Freedom honour for Paralympian

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13 September 2012 Last updated at 15:18 ET

Paralympic gold medallist Hannah Cockroft has been awarded the freedom of the Borough of Calderdale.

Large crowds cheered as Cockroft returned to her hometown of Halifax, West Yorks, to receive the honour.

Earlier the 20-year-old joined fellow West Yorkshire Paralympians David Stone, Claire Cashmore and Ali Jawad at a special ceremony in Leeds.

Wheelchair racer Cockroft won two gold medals in the women's T34 100m and 200m wheelchair sprints.

Cockroft said: "Seeing all these people it is just amazing. I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported me."

She added she was "honoured" to become a Freewoman of the Borough.

A crowd of more than 300 had greeted Cockroft and other Paralympians in Leeds earlier.

Lord Mayor of Leeds Ann Castle said the event in Millennium Square was "the perfect way to mark" their achievements.

Cyclist David Stone, 31, from Rawdon, West Yorkshire, won gold in the cycling mixed T1-2 road race.

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Freedom honour for Paralympian

Beaches Closed After Great White Sighting In Chatham Harbor

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A great white was tagged off Chatham Thursday. (Photo Courtesy: George Breen/CapeCodSharkHunters.com)

CHATHAM (CBS) A handful of beaches in Chatham have been closed to swimming indefinitely after marine biologists tagged a 20-foot great white leaving Chatham Harbor.

Officials say they made their decision after that shark sighting, along with two buoy readings that indicated other tagged sharks had entered the harbor on August 30 and September 9.

As a result, Lighthouse Beach and all east facing ocean beaches remain closed from the Orleans/Chatham line south along Nauset Beach to Monomoy until further notice.

Cape beaches have been shut down several times over great white shark concerns this summer.

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Beaches Closed After Great White Sighting In Chatham Harbor

Rocket Fuel to Provide Customers With Access to Facebook Exchange

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REDWOOD SHORES, CA--(Marketwire - Sep 13, 2012) - Rocket Fuel, the leading provider of artificial intelligence advertising solutions for digital marketers, today announced its support for the Facebook Exchange (FBX). FBX allows marketers to serve more relevant ads on Facebook via real-time bidding based on individual impression characteristics instead of pre-defined audience segments.

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About Rocket Fuel:

Rocket Fuel is the leading provider of artificial intelligence advertising solutions that transform digital media campaigns into self-optimizing engines that learn and adapt in real time, and deliver outstanding results from awareness to sales. Recently awarded #22 in Forbes Most Promising Companies in America list, over 700 of the world's most successful marketers trust Rocket Fuel to power their advertising across display, video, mobile, and social media. Founded by online advertising veterans and rocket scientists from NASA, DoubleClick, IBM, and Salesforce.com, Rocket Fuel is based in Redwood Shores, California, and has offices in fifteen cities worldwide including New York, London, Toronto, and Hamburg.

*http://newsroom.fb.com/content/default.aspx?NewsAreaId=22 **http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2012/5/Introducing_Mobile_Metrix_2_Insight_into_Mobile_Behavior

2012 Rocket Fuel Inc. All rights reserved. Rocket Fuel Inc. and Audience Accelerator are registered trademark of Rocket Fuel Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Rocket Fuel to Provide Customers With Access to Facebook Exchange

Gregoire grounds aerospace council

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Today Gov. Chris Gregoire abolished the Washington Council on Aerospace, a panel she created in 2009 to demonstrate the state's commitment to serving the needs of Boeing and aerospace suppliers.

Gregoire said the panel -- with representatives of industry, labor, higher education, workforce training and the Legislature -- had done its job of laying a stronger foundation of support for the industry.

It put forth a variety of recommendations to improve education and training of aerospace workers as well as aid the hundreds of aerospace suppliers in the state.

Three years after the Council convened, everybody involved agrees that the Council has served its purpose in helping to create new, more focused efforts, and now it is time to disband, she said in a press release.

One recommendation led to the creation of a new Office of Aerospace under the governor's control. Some of the council's duties will be reassigned to this office.

Other tasks will be distributed to the Aerospace Workforce Pipeline Committee, the Joint Center for Aerospace Innovation, and the Washington Aerospace Partnership.

While the council's demise was quiet, its birth was a bit noisy.

Back then, Boeing was making plans to expand its production of 787 jets. Several states, including South Carolina, offered them cheap land, tax breaks and publicly financed infrastructure in hopes of winning the business.

Gregoire pushed a series of bills in hopes of convincing Boeing not to expand in another state. One created the council. Lawmakers didn't pass it so she issued an executive order to establish it.

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Gregoire grounds aerospace council

Governor dissolves one of many aerospace panels

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Published: Thursday, September 13, 2012, 5:24 p.m.

Gregoire issued an executive order disbanding the panel and redistributing its duties to the governor's Office of Aerospace, the Aerospace Workforce Pipeline Committee, the Joint Center for Aerospace Innovation and the Washington Aerospace Partnership.

The council included representatives of industry, labor, higher education, workforce training and the Legislature. It recommended ways to improve education and training of aerospace workers as well as aiding the hundreds of aerospace suppliers in the state.

"Three years after the council convened, everybody involved agrees that the council has served its purpose in helping to create new, more focused efforts, and now it is time to disband," she said in a statement.

Also Wednesday, Gregoire announced that the 2014 Aerospace and Defense Suppliers Summit will be held March 10-12 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. This year's inaugural also was held in Seattle.

Gregoire made the announcements at the annual Governor's Aerospace Summit in Spokane.

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Governor dissolves one of many aerospace panels

Aerospace merger 'will keep jobs'

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13 September 2012 Last updated at 03:01 ET

Aerospace workers in Wales should not fear for their jobs with news that Airbus' parent company is in merger talks, says an industry expert.

Aerospace firm EADS, which owns Airbus, and employs 6,500 people at Broughton, Flintshire, is negotiating with UK defence contractor BAE Systems.

It also owns defence company Cassidian in Newport, which employs 1,000 people.

John Whalley, of Aerospace Wales Forum, said: "It's more about helping to preserve jobs and growth."

These two companies epitomise high skilled manufacturing in sectors that are globally very competitive.

BAE Systems employs around 620 people at the head office of GCS Munitions based at Glascoed, near Usk in Monmouthshire.

Aerospace Wales Forum, the aerospace industry association in Wales, has welcomed the news of merger talks.

In a potential tie-up, BAE would own 40% and EADS 60% of the new firm.

I think the real driver here is market access

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Aerospace merger 'will keep jobs'

AIAA’s “Aerospace Research Central” Now Available to Users

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RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce that its Aerospace Research Central (ARC) electronic database is now available to users. The site, available at http://arc.aiaa.org, was produced in partnership with Atypon, a leading provider of software to the scientific and scholarly publishing industry.

ARC offers easy and robust access to over four decades of aerospace research. The platforms sophisticated functionality gives users powerful search capabilities through all of AIAAs books, conference proceedings, and journal articles; offers streamlined research capabilities, including the ability to download citations and bundle content based on topic disciplines; and gives users early access to e-first publications ahead of the printed versions. Users will also be able to tailor the platforms functionality to seek out those results that are most relevant to their personal interests, greatly streamlining the research process.

With ARC, we will now be able to access, anytime and anywhere,more than 75 years of aerospace materials from the AIAA Electronic Library and the AIAA eBook Library, said Vigor Yang, vice-president of publications for AIAA. Yang continued:Such service will move us in the direction we all want to go towards easier, dependable access of knowledge important to our field.

Audrey Melkin, Atypons Director of Business Development, stated: Were proud to have collaborated with AIAA to create such a great content experience for contributors, readers, and librarians. Being able to seamlessly navigate all of AIAAs content types has resulted in a greatly improved resource for the entire aerospace sector.

Atypon is setting new standards for digital content delivery, discovery, and monetization. Literatum, the companys flagship publishing platform, is used to host more than 12 million journal articles, more than 50,000 e-books, and many other types of scientific and scholarly content. For more information, visit http://www.Atypon.com.

AIAA is the worlds largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. With more than 35,000 individual members worldwide, and nearly 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit http://www.aiaa.org.

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Suite 500, Reston, VA 20191-4344 Phone: 703.264.7558 Fax: 703.264.7551 http://www.aiaa.org

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AIAA’s “Aerospace Research Central” Now Available to Users

DNA could help ID a king

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A London familys DNA could be the missing link in a centuries-long quest to find the remains of King Richard III.

A team of archeologists at the University of Leicester in England exhumed a skeleton believed to be Richards beneath one of the universitys parking lots Wednesday and are hoping DNA evidence from the London family will prove their suspicions true.

Richard was killed in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth often cited as the deciding battle in the War of the Roses by Henry Tudor VII, father of the famed King Henry VIII.

Richards Machiavellian rise to power its believed he had his nephews murdered in order to seize the thrown and short two-year reign as king is chronicled in Shakespeares play Richard III.

In 2005, British historian John Ashdown-Hill traced Richards bloodline to Joy Ibsen, a retired journalist who moved to London, Ont., from England after the Second World War and raised a family.

Ashdown-Hill discovered Ibsen and Richard shared a maternal ancestor, Cecily Neville.

Though Ibsen died in 2008, she passed the gene on to her three children: Michael, who lives in the U..K; Jeff, who lives in Toronto; and Leslie on Vancouver Island.

Its pretty exciting, said Jeff, 49. I wasnt expecting the findings to be so concise ... Im hoping that if theres a proper funeral for him, well get invited and maybe get a chance to rub elbows with some royals.

The skeleton exhumed Wednesday was found in whats believed to be the choir of the lost Church of the Grey Friars, the same place historical records indicate Richard was buried. Initial examinations found trauma to the skull consistent with a battle injury and a barbed arrow through the skeletons upper back.

Especially telling is the spinal deformity found on the exhumed skeleton. Its believed Richard had severe scoliosis, a form of spinal curvature that caused his right shoulder to appear higher than the left, the same type of curvature found on the skeleton.

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DNA to test heir claim

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Archaeologists from the University of Leicester uncover remains that could be those of England's 15th century King Richard III.

It seems a most unlikely resting place for a King of England.

Buried under a car park behind a block of council offices, the skeletal remains of a man were discovered in the British city of Leicester this week, with a metal arrow lodged in its back and wrapped simply in a shroud.

And a Canadian-born furniture maker could help prove what archaeologists are hoping is true - that this is the lost skeleton of King Richard III.

Heir in there? ... Canadian furniture maker Michael Ibsen takes a DNA test at the site of the archaeological discovery. Photo: ITV screengrab

For the past decade, University of Leicester archaeologists, dubbed the Time Tomb Team, have been leading a search for the lost grave of the much-maligned king.

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Richard III, who had a reputation as a murderous "hunchback" in medieval times, was killed in one of the most important clashes in English history, the Battle Of Bosworth, in 1485.

What is known is that his body was stripped and brought to Leicester, where he was buried in the church of the Franciscan Friary, known as the Grey Friars.

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DNA to test heir claim

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DNA cigarette butt twist in Rayney trial

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DNA on a cigarette butt found outside Lloyd Rayney's home around the time of his wife's murder matched a person 'well known to police', murder trial told.

Lloyd Rayney dodges witches hats to get to court for day 31 of his murder trial. PICTURE: Kerris Berrington Source: PerthNow

Sen-Const Warren Wheatley. Source: PerthNow

LAWYERS acting for barrister Lloyd Rayney today told the Supreme Court that DNA on a cigarette butt found by police outside the family home in Como matched that of a person "well known to police" as other witnesses told of "blood curdling" screams coming from Kings Park on the night Mr Rayney's wife Corryn disappeared.

In a new twist in the long-running trial, defence lawyer David Edwardson, QC, told trial judge Justice Brian Martin that the person whose DNA was found on the cigarette butt had the same surname - Eades - as the driver of a car which was stopped by Kensington police in Manning at about 9.10pm on August 7, 2007, the night Mrs Rayney was last seen alive.

"Your honour will hear evidence shortly that a cigarette butt was retrieved and that the DNA on that cigarette matched a person well known to police by the name of Eades," he said.

The cigarette butt was among items collected by police from the footpath and verge of the Rayney home on August 22, 2007.

Mr Edwardson's comments came as a former police officer, Darrel McLeod, gave evidence at Mr Rayney's murder trial today.

It has been alleged Mr Rayney killed his wife at the family home after she arrived home from a boot scooting class in Bentley.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charge and also to an alternative charge of manslaughter.

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DNA cigarette butt twist in Rayney trial

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Masten Completes Their Test Objectives; Xaero Not Recovered

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Washington D.C. - Today Masten Space Systems conducted a flight test of its unmanned Xaero from the Mojave Air & Space Port to a target altitude of one kilometer to test flight control at high ascent and descent rates. While the vehicle demonstrated better than expected performance through the test, unexpected instability developed during landing and the flight was terminated while the vehicle was well above ground level. The vehicle was destroyed on impact; no one was injured. The cause of the failure is under review, but a throttle valve malfunction is suspected.

CSF President Michael Lopez-Alegria stated, "Despite the loss of Xaero, the Masten team completed virtually all of their test objectives and collected invaluable data from the flight. More importantly, the personnel from Masten and from the Mojave Air & Space Port, as well as the hardware and software in the flight termination system, performed flawlessly. The vehicle impacted within the designated test area and no one was injured or endangered. It is the nature of the flight test business to occasionally experience anomalies; I'm confident that although Masten lost a vehicle, they gained important data that will be put to good use as they continue to develop their designs. I expect to see Masten in the skies again soon."

About the Commercial Spaceflight Federation

The mission of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) is to promote the development of commercial human spaceflight, pursue ever-higher levels of safety, and share best practices and expertise throughout the industry. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation's member companies, which include commercial spaceflight developers, operators, spaceports, suppliers, and service providers, are creating thousands of high-tech jobs nationwide, working to preserve American leadership in aerospace through technology innovation, and inspiring young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. For more information please visit http://www.commercialspaceflight.org or contact Assistant Director Sirisha Bandla at sirisha@commercialspaceflight.org or at 202.349.1120.

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.

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Masten Completes Their Test Objectives; Xaero Not Recovered

NASA's Mars rover ready to "drive, drive, drive"

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PASADENA, California (Reuters) - The Mars rover Curiosity was due to wrap up an exhaustive, weeks-long instrument check on Thursday, clearing the way for its first lengthy drive to determine whether the Red Planet has ever been hospitable to life, NASA officials said. The six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover landed five weeks ago inside a giant impact basin called Gale Crater, near the Martian ...

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NASA's Mars rover ready to "drive, drive, drive"

Liberty 75, Mystics 62

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UpdatedSep 12, 2012 11:01 PM ET

Trailing late in the third quarter of a game they needed to win, the New York Liberty picked up their defensive intensity and ran away from the Washington Mystics.

Cappie Pondexter scored 22 points to lead the Liberty to a 75-62 victory over the last-place Mystics on Wednesday night. Nicole Powell had 15 points and Kia Vaughn added 10 points and 10 rebounds to help New York (13-17) finish 4-2 on a six-game homestand - including two wins against Washington.

The Liberty also moved a half-game ahead of Chicago for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

''It was an ugly win, but I'm glad we pulled it out in the fourth quarter,'' Pondexter said. ''We focused a little more, we began to help each other. I thought we rebounded well, forced them to make tough jump shots.''

Pondexter praised Vaughn's play in the final quarter, when the center and Plenette Pierson had eight points apiece to help New York outscore Washington 19-7 in the period. Vaughn had her first double-double of the season.

''I thought she played great down the stretch, she was confident,'' Pondexter said. ''The last two games we actually were talking about that baseline jumper, where she's great at. She focused in on doing it ... especially in the fourth quarter. I'm happy she was finally able to display the kind of basketball she's been trying.''

Monique Currie scored a season-high 24 points for Washington (5-25), which has lost nine straight. The Mystics dropped to 1-15 on the road this season, with their lone win against the Liberty on July 13 in the last game before the league's monthlong Olympic break.

''We played well throughout the game except for the fourth quarter,'' Currie said. ''We got cold and the Liberty were able to take advantage of that.''

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Liberty 75, Mystics 62

Liberty Interactive (LINTA)

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We upgrade our recommendation on Liberty Interactive (LINTA) to Outperform following its robust financial results for the second quarter of 2012. Both top- and bottom-line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimates. We believe the TV home shopping business will continue to flourish in the near future as the global macro-economy is expected to gradually stabilize compared with massive fluctuations in the last couple of years.

The company's prestigious QVC division continues to perform exceptionally well. The QVC shopping network has successfully transformed itself into a powerful global brand, which may facilitate Liberty Interactive to boost its revenue into double digits.

The strategic move taken by management to offer QVC programs on mobile platforms, such as smartphones and tablets, was a huge success. Furthermore, Liberty Interactive is continuously generating positive free cash flow to sustain its future endeavors.

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Pondexter lifts Liberty past last-place Mystics

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NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Trailing late in the third quarter of a game they needed to win, the New York Liberty picked up their defensive intensity and ran away from the Washington Mystics.

Cappie Pondexter scored 22 points to lead the Liberty to a 75-62 victory over the last-place Mystics on Wednesday night. Nicole Powell had 15 points and Kia Vaughn added 10 points and 10 rebounds to help New York (13-17) finish 4-2 on a six-game homestand - including two wins against Washington.

The Liberty also moved a half-game ahead of Chicago for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

''It was an ugly win, but I'm glad we pulled it out in the fourth quarter,'' Pondexter said. ''We focused a little more, we began to help each other. I thought we rebounded well, forced them to make tough jump shots.''

Pondexter praised Vaughn's play in the final quarter, when the center and Plenette Pierson had eight points apiece to help New York outscore Washington 19-7 in the period. Vaughn had her first double-double of the season.

''I thought she played great down the stretch, she was confident,'' Pondexter said. ''The last two games we actually were talking about that baseline jumper, where she's great at. She focused in on doing it ... especially in the fourth quarter. I'm happy she was finally able to display the kind of basketball she's been trying.''

Monique Currie scored a season-high 24 points for Washington (5-25), which has lost nine straight. The Mystics dropped to 1-15 on the road this season, with their lone win against the Liberty on July 13 in the last game before the league's monthlong Olympic break.

''We played well throughout the game except for the fourth quarter,'' Currie said. ''We got cold and the Liberty were able to take advantage of that.''

The Liberty grabbed the lead with an 11-2 run that started at the end of the third and carried over into the fourth. Pondexter made a 3-pointer with about 28 seconds left in the third to put the Liberty in front 56-55, and Vaughn opened the fourth with back-to-back jumpers to extend the lead to five with 7:23 remaining.

Pondexter's 3 gave New York a 67-58 advantage with 4:43 to go, and Washington got no closer than seven the rest of the way. The Liberty scored the final six points of the game.

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Pondexter lifts Liberty past last-place Mystics

Liberty Media Almost to the 50% Mark at Sirius XM

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Liberty Media is close to a 50% ownership position o f Sirius XM Satellite Radio after announcing on 9/12/2012 that it now owns 49.7% of the shares outstanding or equivalents. The Wall Street Journal reports that Liberty is likely to replace the Board and not likely to retain Mel Karmazin. For now, it appears that Liberty will retain SIRI in its own account and reclaim the $1.5 billion it is ...

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Liberty Media Almost to the 50% Mark at Sirius XM

Libertarian candidate running – literally – in all 100 counties

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Credit: Jeremy Detter/RECORD PHOTO

Barbara Howe, Libertarian candidate for Governor in North Carolina, runs through Newton on Wednesday night. Howe plans on running a 5k in each of the 100 counties in North Carolina. Catawba County was number 81.

NEWTON Barbara Howe really is running for governor.

The Libertarian candidate is running a solo 5-kilometer race in all 100 North Carolina counties to call attention to her candidacy and the Libertarian political philosophy. Wednesday morning, she ran in Taylorsville. That evening, she put on her running shoes in Newton. The Newton 5K was her 81st since her campaign began.

Howe, from Wingate, knows winning the governors mansion is the longest of shots, but shes determined to keep the message of liberty out there.

Libertarians endorse minimal government. The Republicans and the Democrats have their differences, but they still stand for big government, Howe said. They are variations of the same flavor.

Most of the time, Howe runs alone. Sometimes, somebody shes met will join her. She had company when she ran in Lenoir on Tuesday. But she meets people during her jaunts and chats with local folks afterward.

I always go to a caf or a restaurant in each county. I listen and I talk. But mostly I listen, she said.

Im learning that people in North Carolina are basically the same. They want to work, enjoy their free time and be left alone. That as in be left alone by government on all levels. This country was founded on freedom, responsibility and self-reliance, Howe said. We Libertarians dont want to tell people how to run their lives.

As one that advocates the government that governs least governs best, she has strong opinions on government entitlements and other programs. For example, Howe says everyone who has paid into Social Security should get their benefits as promised.

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Libertarian candidate running – literally – in all 100 counties