A2 Wednesday, August 13, 2014 National digest NATION 1 Military sends 130 more troops to Iraq Obama calls teen’s death ‘heartbreaking’ EDGARTOWN, Mass. — President Barack Obama called the police shooting of an unarmed teenager in the St. Louis suburbs “heartbreaking” and urged Americans to mourn the young, black man “in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds.” In a statement issued by the White House on Tuesday, Obama made his first comment on the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was shot Saturday in working class Ferguson, Mo., in the St. Louis area. The shooting touched off clashes between demonstrators and police in the racially divided city. Obama noted that the U.S. Justice Department and local officials have launched investigations into the incident. St. Louis County police say Brown was shot after an altercation. Witnesses dispute that account. Police have not released the name of the officer involved. The White House issued the statement as the president is vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. Deadline to resolve health law eligibility near WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of people who signed up under the new health care law risk losing their taxpayer-subsidized insurance unless they act quickly to resolve questions about their citizenship or immigration status. The government warned Tuesday that they have just over three weeks to show that they’re eligible. Of the 8 million people who signed up for private coverage through the law, more than 2 million at one point had discrepancies of some sort that clouded their eligibility. That number has been greatly reduced — but the remaining cases are proving difficult to untangle. People living in the country illegally are not allowed to get coverage. Officials at the Health and Human Services Department said letters are being sent to about 310,000 people with documentation issues involving citizenship or immigration. The letters will notify enrollees with unresolved issues that they still need to upload their documents to the HealthCare.gov website by Sept. 5, or mail them in. Otherwise, their coverage will end on Sept. 30. Additional soldiers sent to assess situation of trapped civilians in Sinjar area Associated Press CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Another 130 U.S. troops arrived in Iraq on Tuesday on what the Pentagon described as a temporary mission to assess the scope of the humanitarian crisis facing thousands of displaced Iraqi civilians trapped on Sinjar Mountain and evaluate options for getting them out to safety. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced the deployment in remarks to Marines at Camp Pendleton. “This is not a combat boots on the ground kind of operation,” Hagel said. “We’re not going back into Iraq in any of the same combat mission dimensions that we once were in in Iraq,” he added, referring to the eight-year war that cost more than 4,400 U.S. lives and soured the American public on military involvement in Iraq. Another defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to provide additional details on the sensitive HAGEL mission, said the extra troops are Marines and special operations forces whose mission is to assess the situation in the Sinjar area and to develop additional humanitarian assistance options beyond current U.S. efforts there. Still another official said the mission for the 130 troops could last less than one week. Hagel referred to the 130 as “assessors.” The additional troops arrived Tuesday in the city of Irbil, well east of Sinjar. They are to work with representatives of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to coordinate plans with international partners and non-government organizations to help the trapped Yazidi civilians on Sinjar Mountain. The move shows the Obama ad- Williams hanged himself with belt, authorities say Associated Press New access system for military installations WASHINGTON — Military installations have a new system for checking the credentials of people trying to gain access. Department of Defense spokeswoman Lt. Col. Valerie Henderson said in a statement that the system, called the Identity Matching Engine for Security and Analysis, became functional Friday. The system matches people affiliated with the Department of Defense against an FBI database for active arrest warrants. It also alerts if a person is using a lost or stolen credential or one that is no longer valid. Moving quickly to implement the system was one of four key recommendations made by the Secretary of Defense following last year’s shooting at the Washington Navy Yard. The shooter had a valid credential to gain entry. Group has betting pool on Sturgis deaths RAPID CITY, S.D. — Members of a Black Hills family and their friends acknowledge that a betting pool they run on how many bikers will die during the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota is a bit macabre, but they say they mean no harm. This year, 12 people put in $5 each, with the winner pocketing $60. Fatalities are a fact of life at the rally that draws hundreds of thousands of bikers to Sturgis each year, said Carol Landrum, 62, who travels from Arkansas every summer to her family’s cabin in the Black Hills. The pool started seven years ago based on an idea from a friend of Landrum’s husband. That friend later died in a motorcycle accident, she said. The state Highway Patrol said four fatalities were recorded at this year’s rally, which ended last weekend, down from six last year. — From Gazette news services Corrections If you find a factual error in a Gazette news item, tell us about it. Call 657-1251 or e-mail us at citynews@ billingsgazette.com A DIVISION OF LEE ENTERPRISES Didn’t get your paper? Call our circulation department at (406) 657-1298 or toll-free (800) 762-6397 The Billings Gazette is published by Lee Enterprises at 401 N. Broadway, Billings, MT 59101-1274. Business hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 36300, Billings, MT 59107-6300. Associated Press Humphrey Bogart and his wife, Lauren Bacall, appear at the premiere of Bogart’s “The Desperate Hours” in Los Angeles in 1955. Sultry-voiced movie star Lauren Bacall dies at 89 Actress had storied marriage to Bogart and long stage, screen career Associated Press NEW YORK — Lauren Bacall, the slinky, sultry-voiced actress who created on-screen magic with Humphrey Bogart in “To Have and Have Not” and “The Big Sleep” and offscreen magic in one of Hollywood’s most storied marriages, died Tuesday at age 89. Bacall, whose long career brought two Tonys and a special Oscar, died in New York. The managing partner of the Humphrey Bogart Estate, Robbert J.F. de Klerk, said that Bacall died at home, but declined to give further details. Bacall’s son Stephen Bogart confirmed his mother’s death to de Klerk. She was among the last of the oldfashioned Hollywood stars and her legend, and the legend of “Bogie and Bacall” — the hard-boiled couple who could fight and make up with the best of them — started almost from the moment she appeared on screen. A fashion model and bit-part New York actress before moving to Hollywood at 19, Bacall achieved immediate fame in 1944 with one scene in her first film, “To Have and Have Not.” The Billings Gazette is a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations and the Associated Press. Periodicals paid at Billings, Montana. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to P.O. Box 36300, Billings, MT 59107-6300. (USPS 056200) Copyright 2008, The Billings Gazette. All rights reserved. Reproduction, reuse or transmittal in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or an information storage and retrieval system is prohibited without permission in writing from The Billings Gazette. 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For any questions, please call customer service at 406-657-1298. Find us: W 66 M 70 C 94 Leaving Bogart’s hotel room, she murmured: “You don’t have to say anything, and you don’t have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.” She was less than half Bogart’s age, yet as wise and as jaded as him. Her sly glance, with chin down and eyes raised, added to her fame; she was nicknamed “The Look.” Bogart and Bacall married amid headlines in 1945, and they co-starred in three more films, “The Big Sleep” (1946), “Dark Passage” (1947) and “Key Largo” (1948). Their marriage lasted until his death from cancer in 1957. She appeared in movies for more than a half-century, but not until 1996 did she receive an Academy Award nomination — as supporting actress for her role as Barbra Streisand’s mother in “The Mirror Has Two Faces.” Although a sentimental favorite, she lost to Juliette Binoche for her performance in “The English Patient.” Bacall finally got a statuette in November 2009 when she was presented with a special Oscar at the movie academy’s new Governors Awards gala. “The thought when I get home that I’m going to have a two-legged man in my room is so exciting,” she quipped. PEOPLE If you have a news tip, call the News Desk at 657-1241. Our fax number for press releases or letters to the editor is 657-1208. Publisher: Michael Gulledge........................................................................................657-1225 Editor: Darrell Ehrlick........................................................................................................657-1289 Circulation Director: Allen Wilson ......................................................................657-1298 Sales and Marketing Director: Dave Worstell........................................657-1352 Classified / Digital Advertising Manager: Ryan Brosseau ........657-1340 Marketing / Niche Publications Director: Allyn Hulteng.............657-1434 Operations Director: Jim Gaasterland............................................................657-1240 Controller: Scott Patrick................................................................................................657-1217 Human Resources Director: Jim Gaasterland.........................................657-1240 Digital Director: Kyle Rickhoff ................................................................................657-1468 ministration is weighing the impact and implications of several days of targeted airstrikes on the Islamic State fighters and how that has affected U.S.-backed Kurdish forces opposing them in northern Iraq. President Barack Obama has said repeatedly he will not send ground combat forces back into Iraq. One immediate dilemma is the fate of thousands of displaced Yazidis in the Sinjar area who have been provided with food and water delivered by U.S. cargo planes in recent days. Washington also is considering how to increase its military assistance to the Kurds, whose militia is outgunned by the militants. The 130 are in addition to 90 U.S. military advisers already in Baghdad and 160 in a pair of operations centers — one in Irbil and one in Baghdad — working with Iraqi security forces. They are in addition to about 455 U.S. security forces and 100 military personnel working in the Office of Security Cooperation in the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. SWIFT SWIFT READ BOOK: Not all the actors at a star-packed news conference in New York on Tuesday for the new film “The Giver” had been familiar with Lois Lowry’s acclaimed 1994 book before they made the film. But Taylor Swift sure had been. The 24-year-old singer read it in school, and says it had a huge influence on her outlook on life. “It celebrates all the things I hold really dear and are important to me,” Swift said, “like our history, our music, our art, our intellect and our memories.” Swift, who has a small role in the film that opens Friday, waxed philosophical about the idea that people should be protected from the darker side of life. APOLOGY FOR COMMENT: Fox News’ Shepard Smith says he regrets using the word coward while speculating on air what Robin Williams may have been feeling before his suicide. Smith made the comment Monday night during coverage of the Academy Award-winning actor’s death. “I have no way of knowing the depths of Mr. Williams’ suffering but I never meant to suggest that he acted in any such manner,” Smith said in a statement. Smith was speaking about how Williams’ death might impact his three adult children. Critics took to social media after Smith said Williams’ children were giving him so much joy, “and yet something inside you is so horrible or you’re such a coward or whatever the reason that you decide you have to end it.” MARVEL ARENA SHOW: Marvel Entertainment, which muscled into pop culture with comic books, TV cartoons and movies, is gambling on attracting new fans as it tackles 3-D — but forget the silly glasses. A new live arena show called “Marvel Universe Live!” — a first for the comic franchise — has begun an 85-city tour over the next two years, flooding stages with a dizzying array of actors and upping the technological ante for theatrical events. Captain America, Thor, The Hulk, Black Widow, Wolverine, Nick Fury, Spider-Man, Storm, Green Goblin and Red Skull are among the heroes and villains that constantly battle during the two-hour show. VIDEO GAME SONGS: Pharrell is teaming up with the world’s best-selling basketball video game franchise as a music curator. 2K Sports announced Tuesday that the GramPHARRELL my-winning performer chose 27 tracks for the soundtrack of the upcoming “NBA 2K15.” Pharrell said in a statement that he wanted to create an “eclectic mix” of songs. Three of his songs are featured on the soundtrack including “Hunter,” ‘’Can I Have It Like That” and “How Does It Feel?” SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — Robin Williams’ personal assistant found the actor who was struggling with depression dead in a bedroom of his San Francisco Bay Area home, officials said Tuesday. Williams’ wife likely was home at the time he killed himself but was unaware, Marin County Sheriff’s Lt. Keith Boyd said. Williams was last seen alive by his wife Sunday night when she went to bed, Boyd said. She woke up the next morning and left, thinking he was still asleep elsewhere in the house. Shortly after that, Williams’ personal assistant came to the Tiburon home and became concerned when Williams failed to respond to knocks at a door. The assistant found the WILLIAMS 63-year-old actor clothed and dead in a bedroom. Boyd said all evidence indicates Williams, star of “Good Will Hunting,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” ‘’Good Morning, Vietnam” and dozens of other films, committed suicide by hanging himself with a belt. But Boyd said a final ruling will be made once toxicology reports and interviews with witnesses are complete. The condition of the body indicated Williams had been dead for at least a few hours, Boyd said. Williams also had superficial cuts on his wrist, and a pocketknife was found nearby. Williams had been seeking treatment for depression, Boyd said. He would not say whether the actor left a suicide note. “We still have people we want to speak with, so there is some information we’re going to withhold,” Boyd said. “We’re not discussing the note or a note at this point as the investigation is ongoing.” The Oscar-winning actor for years dealt with bouts of substance abuse and depression and referenced his struggles in his comedy routines. Just last month, Williams announced he was returning to a 12step treatment program. THIS DAY IN HISTORY Today is Wednesday, August 13, the 225th day of 2014. There are 140 days left in the year. Today’s highlight in history: On August 13, 1934, the satirical comic strip “Li’l Abner,” created by Al Capp, made its debut. On this date: In 1910, Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, died in London at age 90. In 1961, East Germany sealed off the border between Berlin’s eastern and western sectors and began building a wall that would stand for the next 28 years. In 1981, in a ceremony at his California ranch, President Ronald Reagan signed a historic package of tax and budget reductions. In 1989, searchers in Ethiopia found the wreckage of a plane which had disappeared almost a week earlier while carrying Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and 14 other people — there were no survivors. Ten years ago: Hutu marauders raided a U.N. refugee camp in western Burundi, shooting and hacking at least 150 Congolese Tutsis to death. Today’s birthdays: Former Cuban President Fidel Castro is 88. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is 68. Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke is 65. Actor Danny Bonaduce is 55. TV weatherman Sam Champion is 53. Actor John Slattery is 52. Country musician Mike Melancon (Emerson Drive) is 36. — Associated Press
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