Happy Belated National Train Day from Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Restored former Milwaukee Road ALCo 4-8-4 #261 seen chugging northbound on the BNSF Hinckley subdivision at Andover, MN with an excursion between Minneapolis and Duluth, MN on May 11, 2013- National Train Day.

Even though it shares the weekend with the much more time-honored holiday of Mother's Day, Saturday May 11th marks National Train Day.

While some holidays are dismissed as nothing more than mere creations of the greeting card cartels, Amtrak has a hand in promoting this much more recent holiday. The date is meant to coincide with the May 10th, 1869 ceremonial driving of the Golden Spike on the Transcontinental Railroad in Promontory Point, UT. Since Amtrak sponsors a number of Train Day events nationwide, its hardly surprising that the emphasis is primarily on passenger rail [although I thought this would be a good opportunity for freight railroads to promote themselves to the public- NANESB!].

Unsurprisingly, a number of railroad museums also participate in this holiday to either recruit new members, attract additional visitors and raise funds for ongoing restoration projects. These activities can include anything from static displays to guided tours of facilities to mainline steam excursions.

Perhaps the highlight of this year's National Train Day was Milwaukee Road #261's first excursion in more than four years, taking passengers up from the Twin Cities to Duluth in restored Milwaukee Road passenger cars. Other steam locomotives fired up for the occasion include Nickel Plate #765 which was scheduled to haul a Norfolk Southern employees special in northeastern Ohio and Spokane, Portland & Seattle #700 was on display at Portland Union Station in Portland, OR.

Of course, appreciation of trains doesn't have to be limited to early May- you can always find out more about the railroad heritage in your part of the country by finding your nearest railroad museum or National Railroad Historical Society (NRHS) chapter.

Hot For Teacher- Florida English Teacher Dismissed Over Swimsuit Photos

Officials in Martin County, FL reportedly pressured a high school English teacher into resigning her position last month once they learned she had modeled for some photo shoots in very skimpy swimwear.

Demo Photography Image

MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. -- A Martin County High School teacher who had planned to resign at the end of the school year said she was asked to leave a month early.

Olivia Sprauer taught English at Martin County High School.

Sprauer said she was called into the principal's office on April 29 and was shown a photo that had been sent to the principal.

Sprauer confirmed it was one of her modeling photos.

Sprauer said the principal asked for her resignation and was escorted off campus.

A statement released from the Martin County School District confirmed Sprauer no longer works for the district.

Martin County, which is situated to the south of Palm Beach County, is home to just over 125,000 people according to the most recent Census.

Sprauer, who modeled under the name Victoria Valentine James, still maintains an online portfolio of some of her work at the Model Mayhem website.

I gotta say that while I may have some misgivings if she were one of my kid's teachers, I also don't think this should've cost Sprauer her job- even if it meant firing her a month before she was supposed to leave anyway. My only thought might be that there was even more NSFW images out there that haven't been as widely circulated that the administration was made aware of.

Also, when attractive female teachers make headlines, it usually is because they've been discovered sleeping with one of their underage pupils. I suppose all involved should be glad that's not the case this time around.

This isn't the first controversy involving scantily clad teachers in the area. In 2008, high school teacher and divorced mother of three Tiffany Shepherd took on a job as a 'bikini mate' on a charter fishing boat in nearby St Lucie county. She was fired by the school district shortly after taking the bikini mate job, although school officials say the dismissal was from a long string of written reprimands and unexplained absences from Shepherd.

Within months of her dismissal by school officials, Shepherd said she had to take up appearing in adult films to help pay the bills. In 2010, Shepherd was arrested on misdemeanor charges of filing a false police report in nearby Okeechobee county.

Israel Launches Airstrikes Deep Within Syrian Territory

Syrian military facilities under the control of forces loyal to Syrian president Bashr Al Assad were struck by the Israeli air force in multiple raids over the weekend.

The first airstrike reportedly targeted Damascus International Airport where long-range missiles from Iran and reportedly destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon were targeted.

The second strike was considerably more dramatic.



On Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck Syria's Jamraya Military research center- where Western observers believe Assad's military develops unconventional weapons. The facility is also home to a Presidential Guard brigade said to be commanded by Bashr al-Assad's brother, Maher al-Assad.

Damascus was shaken by repeated explosions coming from the north-western suburbs.

Amateur video footage and eye witness testimony suggested rocket attacks had hit weapons dumps, triggering dramatic orange-flamed blasts.

The area houses numerous military facilities, including the Jamraya research centre, designated by Syria as a scientific research centre "in charge of raising our level of resistance and self-defence".

A state TV bulletin said: "The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups, which have been reeling from strikes by our noble army."

Damascus-based journalist Alaa Ebrahim told the BBC it was "the biggest explosion" the city had seen since the conflict began two years ago.

He said residents living near Jamraya reported feeling a "mild earthquake" just before the blast, indicating that the rockets may have hit an underground facility.

In addition to being located on the outskirts of Damascus, the Jamraya facility is located close to the Lebanese border, which makes facilitating the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah fairly easy.

While Israel has seemed reluctant to involve itself in Syria's ongoing civil war, this weekend's strikes were meant to send a message to Bashr al-Assad and Hezbollah's main benefactor, Iran. The missiles that were reportedly destined for Hezbollah were Iranian-made Fateh 110 ground to ground missiles, which have a range of 200 miles.

Although the Assad regime and Syria's state-run media have claimed that Israel is acting in concert with the Free Syrian Army and other rebel groups, Israel actually stands to gain very little from the uncontrolled collapse of the Assad regime on their doorstep.

Hangover Quicke Sports Chowdah Update- Home Ice is Nice, But B's Ruin Leafs Homecoming; Slumping Sox Snap Skid

Nathan Denette/Canadian Press

BOSTON BRUINS- After a very game Toronto evened up the series at 1-1 at the TD Garden over the weekend, the Bruins/Maple Leafs series headed to Toronto on Monday night. This would be the first playoff game for Toronto in more than nine years and in addition to a packed house of nearly 20,000 inside the Air Canada Centre, thousands more fans clad in blue and white jersets, jackets and facepaint gathered around outside the arena to watch the game on strategically placed big screen TVs.

The Bruins cut into the home crowd's celebratory mood by getting on the board first thanks to an Adam McQuaid goal about midway through the first to make it 1-0. The B's would add to that lead with a Rich Peverly tally just under 6 minutes into the second period before a Jake Gardnier power play goal would help the Leafs get on the board, cutting the Boston lead in half.

However, Boston answered back less than a minute later when Nathan Horton's shot not only beat Reimer but managed to embed itself where the goalie-cam was mounted. Two minutes later and with Toronto on the power play, Daniel Paille would snag the puck near center ice and beat Reimer on a breakaway to make it a 4-1 Boston lead.

The Leafs were still game and with the man advantage, they pressed their attack to start off the third, once again cutting into the Bruins lead- this time on a Phil Kessel [*BOOOO!*- NANESB!] power play goal to make it 4-2 less than a minute into the 3rd period. Despite the Bruins being outshot 18-6 in the third, that would be the only goal Tukka Rask would allow in the 3rd, and with less than two minutes to go in the first, the Bruins would get an empty-netter from David Krejci to make it 5-2. That would be the dagger as the Bruins take a 2-1 lead in the series.

Tukka Rask would allow two power play goals on the 47 shots he faced at the Air Canada Centre on Monday night while James Reimer stopped 33 out of 27 shots faced. In addition to the empty-netter, Krejci had two assists on the night while the veteran Jaromir Jagr also had an assist.

The Bruins deflated the home crowd in Toronto on Monday night and look to repeat the accomplishment on Wednesday night when the series resumes. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN, CBC and the NHL Network.

AP Photo/Charles Krupa

BOSTON RED SOX- It was starting to look as though May wasn't going to be quite as good to the Red Sox as April had been. After tying the club record for number of wins in April, the Red Sox took two out of three from the Blue Jays to end the month of April and start May. However, the rest of the road trip was somewhat forgettable as the Texas Rangers swept the Sox in Arlington, including a come-from-behind win to break a 3-3 deadlock on Sunday.

The Sox looked like they weren't going to fare any better in Monday night's game against the struggling Twins when Minnesota got two runs off of Clay Buchholz out of the gate to start off Monday night's game at Fenway. The Twins would take a 3-0 lead on an RBI double from outfielder Aaron Hicks in the top of the 4th before the Red Sox would get on the board in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a Shane Victorino solo homer.

Twins catcher Joe Mauer would miss hitting a homer by a few feet to lead off the inning, getting a ground-rule double to the deepest part of right center instead. 1B Justin Morneau would bring Mauer home to make it 4-1 Twins before the top half of the inning was through.

The bottom of the 5th would be pretty eventful for Boston as Daniel Nava led off with a double. Saltalamacchia and Middlebrooks struck out, but SS Steven Drew singled to bring home Nava and cut the Twin's lead in half. Jacoby Ellsbury would then double, but Drew was cut down at home to end the inning. Although Victorino and Pedroia would lead off the bottom of the 6th with back to back singles, Big Papi hit into the shift, resulting in a double-play as Victorino advanced to third. With two away, Napoli drove in Victorino to make it a one run game before Saltalamacchia struck out to end the inning.

By now, the Red Sox bats looked like they were getting to the Twins bullpen as starter Vance Worley left the game with the lead. Sure enough, the Twins bullpen coughed up the tying run in the form of a Steven Drew solo homer in the bottom of the 7th and Dustin Pedroia gave the Red Sox the 5-4 lead with a solo homer of his own to lead off the bottom of the 8th.

However, it wasn't just the Twins relievers that were having trouble on Monday night. After coming on in the top of the 9th and getting Ryan Doumit to fly out to center field, Sox closer Joel Hanrhan gave up a solo homer to Brian Dozier to tie the game up at 5-5. After striking out Joe Mauer and walking Josh Willingham, Hanrahan was pulled for Clay Mortensen, who ended the inning by getting Justin Morneau to ground out.

With nothing resolved, the game headed into extra innings. In the bottom of the 11th, Twins reliever Jared Burton got the first two batters he faced out but would allow back to back singles off of Middlebrooks and Saltalamacchia. That brought up Steven Drew, who already had three hits on the night. The younger brother of former Red Sox outfielder JD Drew then ended the game with an RBI single that clanged off the green monster to give the Red Sox the 5-4 win in the longest game for Boston in this young season.

Clay Mortensen pitched two and a thirds innings of relief to get the win while Steven Drew went 4-5 with 3 RBI and a home run for the Sox. Big Papi went 1-4 to extend his hitting streak to 25 games (going back to last season).

Ryan Dempster [2-2; 3.00 ERA] who was seen warming up in extras on Monday night is scheduled to start for Boston on Tuesday, going up against Twins starter Scott Diamond [2-2; 3.97 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

It's Just Another Day Cinco De Mayo

Or as some have started calling it, "Drink-o de Mayo".

As stated here before, Cinco de Mayo marks the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla in 1862 during the Napoleonic annexation of France. Some 4500 poorly trained and outnumbered Mexican troops managed to halt the advance of one of the world's most powerful armies while taking light casualties themselves.

Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo isn't Mexico's independence Day- that date is actually in September. But the importers of Corona, Dos Equis, Tecate and Pacifico saw an opportunity to market their product, and to paraphrase the late Paul Harvey....now you know the rest of the story.

I'm not sure of the title or date of this piece, but the sweet senorita accompanied by the jumping beans and poncho-clad Chihuahua comes from none other than Vaughan Bass. There is relatively few vintage pin-up artwork depicting latina models (or Caucasian models in traditional garb) but similar pulp art from Mexican artists continues to adorn pulp novels sold at newsstands or bus stations throughout Mexico to this day.

Death Toll in Bangladesh Building Collapse Expected to Reach More Than 580

High temperatures outside the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka has hampered the grim recovery work in a building collapse that took place on April 24th and is now thought to have claimed nearly 600 lives.

The official death toll from the collapse reached 580 on Sunday, up from 547 a day earlier. It is expected to rise. The disaster is likely the worst garment-factory accident ever, and there have been few industrial accidents of any kind with a higher death toll.

Five garment factories operated in the Rana Plaza building that collapsed, and many brand labels have been found in the wreckage, but only two retailers, Britain's Primark and Canada's Loblaw Inc., have acknowledged that their clothes were being made there at the time.

Government officials say substandard building materials, combined with the vibration of the heavy machines used by the five factories, led to the collapse.

The building developed cracks a day before the collapse and the owner Mohammed Sohel Rana called engineer Abdur Razzak Khan to inspect it. Khan appeared on television that night and said he told Rana the building should be evacuated.

Police also issued an evacuation order, but witnesses say that hours before the collapse, Rana told people that the building was safe and garment factory managers told their workers to go inside.

Rana has been arrested is expected to be charged with negligence, illegal construction and forcing workers to join work, crimes punishable by a maximum of seven years in jail. Authorities have not said if more serious crimes will be added.

Khan was arrested as well. Police said he worked as a consultant to Rana when three illegal floors were added to what was supposed to be a five-story building.

The building housed garment workshops for at least two dozen international retailers. permit for the collapsed building allowed for five stories, but owner Mohammed Sohel Rana decided to expand vertically and have three additional stories illegally added on to the building. Rana was arrested earlier this week as the tried to flee to India.

The collapse comes months after a deadly fire swept through another garment factory, killing 7 workers. Government officials were investigating claims from workers that emergency exits were blocked at the time of the blaze.

The garment industry accounts for about 80% of Bangladeshi exports and is worth an estimated $20 billion annually for the impoverished nation.

Today's Train of Thought- Everything Old is Newburg Again, May 3rd 2013

Today's Train of Thought takes us to the western corner of Oregon and a work train that has the outward appearance of being about 20 years out of place.

Eager to divest themselves of low volume lines in the Pacific Northwest, Southern Pacific sold off and leased hundreds of miles of track within the state or Oregon in the early 1990s. This included one of Genesee & Wyoming's first forays into the West Coast with the Portland and Western. Prior to the sale of lines to shortlines and regionals like the Central Oregon & Pacific, Port of Tillamook Bay, Albany & Eastern and Portland & Western, the lines in western Oregon were considered a holdout for the Southern Pacific's first generation diesels- high hood GP9s and SD9s that were referred to as Cadillacs.

Even with the change of ownership on many of the former Espee lines, there was still a place for the Cadillacs on some of the newly-formed shortlines and regionals, even though they could be considered museum pieces back in the 1990s.

Here, rrpicturearchives.net contributor Matt Adams caught SD9 #4433 and SD9 #4363 lead SD45R #3603 attacking Rex Hill outside of Newburg, OR with a work train on March 28, 2007. Despite the Southern Pacific painted units more than 11 years after the Espee ceased to exist and the fact that the two Cadillacs are on a Portland & Western train, the leading two units actually belong to Lavacot Locomotive Works- although apparently the ratty condition of the scarlet and grey Espee paint scheme on the two vintage diesels is very much in character for the Southern Pacific. Without the GWR orange and black paint, this picture could easily have been taken in the 1970s or 80s- the flatcars behind the lashup- which were being used to carry ties- aren't exactly out of place in timber country, either.

According to the photographer, the 1970-built SD45R experienced electrical problems on the way up Rex Hill and had to be shut down, meaning the two 1955-built SD9s were doing the lions share of the work tacking the grade.

Interestingly, the SD9's owners were well aware of their significance and the trailing unit was renumbered and repainted into the Southern Pacific's classic 'Black Widow' scheme a few months after this photo was taken. Renumbered #5399, she reportedly continues working for Oregon shortlines and regionals like the Portland & Western and Albany & Eastern.

May Day Sports Chowdah Update- Sox Win Big With Bats and Feat of Clay; After Trailing Early Bruins Finish Game 1 Boston Strong; Back- But Not in Black, Celtics Showing Life in the Knick of Time

BOSTON BRUINS- After finishing the regular season seemingly with a whimper, the Bruins were set for their first round opponent- Northeast Division rival and fellow Original 6 member Toronto, who's fans had been waiting since 2004 for a playoff appearance. As the CBC points out, nobody had ever posted live updates about a Maple Leafs playoff game or live-tweeted one, since those social media platforms were still a few years away from being introduced.

Game one of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals got underway Wednesday night at the TD Garden. James van Riemsdyk got the blue and white on the board early with a power play goal less than two minutes into the first, but Boston would tie it up with a Wade Redden tally with less than five minutes to go and then take the lead on this Nathan Horton power play goal with 11.7 seconds left in the first period:



Horton's tally would turn out the be the game-winner, but the Bruins added two more in the second with even strength goals by David Krejci and Johnny Boychuk in the second period as Toronto scrambled.

The Bruins would go on to win Game 1 by a 4-1 final and Tukka Rask stopped 19 of the 20 shots he faced. Leafs goalie Jamie Reimer faced twice as many shots and allowed four goals in game one while David Krecji had a goal and a pair of assists Wednesday night.

Despite the lackluster finish to the regular season where they had lost seven out of their last nine, the Bruins are off to a good start in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Game two is set to take place on Saturday with the puck dropping at 7:00 ET. The contest will reportedly be televised on NESN, CBC and CNBC.

Nathan Denette- Canadian Press

RED SOX- Wednesday night's opening matchup of the Stanley Cup playoffs wasn't the only Boston vs Toronto matchup going on.

After Jon Lester was hung with his first L of the season in a high-scoring 9-7 loss to the Blue Jays, Clay Buchholz took to the mound on Wednesday night in Toronto.

Clay would get some run support early thanks to a two run home by Stephen Drew in the top of the second to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. As Buchholz was confounding the Toronto bats, allowing just two hits and three walks over seven innings worth of work, the Boston batters seemed to have Jays starter Mark Buehrle figured out as he gave up solo homers to Mike Napoli and Daniel Nava in the top of the 4th to make it a 4-0 Red Sox lead. With two away in the top of the 7th, Buehrle was pulled for Esmil Rogers who allowed Jonny Gomes to come home on a wild pitch to make it 5-0. With Dustin Pedroia on first base, the Jays decided to walk DH David Ortiz to get to Mike Napoli. That would prove to be a huge mistake as Napoli blasted a Rogers offering into the Sightlines Restaurant for a 3-run homer, breaking the game wide open with an 8-0 lead. Alex Wilson would come in in relief of Buchholz in the bottom of the 8th and give up a 1-out RBI triple to Brett Lawrie, but Boston would get out of the inning without any further damage and tack on two additional runs in the top of the 9th- including a Mike Carp solo homer to make it a 10-1 game.

The Red Sox would cruise to a 10-1 win thanks to the explosive bats and a strong seven innings by Buchholz, who is now 6-0 with a 1.01 ERA. Napoli would go 3-4 with two homers and 4 RBI while SS Stephen Drew would go 3-5 with a homer and two RBI.

Thursday night's game will have Ryan Dempster [1-2; 3.30 ERA] going up against the Jay's JA Happ [2-1; 3.86 ERA]. Despite the 1-2 record [along with some no decisions thrown in along the way- NANESB!], Dempster has 43 strikeouts in 30 innings pitched so far this season. First pitch is at 7:07 ET and the game will be broadcast on NESN and Rogers Sports Net.

Jesse D. Garrabrant- Getty Images

BOSTON CELTICS- After Sunday's win in the Garden to keep the series against the NY Knicks alive and stave off the sweep, the Celtics received some bulletin board materiel from the Knicks Kenyon Martin before Wednesday's Game 5. Martin had told his teammates to 'wear black- funeral colors' in anticipation of burying the Celtics at Madison Square Garden.

For Game 5, the Knicks got off to a torrid start, scoring 11 unanswered points to start off the game, but the Celtics would cut into their lead before halftime, getting their first lead of the night with 5:45 remaining in the 2nd quarter, leading 45-39 at halftime. In the second half, they started to pull away thanks in large part to Paul Piece's 10 points in the 3rd quarter.

From there, the C's would cruise to a 92-86 win, stunning the home crowd at Madison Square Garden. This would be Boston's second playoff win in the post Big Three era. Apparently some harsh words were exchanged after the game after C's reserve player Jordan Crawford [who didn't see a second of action in Game 5- NANESB!] got into a shoving match with Carmello Anthony and Ray Felton- although it was pretty mild in comparison to January's much publicized ballyhoo between Anthony and Garnett.

The somewhat unheralded Jeff Green led Celtics scoring on Wednesday night with 18 points, including going 2-2 from 3 point range. The remaining duo from the Big Three- Pierce and Garnett- had 16 points each while Jason Terry was once again productive coming off the bench with 17 points.

With the win, the series heads back to Boston for a Game 6 on Friday night, which will get underway at 7:00 ET and will be broadcast on ESPN. Boston is trying to become the first NBA team to come back from an 0-4 series deficit in a playoff series.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS- After trading off their first round pick to the Minnesota Vikings, the New England Patriots had two second round picks and selected Southern Mississippi LB Jamie Collins and Marshall WR Aaron Dobson (52nd and 59th overall). Rutgers figures prominently in the Patriot's 3rd round selection when they chose former Scarlet Knights CB Logan Ryan and SS Duron Harmon (83rd and 91st overall). New England only had one pick on the 4th round- TCU WR Josh Boyce- and didn't have another selection until the 7th round where they selected Illinois DE Michael Buchanan and Rutgers LB Steve Beauharnais.

OTHER PATRIOTS NEWS- Former Sooners and Patriots head coach Chuck Fairbanks passed away in his suburban Phoenix, AZ home last month. The 79 year old, who coached Heisman winner Steve Owens with the Oklahoma Sooners and was coach when the Patriots earned their first playoff berth since the AFL-NFL merger, had been battling brain cancer at the time.

Fairbanks came to New England from Oklahoma in 1973 and within three years the Patriots were in their first playoff game since the 1963 AFL Championship. While he drafted popular quarterback Steve Grogan out of Kansas State, Fairbanks was sued by the Patriots for breach of contract when he told then-owner Billy Sullivan he wanted out of the remainder of his contract in order to become head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes. Fairbanks had reportedly been recruiting for Colorado whole still New England's head coach in 1978. The dispute was resolved when a group of Colorado boosters bought out the remainder of Fairbanks' contract in October 1979.

After his coaching career- including a short lived stint in the USFL- Fairbanks dabbled in real estate and golf course development and consulted for NFL teams in training camp, including the Cowboys when former Pats and Giants head coach Bill Parcells was at the helm.

OTHER NFL NEWS- Former broadcaster and New York Giants kicker Pat Sumerall passed away at the age of 82 in Texas on April 16th.

Born and raised in Lake City, FL, Sumerall attended the University of Arkansas where he would play both tight end and placekicker for the Razorbacks between 1949 and 1951. Although drafted in the fourth round by the Detroit Lions, Summerall played for the New York Giants and put the first points on the board for the G-Men during the 1958 NFL Championship Game- dubbed 'The Greatest Game Ever' by some and considered by many to be the starting point of the NFL's ascendency [the Giants would go on to lose by a 23-17 final- NANESB!].

However, Sumerall is best known for calling NFL games in his smooth, calm voice. Initially that voice found a home on local stations in New York and then CBS Sports. However, by the early 1990s, upstart FOX sports surprised the broadcast industry by outbidding CBS for the rights to the NFC broadcast package [to this day, CBS maintains the rights to the AFC broadcasts- NANESB!]. At FOX, he was reunited with the loud and boisterous John Madden as his broadcast partner. The duo called three Super Bowls together, including their final game- the Patriot's surprise win over the heavily favored St Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans.

Sumerall's also did voiceover work for the NFL and lent his voice to appearences on The Simpsons and Family Guy as well as radio ads for True Value hardware and Dux Beds.

Three More Arrested in Boston Marathon Bombing Investigation

Three acquaintances of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were arrested on Wednesday afternoon for lying to federal investigators and obstruction of justice after admitting to removing evidence from Tsarnaev's dorm room at UMass-Dartmouth after the Patriot's Day terrorist attack.

BOSTON (AP) — Three college friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were arrested and accused Wednesday of removing a backpack containing hollowed-out fireworks from Tsarnaev's dorm room three days after the attack to keep him from getting into trouble.

In court papers, the FBI said one of them threw the backpack in the garbage — it was later found in a landfill by law enforcement officers — after they concluded from news reports that Tsarnaev was one of the bombers.

Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, who are from Kazakhstan, were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice by concealing and destroying evidence. A third man, Robel Phillipos, was charged with lying to investigators about the visit to Tsarnaev's room.

At a court appearance in the afternoon, the Kazakh men did not request bail and will be held for another hearing May 14. Phillipos was held for a hearing on Monday. Their lawyers refused to comment ahead of the proceeding.

All three men charged had been attending UMass-Dartmouth around the same time as the younger Tsarnaev brother. Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev were detained on charges they had violated their student visas last week. Not only was Tazhaykov allowed back into the USA from the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan back in January, but Tsarnaev had reportedly bragged to the two Kazakhs that he knew how to make a bomb about a month before the Marathon bombings.

Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev were reportedly in communication with Dzhokhar after the FBI press conference on April 18th where images of the two brothers pulled from surveillance cameras were released to the general public. The younger Tsarnaev communicated with the two Kazakhs via text message and reportedly removed a backpack, Vaseline and Dzhokhar's laptop computer from the dorm room and threw the items in the garbage. Police later recovered the items from a nearby landfill.

It was also reported on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia rejected Tamerlan Tsarnaev's visa application to make the pilgrimage to Mecca in 2011 although the Saudi ambassador to the USA denies that the kingdom sent written warnings about the older Boston Marathon bombing suspect to the Department of Homeland Security and officials in the UK.

There were also reports that a woman's DNA was found on one of the pressure cooker IEDs. Federal agents in Rhode Island collected a sample from Katherine Russell- Tamerlan Tsarnaev's American wife- for comparison.

Report: Head of Liberal Super PAC Accused of Bugging Sen McConnell's Campaign Office Visited White House

Shortly before a liberal Kentucky political action committee launched a social media campaign against incumbent Republican Senator Mitch McConnell (as well as his Taiwanese wife), the group's head had visited the White House and met with President Obama's chief fundraiser.
According to both White House visitor logs and the twitter account of one of the men accused of illegally recording a staff meeting at McConnell's newly opened campaign headquarters, Progress Kentucky head Shawn Reilly met with White House officials and a leftist think tank in Washington DC.

Reilly and Curtis Morrison are currently under investigation by the FBI for illicitly taping a campaign conversation between McConnell and a handful of his advisors. During the conversation McConnell and his aides discussed the potential candidacy of actress Ashley Judd — including using her mental health problems against her.

For days, Democrats in the state and nationally have sought to cast the duo as a pair of bungling amateurs who simply got in over their heads and made a series of bad decisions. But the White House visit suggests the distance from Reilly to his party's leaders may not have been quite that far.

The White House visitors log, showing Reilly met with administration officials Dec. 5th, appears to have been signed in by Victoria McCullough, a staff assistant to Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett.

According to Reilly's Twitter feed, his trip to Washington included stops at the White House to discuss the fiscal cliff and a meeting at the Center for American Progress.

Although its fairly unlikely the White House was coordinating the wiretapping of McConnell's office with Progress Kentucky from inside the beltway, Reilly's visit to the White House in and of itself undercuts any claims from the Democrats that Progress Kentucky was a pair of bungling amateurs who were in over their head.

According to the White House visitor logs, visitors that day also included Obama fundraiser Matthew Barzun and retired Louisville Courier-Journal editor Keith Runyon. Reilly was also a delegate for Kentucky to the 2012 Democrat National Convention in Charlotte, NC and has rubbed elbows with every major Democrat officeholder in the Bluegrass State.