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(REUTERS/Brian Snyder) A public school district near Louisville, Kentucky has come down with a bad case of what I call “Participation Trophy Syndrome” – or PTS. The Greater Clark County School Board in Jeffersonville, Indiana, is considering a plan to eliminate the valedictorian system because it creates “unhealthy competition,” according to Supt. Andrew Melin. Click here to join Todd’s American Dispatch: a must-read for Conservatives! Unhealthy competition? Is he serious? Did a kid suffer a concussion while trying to parse a participle? “When students are competing for the Val and the Sal, they’re trying to find ways to maneuver through the system to try and get the best grades they can...

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump criticized San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepeick Monday, calling Kaepeick's refusal to stand for the national anthem "a terrible thing." "I think it’s personally not a good thing," Trump told Seattle radio station KIRO when asked about the controversy. "I think it’s a terrible thing, and you know, maybe he should find a country that works better for him, let him try, it’s not goa happen." Kaepeick became the subject of national controversy over the weekend when he remained seated on the San Francisco bench during the playing of the "Star-Spangled Baer" prior to Friday night's preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. While e...

REXBURG, Idaho – A family camping in easte Idaho scared off a mountain lion that tried to snatch their 4-year-old daughter away from a campfire. Idaho Fish and Game said Saturday that the cougar dropped the girl and left Friday evening after family members yelled at the animal. The child had a few scratches but no other injuries. [embedded content] The family was camping near Green Canyon Hot Springs east of Rexburg and had spotted the mountain lion in the area earlier that day. Fish and Game regional conservation educator Gregg Losinski said such sightings and attacks are unusual. With the help of a local hound hunter, agency officials tracked the cougar to a tree a few hundred yards from ...

The imam of a New York City mosque and his associate were gued down Saturday as they walked home from afteoon prayers. Authorities said the men were shot in the back of the head shortly before 2 p.m. near the Al-Furqan Jame Masjid mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens. Police identified the imam as 55-year-old Maulama Akonjee and the associate as Thara Uddin, 64. Related Image Expand / Contract This undated image shows Imam Maulama Akonjee, who was shot and killed outside his mosque in Queens, N.Y., Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016. (Family photo) NYPD Deputy Inspector Henry Sautner said video surveillance shows the victims were approached from behind by a man in a dark polo sh...

Big cats are the new big idea for reducing the deer population in the Northeast, where growing numbers of bucks and does wander through backyards and onto roads -- where they pose a danger to themselves and humans. A group of scientists is calling for re-introducing cougars into states like New York and New Jersey in an attempt to lower the exploding whitetail deer population. They say the 220-pound predators are a natural solution to a problem that causes 1.2 milllion car accidents per year, including 200 fatalities. "Recolonization by large caivores could provide an efficient solution to the problem of deer overabundance,” wrote study authors Laura Prugh, a wildlife scientist at the...

United States' Lilly King celebrates after wiing the gold medal in the women's 100-meter breaststroke final during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP) This one will surely be seen as a victory for clean athletes over th...

United States' Lilly King celebrates after wiing the gold medal in the women's 100-meter breaststroke final during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP) This one will surely be seen as a victory for clean athletes over th...

United States' Lilly King celebrates after wiing the gold medal in the women's 100-meter breaststroke final during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (AP) This one will surely be seen as a victory for clean athletes over th...

Student protesters staged a sit-in outside the chancellor's office last December. (Student Labor Committee at UC Berkeley) The chancellor at University of Califoia Berkeley has an exit plan in case student protesters storm his office. Nicholas Dirks, the school's chancellor, installed a $9,000 escape hatch in a hallway outside his office to "provide egress" if potential student protesters descend on the administratio...

A New Jersey suburb known for its tree-lined streets and stately, multimillion-dollar homes has been transformed into a battleground over both a proposed mosque and the free speech rights of residents who oppose the project. Beards, a township of about 27,000 an hour west of New York City, has been cleaved by controversy since 2011, when its Plaing Board took up a proposal for a 4,250-square-foot mosque in a residential neighborhood known as Liberty Coer. The applicant, Islamic Society of Basking Ridge, is led by a former Beards mayor and has filed a federal civil rights suit accusing members of the board of religious discrimination in ultimately rejecting the project. Related Image ...

A New Jersey suburb known for its tree-lined streets and stately, multimillion-dollar homes has been transformed into a battleground over both a proposed mosque and the free speech rights of residents who oppose the project. Beards, a township of about 27,000 an hour west of New York City, has been cleaved by controversy since 2011, when its Plaing Board took up a proposal for a 4,250-square-foot mosque in a residential neighborhood known as Liberty Coer. The applicant, Islamic Society of Basking Ridge, is led by a former Beards mayor and has filed a federal civil rights suit accusing members of the board of religious discrimination in ultimately rejecting the project. Related Image ...

Firefighters leave the bar where a fire broke in Rouen, weste France, Saturday Aug.6, 2016. A fire swept through a Friday night birthday party at a bar in the Normandy city of Rouen, killing at least 13 people and injuring six others, French authorities said. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu) PARIS – A fast-moving fire that appeared to be accidental swept through a birthday party in a basement bar in northwest France, killing at least 13 people and injuring six others, authorities said Saturday. More than 80 firefighters battled the early Saturday blaze at the downtown Cuba Libre bar in the city of Rouen, Mayor Yvon Robert said, calling the fire "very brief." The birthday party was "a moment of...

In the new edition of its full-color, glossy magazine, ISIS mocks those who claim Islam is a peaceful religion, and even wades into the controversy surrounding Donald Trump and the parents of a dead Muslim U.S. soldier. The 15th issue of Dabiq, published on July 31, is titled “Break The Cross” and appears to be primarily directed at those that ISIS considers its enemies, particularly Christians. One section is devoted to the words and actions of Pope Francis and is headlined “In The Words Of Our Enemies.” An editorial titled “Why We Hate You and Why We Fight You” takes aim at Westeers and “apostate ‘Imams’ in the West” who refuse to define ISIS’ motivation as being Islamic. ISIS calls ...

In the new edition of its full-color, glossy magazine, ISIS mocks those who claim Islam is a peaceful religion, and even wades into the controversy surrounding Donald Trump and the parents of a dead Muslim U.S. soldier. The 15th issue of Dabiq, published on July 31, is titled “Break The Cross” and appears to be primarily directed at those that ISIS considers its enemies, particularly Christians. One section is devoted to the words and actions of Pope Francis and is headlined “In The Words Of Our Enemies.” An editorial titled “Why We Hate You and Why We Fight You” takes aim at Westeers and “apostate ‘Imams’ in the West” who refuse to define ISIS’ motivation as being Islamic. ISIS calls ...

In the new edition of its full-color, glossy magazine, ISIS mocks those who claim Islam is a peaceful religion, and even wades into the controversy surrounding Donald Trump and the parents of a dead Muslim U.S. soldier. The 15th issue of Dabiq, published on July 31, is titled “Break The Cross” and appears to be primarily directed at those that ISIS considers its enemies, particularly Christians. One section is devoted to the words and actions of Pope Francis and is headlined “In The Words Of Our Enemies.” An editorial titled “Why We Hate You and Why We Fight You” takes aim at Westeers and “apostate ‘Imams’ in the West” who refuse to define ISIS’ motivation as being Islamic. ISIS calls ...

LOCKHART, Texas – At least 16 people died in the hot air balloon crash in Central Texas, the National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday, adding that investigators are still trying to determine the exact number of passengers and what caused the accident. It's apparently the worst such disaster in U.S. history, and one of the worst ever in the world. In February 2013, a balloon flying over Luxor, Egypt, caught fire and plunged 1,000 feet to the ground, crashing into a sugar cane field and killing at least 19 foreign tourists. NTSB investigators are begiing the process of determining what caused the balloon to crash Saturday moing in a pasture near Lockhart, Texas, which is about 30...

LOCKHART, Texas – At least 16 people died in the hot air balloon crash in Central Texas, the National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday, adding that investigators are still trying to determine the exact number of passengers and what caused the accident. It's apparently the worst such disaster in U.S. history, and one of the worst ever in the world. In February 2013, a balloon flying over Luxor, Egypt, caught fire and plunged 1,000 feet to the ground, crashing into a sugar cane field and killing at least 19 foreign tourists. NTSB investigators are begiing the process of determining what caused the balloon to crash Saturday moing in a pasture near Lockhart, Texas, which is about 30...

PHILADELPHIA – Democrats tried to tu their attention Monday night from an email scandal that claimed their party chairwoman and sent Beie Sanders supporters into near rebellion with a scorching attack on Donald Trump that ranged from uamed references by Michelle Obama to in-your-face attacks by Elizabeth Warren and Sanders himself. The Vermont senator blasted Trump as a candidate who "insults" minorities and "divides us up." “Based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States,” the Vermont senator told the rowdy and emotional convention crowd, with many of his supporters visibly crying during his remarks and chanting his name. San...

PHILADELPHIA – Democrats tried to tu their attention Monday night from an email scandal that claimed their party chairwoman and sent Beie Sanders supporters into near rebellion with a scorching attack on Donald Trump that ranged from uamed references by Michelle Obama to in-your-face attacks by Elizabeth Warren and Sanders himself. The Vermont senator blasted Trump as a candidate who "insults" minorities and "divides us up." “Based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States,” the Vermont senator told the rowdy and emotional convention crowd, with many of his supporters visibly crying during his remarks and chanting his name. San...

In this April 2, 2012 photo, Derek Long uses a John Deere tractor in preparation for planting co in Loami, Ill. A slowing global economy and the effects of a prolonged U.S. drought caught up to Deere & Co. as its net income rose 11% but fell well short of Wall Street's expectations. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman) Farmers in Nebraska, Miesota, Massachusetts, and New York are staging something of a mechanical revolt. They're attempting to get legislation passed in their states that would enable them, for the first time since the 1998 Digital Milleium Copyright Act, to repair their own tractors or get an independent mechanic to help. At the root of the morass is the software that helps run mod...