Recag/C4_40 · Datasets at Hugging Face

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- Tim Skubick is the longest-serving member of the State Capitol Press Corps, with 33 years of covering Michigan government and politics. His column appears regularly in the Saturday Herald Times.
CAN you hear the roar? The British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand now goes right down to the wire.
No Lions squad has defeated the All Blacks in a full series since 1971 - but the series now goes to the final match after the Lions' 24-21 triumph in the second test.
Here, SunSport breaks down all the fixtures and gives you all the TV times and squad info as the Lions gear up for next week's historic contest.
BACKS: Biggar, Daly, J Davies, Farrell, Halfpenny, Henshaw (injured), Hogg (sent home due to injury), Joseph, Murray, North (injured), Nowell, Payne, Sexton, Seymour, Te’o, Watson, Webb, L Williams, B Youngs (withdrew, replaced by Laidlaw).
FORWARDS: Best, Cole, Faletau, Furlong, George, Henderson, Itoje, AW Jones, Kruis, Lawes, Marler, McGrath, Moriarty (injured), O’Brien, O’Mahoney, Owens, Sinckler, Stander, Tipuric, M Vunipola, B Vunipola (sent home due to injury, replaced by Haskell), Warburton (c).
All matches will be shown live on Sky Sports and Sky Sports HD as well as Sky Go.
Eric Guiffreda and Daniel Guiffreda were ousted from The Amazing Race after a Super Leg featuring a Partner-Swap twist and Double U-Turn during the latest two-hour episode on CBS.
During an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Eric talked about his The Amazing Race experience. (His brother, Daniel, unfortunately could not participate in the phone call because he currently has military duties).
Below is the concluding portion of what Eric had to say.
Reality TV World: What did you think of Evan and your brother Daniel's decision to shoot down Jessica Graf and Kristi Leskinen's request for help at the Detour challenge when they looked for evidence along the trail on horseback?
Eric Guiffreda: Evan was strategically not going along with it for the memory challenge because they just got there, and if they helped them, they would've given [Jessica and Kristi] the last two, and then they would have beaten them. So there are some times when you're not just going to shoot yourself in the foot, you know?
Reality TV World: Your team seemed to have a lot of car trouble this season. In addition to getting stuck in the mud in the last episode, you had to physically push your car around in a previous leg. Do you guys know how to drive a manual transmission? What was the issue?
Eric Guiffreda: Well, we definitely both have had manual transmissions for over 10 years. We grew up with them... The only problem we had the whole time -- and I should've made a post on this to explain it more to everybody -- but when Daniel was driving, it showed us in reverse.
They always have manuals, but to go in reverse, when you go and shift it in, it would just go forward. We didn't know that you had to pick it up and drop it in, because we've never had that.
None of our vehicles ever did that; you just shift and go straight in reverse. But this one, you had to pick it up and drop it into gear. And that was like nothing we had ever tried or done, or anything like that.
We just simply didn't know until after that leg. (Laughs) But every time you saw us getting into trouble, it was us pushing it backwards, because we didn't know how to do it in reverse.
And the mud last night, you read the clue and it says, "Go restock the water for the rangers," or whatever, but that wasn't really the true intention of the [task]. The whole intention of that was for you to get stuck and have to get out for the most part, because you weren't allowed to go above a certain speed.
I had a four-by-four and we go hunting and do all of that, so I knew for sure I would've gotten through it, but when you can only go five or 10 miles per hour and the car is already stuck in the shallow part, there was no way of physically getting through that at that speed. If we could do what we wanted to do, it would've been a breeze.
Reality TV World: If you had first pick for the "Partner Swap" like Cody Nickson and Jessica did, which team would have been your top choice to work with, and why?
Eric Guiffreda: Henry and Evan, we definitely loved working with them, but if we had to pick, we probably would've picked an all-male team. Knowing whatever was coming, we had a big feeling that it was going to be physical, so that would be helpful.
So I think we probably would've picked Indy [Alex Rossi and Conor Daly], but I don't want Henry and Evan to think we didn't want to work with them. We loved working with them and I was very pleased we got a chance to work with them. But just from a physical standpoint, I think having an all-male team was helpful.
Reality TV World: Daniel's son was born about 12 hours before you had to leave for The Amazing Race, is that right?
Eric Guiffreda: Yeah, actually I called him and we were supposed to leave that next morning around 7AM, and I was like, "Well let me check and make sure we've got everything," right around 4PM.
And at that point, he was like, "We're at the hospital! The baby is coming." So the baby was born shortly afterward, at like 6 or 7PM, and we left the next morning at 7. He came right from the hospital.
Reality TV World: Wow. Do you think Daniel's newborn motivated him throughout the Race or do you think it made what is already a very hard and stressful journey even more difficult and challenging given he had to be away from home?
Eric Guiffreda: I think a combination of both. It definitely motivated him to want to do even better, but the emotional side definitely made it even harder because he only got to hold him one time before he had to leave. And on top of that, he had to leave his wife and the other kids that he has in that situation, so that was really tough.
Reality TV World: But your family was still supportive of Daniel's The Amazing Race stint, right?
Eric Guiffreda: Oh big time, yeah. We had overwhelming support from both sets of parents, and my wife was there whenever [Daniel's wife] needed her. And my sister. We come from a family of six, so we have three sisters who could help my sister-in-law.
Reality TV World: Being twins, did you guys have similar strengths and weaknesses going into the Race when it comes to your physical and mental capabilities, or different? And when confronted with a Roadblock task, how did you choose which brother should attempt it?
Eric Guiffreda: Looking back, I'm seeing now and it's plain [as day] that our biggest strength was our biggest weakness, and that's that we are so much the same.
Physically, we are very very similar, you know, any kind of training mentally, everything we've done has always been together. We're almost exactly alike. So that was a huge help in the things that we were good at.
But in the things that we weren't, that really was a crippling thing to us. We felt that was our biggest weakness because we didn't have too much of a different perspective on things.
Like with Lucas Bocanegra and Brittany Austin, or Cody and Jessica -- the male and female teams -- the ladies always have a 100 percent different perspective than we do, and it's very helpful.
Me and Daniel just went in there and it was like the same person looking at it, but when you can bring somebody else in there and looking at it from a different experience, I think that was a huge help. So I think it was a weakness in one way but very helpful if we were good at it.
But going into the Roadblocks, since we were so much the same, all we did was alternate. So whoever did the last one, the other person did the next. So we didn't have any [strategy] going into that.
Reality TV World: At the time you left the Race, were you rooting for a particular team to win?
Eric Guiffreda: Not really because we were on good terms and we were friends with everybody that was still in it. So we were more neutral on that. We maybe had a preference on a few things, but I never want to tell anybody what they are (laughs) because I don't want people to get their feelings hurt, you know?
We had a little bit of a preference based on other factors, not really on the people themselves.
One thing is, like, "Team Ocean Rescue" [Lucas and Brittany], they come from a department of their Fire Department in Miami, and we're in the Fire Department. So it would be kind of cool to see them do well, but we were not wanting anybody to win.
Reality TV World: How were you two cast on The Amazing Race? How did you end up on this season of the show?
Eric Guiffreda: We applied. We put in one time and then redid it, you know, in 2015 we did it. But I don't think we had a good video. So my younger brother helped us put something together. He's more into that kind of stuff. And so we put it in, sent a video with an application, and 14 months later they called us!
To read the first half of Reality TV World's exclusive The Amazing Race interview with Eric Guiffreda, click here.
Fire officials say a three-vehicle fiery crash has killed one person on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City.
NEW YORK – An auto wreck on the Brooklyn Bridge killed one person Wednesday and sparked a fire that engulfed three vehicles and cut off a key New York City artery at the start of the morning commuting rush on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
Fire officials said six people were injured in addition to the person killed.
The wreck happened on a portion of the bridge over land on the Brooklyn side of the East River, near where drivers turn on to exit ramps and surface roads. The fire was a few feet from a spot where throngs of tourists enter the bridge’s pedestrian and cycling path.
With the price of silver constantly testing new four-year lows, the time to buy is now.
The dollar's strength is not going to persist forever when the world's central banks realize their money printing efforts won't stoke inflation like they think it will.
But until then, enjoy the cheap silver.
At BP’s annual general meeting on Apr. 12 in London, protesters and environmental activists declared that the oil company had seriously cut corners in its cleanup of the 2010 disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
Around a dozen demonstrators gathered outside London’s Excel Center in order to raise awareness of those who are living or dealing with the aftermath of the Gulf spill, as well as BP’s involvement in the Canadian tar sands.
It would seem the protests are more than justified, because, as Derrick Evans points out, the BP oil disaster is not over. Evans is managing advisor for the Gulf Coast Relief Fund, which was set up to raise money for New Orleans and other areas affected by the damage.
And as that happens, activists’ major concern right now is the health hazard involved. “One of our fears is that if there’s another storm, like Katrina or Ike, that this could really cause a devastating health epidemic because of what is now in the sediment,” said Bryan Parras, a representative for the Relief Fund in Houston, Texas.
The demonstrators also took major issue with BP’s tar sands connection.
Lancashire Police are searching for a woman in her 50s.
The 58-year-old woman was last seen in Todmordern Road, Burnley, at 11:30am on Saturday morning (December 9).
With adverse weather conditions expected to remain across Lancashire throughout Saturday night and all of Sunday, police are concerned for the welfare of the woman.
Whilst she cannot be named, she is described as white and five 5 eight inches tall, and was last seen wearing blue jeans, black shoes, and a green parka coat with a fur lined hood.
She also has blonde hair that is greying in parts.
A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: "If anyone comes across a female of this description please contact us on 101 quoting log number 662 of Saturday December 9."
2. The state Senate, however, killed legislation that would have required labeling of foods that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the LA Times$ reports. Centrist, pro-business Democrats sided with Republicans in opposing the legislation.
3. Centrist, pro-business Democrats also teamed up with Republicans to kill legislation that sought to enact a ban on fracking in California, the LA Times$ reports.
4. The state Senate, however, did approve legislation that would designate a section of the Mokelumne River — the East Bay’s primary water supply — as being “wild and scenic,” thereby giving it full protection under California law. The bill, authored by Democrat Loni Hancock, won approval despite opposition from East Bay MUD.
5. The state Assembly, meanwhile, approved a bill that would close a loophole in Prop 13 that allows corporations to avoid higher taxes when property is sold, the LA Times$ reports.
6. The state Senate also voted to expand public pre-school programs for four-year-olds from low-income families, the LA Times$ reports.
7. Police departments do not have a blanket right to withhold the names of cops involved in shootings, the state Supreme Court ruled, according to the LA Daily News$ (via Rough & Tumble).
8. The US House of Representatives voted to order the Justice Department to stop targeting medical cannabis dispensaries that comply with state law, the Bay Area News Group$ reports. The legislation won bipartisan support.
9. The manufacturer of the deadly rodenticide — d-CON — has agreed to remove the highly toxic product from the market, the Chron reports.
10. And the NSA has been collecting millions of photo images of people from computers around the world as part of its mass surveillance program, The New York Times$ reports, citing documents released by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Our client, a well-known financial services organisation, is looking for an Internal Communications Adviser on an initial six month contract. This is an exciting opportunity to join an established team at a time of company-wide change.
Reporting into the Head of Communications with a dotted line into the adoption team, the role focuses on two different change programmes in the business; the cyber security programme and a technology implementation. Both programmes are in the early stages so the successful candidate will have a real opportunity to influence the key messages that are being sent to the rest of the business in this important time.
The hiring manager is looking for candidates with excellent tactical communications skills, including channel management and content writing as they will be the first point of call for communications requirements on these projects. They’ll also be able to help build a plan of solid communications rather than working on an ad-hoc basis as the programme develops.
• Deliver short term / one-off projects and activities as required by and to the standards and outcomes agreed with Line Manager.
• Previous experience of communicating the introduction of new IT systems would be advantageous.
To send your CV today please click on the ‘apply for this position’ below and send through your details. We look forward to hearing from you.
VMAGROUP is the leading international search and recruitment specialist for corporate and marketing communications.
Eric Johnson and Jessica Simpson, seen here in 2015, are celebrating the birth of their third child. Daughter Birdie Mae was born March 19.
All right, so we don’t yet get a full view of Jessica Simpson’s newborn. Consider it a sneak peek.
Simpson on Wednesday posted the first photo of her day-old baby Birdie Mae, the third child for the singer/actress/fashion designer and husband Eric Johnson, the former San Francisco 49ers tight end.
“We are so happy and proud to announce the birth of our perfect daughter, Birdie Mae Johnson,” Simpson wrote on Instagram.
Her Twitter post of the same image provided only the highlights — Birdie Mae’s birthdate of “3.19.19” and her weight of 10 pounds and 13 ounces.
Simpson, 38, and Johnson, 39, are also parents to daughter Maxwell Drew, 6, and son Ace Knute, 5.
NEW YORK — Brett Favre will be fined but not suspended for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy after the league’s investigation into allegations he sent inappropriate messages and lewd photos to a former New York Jets game hostess, The Associated Press has learned.
A person familiar with the decision says the league plans to announce its decision within the next 48 hours. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the NFL had not yet released its decision.
The person did not specify what the league found in its investigation.
The punishment was first reported by Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer.
Favre allegedly sent the messages and photos to Jenn Sterger two years ago when they were both with the Jets in 2008. The allegations against the 41-year-old Minnesota Vikings quarterback surfaced in October on the website Deadspin.
HOUSTON — Texans coach Gary Kubiak has two Houston football legends in his corner.
Former Houston Oilers coach Bum Phillips and ex-Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini attended Wednesday’s practice and urged team owner Bob McNair to retain Kubiak, despite the team’s nosedive this season.
The Texans (5-10) have lost eight of their last nine games heading into Sunday’s finale against Jacksonville (8-7). Kubiak is finishing his fifth season and fans are bombarding local radio shows with calls that Kubiak be fired.
But the 87-year-old Phillips says Kubiak is “as good a coach as anybody’s got.” Pastorini says the Texans have to make “a few tweaks” but seem to be on the right track under Kubiak, who was a ball boy for the Oilers when Phillips and Pastorini were there.
One of the beauties of my reality home design column is that I make mistakes, so you don't have to. Which brings me to the sorry saga of my kitchen chair cushions. After what I've just been through, I will never take them for granted again.
Like so many everyday items, these household workhorses, the seats of our empires, rise and fall on our attention to detail — or lack of it.
So pull up a chair, as I retrace my fallible steps.
I'd been wanting custom kitchen chair cushions for some time. You can only take a hard chair for so long. I had tied on cheap, ill-fitting, off-the-shelf pads until I found the right chair fabric.
A designer helped me zero in on a transitional geometric teal and lime print that would add some zip and comfort to my sunny kitchen eating area, and protect the woven rush chair seats, as well.
"You want nice cushions, two-to-three inches," the designer said, holding her thumb and forefinger apart to approximate, "but ask the fabricator."
You met Ramona Malevsky, the meticulous upholsterer who just recovered my bar stools, last week. She specializes in making cushions, bench seats, slipcovers and upholstered headboards to order for a steady stream of residential and commercial customers. Note key words: to order.
I text Malevsky photos of the fabric and chairs along with measurements, and ask how much. She'll charge $375 to make four cushions, plus the cost of the foam, which depends on its height.

- Tim Skubick is the longest-serving member of the State Capitol Press Corps, with 33 years of covering Michigan government and politics. His column appears regularly in the Saturday Herald Times.

CAN you hear the roar? The British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand now goes right down to the wire.

No Lions squad has defeated the All Blacks in a full series since 1971 - but the series now goes to the final match after the Lions' 24-21 triumph in the second test.

Here, SunSport breaks down all the fixtures and gives you all the TV times and squad info as the Lions gear up for next week's historic contest.

BACKS: Biggar, Daly, J Davies, Farrell, Halfpenny, Henshaw (injured), Hogg (sent home due to injury), Joseph, Murray, North (injured), Nowell, Payne, Sexton, Seymour, Te’o, Watson, Webb, L Williams, B Youngs (withdrew, replaced by Laidlaw).

FORWARDS: Best, Cole, Faletau, Furlong, George, Henderson, Itoje, AW Jones, Kruis, Lawes, Marler, McGrath, Moriarty (injured), O’Brien, O’Mahoney, Owens, Sinckler, Stander, Tipuric, M Vunipola, B Vunipola (sent home due to injury, replaced by Haskell), Warburton (c).

All matches will be shown live on Sky Sports and Sky Sports HD as well as Sky Go.

Eric Guiffreda and Daniel Guiffreda were ousted from The Amazing Race after a Super Leg featuring a Partner-Swap twist and Double U-Turn during the latest two-hour episode on CBS.

During an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Eric talked about his The Amazing Race experience. (His brother, Daniel, unfortunately could not participate in the phone call because he currently has military duties).

Below is the concluding portion of what Eric had to say.

Reality TV World: What did you think of Evan and your brother Daniel's decision to shoot down Jessica Graf and Kristi Leskinen's request for help at the Detour challenge when they looked for evidence along the trail on horseback?

Eric Guiffreda: Evan was strategically not going along with it for the memory challenge because they just got there, and if they helped them, they would've given [Jessica and Kristi] the last two, and then they would have beaten them. So there are some times when you're not just going to shoot yourself in the foot, you know?

Reality TV World: Your team seemed to have a lot of car trouble this season. In addition to getting stuck in the mud in the last episode, you had to physically push your car around in a previous leg. Do you guys know how to drive a manual transmission? What was the issue?

Eric Guiffreda: Well, we definitely both have had manual transmissions for over 10 years. We grew up with them... The only problem we had the whole time -- and I should've made a post on this to explain it more to everybody -- but when Daniel was driving, it showed us in reverse.

They always have manuals, but to go in reverse, when you go and shift it in, it would just go forward. We didn't know that you had to pick it up and drop it in, because we've never had that.

None of our vehicles ever did that; you just shift and go straight in reverse. But this one, you had to pick it up and drop it into gear. And that was like nothing we had ever tried or done, or anything like that.

We just simply didn't know until after that leg. (Laughs) But every time you saw us getting into trouble, it was us pushing it backwards, because we didn't know how to do it in reverse.

And the mud last night, you read the clue and it says, "Go restock the water for the rangers," or whatever, but that wasn't really the true intention of the [task]. The whole intention of that was for you to get stuck and have to get out for the most part, because you weren't allowed to go above a certain speed.

I had a four-by-four and we go hunting and do all of that, so I knew for sure I would've gotten through it, but when you can only go five or 10 miles per hour and the car is already stuck in the shallow part, there was no way of physically getting through that at that speed. If we could do what we wanted to do, it would've been a breeze.

Reality TV World: If you had first pick for the "Partner Swap" like Cody Nickson and Jessica did, which team would have been your top choice to work with, and why?

Eric Guiffreda: Henry and Evan, we definitely loved working with them, but if we had to pick, we probably would've picked an all-male team. Knowing whatever was coming, we had a big feeling that it was going to be physical, so that would be helpful.

So I think we probably would've picked Indy [Alex Rossi and Conor Daly], but I don't want Henry and Evan to think we didn't want to work with them. We loved working with them and I was very pleased we got a chance to work with them. But just from a physical standpoint, I think having an all-male team was helpful.

Reality TV World: Daniel's son was born about 12 hours before you had to leave for The Amazing Race, is that right?

Eric Guiffreda: Yeah, actually I called him and we were supposed to leave that next morning around 7AM, and I was like, "Well let me check and make sure we've got everything," right around 4PM.

And at that point, he was like, "We're at the hospital! The baby is coming." So the baby was born shortly afterward, at like 6 or 7PM, and we left the next morning at 7. He came right from the hospital.

Reality TV World: Wow. Do you think Daniel's newborn motivated him throughout the Race or do you think it made what is already a very hard and stressful journey even more difficult and challenging given he had to be away from home?

Eric Guiffreda: I think a combination of both. It definitely motivated him to want to do even better, but the emotional side definitely made it even harder because he only got to hold him one time before he had to leave. And on top of that, he had to leave his wife and the other kids that he has in that situation, so that was really tough.

Reality TV World: But your family was still supportive of Daniel's The Amazing Race stint, right?

Eric Guiffreda: Oh big time, yeah. We had overwhelming support from both sets of parents, and my wife was there whenever [Daniel's wife] needed her. And my sister. We come from a family of six, so we have three sisters who could help my sister-in-law.

Reality TV World: Being twins, did you guys have similar strengths and weaknesses going into the Race when it comes to your physical and mental capabilities, or different? And when confronted with a Roadblock task, how did you choose which brother should attempt it?

Eric Guiffreda: Looking back, I'm seeing now and it's plain [as day] that our biggest strength was our biggest weakness, and that's that we are so much the same.

Physically, we are very very similar, you know, any kind of training mentally, everything we've done has always been together. We're almost exactly alike. So that was a huge help in the things that we were good at.

But in the things that we weren't, that really was a crippling thing to us. We felt that was our biggest weakness because we didn't have too much of a different perspective on things.

Like with Lucas Bocanegra and Brittany Austin, or Cody and Jessica -- the male and female teams -- the ladies always have a 100 percent different perspective than we do, and it's very helpful.

Me and Daniel just went in there and it was like the same person looking at it, but when you can bring somebody else in there and looking at it from a different experience, I think that was a huge help. So I think it was a weakness in one way but very helpful if we were good at it.

But going into the Roadblocks, since we were so much the same, all we did was alternate. So whoever did the last one, the other person did the next. So we didn't have any [strategy] going into that.

Reality TV World: At the time you left the Race, were you rooting for a particular team to win?

Eric Guiffreda: Not really because we were on good terms and we were friends with everybody that was still in it. So we were more neutral on that. We maybe had a preference on a few things, but I never want to tell anybody what they are (laughs) because I don't want people to get their feelings hurt, you know?

We had a little bit of a preference based on other factors, not really on the people themselves.

One thing is, like, "Team Ocean Rescue" [Lucas and Brittany], they come from a department of their Fire Department in Miami, and we're in the Fire Department. So it would be kind of cool to see them do well, but we were not wanting anybody to win.

Reality TV World: How were you two cast on The Amazing Race? How did you end up on this season of the show?

Eric Guiffreda: We applied. We put in one time and then redid it, you know, in 2015 we did it. But I don't think we had a good video. So my younger brother helped us put something together. He's more into that kind of stuff. And so we put it in, sent a video with an application, and 14 months later they called us!

To read the first half of Reality TV World's exclusive The Amazing Race interview with Eric Guiffreda, click here.

Fire officials say a three-vehicle fiery crash has killed one person on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City.

NEW YORK – An auto wreck on the Brooklyn Bridge killed one person Wednesday and sparked a fire that engulfed three vehicles and cut off a key New York City artery at the start of the morning commuting rush on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Fire officials said six people were injured in addition to the person killed.

The wreck happened on a portion of the bridge over land on the Brooklyn side of the East River, near where drivers turn on to exit ramps and surface roads. The fire was a few feet from a spot where throngs of tourists enter the bridge’s pedestrian and cycling path.

With the price of silver constantly testing new four-year lows, the time to buy is now.

The dollar's strength is not going to persist forever when the world's central banks realize their money printing efforts won't stoke inflation like they think it will.

But until then, enjoy the cheap silver.

At BP’s annual general meeting on Apr. 12 in London, protesters and environmental activists declared that the oil company had seriously cut corners in its cleanup of the 2010 disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Around a dozen demonstrators gathered outside London’s Excel Center in order to raise awareness of those who are living or dealing with the aftermath of the Gulf spill, as well as BP’s involvement in the Canadian tar sands.

It would seem the protests are more than justified, because, as Derrick Evans points out, the BP oil disaster is not over. Evans is managing advisor for the Gulf Coast Relief Fund, which was set up to raise money for New Orleans and other areas affected by the damage.

And as that happens, activists’ major concern right now is the health hazard involved. “One of our fears is that if there’s another storm, like Katrina or Ike, that this could really cause a devastating health epidemic because of what is now in the sediment,” said Bryan Parras, a representative for the Relief Fund in Houston, Texas.

The demonstrators also took major issue with BP’s tar sands connection.

Lancashire Police are searching for a woman in her 50s.

The 58-year-old woman was last seen in Todmordern Road, Burnley, at 11:30am on Saturday morning (December 9).

With adverse weather conditions expected to remain across Lancashire throughout Saturday night and all of Sunday, police are concerned for the welfare of the woman.

Whilst she cannot be named, she is described as white and five 5 eight inches tall, and was last seen wearing blue jeans, black shoes, and a green parka coat with a fur lined hood.

She also has blonde hair that is greying in parts.

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: "If anyone comes across a female of this description please contact us on 101 quoting log number 662 of Saturday December 9."

2. The state Senate, however, killed legislation that would have required labeling of foods that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the LA Times$ reports. Centrist, pro-business Democrats sided with Republicans in opposing the legislation.

3. Centrist, pro-business Democrats also teamed up with Republicans to kill legislation that sought to enact a ban on fracking in California, the LA Times$ reports.

4. The state Senate, however, did approve legislation that would designate a section of the Mokelumne River — the East Bay’s primary water supply — as being “wild and scenic,” thereby giving it full protection under California law. The bill, authored by Democrat Loni Hancock, won approval despite opposition from East Bay MUD.

5. The state Assembly, meanwhile, approved a bill that would close a loophole in Prop 13 that allows corporations to avoid higher taxes when property is sold, the LA Times$ reports.

6. The state Senate also voted to expand public pre-school programs for four-year-olds from low-income families, the LA Times$ reports.

7. Police departments do not have a blanket right to withhold the names of cops involved in shootings, the state Supreme Court ruled, according to the LA Daily News$ (via Rough & Tumble).

8. The US House of Representatives voted to order the Justice Department to stop targeting medical cannabis dispensaries that comply with state law, the Bay Area News Group$ reports. The legislation won bipartisan support.

9. The manufacturer of the deadly rodenticide — d-CON — has agreed to remove the highly toxic product from the market, the Chron reports.

10. And the NSA has been collecting millions of photo images of people from computers around the world as part of its mass surveillance program, The New York Times$ reports, citing documents released by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Our client, a well-known financial services organisation, is looking for an Internal Communications Adviser on an initial six month contract. This is an exciting opportunity to join an established team at a time of company-wide change.

Reporting into the Head of Communications with a dotted line into the adoption team, the role focuses on two different change programmes in the business; the cyber security programme and a technology implementation. Both programmes are in the early stages so the successful candidate will have a real opportunity to influence the key messages that are being sent to the rest of the business in this important time.

The hiring manager is looking for candidates with excellent tactical communications skills, including channel management and content writing as they will be the first point of call for communications requirements on these projects. They’ll also be able to help build a plan of solid communications rather than working on an ad-hoc basis as the programme develops.

• Deliver short term / one-off projects and activities as required by and to the standards and outcomes agreed with Line Manager.

• Previous experience of communicating the introduction of new IT systems would be advantageous.

To send your CV today please click on the ‘apply for this position’ below and send through your details. We look forward to hearing from you.

VMAGROUP is the leading international search and recruitment specialist for corporate and marketing communications.

Eric Johnson and Jessica Simpson, seen here in 2015, are celebrating the birth of their third child. Daughter Birdie Mae was born March 19.

All right, so we don’t yet get a full view of Jessica Simpson’s newborn. Consider it a sneak peek.

Simpson on Wednesday posted the first photo of her day-old baby Birdie Mae, the third child for the singer/actress/fashion designer and husband Eric Johnson, the former San Francisco 49ers tight end.

“We are so happy and proud to announce the birth of our perfect daughter, Birdie Mae Johnson,” Simpson wrote on Instagram.

Her Twitter post of the same image provided only the highlights — Birdie Mae’s birthdate of “3.19.19” and her weight of 10 pounds and 13 ounces.

Simpson, 38, and Johnson, 39, are also parents to daughter Maxwell Drew, 6, and son Ace Knute, 5.

NEW YORK — Brett Favre will be fined but not suspended for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy after the league’s investigation into allegations he sent inappropriate messages and lewd photos to a former New York Jets game hostess, The Associated Press has learned.

A person familiar with the decision says the league plans to announce its decision within the next 48 hours. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the NFL had not yet released its decision.

The person did not specify what the league found in its investigation.

The punishment was first reported by Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer.

Favre allegedly sent the messages and photos to Jenn Sterger two years ago when they were both with the Jets in 2008. The allegations against the 41-year-old Minnesota Vikings quarterback surfaced in October on the website Deadspin.

HOUSTON — Texans coach Gary Kubiak has two Houston football legends in his corner.

Former Houston Oilers coach Bum Phillips and ex-Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini attended Wednesday’s practice and urged team owner Bob McNair to retain Kubiak, despite the team’s nosedive this season.

The Texans (5-10) have lost eight of their last nine games heading into Sunday’s finale against Jacksonville (8-7). Kubiak is finishing his fifth season and fans are bombarding local radio shows with calls that Kubiak be fired.

But the 87-year-old Phillips says Kubiak is “as good a coach as anybody’s got.” Pastorini says the Texans have to make “a few tweaks” but seem to be on the right track under Kubiak, who was a ball boy for the Oilers when Phillips and Pastorini were there.

One of the beauties of my reality home design column is that I make mistakes, so you don't have to. Which brings me to the sorry saga of my kitchen chair cushions. After what I've just been through, I will never take them for granted again.

Like so many everyday items, these household workhorses, the seats of our empires, rise and fall on our attention to detail — or lack of it.

So pull up a chair, as I retrace my fallible steps.

I'd been wanting custom kitchen chair cushions for some time. You can only take a hard chair for so long. I had tied on cheap, ill-fitting, off-the-shelf pads until I found the right chair fabric.

A designer helped me zero in on a transitional geometric teal and lime print that would add some zip and comfort to my sunny kitchen eating area, and protect the woven rush chair seats, as well.

"You want nice cushions, two-to-three inches," the designer said, holding her thumb and forefinger apart to approximate, "but ask the fabricator."

You met Ramona Malevsky, the meticulous upholsterer who just recovered my bar stools, last week. She specializes in making cushions, bench seats, slipcovers and upholstered headboards to order for a steady stream of residential and commercial customers. Note key words: to order.

I text Malevsky photos of the fabric and chairs along with measurements, and ask how much. She'll charge $375 to make four cushions, plus the cost of the foam, which depends on its height.