The officials say to please donate blood, or send help via the Red Cross, Salvation Army, or several other organizations

msnbc

America’s East Coast is bracing for a cacophonous summer as hordes of flying insects emerge for a once-in-a-generation phenomenon popularly known as “Swarmageddon”.

After 17 years underground growing from larva to bug, billions of cicadas are about to revel in the final four climactic weeks of their unusual life cycle.

At some point over the next few weeks, when the temperature at eight feet below ground reaches a steady 64F, the nymphs, as juvenile cicadas are called, will scramble out of the ground.

They will then embark on their noisy, short-lived adult life in pursuit of a mate. Males flex their tymbals, drum-like organs in their abdomens, making a distinctive clicking sound. Female cicadas answer by snapping their wings.

AP

Obama has declared a major disaster in Oklahoma, ordering federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts. The president also spoke Monday with Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin and Rep. Tom Cole, whose home is in the heavily damaged town of Moore.

The White House says Obama told Cole that the American people stand behind Oklahomans as they recover from the disaster.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Craig Fugate is heading to Oklahoma on Tuesday to ensure that federal resources are being properly deployed.

Source: The Oklahoman

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The U.S. military has shut down wireless internet service at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba because of online hacking threats.

A spokesman for the Guantanamo Bay prison says that officials have also blocked access to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter through military computer networks because of the threat.

Photo: A U.S. Army guard stands ready in a “pod” inside the Camp 6 detention facility at the U.S. Naval Station Oct. 2, 2007 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images file)

AP

The artist had been diagnosed with bile duct cancer.

The Doors formed in 1965 after Manzarek happened to meet Jim Morrison on California’s Venice Beach. The legendary rock group went on to sell 100 million albums worldwide, establishing five multiplatinum discs in the U.S.
Photos: People we lost in 2013 Photos: People we lost in 2013

Morrison died in 1971, but Manzarek carried on The Doors’ legacy, continuing to work as a musician and an author.

“I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today,” said Doors guitarist Robby Krieger. “I’m just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him.”

Source: CNN

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The Senate Finance Committee has launched an investigation into the improper targeting of Tea Party groups

Lawmakers are getting their first chance to question the former head of the Internal Revenue Service, the man who ran the agency when agents were improperly targeting tea party groups.

Some of the questions on Tuesday will be direct: What did you know, and when did you know it?

They also want to know why former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman didn’t tell Congress that agents had been singling out conservative political groups for additional scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status — even after he was briefed.

Shulman, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, left the IRS in November when his five-year term ended. He could prove to be a significant player in a scandal that has driven the Obama administration to distraction. Shulman is testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, which has launched a bipartisan investigation into the matter.

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Source: AP

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Rescue workers raced against time and darkness Monday night looking for survivors after a powerful tornado blasted an area outside of Oklahoma City, leveling homes and leaving at least 51 people dead.
At least 20 of the dead were children, including at least seven from Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, which lay directly in the path of the monster storm’s wall of wind.
Seventy-five students and staff members had been huddled at the school when the tornado hit, CNN affiliate KFOR reported.

As nightfall descended, determined searchers in hard hats dug in the debris for those possibly trapped, but authorities described the work as a recovery, not rescue, effort. Search lights illuminated their efforts.

Jodi Arias To Speak In Her Defence. That makes one! Nobody testified for Jodi during the impact statements.

Court will reconvene At 1PM ET Tuesday.

“I don’t know what the issues will be next year. If I were predicting what’s likely to be the biggest issue in the 2014 election, I think it would be Obamacare,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said during an appearance on NBC News’s “Meet The Press,” according to the Washington Post. “I think it’s coming back big-time.”

The GOP has sought to conflate the emerging IRS scandal to with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) last week threatened to introduce a bill that would deny the IRS funds to hire agents to implement the law. It was =a point McConnell raised on Sunday.

“By the way, the IRS has a role to play in the implementation of Obamacare,” he said.

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Source: TPM

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A year ago today, 72 hours of video were uploaded every minute. The site also has reached record-breaking viewership with more than one billion people visiting the site every month.

Photo: Visitors stand in front of a logo of YouTube at the YouTube Space Tokyo, operated by Google, in Tokyo, in February 2013. (Shohei Miyano/Reuters)

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