Northwest Herald / NWHerald.com • Section A • Monday, June 9, 2014 •
Miss Nevada Nia Sanchez crowned as 63rd Miss USA
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By STACEY PLAISANCE The Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. – Miss Nevada Nia Sanchez, a fourth-degree black belt in the Korean martial art of taekwondo, was crowned Miss USA 2014 on Sunday night. The 24-year-old from Las Vegas beat out 50 other contestants from all the states and the District of Columbia for the title of 63rd Miss USA. First runner-up was Miss North Dakota Audra Mari. Erin Brady, of South Glastonbury, Connecticut, the 2013 winner, gave up her crown to Sanchez after a three-hour telecast from the Baton Rouge Civic Center in Louisiana. Other runner-ups, judged on interviews, evening gowns and swimsuits, were: home state beauty queen Miss Louisiana Brittany Guidry, Miss Georgia Tiana Griggs, Miss Florida Brittany Oldehoff and Miss Iowa Carlyn Bradarich. All the titles included USA after the state. Bradarich got a second chance when the viewing audience gave her the most votes on Twitter in the pageant’s first-ever “Save the Queen” option. Sanchez will go on to represent the U.S. at the Miss Universe competition later this year. In a vibrant red floor-length fishtail gown, Miss Nevada talked about the importance of women being able to defend themselves when asked a question about the high rate of sexual assaults on college campuses. Judge Rumer Willis, the 25-year-old daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, said 19 percent of U.S. undergraduate women are victims of sexual assault and asked Sanchez why she thinks this is being swept under the rug and what should be done about it. Sanchez said bringing awareness to the issue was important, as well as women taking it upon themselves to learn how to defend themselves.
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Miss Nevada USA Nia Sanchez is crowned Miss USA on Sunday during the Miss USA 2014 pageant in Baton Rouge, La. The subject of sexual assault was also on the mind of Miss Pennsylvania Valerie Gatto. She made headlines this week when she said she was the product of rape. During a taped segment that aired when her name was called, Gatto said her mother was 19 when she was attacked leaving work in Pittsburgh and became pregnant. Gatto said she is living proof “that your circumstances do not define your life.” First runner-up Mari said she overcame being bullied in high school by competing in ice hockey. The Fargo, North Dakota, native wore a green floor-length evening gown and in her final interview talked about the importance of getting an education and going to college.
Contestants entered the stage on a glitzy float as Louisiana native singer-songwriter Marc Broussard sang the New Orleans hits “Iko Iko” and “Hey Pocky Way” to kick off the 2014 contest. The women introduced themselves while holding Mardi Gras masks in their hands as purple, green and gold confetti fell in the background. The pageant also included musical acts by the country music duo Florida Georgia Line, rapper Nelly and Latin pop band Camila. Celebrity judges walked a red carpet in evening gowns and tuxedos before the start of the show, posing for pictures and talking about the qualities they would be looking for in the beauty they crown the winner.
Political parties fight to shake up voting times in swing states By DAVID A. LIEB The Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Election Day is approaching, and you’ve made up your mind. There’s no need to wait. In many states, you now can vote early. Yet what’s convenient to you is increasingly an opportunity for political gamesmanship to the candidates on the ballot. In key swing states, Democrats and Republicans are battling this year to gain even the slightest electoral advantages by tinkering with the times, dates and places where people can vote early. Their sights are set not only on this year’s gubernatorial and congressional campaigns, but on an even bigger prize: control of the White House after the 2016 elections. Republican-controlled legislatures in Ohio, Missouri, North Carolina and Wisconsin all have taken recent steps to curtail early voting by limiting the days on which it’s available. Meanwhile, Democratic-led
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“For whatever reason, both sides seem to believe that increased early voting will help Democrats and hurt Republicans.” David Kimball Political science professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who studies voting legislatures have passed measures expanding early voting or instant registration in Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts and Minnesota. And Democratic activists in Missouri are backing an initiative petition that could create one of the nation’s most expansive early voting systems. The efforts all are born from a shared political assumption. “For whatever reason, both sides seem to believe that increased early voting will help Democrats and hurt Republicans,” said David Kimball, a political science professor at
the University of Missouri-St. Louis who studies voting. New research suggests that those partisan assumptions about early voting may not be true. Yet the perception is deeply grounded because of President Barack Obama’s pioneering use of early voting to drive a greater number of Democrats to the polls in his victories in 2008 and 2012. At least 33 states now have laws that let people vote in-person before elections without needing an excuse to obtain an absentee ballot. Early voting laws became increasingly common after the disputed 2000 presidential election as a means of diminishing long Election Day lines that had frustrated voters. But Democrats were especially aggressive in seeing the potential for their get-out-thevote efforts. In 2008, for example, some Democratic-aligned groups drove worshippers from predominantly black churches straight to early voting sites in what became known as a “souls to the polls” campaign.
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NATION BRIEFS Morgan recovering after surgery following crash TRENTON, N.J. – Tracy Morgan was recovering Sunday, but was expected to remain hospitalized for several weeks after having surgery on a broken leg suffered in a deadly chain-reaction crash on the New Jersey Turnpike that left two others critically injured and another man dead. The 45-year-old actor and comedian, a former “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock” cast member, remained in critical condition but was “more responsive” Sunday after having
surgery for a broken leg, said Morgan’s spokesman, Lewis Kay. Kay said that Morgan also sustained a broken femur, broken nose and several broken ribs and is expected to remain hospitalized for “several weeks.”
Audra McDonald, Bryan Cranston, NPH win Tonys NEW YORK – The murderous romp “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” has gotten a lot of love at the Tony Awards – it nabbed the best new musical trophy on a night that saw Audra McDonald, Bryan Cranston and
Neil Patrick Harris all take home big awards. The musical “A Gentlemen’s Guide,” in which a poor man comically eliminates the eight heirs ahead of him for a title, opened rather quietly and has had a steady increase in interest, peaking with its huge win over Disney’s “Aladdin” and the Carole King songs from “Beautiful – The Carole King Musical.” McDonald became the Tonys’ most decorated actress, while Cranston won a best actor trophy for his Broadway debut.
– Wire reports
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