Joint bank accounts: For better or worse?

January 8, 2017

A barnacle removal bill is an unlikely inspiration to set up a joint bank account. Yet, for two keen sailors, opening an account together was the most efficient way to organise the costs of running their boat.
Fees for maintenance, mooring, and fuel all needed to be paid, so the yacht-owning duo stepped into their local bank branch on the south coast of England and signed up.
The manager that day was Eric Leenders, now the managing director of retail banking at the British Bankers’ Association.
“Typically joint accounts are used by couples for pooled income and expenditure, the trigger is often when they move in together and start paying the bills,” he says.
“But, on occasions, they are used to share funding for a particular project. ”
It is the mundane reality of keeping heads above water financially – rather than keeping a vessel shipshape – that prompts most people to open a joint bank account.
Any couple or group of people can open an account together, generally a regular current account with some added terms and conditions. Yet, experts stress there are benefits and pitfalls to sharing a bank account with anyone – even within an intimate relationship.
Today, couples are living together and marrying later in life. Having increasingly led independent financial lives, the relevance of joint accounts may be questioned.
While the vast majority of banks and building societies offer them, they do not collect and share any data so we can only speculate that the popularity of these accounts is fading.
Fiona Cullinan, a 48-year-old digital editor, says she never had a joint bank account, even during more than two years of marriage – until last month.
“This is probably a legacy of not wanting to argue about money and also being independent, as once bills and standing orders are set up, it is hard to shift everything over – or so I thought,” she says.
“In September I lost one of my jobs and so a joint account started to make more sense to help with cash flow. It was really simple and took about 30 minutes at the bank to set up.
“Now that everything doesn’t go out from my account, it is a lot less stressful. A secondary bonus is that the burden feels more shared as my husband is now more involved in household finances – he set up a household budget spreadsheet to check things are on track each month. I now feel we are more of a team. ”
Applying for a joint account is much the same as opening a current account individually. Applicants often tick a box to make the account a joint version, then fill in their individual section of the form and provide the normal proof of address and identity.
Many banks allow customers to add a second name to an existing account, following the normal checks.
Convenience is generally the main benefit, with the account used to pay household bills, although wages are often still paid into an individual’s own current account.
“Two people with two accounts often become two people with three accounts,” says Eric Leenders, of the BBA.
There is no limit on the number of people who can sign up, but primarily they are used by couples who are married, in civil partnerships or who live together, or by friends who share a home. Banks says that couples separated by work postings are also among those who are keen.
Mr Leenders says that reward or packaged current accounts can lend themselves to joint opening owing to household benefits, such as insurance, that may be included. He stressed that anyone signing up should read the terms and conditions to check the extent of this cover.
The Money Advice Service, a government-funded, independent organisation, points out there are limitations for anyone who needs longer term access to someone else’s finances.
“If, for example, you have an elderly relative who is having trouble keeping on top of their money – a joint account is not your best bet,” it says.
The key decision when setting up the account is whether one individual can withdraw money, sign cheques and make payments or whether both, or all, need to sign.
This is made official under what is known as the mandate. This should also cover the rules over who must give permission for changes in the terms of the account or close it.
Whatever the decision, all parties usually get a payment card and a cheque book, if it is available with the account.
Digitally, each person will have their own log-in details, with their own password, so this needs to be set up individually. In reality, this means each remembering another password, although mobile banking now uses encrypted password saving and fingerprint logins.
Joint accounts allow people to share the rewards and convenience, but they also share the risk.
Opening a joint account means a couple will be co-scored by credit reference agencies, so if one has a poor credit history it can affect the other.
Getting out of debt also falls to both, or all, of those signed up – as a group and individually. Typically, each account holder is responsible for paying back all the money owed, so one could become liable for repaying the other person’s debt.
A bank might take money from that person’s sole account to cover the overdraft in the joint account – but only if both accounts are with the same bank.
“Banks are not in the business of making good customers bad customers,” says Mr Leenders, pointing out that banks’ lending code requires them to treat customers sympathetically.
He stresses that people should inform their bank about a relationship breakdown, or any sign of transactions that have not been agreed, to freeze the account – otherwise it can be difficult to retrieve this money.
Cases that have gone to the financial ombudsman include:
At its worst, extravagant spending by one partner from the joint account, or sole control of a joint account can be a sign of financial abuse .
Spending jointly earned money, taking out loans in a partner’s name, demanding payment for utility bills from their own savings, or scrutinising every penny that a partner spends are all signs of such bullying, charities and the TUC say.
Worse, it can be the forerunner of even more serious emotional, or physical, abuse.
Women are often the victims, but men – particularly those with disabilities – can also be vulnerable.
Under the Serious Crime Act – implemented in 2015 – coercive and controlling behaviour between partners, which could include financial abuse, became illegal for the first time.

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Killer 'lost his mind' in Iraq

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January 8, 2017

US authorities were under pressure yesterday to explain how a mentally ill man, whom his family said “changed” after serving in Iraq, was able to arm himself and shoot five people dead in Fort Lauderdale airport.
New Jersey-born Esteban Santiago, 26, was last night due to be charged by the FBI over Friday’s rampage, in which he shot 13 people seemingly at random – five of whom died.
The FBI said it had not ruled out the possibility of terrorist links, and believed he had planned the attack. The New York Times reported that he had viewed extremist material online.
“Indications are that he came here to carry out this horrific attack,” said George Piro, special agent in charge of Miami FBI.
He also said that, contrary to initial reports, he had not found any evidence of an “altercation” on the plane that may have caused the violence.
“We have not identified any triggers that would have prompted him. But it’s still early in the investigation.
“We’ve interviewed all of his family that we’ve identified,” he said. “We’re looking at his social media, it’s giving us a picture of the individual – but it’s too early to rule out anything, including terrorism. ”
Santiago is known to have arrived in Florida from Alaska, legally transporting a 9mm semi-automatic hand gun. The unloaded gun must be placed inside a locked, hard-sided case inside the suitcase. Small arms ammunition, including ammunition not exceeding.75 calibre and shotgun shells of any gauge, may be carried in the same hard-sided case as the firearm.
Americans will be deeply reluctant to increase restrictions on transporting guns in checked baggage, given the number of guns that are transported for hunting and target shooting.
Santiago, a former member of the National Guard, who was presented with a medal for his service in Iraq from 2010-11, had a concealed-carry permit. As a military veteran he would easily have passed a background check – especially in Alaska, where he lived, which is a famed shooting state.
Yet questions are now being raised as to how he was allowed to retain his weapon, despite reporting himself to the FBI and “exhibiting signs of mental illness”.
In November, two months after he had become a father for the first time, Santiago went to the FBI in Anchorage and said he was hearing voices, which told him to join the Islamic State terror group. He reportedly said that he believed the CIA were involved.
“It is very normal for citizens to walk into field offices,” said Mr Piro. “It was during that contact that the agents themselves noted the erratic behaviour, and pushed them to call the authorities and take him for mental evaluation. ”
His aunt, who lives in New Jersey, and brother, who lives in Puerto Rico, said that they believed he was hallucinating, and that he had spent a fortnight in a mental health facility.
“Only thing I could tell you was when he came out of Iraq, he wasn’t feeling too good,” his uncle said.
Asked whether the FBI should have intervened and rescinded Santiago’s gun licence, Mr Piro said: “I’m not in a position to answer that. It’s too early. ”
It was reported that Santiago’s gun – believed to be the one used in the shooting – was taken away from him during his mental health evaluation, but was returned to him afterwards.
Last night two of the five victims who died in the attack were named. Olga Woltering, 84, from Georgia, was preparing to go on a cruise with her husband Ralph, who survived. The couple were to celebrate his 90th birthday.
Terry Andres, 62, who worked at the Norfolk naval shipyard in Virginia, was going on holiday with his wife, who was unharmed.
Six people remained in hospital last night; three of them recovering well, and three in intensive care.
Rick Scott, the Republican governor of Florida, who last year dealt with the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history when 49 people were murdered at an Orlando nightclub, was reluctant to discuss gun control.
“I have a brother who suffers with mental illness,” he said yesterday. “It’s very hard to deal with these issues. Every family struggles with this. ”
Last year broke all records for gun sales in the US, with 27m firearms purchased – partly in response to fears that Hillary Clinton, if elected, would clamp down on sales. America has, in a conservative estimation, between 270m and 310m guns in circulation.
The shooting happened as Florida was preparing to consider legislation that relaxed its gun laws, and eliminate “gun-free zones” in airport terminals, schools and government buildings.
Some people argue that having more armed people in the vicinity of the airport would have saved lives – even though the sheriff said yesterday that between Santiago firing the first shot and being arrested, a total of just 80 seconds elapsed.

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The Black Dahlia: Los Angeles' most famous unsolved murder

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January 8, 2017

As the 70th anniversary of the Black Dahlia murder approaches the public fascination with Elizabeth Short and her grisly unsolved death hasn’t dimmed. James Bartlett takes a look at how Los Angeles remembers the famous murder.
This article contains graphic descriptions.
Few people noticed the dark-haired woman when she was dropped off at the swanky Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, but when her torso was found nearly a week later, Elizabeth Short became a household name.
On the morning of 15 January 1947, Betty Bersinger was walking with her young daughter along a barely developed street in the planned neighbourhood of Leimert Park when she saw what she thought was two halves of a tailor’s mannequin.
It wasn’t.
Short had been cut in two, neatly at the waist, and drained of blood. She had been mutilated, her intestines removed, and her mouth slashed from ear to ear – a gruesome cut known as a Glasgow Smile. Her body had then been washed clean before being dumped in an empty field.
An ensuing media frenzy followed, thanks to the “brutal, misogynistic and ritual nature” of the killing, says Glynn Martin, former Los Angeles police sergeant and historian. More than 50 suspects were interviewed, both male and female – some of whom confessed to the crime. But the murder was never solved, only adding to the crime’s mystique.
There was also the connection to the glamour of the area.
“She lived in Hollywood, had aspirations to be an actress,” Martin says.
The murder became “a sad cliche – the ultimate warning tale”.
“A starry-eyed young girl comes to Hollywood, and things go very bad for her,” he says.
Then, of course, there was the memorable nickname, a twist on the previous year’s Veronica Lake-Alan Ladd film The Blue Dahlia, and reference to Short’s striking dark hair.
In the decades since, the Black Dahlia case has inspired university theses, art projects and the name of a death metal band, as well as references in video games and television shows. In 2006, it even got the major motion picture treatment, an adaptation of James Ellroy’s best-selling novel inspired by the case.
Ellroy himself says he doesn’t have any hope the culprit will be found.
“It’s never going to be solved because it was not meant to be solved,” he says.
Kim Cooper and her husband Richard Schave run Esotouric’s literary, crime and culture bus tours of Los Angeles, and Cooper says that many people who come on their Black Dahlia tour “have their heads full of misinformation”.
“While we debunk the many theories about possible killers, we try to focus on the story of Elizabeth Short as a person. ”
But even the tour operators can be surprised, like when an older man joined one of their true crime tours, claiming a connection to the Black Dahlia.
“He told us that he had been a paper boy at the time, and had rushed to be one of the first at the crime scene. It was the first naked woman he ever saw,” Cooper says.
“I think it affected the rest of his life. ”
Like the 19th Century killings by Jack the Ripper in London, Short’s murder continues to bring forth new theories.
Most recently, Steve Hodel, a former homicide detective, claimed his physician father George was the killer, and also responsible for other notable murders.
A cadaver dog searched Hodel’s former home in 2013 and seemingly “alerted” for human remains – though, of course, Short’s body had long been found.
During my research for Gourmet Ghosts, a series of true crime books, I found that many talkative Los Angeles bartenders claim their joint was actually the last place Short was seen alive, not the Biltmore.
Some theorised her murder was the result of a date turned violent, or that the perennially-broke Short left to hitchhike home, a common practice at the time, and got into the wrong car.
“I was regularly asked about the Black Dahlia on the reference desk,” says Christina Rice, senior librarian of the photo collection at the Los Angeles Public Library. One woman came in looking for maps from 1947 because “she was going to use her psychic abilities to solve the murder”.
The only copy of the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner’s microfiche for the second half of January was stolen years ago, Rice says, adding Short was just one of many women brutally killed in the post-war years in California.
As soon as the corpse was discovered, the Los Angeles Herald-Express and the sensationalist Los Angeles Examiner made full use of the cosy relationship that all newspapers had with the Los Angeles police department.
At the time it was common to see suicide notes and bloodstained bodies – albeit sometimes airbrushed or altered, like Short’s naked body, onto which photo editors superimposed a blanket – on the front page. Suicide photographs even added arrows showing how victims had taken their final fall.
The Examiner also added complete fabrications to the Black Dahlia story, exchanging in their reporting the suit Short had been seen wearing for a tight skirt and blouse and implying sexual misadventures.
The newspaper also deceived Short’s mother about her daughter’s death, using a ruse about “Beth” winning a beauty contest, then flying her to Los Angeles before telling her the real news – ensuring the scoop of a mother responding to the tragedy.
Officially the case remains open, and today, the Biltmore Hotel serves a Black Dahlia cocktail of vodka, Chambord black raspberry liqueur and Kahlua. The drink, perhaps appropriately, tastes bitter.
James Bartlett is a writer and author of Gourmet Ghosts.

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Saturday’s Maine men’s college roundup: Bates holds off Bowdoin

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January 8, 2017

BRUNSWICK — Marcus Delpeche and Tom Coyne each made a pair of free throws in the final 18 seconds as Bates held on to beat Bowdoin 64-59 in a New England Small College Athletic Conference men’s basketball game Saturday afternoon.
Bates (11-3, 2-0 NESCAC) had a 31-30 halftime lead, but with the game tied 38-38 early in the second half, Bowdoin (7-6, 0-2) went on a 13-4 run, capped by a Hugh O’Neil layup.
The Bobcats responded with an 11-2 run, including nine points by Coyne, to tie the game at 53-53 with 6:10 to play.
Coyne gave Bates the lead for good, 60-59, with a 3-pointer with 3:36 left. He finished with 23 points.
Jack Simonds the Polar Bears with 17 points. O’Neil had 13 points and grabbed 10 boards, and David Reynolds came off the bench and tossed in 12 points.
Ben Engvall, Tarik Smith and Vincent Pace each scored 11 points, while Tom Palleschi had 10 points and nine rebounds for the Jumbos.
Sean Gilmore scored 12 points for Colby. Ethan Schlager added 11, and Maximilian Steiner had 11 rebounds.
Keene State opened the game with a 15-3 run and led 47-29 at halftime.
Christian McCue scored 17 points for Southern Maine, while Zach Leal added 14 points and five rebounds.
Quinn Richardson-Newton added 16 points and 17 rebounds.
The Monks trailed 51-41 at halftime but opened the second half on a 9-0 run. Emmanuel led 81-77 with 1:33 left, but a pair of free throws by Richardson-Newton cut the deficit to two.
After consecutive turnovers by both teams, Ian Mileikis canned a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left, giving St. Joseph’s an 82-81 lead. A jump shot by Emmett Riddick with 11 seconds remaining put Emmanuel back ahead before Hall sank the winning shot.
DeAnte Bruton added 18 points, six assists and five steals for Nichols, which made 18 3-pointers.
Jean-Luc Parker scored 21 points and CJ Autry had 13 points and 10 rebounds for UNE. Gavin Dibble added 11 points.
Mark Shroyer scored 5:48 into the third period to tie the game at 4 for Castleton.
Michael Washington, Cody Braga, Cole Klippenstein and Sasha Makarov scored for Southern Maine, which led 2-1 after one period. Klippenstein’s goal was short-handed.
Ryan Mulder had 24 saves for Castleton, and Kyle Shapiro stopped 35 shots for the Huskies.
Cam MacDonald scored in the first period and J. P. Schuhlen scored in the third for Colby.
David White scored in the first period for Amherst.
Connor Girard stopped 31 shots for Amherst, while Andrew Tucci made 15 saves for Colby.
Brandon Willett scored in both the first period and the second to give Hamilton a 2-0 lead.
Bowdoin pulled within 2-1 when Joseph Lace scored early in the third, but Jason Brochu and Truman Landowski answered to push Hamilton’s lead to 4-1.
Ian Nichols and Willett scored later in the period for the Continentals.
Brendan Conroy and Thomas Dunleavy also scored for Bowdoin.
Peter Cronin had 31 saves for Bowdoin, while Evan Buitenhuis stopped 24 shots for Hamilton.
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The Latest: Trump team defends Crowley on plagiarism claims

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January 8, 2017

The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST):
10:20 p.m.
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is defending the syndicated talk show host Monica Crowley, named as a communications specialist for the incoming administration, against plagiarism accusations.
CNN reports that Crowley plagiarized large sections of her 2012 book, “What The (Bleep) Just Happened. ”
In its report, CNN says it found more than 50 examples of plagiarism from numerous sources, including copying with no changes or minimal changes from news articles, other columnists and think tanks.
The publisher, HarperCollins’ Broadside Books, had no comment on the CNN report.
Crowley has been named Trump’s director of communications for the White House’s National Security Council.
In response to the CNN report, a Trump transition spokesperson commended Crowley for her “exceptional insight and thoughtful work on how to turn this country around” and said that is “exactly why she will be serving in the administration. ”
The Trump transition team says any attempt to discredit Crowley “is nothing more than a politically motivated attack that seeks to distract from the real issues facing this country. ”
—
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is defending Monica Crowley, a syndicated talk show host named as a communications specialist for the incoming administration, against claims by CNN that she plagiarized large sections of a 2012 book.
Monica’s exceptional insight and thoughtful work on how to turn this country around is exactly why she will be serving in the Administration,” according to a statement from a transition spokesperson quoted by CNN. “HarperCollins-one of the largest and most respected publishers in the world-published her book which has become a national best-seller. Any attempt to discredit Monica is nothing more than a politically motivated attack that seeks to distract from the real issues facing this country. ”
Crowley has been named Trump’s senior director of strategic communications for the National Security Council.
A CNN review of Crowley’s June 2012 book, “What The (Bleep) Just Happened,” said it found more than 50 examples of plagiarism from numerous sources, including copying with no changes or minimal changes from news articles, other columnists and think tanks. The book, which is a New York Times bestseller, was published by HarperCollins’ Broadside Books.
9:50 p.m.
Jared Kushner, President-elect Donald Trump’s son-in-law and one of his closest advisers, is taking steps to distance himself from his sprawling New York real estate business
It is the clearest sign yet he is planning to take a position in his father-in-law’s administration.
Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, must navigate a web of entanglements before he takes any post in Washington.
He must overcome federal anti-nepotism laws that bar officials from appointing relatives to government positions as well as eliminate potential conflicts of interest with his family’s multi-billion dollar real estate empire.
Kushner, who often has the last word with the president-elect before a decision is made, has explored stepping away from his business post and has consulted with officials about resolving potential conflicts, according to his lawyer.
—-
1:50 p.m.
Former Sen. Dan Coats — who’s in line to be national intelligence director — has swung back and forth between government service and lobbying in the type of Washington career that President-elect Donald Trump has mocked.
The Indiana Republican has made four spins through the capital’s revolving door and become wealthy.
Since the early 1980s, Coats either has served in government or earned money as a lobbyist and board director. His most recently available Senate financial disclosure, from 2014, shows he had a net worth of more than $12 million.
—
11:45 a.m.
President-elect Donald Trump is renewing his call for warmer relations with Russia.
That’s what he says in a tweet Saturday — a day after intelligence leaders said in a report that Russia meddled in the U. S. election on Trump’s behalf.
Trump says on Twitter that both countries should working together to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues.
Trump has long argued that improving relations with Russia would be a good thing.
He says the U. S. has enough problems around the world and that “Only ‘stupid’ people, or fools” would think improved relations were bad.
—
9:30 a.m.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul says President-elect Donald Trump “fully supports” repealing President Barack Obama’s health law only when there’s a viable alternative to replace it.
Republican leaders in the GOP-controlled Congress are moving toward a vote on repeal legislation in coming weeks. But they anticipate a transition period of months or years to a replacement.
Some Republicans are expressing reservations about scrapping the law without a near-term replacement.
Paul — a Kentucky lawmaker who sought his party’s 2016 presidential nomination — says in a tweet late Friday that he spoke with Trump, and that the president-elect “fully supports my plan to replace Obamacare the same day we repeal it. The time to act is now. ”
—
7:20 a.m.
President-elect Donald Trump says he’ll nominate former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats as national intelligence director.
Trump says in a statement that Coats — a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee before retiring from Congress last year — will lead the new administration’s “ceaseless vigilance against those who seek to do us harm. ”
The post requires Senate confirmation. The office was created after the Sept. 11 attacks to improve coordination among U. S. spy and law enforcement agencies.
Trump’s announcement comes one day after release of a declassified government report on Russian efforts to influence the presidential election. The report predicts Russia isn’t done intruding in U. S. politics and policymaking.
Trump wants to improve relations with Russia and repeatedly has denounced intelligence agencies’ assessment that the Kremlin interfered in the election.

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A day at Wrigley Field that did not suck for Clemson's Swinney

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January 8, 2017

TAMPA — It was late April, and Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney still was searching his brain for a team theme for the 2016 season.
Little did he know the very words he was looking for were waiting for him at Wrigley Field.
In the manager’s office.
In this all-things-Cubs world, it somehow only makes sense that Joe Maddon would have a hand in Clemson’s effort to win a national championship.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney in Cubs manager Joe Maddon’s Wrigley Field office in April. (Photo courtesy of Kathleen Swinney)
One of the reasons the Tigers were able to reach Monday’s title game — against Alabama, for the second year in a row — is they “embraced the target” from the first day of training camp. Also, and this was a real key, they “tried not to suck.”
Gee, where have we heard those phrases before?
Swinney spent only about half an hour an hour in the Cubs’ sparkling new clubhouse, yet he managed to rob Maddon blind.
“I got a chance to kind of see the culture in there,” he recalled here Saturday, “and I was like, ‘Man, this is really cool. These guys are loose. They know they’ve got a good team.’ ”
The 47-year-old Swinney is no seamhead. He was in Chicago with assistant coaches Brent Venables and Marion Hobby for the NFL Draft, and one of them got the idea to check out Wrigley and the surging Cubs, who were off to a 15-5 start. So Swinney called his agent, Mike Brown, and asked if he knew anyone who could hook them up with tickets.
“He goes, ‘Well, I know Joe Maddon.’ And I go, ‘Who’s Joe Maddon?’ He went, ‘He’s the manager.’ I go, ‘That’s a pretty good guy to know.’ ”
Swinney and his party were invited into the clubhouse during a rain delay of a game against the Brewers that eventually was postponed. As first impressions go, this one was pretty big.
“I walk in there,” Swinney said, “and they’ve got a drum set, they’ve got a disco ball hanging. I’m like, ‘What the heck is this?’ And they’re like, ‘This is the celebration room. Joe likes to celebrate.’ And I thought, I like this guy.”
Jon Lester, an avid football fan whose wife attended Clemson, instantly recognized him. John Lackey and others welcomed him warmly and talked college football.
Maddon — a football nut — was eager to meet him, too. When Swinney walked into the manager’s office, he found a white-haired man in thick-framed glasses and a ridiculous pink “Try Not to Suck” T-shirt smiling back at him.
“We talked for a minute and he’s like, ‘Hey, man, I watched you guys last year,’ and we kind of had an instant connection,” Swinney said. “It was really neat. I told him, because I had met his players and been around them, ‘You guys have a great culture. I’m telling you, you’ve got a winning culture here. You’ve got just a good feel in this building. You can smell it.”
Nearly nine months later, Swinney and Maddon remain friendly. Texts were exchanged during the Cubs’ run to the World Series crown, and Swinney has heard from sports’ sloganizer-in-chief as Clemson has neared its first national title since 1981.
“They knew they had the best team, and I think they embraced that,” Swinney said. “Don’t run from that. It resonated with me.”
On the first day of camp, the fiery Swinney gathered his players and treated them to something along the lines of a Maddon-meets-Knute Rockne performance. He told them not to suck. He told them the target on their collective backs was a good thing.
“Let’s focus on being the best we can be,” he said. “Let’s be committed to that, and let’s embrace that. Let’s run right to it.”
It might just be crazy enough to work.
Email: sgreenberg@suntimes.com

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Blackmon leads No. 25 Indiana to win over Illinois

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January 8, 2017

From start-to-finish, the Hoosiers were energized, hungry and focused, ultimately making them dominant.
Jalen Coleman-Lands and Malcolm Hill scored 21 points each for Illinois, and Maverick Morgan had 18.
“As I told the guys in the locker room, we’ll have to make some changes — I didn’t like our start,” Illinois coach John Groce said. “I loved our response to cut it to . 13 (points). I thought the last four minutes of the first half were huge. … At the end of the day, I think the difference was certainly the start of the game.”
“We’re really buying-in to the scouting report. The coaches do a great job of giving us what we need, then it’s up to us to execute,” Blackmon Jr. said. “We’re happy about our effort and how we came out from the beginning (of the game). That’s one thing we have to keep working on. We just have to maintain and build on this game.”
BIG PICTURE: The Hoosiers will hit the road for four — Maryland, Penn State, Michigan, Northwestern — of their remaining six conference games in the month of January.
UP NEXT:
Illinois: Hosts Michigan on Wednesday.

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Jazz rally from 11 down to beat Wolves, 94-92

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January 8, 2017

George Hill scored 19 points in his return from a concussion and the Rudy Gobert tipped in a rebound with 27.5 seconds to play to lift the Utah Jazz to a 94-92 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Derrick Favors scored seven of his 15 points in the fourth and Gobert finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks as the Jazz rallied from 11 points down to start the final quarter. They still trailed by nine with three minutes to play, but closed on an 11-0 run.
Zach LaVine had 24 points, nine rebounds and four assists and Karl-Anthony Towns had 18 points and 15 rebounds for the Timberwolves. They have lost four straight games.
The Wolves went the final 4:41 without a field goal.
With Utah down 93-83 with 3:05 to play, Favors scored seven straight points for the Jazz, including a corner 3-pointer to cut it to 92-90 with 1:29 to play.
Andrew Wiggins missed a jumper on the other end and went 0 for 4 in the final 12 minutes and Hill made a pair at the line to tie the game with 52 seconds to play. After Gorgui Dieng missed a jumper, Gobert tipped in a miss, then forced a wild hook shot from Towns that caromed off the rim.
The Wolves had one more chance, but LaVine missed a jumper at the buzzer.
The Wolves dropped to 5-15 in “crunch time” games — defined by the scoring margin being five points or less in the final five minutes.
TIP-INS
Jazz: It was the first game all season the Jazz had all 15 players healthy. … Trey Lyles scored 13 points off the bench. … Gordon Hayward had 16 points on 4-for-13 shooting.
Timberwolves: PG John Lucas III was waived on the deadline for his contract to become fully guaranteed for the season. Coach Tom Thibodeau said the team likes the added flexibility of an open roster spot as it looks at trades and available free agents. … F Shabazz Muhammad returned after missing the game on Friday night with an illness. He had five points in 18 minutes.
HILL’S BACK
The Jazz point guard is crucial to everything they do, but had played just 36 minutes total over the previous 18 games due to injuries. Coach Quin Snyder said they would have to keep his shifts a little shorter than usual while he gets his conditioning back, but he played 33 minutes after a three-game absence, hitting 5 of 12 shots to go with seven assists.
BIG MAN BATTLE
Gobert had his way with Towns early, blocking four of his shots right at the rim and forcing the reigning rookie of the year into a 1-for-6 first quarter. But Towns kept attacking, trying to initiate contact and force the officials’ whistle. Gobert picked up his fourth foul midway through the third quarter, and the Wolves went to work.
Towns threw down a ferocious, one-handed putback dunk in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough.
UP NEXT
Jazz: Utah wraps up a five-game road trip at Memphis on Sunday.
Timberwolves: Minnesota has the second of a four-game homestand when it hosts Dallas on Monday.

Similarity rank: 1.1

Sentiment rank: 2.4

Ethics office sounds alarm on GOP rushing Trump Cabinet confirmations

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January 8, 2017

Just as Cabinet nominees prepare for their confirmation hearings before the Senate next week, a federal ethics watchdog agency is expressing concerns over what it called an unusually rushed process of vetting President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks.
In a letter sent to Senate Democrats Saturday, the director of the Office of Government Ethics, Walter Shaub Jr., said the schedule of Cabinet hearings created “undue pressure on OGE’s staff and agency ethics officials to rush through these important reviews.”
“It has left some of the nominees with potentially unknown or unresolved ethics issues shortly before their scheduled hearings,” Shaub wrote in the letter obtained by CBS News. It was of further “great concern” to Shaub that several of Mr. Trump’s Cabinet selections had yet to complete the office’s full ethics review. For some nominees, the office had not received “even initial draft financial disclosure reports for some of the nominees scheduled for hearings,” according to the ethics director.
Cabinet confirmation hearings begin Tuesday for President-elect Trump’s picks. Cameron Joseph, Washington bureau chief for New York Daily News, j…
“I am not aware of any occasion in the four decades since OGE was established when the Senate held a confirmation hearing before the nominee had completed the ethics review process,” he said in the letter, addressed to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. The letter, written in response to questions by Senate Democrats on the issue, was also sent to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
On Saturday afternoon, the Trump transition team pushed back on the concerns expressed in the letter, calling it a “disservice to the country” from the ethics office.
“President-elect Trump is putting together the most qualified administration in history and the transition process is currently running smoothly,” a transition spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News. “In the midst of a historic election where Americans voted to drain the swamp, it is disappointing some have chosen to politicize the process in order to distract from important issues facing our country.”
Over the next week, at least seven Cabinet picks are scheduled to appear before Senate committees, with three scheduled for Wednesday: Mr. Trump’s education chief pick Betsy DeVos, his transportation secretary choice Elaine Chao, and one of his most controversial appointments, Rex Tillerson, a billionaire oil executive with close business ties to Russia , for secretary of state.
But the letter from the Office of Government Ethics, which oversees problems with the executive branch’s potential conflicts of interests, could present a roadblock for Senate Republicans hoping for speedy confirmations.
Shaub warned that it would be “cause for alarm if the Senate were to go forward with hearings on nominees whose reports OGE has not certified.”
“For as long as I remain Director, OGE’s staff and agency ethics officials will not succumb to pressure to cut corners and ignore conflicts of interest,” he said.
Schumer, the new Democratic leader in the Senate, urged Republicans in the upper chamber to “heed the advice of this independent office and stop trying to jam through unvetted nominees.”
The letter “makes crystal clear,” Schumer said in a statement Saturday, that the process to get Cabinet nominees pushed through before they’ve been reviewed by the ethics office is “unprecedented.”
In her own tweet Saturday, Warren also called on the Senate to delay confirmation hearings until ethics reviews were completed, saying it was “ridiculous” for nominees to “drag their feet on ethics paperwork.”
This is ridiculous. @realDonaldTrump ’s noms can’t drag their feet on ethics paperwork while their Senate friends try to run out the clock.
Cabinet officials must put our country’s interests before their own. No conf hearings should be held until we’re certain that’s the case.
McConnell’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Similarity rank: 1.1

Sentiment rank: 3

Israel's ambassador sorry over 'take down' Sir Alan Duncan comment

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January 8, 2017

Israel’s ambassador to the UK has apologised after a senior member of his staff was secretly filmed saying he wanted to “take down” Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan.
Israeli Embassy senior political officer Shai Masot made the comment in footage filmed in a London restaurant and obtained by the Mail on Sunday .
He told a reporter that Sir Alan was creating “a lot of problems”.
Ambassador Mark Regev said this was not the embassy or government’s view.
The conversation involved Mr Masot and Maria Strizzolo, an aide to education minister Robert Halfon, the former political director of Conservative Friends of Israel, as well as an undercover reporter.
It was recorded in October 2016 as part of an investigation by Al Jazeera.
Mr Masot asked her: “Can I give you some names of MPs that I would suggest you take down? ”
Ms Strizzolo replied that all MPs have “something they’re trying to hide” and Mr Masot responded by saying “I have some MPs”, adding “she knows which MPs I want to take down” before specifying “the deputy foreign minister”.
Sir Alan, who has been critical of Israel, was seen as more of a problem than Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson who was “basically good”, according to Mr Masot in a transcript of the conversation.
“He just doesn’t care. He is an idiot but has become minister of foreign affairs without any responsibilities. If something real happened it won’t be his fault… it will be Alan Duncan. ”
Crispin Blunt, Foreign Affairs Select Committee chairman, said the “apparent activity of a diplomat of a foreign state” was “formally outrageous and deserving of investigation”.
Lord Stuart Polak, director of Conservative Friends of Israel, said: “We utterly condemn any attempt to undermine Sir Alan, or any minister, or any member of Parliament. ”
Ms Strizzolo told the newspaper that her conversation with Mr Masot was “tongue-in-cheek and gossipy”.
In a statement, the Israeli Embassy said it “rejects the remarks concerning minister Duncan, which are completely unacceptable”.
“The comments were made by a junior embassy employee who is not an Israeli diplomat, and who will be ending his term of employment with the embassy shortly,” it said.
“Ambassador Regev on Friday spoke with minister Duncan, apologised for the comments and made clear that the embassy considered the remarks to be completely unacceptable. ”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “The Israeli Ambassador has apologised and is clear these comments do not reflect the views of the embassy or government of Israel.
“The UK has a strong relationship with Israel and we consider the matter closed. “