any other type of audience recording or monitoring.
ComScore ► ComScore monitor and externally verify our site traffic data for use within the advertising industry. Any data collected is anonymous statistical data and cannot be traced back to an individual.
Local Targeting ► Our Classified websites (Photos, Motors, Jobs and Property Today) use cookies to ensure you get the correct local newspaper branding and content when you visit them. These cookies store no personally identifiable information.
Grapeshot ► We use Grapeshot as a contextual targeting technology, allowing us to create custom groups of stories outside out of our usual site navigation. Grapeshot stores the categories of story you have been exposed to. Their privacy policy and opt out option can be accessed here.
Subscriptions Online ► Our partner for Newspaper subscriptions online stores data from the forms you complete in these to increase the usability of the site and enhance user experience.
Add This ► Add This provides the social networking widget found in many of our pages. This widget gives you the tools to bookmark our websites, blog, share, tweet and email our content to a friend.


A Wigan man has admitted indecent image crimes.


A pastor and a Rolls-Royce aerospace engineer are among the 12 hopefuls competing to win the 2016 series of The Great British Bake Off.
The amateur bakers, competing to follow in the footsteps of last year’s champion Nadiya Hussain, will again seek the approval of judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.
However the seventh series could be the last on the BBC. Its three-year deal with producers Love Productions expires at the end of this run and ITV is bidding to poach the format.
Ms Berry, 81, hinted at tensions behind the scenes between the new batch of contestants donning their aprons. She said: “They know the standard that it is, which is now pretty high. And I think they were slower to bond this year than they were in the past.”
The bakers include Andrew, 25, originally from Northern Ireland, he now lives in Derby and works as an aerospace engineer for Rolls-Royce. A Cambridge University graduate, Andrew has set his heart on designing a baguette concorde.
The oldest contestant in this year’s lineup will be Lee, a 67-year-old who has worked in various pastoral ministries for the past 30 years – most recently as the pastor of his local church in Bolton. A former builder, he had a complete change of direction in the mid 1980s, when he turned to theology and took up baking.
The youngest baker is Michael, a 20-year-old from London who is studying politics and economics in Durham. He enjoys making “big grand cakes” and making Greek pastries inspired by his Cypriot heritage.
Teaching Assistant, Benjamina, 23, who started baking aged 14 just for fun, recently graduated with a 1st in Economics & lives in south London.
The contestants also include 66-year-old former primary school head teacher Val, and 31-year-old secondary school PE teacher Candice. Mother of two Kate, 37, is a farmer’s daughter from Norfolk, is a qualified nurse and works on an acute respiratory ward. Candice, 31, from Bedfordshire, was taught to bake by her beloved Nan, and strives to emulate her bakes aiming to be “even half the lady she was.”
Hollywood said Nadiya’s success – she is judging a junior version of the series and is presenting a documentary on her culinary inspirations – had raised the bar for this year’s batch.
“Nadiya went to a whole new level, and because of that I think it put the pressure on them more, and I think we felt that in the tents as well,” the judge said. “But actually they came out tops.
They started quite nervously but once they settled down they got into it. Then the baking started to flow and the standard got really really good.”
The Great British Bake Off launches on August 24 on BBC One at 8pm.

Great British Bake Off contestants: Rolls-Royce engineer and pastor join 2016 lineup


A pastor and a Rolls-Royce aerospace engineer are among the 12 hopefuls competing to win the 2016 series of The Great British Bake Off.


Hardship in the fells of 1930s County Durham and intrigue at a Second World War munitions factory are just two compelling new books from Quercus this September.
Nobody’s Child by Elizabeth Gill
Two traveller sisters from the wild countryside of County Durham face hardship, hunger and an uncertain future when they lose their parents and their home.
Consumed with grief and surrounded by hostility, can the teenagers survive the tough times ahead in 1930s England and hold tight to the family ties that bind them together?
Elizabeth Gill, author of over 30 books set in and around her native Tyneside, works her storytelling magic in a moving and gritty family saga of adversity and hope and love and loyalty that will delight her army of devoted fans.
On Christmas Day in 1930, Kath and Ella Watson are living with their parents in an empty house close to Castle Bank Colliery on snow-covered Durham Fell tops. They have been forced to take shelter there from their travellers’ wagon because their mother is gravely ill.
Kath is seventeen and her father believes she should have married long ago, particularly as she has been courted by the likes of rich traveller Will Hern. But Kath has seen the chaotic life of traveller women with babies, forced to raise their youngsters inside a cramped wagon.
Their mother Rose wants a better life for her two daughters but when she dies on Christmas Day morning, their father is overcome by grief and sets fire to the family’s wooden wagon, reducing it to a heap of ashes.
When the police arrive to tell them that not only has their father died in an accident after riding off on his horse but also that they must leave the house where they have been sheltering, the two sisters are left bereft and virtually penniless.
With winter closing in around them, and facing the hostility of locals who are suspicious of Gypsies, the girls strike out to find their way in a harsh landscape which sets them on a collision course with the wealthy Banks family of nearby Golden Hill Hall, local farmer Jake Sutherland and Will Hern, the man who would still have Kath as his wife.
Using her trademark warmth, experience and wisdom, Gill captures the essence of the hardy folk of the north-east in a story brimming with drama, romance, rich period detail and vivid characters.
Written from the heart and with a seductive sense of time and place, Nobody’s Child is the perfect read for autumn nights…
(Quercus, hardback, £19.99)
The Factory Girls by Rosie Archer
Friends in need, flying bombs and explosive revelations… it’s time to head back to the adventures and misadventures of Gosport’s ‘canary girls.’
The real-life munitions workers at Priddy’s Hard, the Royal Navy Armament Depot in Hampshire, who helped to arm the Allies’ D-Day invasion fleet, are the inspiration behind this compelling series from Gosport author Rosie Archer.
In the follow-up to The Munitions Girls and The Canary Girls, Archer sweeps us away again to England in 1944 and into the hearts and minds of the women who packed shells and bullets with sulphurous chemicals that made their skin and hair turn yellow.
Archer pays tribute to the dangerous and dirty work undertaken by the 2,500 women at the factory during the Second World War in stories that prove no matter how hard the times, despite bombing, short rations, cruel men and unwanted pregnancy, friendship will pull you through.
In autumn of 1944, V-1 flying bombs, known as doodlebugs, are the latest threat to war-battered Gosport. And at Priddy’s Hard munitions factory, Em Earle is about to suffer a threat to her livelihood that comes from much nearer home.
Meanwhile, local crook and black marketeer Samuel Golden is back and up to his old tricks as he tries to find ways to exploit the hardships of local people for his own gain.
As well as Samuel’s unwanted attentions, Em has to deal with some huge revelations from within her own family. Her daughter Lizzie is pregnant, and a strange woman has turned up on Em’s doorstep claiming to be her sister.
Em is excited but cannot help feeling wary. Could this woman be too good to be true? Once again it will be up to the girls from the bomb factory to rally round and support one of their own.
The triumphs and disasters of this entertaining, close-knit group of friends spring to life in a nostalgic story packed with drama, tension, passion and the grim realities of life in wartime England.
Archer has her finger firmly on the pulse of the munitions workers… their hardships, their struggles and the determination to win wars in both their personal lives and on the bigger stage.
Romance with a gritty edge…
(Quercus, paperback, £6.99)

Book reviews: Cosy up with two family sagas from Quercus Books


Hardship in the fells of 1930s County Durham and intrigue at a Second World War munitions factory are just two compelling new books from Quercus this September.


Nadigar Sangam Elections
Truth is stranger than fiction! goes the saying and nothing else could sum up the current situation at the Nadigar Sangam! ELECTION DATE: Oct 18, 2015 What is the Issue? In November 2010 trouble began Nadigar Sangam decided to demolish the existing building and construct a commercial complex. The association signed an agreement with a [...]

The streets of Parrys, Chennai aka Georgetown


7 Great Architectural Wonders of Chennai


Manithan movie starring Udhayanighi Stalin and Hansika Motwani


manithan movie starring udhayanighi stalin and hansika motwani


The 10 best Government buildings in Chennai


The Restuarant Chains that Treat Chennai


CLEVELAND (AP) _ These Ohio lotteries were drawn Monday:
Estimated jackpot: $84 million
9-2-5
(nine, two, five)
7-0-7-4
(seven, zero, seven, four)
4-3-6-2-6
(four, three, six, two, six)
Estimated jackpot: $154 million


CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening’s drawing of the Ohio Lottery’s “Pick 3 Evening” game were:
0-4-0
(zero, four, zero)

Winning numbers drawn in ‘Pick 3 Evening’ game


COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Some mistakes are never too late to fix.
A Civil War soldier misidentified when he was buried at an Ohio cemetery more than 150 years ago is to get a new headstone.
The Columbus Dispatch (http://bit.ly/2bzX8Ji ) reports that Confederate soldier Augustus Beckmann was fatally wounded in the Battle of Shiloh on April 7, 1862. But he was buried at the Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery in Columbus under the wrong name, A. Bergman, and wrong company.
Beckmann’s brother’s great-great-grandson, Greg Beckman, discovered the error when he visited Camp Chase last Memorial Day. He put together the necessary documentation, asked the National Cemetery Administration to fix the headstone, and recently learned his request was approved.
An administration spokeswoman says approved stones are typically in place within 60 days.
___
Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com

Headstone of Civil War soldier to be fixed after 154 years


INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Latest on tornadoes that touched down in Indiana and Ohio (all times local):
7:15 p.m.
The National Weather Service says a preliminary damage survey shows the EF3 tornado that hit Kokomo had an estimated peak wind of 152 mph.
The weather service says the tornado traveled nearly 5 miles on the city’s south side Wednesday, was about 300 yards wide and lasted 10 minutes.
It says the tornado destroyed a Starbucks near the Markland Mall.
The weather service earlier had classified the tornado as an EF3, which can have peak winds of 165 mph.
___
6:15 p.m.
Wednesday’s tornado outbreak that swept Indiana came only about a week after another big August outbreak of tornadoes hit the state.
The National Weather Service said last week that eight tornadoes touched down across Indiana on Aug. 15. The previous August record was an outbreak on Aug. 9, 1969, that spawned five tornadoes.
Mike Ryan is a meteorologist with the weather service’s Indianapolis office. He says Wednesday’s outbreak could eclipse that record set only last week, if the storm tally reaches nine or more tornadoes.
As of late Thursday afternoon, weather service survey crews had confirmed that seven tornadoes hit Indiana on Wednesday. Ryan says he expects that tally to increase.
___
5:50 p.m.
The National Weather Service says at least seven tornadoes swept parts of central and northern Indiana during Wednesday’s outbreak.
Meteorologist Mike Ryan with the weather service’s Indianapolis office says five tornado touchdowns have been confirmed in central Indiana and two have been confirmed in two northeastern Indiana counties.
But he says weather service survey crews are still surveying storm damage and he expects the tornado tally to continue to rise.
One of the tornadoes that hit central Indiana was an EF3 with winds up to 165 mph that damaged and destroyed homes and business in the city of Kokomo, about 40 miles north of Indianapolis.
The weather service says a tornado that hit northeastern Indiana’s Allen County appears to have also been an EF3, although a final assessment is pending.
___
1:40 p.m.
Howard County and the city of Kokomo have only 10 tornado sirens, but a telephone and text-messaging system spread the word about dangerous storms bearing down on the central Indiana community.
WRTV-TV reports (http://bit.ly/2bCZFhp ) the emergency alert system was installed in the county after a 2013 tornado.
Before the first tornado struck Wednesday, thousands of people received telephone calls or text messages.
Howard County Commissioner Paul Wyman says “thousands upon thousands of people in Howard County” have signed up for the notifications and “it worked unbelievably well. … People were getting notifications well in advance of these tornadoes touching down.”
The National Weather Service says one tornado was an EF3 with 165 mph winds. Authorities report only 10-15 minor injuries in Howard County.
___
12:30 p.m.
Not even KISS could rock ‘n’ roll all night with tornado sirens blaring.
Frontman Gene Simmons tweeted that the band’s show in Toledo, Ohio, was stopped briefly Wednesday night during a tornado warning.
He says some people went into the arena to seek shelter until the storm passed.
While no tornadoes touched down in Toledo, there was a long line of damage across the northwestern part of the state from the storm that first hit central and northern Indiana.
About six trailers were damaged at a mobile home park near Hicksville in Ohio.
Officials in Van Wert County say at least two tornadoes touched down about 2 miles apart, tearing roofs off homes and flattening barns.
___
12:15 p.m.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence says it is a miracle that no one was killed or badly hurt by a tornado that hit the city of Kokomo.
Pence spoke Thursday after touring a neighborhood and businesses hit by Wednesday’s tornado. The National Weather Service says it was an EF3 tornado, packing winds of up to 165 mph.
Pence also visited a Red Cross shelter where some 200 people spent the night.
He credited quick thinking and early warnings of the approaching storm for the lack of serious injuries.
Pence and U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly were among officials who talked with residents in a neighborhood where homes were also damaged by a 2013 tornado.
Donnelly said Kokomo is a resilient, tough community and that all the residents he spoke with vowed to rebuild.
___
12:05 p.m.
The National Weather Service says it’s still unclear how many tornadoes touched down in Indiana on Wednesday.
The state’s Department of Homeland Security reported early Thursday that 12 tornadoes hit the state, but later the agency revised that number to eight.
Weather service meteorologist Joseph Nield says it’s not yet clear how many tornadoes touched down, although an EF3 tornado did strike Kokomo and an EF2 swept part of Montgomery County.
Nield says it’s likely several more tornadoes struck Indiana, but that those findings won’t come until later Thursday.
He says five separate weather service survey crews are scouring areas with storm damage in central and northern Indiana to determine if tornadoes struck there.
___
10:55 a.m.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has been hugging and chatting with people whose homes were destroyed or damaged when a tornado whipped through the city of Kokomo.
Donald Trump’s running mate arrived in Kokomo by helicopter to view the damage Thursday morning, a day after heavy storms spawned tornadoes across north and central Indiana.
Many trees were knocked down in the storm, and a large truck was hurled onto its side. Some homes are ruined while others were largely untouched.
Pence returned to Indiana after campaign stops in North Carolina on Wednesday. He has cancelled a campaign trip planned for Thursday.
___
8:35 a.m.
The mayor of Kokomo says crews from elsewhere in the state are coming to the central Indiana city to help restore power and clean up debris in the tornado-hit community.
Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight said Thursday morning that he’s grateful that no one was killed or seriously injured by the storm that struck Wednesday afternoon, damaging numerous houses, apartments and businesses.
He says about 220 people stayed overnight in a temporary shelter in Kokomo, about 40 miles north of Indianapolis.
Howard County Sheriff Steve Rogers says 10 to 15 people suffered minor injuries.
Utility companies report at least 15,000 homes and businesses remain without electricity in Howard County.
Police have restricted access to storm-damage neighborhoods, saying residents must show identification to officers before entering.
___
8:15 a.m.
Indiana’s Department of Homeland Security says a tornado outbreak produced at least 12 tornadoes.
Agency spokesman John Erickson says officials are still assessing the storm damage Thursday, but that the tally as of Wednesday night showed 12 tornadoes touched down in Adams, Allen, Blackford, Cass, Grant, Howard, Marion and Montgomery counties in northern and central Indiana.
Several of those tornadoes struck Howard County, where the south side of the city of Kokomo suffered extensive damage.
National Weather Service surveys Thursday should determine whether additional storm damage in other areas was caused by tornadoes or high winds in severe thunderstorms.
___
7:45 a.m.
Emergency officials and the Red Cross have set up shelters for victims of tornadoes that swept across central Indiana.
One shelter is at the Kokomo Event and Conference Center. The Indianapolis Star reports that about 200 people were being housed and fed at the center at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, hours after the storms moved through. Kokomo is about 50 miles north of Indianapolis.
Another shelter is at Walnut Elementary School in New Ross, northwest of Indianapolis.
The Indiana Red Cross regional headquarters in Indianapolis has a team of employees and volunteers working at an operations center.
The National Weather Service says at least eight tornadoes touched down on Wednesday causing substantial damage. Authorities say between 15 and 20 people suffered injuries but none were severe.
___
7:05 a.m.
The National Weather Service says at least seven tornadoes swept parts of central and northern Indiana during Wednesday’s outbreak.
One was an EF3 with winds up to 165 mph that damaged and destroyed homes and business in the city of Kokomo, about 40 miles north of Indianapolis.
The weather service says a tornado that hit northeastern Indiana’s Allen County appears to have also been an EF3, although a final assessment is pending.
GOP vice presidential candidate and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence plans to leave the campaign trail Thursday to assess storm damage.
The weather service says two other thunderstorms produced separate tornadoes, one in Avon west of Indianapolis and one northwest of Lafayette, which is southwest of Indianapolis.
___
This update has been corrected to show that the National Weather Service said at least seven, not eight, tornadoes hit during Wednesday’s storm. The original update relied on information from the weather service’s tally of an Aug. 15 tornado outbreak, not Wednesday’s storm.
___
9:20 p.m.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence says he’ll tour Howard and Montgomery counties and possibly other areas Thursday to assess the storm damage.
The Republican vice presidential candidate returned to Indiana from the campaign trail Wednesday evening after the National Weather Service said several tornadoes struck the state. One that hit Kokomo has been determined to be an EF3 with 165 mph winds.
Pence says he’ll remain in the state as long as necessary to ensure people affected by the storms have the support they need. He says 200 people have checked in to a Red Cross shelter in Kokomo.
Indiana State Police spokesman Capt. David Bursten says about a dozen people were injured, but none seriously.

The Latest: Kokomo EF3 tornado had peak wind of 152 mph


COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio Republicans say they’re pulling the gloves off as they seek to retain U.S. Sen. Rob Portman this fall, and that means revisiting more of the record of Democratic former Gov. Ted Strickland.
At the center of Republicans’ new web ad campaign announced Monday is a largely forgotten scandal on prison workers at the Governor’s Residence that all but evaporated when Strickland lost re-election in 2010.
The party is also revisiting a controversy over Strickland’s use of state-issued airplanes to shuttle him short distances in Columbus.
Republicans have already been hammering Strickland on job losses while the Democrat was governor, and the reduction of the state’s rainy day fund to 89 cents while he was in office.
“Strickland is the definition of incompetence and cronyism in government, and we plan to ensure that every Ohioan with a TV, mailbox, tablet, iPhone or laptop knows it,” Ohio GOP chairman Matt Borges said in a statement.
The online ads follow months of Democratic ads tweaking Portman for failing to distance himself from GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and accusing Portman of favoring trade deals with China that cost U.S. jobs.
Strickland spokesman David Bergstein said Republicans are misrepresenting Strickland’s record in order to distract from Portman’s agenda of policies favoring the rich and powerful over working people.
“Senator Portman can’t defend his career spent championing job killing trade deals that have cost Ohio over 300,000 jobs to places like China, his efforts to raise the retirement age for seniors and cut education funding for students, or the fact that he’s bragging about a drug abuse prevention bill he voted against funding — so Republicans are throwing out wildly false claims as a pathetic attempt at a distraction,” he said.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Aug. 11 showed Portman leading Strickland 49 percent to 40 percent.
Events leading to controversy over the prison workers began when individuals in Strickland’s administration decided in early 2010 to cancel a scheduled sting operation at the governor’s residence. At issue was an “honor inmate” program that employed low-security prisoners at various household and grounds-keeping jobs for 50 years.
How and why the bust was aborted became the subject of intense questioning amid concerns it was obstructed for political purposes. Then-Public Safety Director Cathy Collins-Taylor was found responsible for the decision in a state watchdog’s investigation, though she and others close to her told another story.
Collins-Taylor’s was among three resignations resulting from ensuing investigations. Additional fallout, much of it after Strickland’s defeat and departure from office, also included a reprimand, a suspension and one person’s criminal conviction.
Meanwhile, had the operation been carried out as planned, the wife of an inmate working at the governor’s suburban mansion — instructed in a letter to drop a “six-pack” of contraband cigarettes at the property’s perimeter for her husband to smuggle behind bars — would have been arrested in what was later deemed to be “a safe, routine and well-devised law enforcement plan.” Cigarettes had become coveted contraband inside Ohio’s prisons after smoking was banned statewide in 2006.
The suspect had been scheduled to be intercepted on Jan. 10, 2010, the same night Strickland, his chief of staff John Haseley and Haseley’s 8-year-old daughter were scheduled to dine with astronaut and former U.S. Sen. John Glenn and his wife, Annie. Collins-Taylor later said she wanted to spare the governor political embarrassment should the operation go awry.
Strickland and two key advisers were cleared of playing any direct role in aborting the sting. Nonetheless, critics and editorialists at the time faulted his judgment in overseeing the inmate program and in picking Cabinet officers such as Collins-Taylor.
Exacerbating the political headache for Strickland, he hadn’t yet submitted Collins-Taylor’s appointment as Ohio’s safety director to the Republican-led state Senate for confirmation. That allowed the chamber to hold explosive public hearings on the matter that ended with her resignation.
The honor inmate program at the residence, suspended after another breach following the botched sting, has never been re-started.

GOP to revisit 2010 sting in anti-Strickland web push


CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Saturday evening’s drawing of the Ohio Lottery’s “Pick 3 Evening” game were:
4-8-8
(four, eight, eight)


CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening’s drawing of the Ohio Lottery’s “Pick 4 Evening” game were:
3-0-5-2
(three, zero, five, two)

Winning numbers drawn in ‘Pick 4 Evening’ game


CLEVELAND (AP) — A judge has upheld a law that requires Cleveland residents newly convicted of gun offenses to register with the police department, though a few provisions were knocked down in the ruling issued this week.
The gun registry law took effect late last year. It says residents charged with gun offenses must register within five days of being convicted or released from prison.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and city council members pushed through the new gun laws in the hope of curbing gun violence in the city.
Members of Ohioans for Concealed Carry challenged the changes.
Cleveland.com reports the Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH’-guh) County judge’s ruling did strike down a provision allowing police officers to confiscate guns in some cases, along with new, stricter definitions of automatic weapons.

Judge upholds Cleveland law requiring gun offender registry


CINCINNATI (AP) — Authorities in the Cincinnati area said Monday that an unprecedented spike of drug overdoses seem to be leveling off, although still at higher than normal levels, after a stunning wave last week.
Newtown Police Chief Thomas Synan, who heads the Hamilton County Drug Coalition task force, said reports show heroin overdoses dropped to 10 to 15 a day over the weekend. Just Friday, emergency rooms reported 174 overdose cases over six days, for an average of 29 per day, although Synan said some likely were not from heroin. But he said 20 to 25 overdoses in a week would be more typical.
“We’re not seeing anything like we did last week, but it’s still a little elevated,” he said.
He said authorities have samples of heroin that was being sold and they will test it, hoping to determine the source. They suspect it was mixed with another drug, such as the powerful painkiller fentanyl or the elephant tranquilizer carfentanil.
“I think it shows the callousness of those who are dealing this drug,” Synan said. “They do not care about the person they are selling to, they do not care about the communities they affect.”
Communities in the neighboring states of Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia also saw overdose spikes last week. Meanwhile, Tennessee state officials on Monday urged increased public awareness of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that’s also being mixed with other drugs or as cheap counterfeits, and the increased risk of overdoses and fatalities.
Ohio health authorities reported last week that fentanyl helped fuel a record number of overdoses in 2015, when accidental drug overdoses killed 3,050 people in the state. A record high of 47,055 people died from drug overdoses in the United States in 2014, according to the latest figures from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Overdose death tolls likely would be even worse without naloxone, a now widely available overdose antidote that many first responders carry. In Ohio alone, emergency medical personnel last year administered nearly 19,800 doses of naloxone, known by the brand name Narcan.
The state pharmacy board said Monday that 1,000 Ohio pharmacies, or about 47 percent of them, now offer the overdose antidote naloxone without a prescription. Expanding access to it beyond emergency responders has been a major part of Ohio’s strategy to curb the increasing overdoses and deaths.
However, authorities say use of fentanyl, which the CDC says is 50 to 100 times more potent that morphine, and even-stronger carfentanil, makes reviving users more difficult. Cincinnati first responders used multiple Narcan doses to save some users last week.
Authorities said three to five deaths are believed connected to the overdose wave last week in the Cincinnati area.
Synan praised “astonishing work” by Cincinnati firefighters and other first responders for saving as many people as they did during an exhausting wave, while adding there are rarely any calm days in the anti-drug effort.
“This has been an event, a spike,” Synan said. “But this is a continual battle that we have every single day throughout the region.”
___
Associated Press writer Kantele Franko in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.
___
Follow Dan Sewell at http://www.twitter.com/dansewell
For some of his other recent stories: http://bigstory.ap.org/content/dan-sewell

Unprecedented overdose spike slows in Cincinnati


COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A committee of state lawmakers has held its first of five meetings aimed at determining whether Ohio’s jobless benefits system for workers is sustainable and whether any solvency issues need to be addressed.
The Columbus Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/2bUwzM1 ) the state Department of Job and Family Services warned the panel of six Republicans and two Democrats Thursday that even a small recession would “render us insolvent.”
The agency says the state could increase employer taxes, levy a surcharge on businesses or suspend or lower benefit amounts.
Other possible reforms include lengthening benefit wait periods or shortening the amount of time benefits can be received.
The panel was created last year after a bill stalled that aimed at resolving the challenges facing the state’s unemployment compensation system.
___
Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com

State agency proposes reform to unemployment benefits system


COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s treasurer and auditor have joined forces to make it easier for local governments to share financial information online.
The effort announced this month by Treasurer Josh Mandel (man-DEHL’) and Auditor Dave Yost is an extension of fiscal transparency efforts that have been expanding in the state for almost two years.
Mandel’s office launched an online checkbook of state spending information in December 2014. That site has since expanded to include pension funds and some local governments, school districts and universities. Ohio’s Office of Budget and Management brought the state’s entire accounting system online in June.
The latest effort integrates OhioCheckbook.com with the Auditor’s Uniform Accounting Network, a “one-stop shop” for local governments to submit year-end financial reports and checkbook-level spending information.
___
Online:
http://UANlink.OhioAuditor.gov

Treasurer, auditor team up on spending-transparency effort


CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening’s drawing of the Ohio Lottery’s “Rolling Cash 5” game were:
03-06-08-31-38
(three, six, eight, thirty-one, thirty-eight)
Estimated jackpot: $110,000

Winning numbers drawn in ‘Rolling Cash 5’ game


COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Some mistakes are never too late to fix.
A Civil War soldier misidentified when he was buried at an Ohio cemetery more than 150 years ago is to get a new headstone.
Confederate soldier Augustus Beckmann was fatally wounded in the Battle of Shiloh on April 7, 1862. But he was buried at the Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery in Columbus under the wrong name, A. Bergman, and wrong company, The Columbus Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/2bzX8Ji ).
Beckmann’s brother’s great-great-grandson, Greg Beckman, discovered the error when he visited Camp Chase last Memorial Day.
Beckman, who teaches government at a high school in Placentia, California, pulled together the necessary documentation and asked the National Cemetery Administration to fix the headstone. He recently learned his request was approved.
An administration spokeswoman says approved stones are typically in place within 60 days.
Beckman’s great-great grandfather, William Beckmann, was Augustus’ brother. The two came to America from present-day Germany between 1858 and 1860 and enlisted in the 2nd Texas Infantry in Galveston.
“William never learned the fate of his brother, as August was buried under the wrong surname of Bergman all those years,” Beckman said. “The last time they saw one another was on the battlefield of Shiloh.”
August Beckmann was buried under the name Bergman at Camp Dennison near Cincinnati, and the incorrect name followed him when his remains and those of 30 other soldiers were removed in 1869 and reinterred at Camp Chase.
Beckman said he was happy to visit his relative’s gravesite, but wasn’t content with the incorrect inscription.
“I knew something had to be done about it,” he said.
___
Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com

Headstone of Civil War soldier to be fixed after 154 years


MANSFIELD, Ohio (AP) — Walker Ramsay couldn’t make it to the Richland County fair this year, but his spirit was alive and well during the Aug. 13 livestock auction.
The 17-year-old Crestview Future Farmers of America member had been raising a hog for the fair before he died unexpectedly of a seizure in his sleep May 29, said his father, Greg Ramsay. Walker would have been a senior at Crestview this year.
In the midst of their heartbreak, the Ramsay family decided to finish what Walker started. They asked Walker’s vocational agriculture teacher Joel Albright and fair board member Dave Grauer for help and permission to go ahead and show Walker’s project, with the intention of selling it to raise money for a memorial scholarship fund. They agreed.
Walker’s friend, Justin Bond, showed the hog in Walker’s place.
When it came time to sell the animal, the show arena was packed with bidders and spectators, including the entire Crestview football team, of which Walker was a member. Walker was a three-sport athlete, also playing baseball and basketball.
The bids started high and soared even higher, with winning bidder Phillips Manufacturing eventually paying $12,000 for the hog.
And then the add-ons began coming in. The Crestview FFA Buyers Club pledged $5,200. Sportsmans Den gave $2,000. Gifts poured in from Shelby Buyers Club, Mechanics Bank, Milliron, Schroeder Farms, and many other businesses and individuals.
Add-ons kept coming in throughout the afternoon, with the total amount raised exceeding $35,000 shortly after the sale. The entire proceeds will go to the scholarship fund as the livestock committee decided not to take a portion of the sale amount.
The generosity of the community brought the family to tears.
“We knew we had a lot of support, but nothing like this,” Greg Ramsay said. “It just proves what kind of a community we live in.”
Following the auction, members of the football team, the Crestview FFA, the livestock committee and others lined up to hug the family.
Greg expressed his gratitude to the community for their support and said he would want people to continue to remember his son for his bright smile.
“Everybody talks about his smile,” Greg said.
___
Information from: News Journal, http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com

Hog sold at Ohio fair fuels big scholarship in boy’s memory


AKRON, Ohio (AP) — A 29-year-old northeast Ohio man has been sentenced to seven years behind bars after he admitted to dragging an officer for two blocks while fleeing a traffic stop.
Demardre Johnson pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges including felonious assault, resisting arrest and obstructing justice. Johnson apologized for his actions in court.
Authorities say Akron police officers pulled Johnson over in February and asked him for his driver’s license. The man told police he didn’t have one and refused an officer’s request to step out of his vehicle.
Police say when they tried to open his door, Johnson shifted into drive and took off with an officer hanging on the vehicle’s door. The SUV eventually crashed and Johnson was taken into custody.
The officer was treated for minor injuries.

Man, 29, gets prison for dragging officer in traffic stop


Associated Press Ohio Daybook for Saturday, Aug. 27.
The daybook is for planning purposes only and is not intended for publication or broadcast. You should verify any event you plan to cover.
Please keep the AP in mind when news develops. The Columbus bureau is reachable at 614-885-2727. Send daybook items to apcolumbus@ap.org.
——————–
Saturday, Aug. 27 8:30 AM Medina County Friends and Neighbors meeting, with Ohio Senate President Keith Faber
Location: Cherokee Hills Golf Course, 5740 Center Rd., Valley City, OH www.mcfan.org
Contacts: Lisa Woods Medina County Friends and Neighbors 1 330 241 5226
——————–
Saturday, Aug. 27 10:00 AM FCCS and Columbus Mayor Ginther host ‘FamJam – A Family Enrichment Festival’ – Franklin County Children Services and Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther host eight annual ‘FamJam – A Family Enrichment Festival’
Location: Genoa Park, 303 W Broad St, Columbus, OH Columbus http://childrenservices.franklincountyohio.gov/ https://twitter.com/FCCSnews
Contacts: Franklin County Children Services Fccsoutreach@fccs.us 1 614 275 2780
——————–
Saturday, Aug. 27 2:30 PM Columbus City Councilmember Michael Stinziano holds Community Hours
Location: Columbus Metropolitan Library, 3980 S. Hamilton Road, Groveport, OH Columbus http://www.columbus.gov/ https://twitter.com/ColumbusCouncil
Contacts: Stephanie Megas City of Columbus 1 614 645 8311
——————–
Sunday, Aug. 28 1:00 PM Interfaith Association of Central Ohio 24th Annual Main Event Luncheon
Location: Martin de Porres Center, 2330 Airport Drive, Columbus, OH Columbus http://iaco.org/
Contacts: Interfaith Association of Central Ohio iaco@iaco.org 1 614 849 0290
——————–
Sunday, Aug. 28 – Wednesday, Aug. 31 American Probation and Parole Association Annual Training Institute
Location: Cleveland, OH Cleveland http://www.appa-net.org
Contacts: Diane Kincaid APPA press dkincaid@csg.org 1 859 244 8196
——————–
Monday, Aug. 29 10:00 AM OHROC and Ohio GOP highlight Ohio state Rep. Jeff Rezabek’s ‘accomplishments in the House’ – Ohio House Republican Organizational Committee and Ohio Republican Party hold press conference to ‘highlight the stark contrast between Ohio state Rep. Jeff Rezabek and his challenger David Sparks’, and ‘call attention to past comments by Sparks that include lewd and sexually explicit language toward women, as well as comments about drug use.’ Participants include Ohio state Rep. Jeff Rezabek, Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges, Trotwood Mayor Mary McDonald, and Ohio House Republican members
Location: Dayton Racquet Club, 40 N. Main Street, Dayton, OH Dayton http://www.ohroc.com/ https://twitter.com/OhioHouseGOP
Contacts: OHROC ohroccommunications@gmail.com
——————–
Monday, Aug. 29 6:00 PM Hillary for Ohio opens new organizing office – Hillary for Ohio opens new organizing office, where supporters discuss Hillary Clinton’s ‘agenda for supporting the local economy compared with Donald Trump’s plan to give large tax breaks to the wealthy’
Location: 224 Park Ave., Hamilton, OH Hamilton www.hillaryclinton.com https://twitter.com/hillaryclinton #OHHillYes
Contacts: Rachel Harvey Katz Hillary for America rharveykatz@hillaryclinton.com
_____
Keywords: Daybook, Ohio


CINCINNATI (AP) — Police in Cincinnati are asking for the public’s help in finding the source of the suspected heroin behind an estimated 78 overdoses in two days this week.
Authorities believe the same batch is linked to three recent deaths.
They say there were an estimated 78 overdoses on Tuesday and Wednesday and 174 overdoses in emergency rooms within the past week. Local officials are calling it a public health emergency.
They suspect a drug used to sedate elephants that is 100 times as potent as fentanyl (FEHN’-tuh-nihl) could be behind the surge in overdoses.
County leaders say they’ll seek funding for treatment that would come with expanded response teams.
The state reported Thursday that accidental drug overdoses killed an average of eight people per day in Ohio last year.

Cincinnati sees estimated 78 heroin overdoses in 2 days


ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Saturday evening’s drawing of the “Powerball” game were:
04-32-48-49-63, Powerball: 20, Power Play: 2
(four, thirty-two, forty-eight, forty-nine, sixty-three; Powerball: twenty; Power Play: two)
Estimated jackpot: $142 million
¶ ___ ¶ Online: ¶ Multi-State Lottery Association: http://www.powerball.com/

Winning numbers drawn in ‘Powerball’ game


CLEVELAND (AP) _ These Ohio lotteries were drawn Thursday:
Estimated jackpot: $76 million
0-4-0
(zero, four, zero)
4-9-5
(four, nine, five)
3-0-5-2
(three, zero, five, two)
7-8-0-0
(seven, eight, zero, zero)
7-7-6-2-7
(seven, seven, six, two, seven)
7-6-0-9-7
(seven, six, zero, nine, seven)
Estimated jackpot: $142 million
03-06-08-31-38
(three, six, eight, thirty-one, thirty-eight)
Estimated jackpot: $110,000