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ANCHORAGE, Alaska –  Anna McConnaughy was flying to Alaska's largest city when the announcement came over the intercom: a passenger on a previous flight had brought a pet snake on board.

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Anna McConnaughy was flying to Alaska's largest city when the announcement came over the intercom: a passenger on a previous flight had brought a pet snake on board.

The passenger had gotten off the plane. The snake had not.

"The pilot came, and said, 'Guys, we have some loose snake on the plane, but we don't know where it is,'" McConnaughy said Tuesday.

Unlike the movie "Snakes On A Plane," this one wasn't venomous. Mostly, it was sleepy.

A little boy, one of seven passengers on the Ravn Alaska commuter flight Sunday from the Alaska village of Aniak to Anchorage, was climbing on his seat when he spotted the slumbering snake. It was lying partially covered by a duffel bag near the back of the plane.

"He said, 'Oh, Mom, look at this. What's that?'" McConnaughy said. "That's how we figured out there was a snake sleeping in the corner."

There was no panic. McConnaughy said. Mostly people wanted to see the snake.

A pilot came back to help, she said, leading to a short discussion with a flight attendant on how best to capture it.

"He said, 'I'll hold the bag, and you grab the snake,'" McConnaughy said. "Quite a gentleman."

The flight attendant grabbed the snake by the belly and dropped it into a plastic trash bag. It spent the rest of the flight in an overhead storage bin, and the plane reached Anchorage on schedule.

Anchorage television station KTVA first reported the incident.

McConnaughy's photos show a pale snake about 4 to 5 feet long. She said it appeared to want only to go back to sleep.

A spokesman for the airline, William Walsh, said in a statement that the snake owner had not registered the pet for travel in the cabin of the Ravn Alaska flight. After arriving in Aniak, he reported that his snake was missing and likely on the return trip to Anchorage.

The airline was thankful for the heads-up, Walsh said. However, it has specific requirements for carrying on reptiles. Ravn Alaska does not allow any large animal that's not a dog to be used as a service animal.

McConnaughy said there are plenty of snakes where she grew up in the Russian Far East. However, there are no wild snakes in most of Alaska, and she's not crazy about them, she said.

"Here in Alaska, it's kind of weird," she said.

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Anna McConnaughy was flying to Alaska's largest city when the announcement came over the intercom: a passenger on a previous flight had brought a pet snake on board. The passenger had gotten off the plane. The snake had not.

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What do you call a Beyonce statue made of cheese? Brie-Once, natch. Joining the ranks of iconic works of art such as the Mona Lisa and The Creation of Adam is a new masterpiece simply known as Brie-Oncé.

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North carolina is thinking about repealing there bathroom bill

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The Mcdonalds High school all-american All-Star game was yesterday and the West All-Stars .

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2017 McDonald's All-American Game: Report Card for Every Player

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College basketball fans are looking ahead to the Final Four, but next year's potential stars stole the spotlight for one night at the 2017 McDonald's All-American Game...

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Man Mauled to Death by His Own Dog During BBC Interview

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After 24 years as CEO of a boutique hotel company, he found himself reporting to a guy 21 years younger.

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Death Note live-action adaptation on Netflix is not looking very good.

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A live-action version of Death Note is coming to Netflix later this year, and we've just gotten the first teaser trailer. Here, Light Turner ( The Fault In Our Stars 'Nat Wolff) finds the titular Death Note, and soon discovers that whoever is named in the supernatural notebook will die. It's at that point that he decides to use the book to kill criminals - all while being watched by the bored shinigami Ryuk (Willem Dafoe).

Based on the popular manga series

Death Note, directed by Blair Witch director Adam Wingard,is based on the popular 2003 manga series of the same name. In addition to Wolff and Dafoe, the film will also feature the likes of Altanta'sKeith Stanfield as Light's nemesis L and The Leftovers' Margaret Qualley as Mia Sutton, a take on the original series' Misa Amane.

The series enjoyed considerable international acclaim during its original run, spawning movies, video games, and even a musical in 2015. However, similar to the controversy surrounding Ghost in the Shell, the casting for this particular live-action outing has been criticized since the male and female leads are both white, whitewashing the original characters. Audiences will have to wait and see if the film can rise above the criticism. Death Note premieres on Netflix on August 25th.

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Watch the first trailer for Netflix's live-action Death Note movie

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A live-action version of Death Note is coming to Netflix later this year, and we've just gotten the first teaser trailer. Here, Light Turner ( The Fault In Our Stars 'Nat Wolff) finds the titular Death Note, and soon discovers that whoever is named in the supernatural notebook will die.

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Michael Porter makes his pitch

to Mizzou Basketball.

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Visits to the doctor or physical therapist have been higher than ever. Laptops and phones make us go in a terrible posture for our back which become scoliosis. The new Lumo Lift will help decrease the chances of scoliosis.

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She did everything she could to try straighten me out as a young adult. There were the posture-correcting ballet classes, the personal trainer, the physical therapy. But all the pestering and pirouetting couldn't fight the forces of screen strain: the spine-crushing laptop and the neck-protruding smartphone.

The result? My posture is simply horrendous, borderline-gargoyle awful and I'm stuck with chronic back and neck pain.

My hunched shoulders and I are not alone. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, about 60% to 80% of the adult US population suffers from low back pain, making it the second most common reason people go to the doctor.

According to New York-based posture coach, Lindsey Newitter, poor posture can cause serious back pain: "Your head is heavy, it weighs 10 to 12 pounds. A lot of us, when we are looking at our screens, our eyes strain and then our neck strains and it pulls our heads down into our spines. It's what we call head forward posture. The farther away your head gets from your center with that downward pressure, the more intense the pressure actually is. It's a lot of weight compressing your spine."

Even if bad posture isn't the direct culprit behind one's back pain, good posture is almost always recommended to help ease it.

According to physical therapist Dr. Karena Wu, "posture is a huge component of rehabilitation and life. We always tell patients to be more conscious of their posture which means it is a mental decision similar to a diet, like a lifestyle change."

Additionally, recent studies have linked posture to mood, memory, behavior, and self esteem. One study recently published in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry showed that when made to sit upright, people battling mild to moderate depression saw their condition improve.

Straighten up!

While perfect posture might make one feel more powerful and energetic, achieving it is easier said than done. For me, sitting and standing "properly" is downright exhausting and feels like a workout. But of course, like most things now, there is an app for that.

A simple search in the app store for "posture" will generate dozens of apps designed to help you achieve proper alignment. With names such as PostureScreen, PostureZone, Posture Aware and iRehab, they all intend to help users with body awareness and strength through personalized exercises, reminders, trackers and videos.

One such offering, Lumo Lift, is unique because it is paired with a wearable device specifically designed to correct your stance. The sensor, which costs $79.99, magnetically attaches to your clothes and buzzes every time you slouch. It also connects to an app on your smartphone so you can track your posture habits over time.

"We were really designed to be hunters and gatherers, our bodies were designed to move," said Lumo Lift's founder Monisha Perkash. "But instead, because of all these computers and gadgets, we're sitting and sitting poorly, or standing and standing poorly, and that creates a posture problem."

But Perkash believes there is hope for our spines. "Our bodies are adaptive to both positive and negative influences. In the same way that if you've slouched for long periods of time your body takes that on as the norm, you can also reverse that and teach it what is good posture. And after a while the muscle memory kicks in and you don't even have to think about it anymore."

However, Dr. Wu does not believe posture devices and apps are the exclusive antidote to our nation's hunching problems.

"The risks of relying on a device, you have to remember to charge it, you have to remember to put it on and actually use it," she said. "One can ignore sensory stimuli once you get used to it; you can just blow right through and just stay in your position because you know you have to get work done."

She believes achieving good posture health requires a conscious effort to sit up with good upright.

There are some low-tech approaches to forming those good posture habits, like the Alexander Method. The Alexander Method is a process that helps realign posture mindfully. It's often used by performers, and often involves a coach.

Newitter teaches the Alexander Method and like Dr. Wu finds posture apps and devices to be limited in their impact. "I find some of the high-tech methods aren't getting to the source of the issue, which is habit and people not being able to actually sense what is happening in their bodies when their posture is off."

However, Newitter believes that when coupled with lifestyle changes and mindful approaches to working on posture these devices and apps make a long lasting impact on a person's posture health. "The reminder device can actually be very helpful." Essentially, these devices and apps take on the role of nagging mom.

My experience with wearing Lumo Lift was sobering. I've always been aware of my hunched silhouette, but the constant buzzing really hammered home just how extreme it is. I'm not wearing the device everyday. I misplace it. I forget to charge it. And most days I simply just don't feel like wearing it.

But the buzzing experience has made me hyper aware of correcting myself, of being my own posture police if you will. And my desire to straighten myself out has never been greater.

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Straighten up and stand right, with some electronic nagging

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She did everything she could to try straighten me out as a young adult. There were the posture-correcting ballet classes, the personal trainer, the physical therapy. But all the pestering and pirouetting couldn't fight the forces of screen strain: the spine-crushing laptop and the neck-protruding smartphone. The result?

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Distraction citied as pedestrian deaths spiked in 2016

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Trump on Freedom Caucus: 'We must fight them'

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President Trump on Thursday struck back at the House caucus that sunk his ObamaCare replacement bill, threatening their legislative careers if the staunchly conservative members refuse to get on board with the new president's agenda.

"The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!" Trump tweeted.

The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017

Later Thursday, Freedom Caucus member Rep. Justin Amash returned fire in the Republican civil war:

"It didn't take long for the swamp to drain @realDonaldTrump. No shame, Mr. President. Almost everyone succumbs to the D.C. Establishment," Amash wrote.

It didn't take long for the swamp to drain @realDonaldTrump. No shame, Mr. President. Almost everyone succumbs to the D.C. Establishment. https://t.co/9bDo8yzH7I
- Justin Amash (@justinamash) March 30, 2017

Later, Amash told Fox News that "most people don't take well to being bullied" and compared Trump's tactics to those of a fifth grader.

Freedom Caucus co-founder Jim Jordan, however, refused to take Trump's bait during an interview on "America's Newsroom."

"We appreciate the president," Jordan said. "We're trying to help the president, but the fact is you have to look at the legislation."

He added: "I'm not here to assign blame to anyone...what I focus on doing is doing what I told the voters we're going to do."

The 30-plus member Freedom Caucus in the House of Representatives was the key bloc that refused to vote in favor of the Trump-backed health care bill earlier this month. Despite the bill's general lack of popularity, the consensus was that it could have been able to pass the Republican-majority House - if the Freedom Caucus joined in.

But Trump and top advisers were never able to allay the concerns of caucus members, and House Speaker Paul Ryan pulled the bill - which would have been Trump's first major legislative achievement and dealt a death blow to ObamaCare - prior to a scheduled Friday vote.

Ryan said during a Thursday news conference that he understood "the president's frustration," regarding Trump's tweet.

Trump hasn't taken health care reform off the table entirely in the aftermath of the debacle; however, he and his aides have moved on to other issues such as tax reform and infrastructure.

Trump's tweet suggests he may attempt to primary some members of the caucus in 2018, hoping to find a candidate more favorable to his agenda. It's a tactic he's threatened in the past, notably in the cases of former presidential primary rivals Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who had refused to endorse Trump. Cruz eventually gave his endorsement.

The Republican infighting has not been limited to the House.

Ryan and a top Senate Republican engaged in a brief public spat Thursday about comments Ryan made earlier in the morning, seeming to suggest Trump should not try to work with Democrats.

"What I worry about, Norah, is that if we don't do this, then he'll just go work with Democrats to try and change ObamaCare and that's not - that's hardly a conservative thing," Ryan told CBS.

Sen. Bob Corker, an avid backer of Trump's during the presidential campaign who was among those considered to be vice president, shot back on Twitter: "We have come a long way in our country when the speaker of one party urges a president NOT to work with the other party to solve a problem."

Ryan, during his news conference, dismissed Corker's remarks.

"They're not going to help us repeal ObamaCare, that's my point," Ryan said of Democratic lawmakers.

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Trump on Freedom Caucus: 'We must fight them'

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President Trump on Thursday struck back at the House caucus that sunk his ObamaCare replacement bill, threatening their legislative careers if the staunchly conservative members refuse to get on board with the new president's agenda. "The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast.

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texas church bus crashed into a pickup truck 13 dead, 2 injured

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Shark washes onto street in Australia during cyclone

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FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports

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QUEENSLAND, Australia - Some Queenslanders didn't take police warnings to stay out of flood waters very seriously - until a bull shark washed up in the street.

Northeastern Australia is still dealing with the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie, which swept across the Queensland coast on Tuesday, causing widespread damage with winds up to 114 mph.

It has since been downgraded to a low pressure system but is still moving slowly down the eastern coast, dumping many inches of rain.

No deaths have been recorded so far, but areas of southeast Queensland have been hit with extensive flooding.

Australian emergency services have repeatedly warned people to stay out of the flood waters, after photos and videos emerged of locals playing in flooded streets, and even doing some surfing.

But the discovery of a huge dead bull shark in floodwaters near Ayr, just south of Townsville, is likely to give some residents pause.

The photo was taken by emergency service crews checking on flooded roads in the area. Queensland Fire & Emergency were among those to tweet out the discovery, saying, "Think it's safe to go back in the water? Think again!"

Cyclone Debbie slammed into the Far North Queensland coast as a Category 3 cyclone, the most powerful to hit the region since Cyclone Yasi in 2011.

The International Space Station captured the swirling clouds in the hours before Debbie hit.

All schools in southeast Queensland were closed on Thursday and Friday as the storm continued its journey south.

Social media showed local children taking full advantage of the day off, swimming and playing in the heavy rain.

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said heavy rainfall is expected to continue for about the next 24 hours and some residents were preparing sandbags to avoid any further flood damage to their properties.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk called for residents affected by flooding and storms to stay indoors and reassured those already affected that help was on the way.

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Shark washes onto street in Australia during cyclone

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QUEENSLAND, Australia - Some Queenslanders didn't take police warnings to stay out of flood waters very seriously -- until a bull shark washed up in the street. Northeastern Australia is still dealing with the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie, which swept across the Queensland coast on Tuesday, causing widespread damage with winds up to 114 mph.

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A skull from the medieval ages was reconstructed by the University of Cambridgehttp://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2017/03/29/meet-a-700-year-old-man-orig-tc.cnn

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chen zhitong won 15,000 stuffed animals from a claw machine from the past year and he said hes a claw machine masterhttp://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/it-s-not-a-scam-you-can-win-at-the-claw-machine/?iid=ob_homepage_deskrecommended_pool

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Uber is ditching Denmark

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Reports: American Airlines officer dies during landing at Albuquerque

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BRADY AIKEN REJECTED $5M AND GOT HURT; NOW PAST NO. 1 PICK FIGHTS FOR MLB FUTURE

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GOODYEAR, Ariz. - No spring training backdrop is as dramatic as that of the Cleveland Indians, where dozens of tired, abandoned jets are parked on the desert floor in their final resting place. Pilots refer to these acres of dusty real estate as "The Boneyard." Under a scorching sun, the aircrafts await their turn to be dismantled.

On a patch of green grass across the street, a small group of Indians minor leaguers finish another day of workouts by sprinting some 40 yards or so toward those jets. Then, back again. Sweat glistens. Smiles gleam. Another sprint, and then another. And somewhere in this anonymous pack is only the third high school pitcher in history to be selected No. 1 overall in baseball's annual amateur draft.

Brady Aiken, the left-hander whose career has been grounded since Houston drafted and then squeezed him in 2014, is emerging tall from a three-year span in which it appeared as if his baseball life might've been in line to be dismantled right along with all those dead jets.

"It makes for a pretty cool sunrise," he says, enthusiasm and wonder again filling his voice as he gazes toward the airplane graveyard.

"Spring training's awesome," he continues. "Everyone's out here, you're in a big group together, having a good time."

It was not easy to pick Aiken out of this pack and, for now, that's exactly the way he prefers it. He did his time in the eye of the hurricane. He lived the line from the Bruce Springsteen song, the one that wonders: Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?

Yes, today is all about these blessed sunrises, not sunsets. The negotiations with Houston that dissolved into a smoldering wreckage in 2014, the Tommy John ligament-transfer surgery he underwent two years ago on March 25, the rehabilitation, the waiting, the wondering, the grinding, the first few tentative steps in his comeback late last summer...those are the sunsets, so many of them, and good riddance to all.

Now, there are no more restrictions. There are no more negotiations.

There is only what's up ahead in the distance.

"This is probably the happiest that he's been, the best place he's been in physically and mentally ever in his life," Jim Aiken, Brady's father, says. "The Indians are such a great organization. They've been so good to him."

The Indians caught him on the rebound, selecting him in the first round, 17thoverall, in the 2015 draft. His arm was healing at the time. No matter. Cleveland believed enough to give him a $2.5 million signing bonus and a ticket to their spring training complex to rehab under the club's watch and with its help.

For that, Aiken will be forever grateful.

"That stuff that happened in the past is obviously not something we wish would have happened," he tells B/R in his first lengthy sit-down interview since the Indians drafted him. "But we're in a really good position now.

"I'm in a really good organization and, although I did have surgery, I rehabbed with a fantastic team that is really good with rehabbing pitchers. That's the most important thing for me, making sure that my career is going in the right direction. Which it is."

He is still a baby, only 20, though given the wringer he's been through, he must be about 50 in dog years. This idea elicits a chuckle. Why not? He's trained himself to look for the bright side.

"I learned a lot in the process and definitely have grown in the mental side of the game in ways that I wouldn't have if I was just playing every day," he says. "You learn so much patience. Being in rehab with some guys who were down here, big leaguers, it was pretty cool."

One of them was Indians starter Josh Tomlin, who was the first person to say hello to Aiken at the Indians' Arizona facility two summers ago. Tomlin, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2012, was rehabbing from shoulder surgery at the time.

"I knew who he was, and I knew the path he had the year before," Tomlin says. "So I figured I'd try to make it as easy as I could for him."

It was before his senior season in high school that the 6'4" left-hander with the Hollywood looks and the sensational stuff made a bold proclamation to his family and advisors, the agent Casey Close and his crew: His goal was to be picked first in the draft that summer. Not just the first round. First overall.

Aiken knew Carlos Rodon, the North Carolina State left-hander who wound up being picked third overall by the Chicago White Sox, was being talked about as a potential No. 1. He was eyeing rival high school star Tyler Kolek, who would go No. 2 overall to the Marlins.

So he ran. He threw. He lifted. He worked his tail off, and on June 5, 2014, the Astros cooperated. They picked him first.

It was the last time they would cooperate.

They offered a $6.5 million signing bonus (less than the $7.9 million MLB had slotted for the No. 1 overall pick), then pulled it back when medical exams reportedly revealed a small abnormality in Aiken's elbow near his ligament.

Weeks went by before the Astros made another offer, this one lowered to $3.1 million and then, just before the signing deadline, $5 million. Aiken and his camp balked, and the Astros became the first team to fail to sign its No. 1 pick in 31 years, since the Minnesota Twins and Tim Belcher were at odds in 1983.

Caught in the crossfire was pitcher Jacob Nix, who was selected in the fifth round by the Astros and offered a $1.5 million signing bonus, way higher than the $370,500 that MLB recommended for the 136th overall pick. Nix, too, went unsigned because when the Aiken negotiations blew up, the Astros lost a portion of their allotted draft-pool money and were unable to sign Nix at the agreed price without incurring penalties. Like Aiken, Nix told the Astros to take a later, lower offer and shove it.

Longtime friends since pitching together for the United States 18-and-under national team when they were in high school, the two enrolled at IMG Academy, a boarding school and sportstraining facility in Bradenton, Florida. They were even roommates.

"What happened sucked, but we were having fun," Nix, now in San Diego's camp after the Padres selected him in the third round in '15 and gave him a $900,000 signing bonus, tells B/R. "We had a lot of fun at IMG. We joked around a lot, but we knew when to get serious and get our work done."

Then, in the first inning of his first game at IMG, on his 13thpitch, Aiken's elbow blew out.

"It was just one pitch, first inning, and it just kind of clicked a little bit," Aiken says. "I was like, 'Oh, man, that's kind of weird.' It didn't really hurt too bad. I just kept throwing, and it progressively got worse to the point where, yeah, this doesn't feel the greatest."

That night, Aiken, Nix and several others had planned to go to dinner. Instead, his elbow now remapping his future, Aiken stayed behind. Nix stopped at Cold Stone Creamery and picked up some mint chip ice cream.

"He was in his room and looked pretty down," Nix says. "So I was like, I'm going to bring this guy some ice cream." This is the part where the dream that became a lie turned into something worse.

"It happened so quick," Aiken says. "I flew out a couple of days later and got the surgery the next morning after. It was almost like a daze. Within 24-48 hours, I was done with surgery before I even knew it."

His elbow was fixed by Dr. David Altchek, the same surgeon who had reconstructed Indians starter Carlos Carrasco's elbow, in New York. Nix packed up his friend's belongings in Florida and shipped them to his home in San Diego. To Aiken, still, it was a shock that he even was in this position. Despite the warning flares the Astros reportedly saw on the medical reports, Aiken always had been healthy and expected to stay that way.

Brady Aiken @bradyaiken10
Road to recovery starts now! @PlayersTribune http://t.co/cXcOUBVem4 http://t.co/dCLkvDvkAq

"I wasn't worried that anything was going to happen," he says of his thoughts after the Houston deal fell apart. "I was excited to get back on the mound and prove my point, prove that all the training I had done was good and everything that I'd prepared for was going to pay off."

Despite absorbing arrows nationally from many who knew little about his situation, Aiken politely declines to discuss where things went sideways with the Astros. So does his father.

"Our story is going to stay within our family and our support staff," Jim Aiken says. "A lot of stuff that was said was very, very hurtful not only to Brady, but to our family. A lot of bad stuff was said, most of it not true."

As he healed from surgery, the family's tight circle closed ranks. Aiken regrouped with his father, his mother, Linda, sister Halle, Close and David O'Hagen, the local San Diego representative from Close's agency.

The rehab seemed endless. His first full calendar year in Cleveland's organization after the '15 draft, it was his full-time job.

"A lot of people don't understand how long you're throwing," he says. "From late August until, shoot, the end of October, it was 15 months or so of nonstop throwing."

He learned what everyone else who has been through rehab knows: Some days are good, some not so good. Some steps forward are bold, others are wobbly. You can't do too much, but you can't do too little, either. It's long. It's boring. It's painful. It's relentless.

All this when you're 19? The sun cannot set quickly enough on each day.

It wasn't until last June 20, exactly two years and 15 days after he had been the first overall pick in the country, when he finally pitched in a game for the first time, stepping onto the mound for the Indians' Instructional League team in Arizona. And over the next 10 weeks, those who sided with the Astros because Aiken had dared to snub them while standing on principle, got their short-term gratification: In nine games (eight starts) for the Indians' Arizona Rookie team, he went 0-4 with a 7.12 ERA. When Cleveland sent him to Low-A Mahoning Valley in the New York-Penn League near season's end, he went 2-1 with a 4.43 ERA in five starts.

It wasn't only the lackluster numbers, though. His fastball velocity last year was in the 89-91 mph range. In high school, he sat at 92-94 and touched 95, 96.

"I wasn't at my best, but I did have some games where I threw well," Aiken says. "My velocity was down a little bit, but I think that helped me out because I had to learn how to throw, learn how to pitch. I couldn't just go out there and blow fastballs by guys. I had to learn how to throw in to guys, throw out to guys, work my off-speed stuff in the right spot. That definitely helped me grow as a pitcher."

The Indians, of course, paid little attention to the velocity part of Aiken's first steps back. General manager Mike Chernoff, saying he has "no concerns whatsoever," notes the obvious: It is not unusual for a dip in velocity to occur at the end of a long rehabilitation process. More important than velocity issues, Chernoff says, is that young pitchers lose development time while they are sidelined. Which is why Aiken right now is perfectly happy to be away from the headlines and working in the shadows with the rest of the minor leaguers. He's playing catch-up.

"He is so strong, body-wise," Chernoff says. "As he builds up this spring, we're much more concerned with his delivery, making sure that's consistent.

"I think the big thing is, coming in this year is, he's no longer a rehab player. His mindset is, he can be more aggressive. It's been a long time for him. There can be some tentativeness."

For his entire life, Aiken had done everything by the book in attempting to preserve his arm. He observed pitch counts. Innings limits. And the fickleness of the pitching elbow still caught him.

"You always look back and wonder, could we have done anything differently and, honestly, no," he says. "Even in summer ball in high school, I was on a pitch count and innings limits.

"There were some frustrating times."

Glancing in the rearview mirror, though, is wasted energy. He knows he must live in the present, and he's gotten pretty good at that. Plus, the Indians are there to serve gentle reminders.

"It can be a challenge when the focus is on getting back to where you were," Chernoff says. "Getting back to where you were in high school is not good enough to get you to the major leagues. There's no prospect status anymore. It's not about potential."

The Indians had zero hesitation using their first-round pick on Aiken in '15 even though he was on ice at the time because they had done extensive background work on him a year earlier. Their medical people were confident they could bring him back to an elite level, and the club has faith that its performance coaches and mental skills coaches can ace the rest.

"Look, he had been through a lot," Chernoff says. "What was he, 18? I can't even imagine going through the ups and downs he went through.

"Right from the outset of the draft, we talked about, 'Here is what a plan could look like.' There was going to be anxiety. We tried to make him see it's a two-way street, see the resources we have.

"With what he had been through, he deserved that. In the end, he owns his own career. We want to help him build the career he wants to have."

Here in the shadow of the dead jets, the reconstruction of Brady Aiken is beginning to crank up to full speed. He throws a four-seam fastball, a two-seamer, a changeup and a curve, the two-seamer emerging from afterthought in high school to well polished now.

"I think the main thing is, last year, I was kind of shying away from a few pitches every once in awhile," says Aiken, who is expected to start the season with the Lake County (Ohio) Captains in the Class A Midwest League. "But now that I've had an offseason, it almost doesn't feel like I had surgery. Going into this season, I feel like a normal pitcher. No limitations, no restrictions on my arm. It feels good to be a normal player again."

It is a new normal. "Damaged" isn't so much the word Chernoff chooses to describe him as "resilient."

"Every player at some point faces adversity," Chernoff says. "Brady faced extreme adversity early, and the resiliency he had...those are the attributes that are going to help him get to the big leagues.

"It's how you overcome adversity that defines your career."

You can see it happening here one sunrise at a time, the dawn of each new day presenting Aiken with his latest opportunity to overcome and redefine, one healthy pitch at a time.

"There's no regret on my side," he says. "I know I didn't do anything wrong. No one can predict stuff like that to happen.

"I'm glad I'm where I am now, with a great organization and in a great position to start this year and start moving up."
Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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Brady Aiken Rejected $5M and Got Hurt; Now Past No. 1 Pick Fights for MLB Future

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GOODYEAR, Ariz. - No spring training backdrop is as dramatic as that of the Cleveland Indians, where dozens of tired, abandoned jets are parked on the desert floor in their final resting place. Pilots refer to these acres of dusty real estate as "The Boneyard."

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Ivanka Trump is changing course and will become a government employee in the coming days, a White House official told CNN Wednesday.

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President Donald Trump's eldest daughter will be an unpaid employee working in the West Wing.

"I have heard the concerns some have with my advising the President in my personal capacity while voluntarily complying with all ethics rules, and I will instead serve as an unpaid employee in the White House Office, subject to all of the same rules as other federal employees," Ivanka Trump said in a statement. "Throughout this process I have been working closely and in good faith with the White House counsel and my personal counsel to address the unprecedented nature of my role."

A source with knowledge of the decision told CNN's Gloria Borger the decision was made after the "unease" expressed by people about the nature of her voluntary role, and ethics advocates Norm Eisen and Fred Wertheimer had sent White House counsel Don McGhan a letter last Friday.

Power couple

Now, Ivanka Trump will be an "adviser" to the President, and will file her own Form 278, which means she is legally bound by the ethics rules.

An unsigned statement from the White House said: "We are pleased that Ivanka Trump has chosen to take this step in her unprecedented role as first daughter and in support of the President."

Trump's attorney, Jamie S. Gorelick, said: "Ivanka's decision reflects both her commitment to compliance with federal ethics standards and her openness to opposing points of view. She will file the financial disclosure forms required of federal employees and be bound by the same ethics rules that she had planned to comply with voluntarily."

Jared Kushner, Ivanka's husband and a top Trump aide, is also serving the White House as an unpaid government employee.

News of Trump's new title was first reported by The New York Times.

A White House official confirmed last week that, after a few months settling into Washington, Trump was officially moving into a West Wing office and would obtain top-secret security clearance. She will also receive government-provided communications devices, per the official.

Ivanka Trump's elevation has prompted critics to note the potential violation of the nepotism law, passed in 1967, that says no public official -- from the President down to a low-level manager at a federal agency -- may hire or promote a relative.

But the law states that any appointee found to have violated the law is "not entitled to pay" by the federal government, which appears to offer the opportunity for Trump and Kushner to forgo paychecks while still serving the administration.

When Kushner officially joined Trump's team in January, the Justice Department concluded that his post as senior adviser was not in violation of federal anti-nepotism laws.

"In choosing his personal staff, the President enjoys an unusual degree of freedom, which Congress found suitable to the demands of his office," wrote Daniel Koffsky, deputy assistant attorney general in the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel, which serves as interpreter of federal law for the White House.

Koffsky reasoned in January that the anti-nepotism law covers only appointments in an "executive" agency and that the White House Office is not an executive agency within the law. He cited a separate law that gives the President broad powers to hire his staff.

That law authorizes the President to appoint "employees in the White House office without regard to any other provision of law regulating the employment or compensation of persons in the government service."

Ivanka Trump took a formal leave of absence from her eponymous apparel and accessories brand, as well as the Trump Organization, in January. She has long been a key trusted adviser to her father, through her young adulthood to her time as executive vice president of real estate development and acquisition at the Trump Organization, and, ultimately, to his 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump will continue in that capacity, serving as the President's "eyes and ears," per Gorelick.

"She will not be his only source of input and insight, obviously, but she may be able to provide insights into the concerns of people whom he might not meet as President," Gorelick told CNN via email last week.

Already at work

In the first several weeks of the administration, she's already been on hand for key happenings, including roundtable discussions with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a Florida school visit with her father and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, an Oval Office bill signing encouraging women in STEM, a visit to the National African American Museum of History and Culture and West Wing meetings on human trafficking and manufacturing, among others. She took an even higher profile this week, making formal remarks at an event encouraging women in STEM at Smithsonian's Air and Space museum on Tuesday.

The broadening of Trump's role in her father's administration is unprecedented by any modern member of a first family.

President George W. Bush, who worked on his father's campaign, is the most recent parallel to Ivanka Trump, said Kate Andersen Brower, author of "First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies" and a CNN contributor.

"But even he wasn't sitting in on high-level policy meetings when his father was in the White House. It definitely complicates matters when someone who can't be fired -- aka a family member -- is this involved in an administration," she said.

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ivanka trump is making her white house job official - cnnpolitics

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Dan Merica, Gloria Borger, Jim Acosta and Betsy Klein, CNN

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Ivanka Trump is making her White House job official

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President Donald Trump's eldest daughter will be an unpaid employee working in the West Wing. "I have heard the concerns some have with my advising the President in my personal capacity while voluntarily complying with all ethics rules, and I will instead serve as an unpaid employee in the White House Office, subject to all of the same rules as other federal employees," Ivanka Trump said in a statement.

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Golden State Warriors are on a 9 game win streak. There record is 61-14.

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the Cavs and the Celtics are tied for number 1 in the East

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Library book stolen 35 years ago returned with $200 donation

A book swiped from a Montana library more than 35 years ago has been returned -- with an apology and cash.

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The raiders are moving to las vegas

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Mr. Kohl- British Prime Minister Theresa May will tell the EU that want out.  Many Brits voted to break up with the EU in part over worries about its loose immigration policies. May will push for Britain to get back full control over who comes and goes. This also means the UK would have to pull out of the EU’s ‘single market’ .

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Mr. Kohl- British Prime Minister Theresa May will tell the EU that want out.  Many Brits voted to break up with the EU in part over worries about its loose immigration policies. May will push for Britain to get back full control over who comes and goes. This also means the UK would have to pull out of the EU’s ‘single market’ .