TURLOCK, Calif. — Sarah Palin made $75,000 to speak at a fundraiser at California State University Stanislaus, the university announced Friday. An accounting summary of the June 25 event shows total fundraising at more than $473,000, which includes in-kind gifts such as drinks and supplies. Net proceeds were more than $207,000, making it the most successful fundraising event held in the campus’ 50-year history. Also Friday, the university said all of the proceeds will go to student scholarships.
W. Virginia: Young senator
Gov. Joe Manchin appointed former chief counsel Carte Goodwin, 36, a member of a prominent West Virginia family, on Friday to succeed the late U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd. Manchin said while the U.S. Senate seat will always be known as the one Byrd held for more than half a century, “I am truly confident that Carte Goodwin will look out for West Virginians.” Goodwin is expected to be sworn in as a senator on Tuesday. When sworn in, Goodwin will become the youngest sitting senator.
D.C.: Cuban spy gets life
A confessed spy for Cuba was sentenced to life in prison and his wife to 81 months Friday after telling a judge that their “overriding objective” for 30 years of passing secrets to Cuba “was to help the Cuban people defend their revolution.” A stern U.S. District judge lopped off just 9 months of the maximum sentence Gwendolyn Myers could have faced under a plea agreement and told Walter Kendall Myers he deserved life in prison for betraying his country. “If you believed in the revolution, you should have defected,” the judge said.
New York: Iroquois passports
Time ran out on Friday for a team of Iroquois lacrosse players who have been blocked from traveling to a tournament in England because of a passport dispute. The 23 members of the Iroquois Nationals — whose ancestors helped invent the sport as much as 1,000 years ago — refuse to use U.S. or Canadian passports, and the United Kingdom won’t recognize their passports issued by the Iroquois confederacy. After a week of appeals to British officials, the answer was still “no.”
New Jersey: Casino too hot
Trump Plaza Hotel Casino on the Atlantic City Boardwalk has shut down until air conditioning service can be restored, possibly by Monday. Trump Plaza and Caesars Atlantic City have been without air conditioning since early Thursday morning. A Trump spokesman said it was just too hot inside the building to continue to ask guests and employees to suffer through it.
China: Deadly typhoon
A typhoon that left a trail of destruction and dozens dead in the Philippines killed two people in southern China before moving toward northern Vietnam on Saturday as a strong tropical storm. Typhoon Conson turned billboards lethal on China’s southern resort island of Hainan. The state-run Xinhua News Agency said a falling billboard killed a motorcycle rider Friday night, and another toppled and buried a security guard under debris. By 8 a.m. today, Hainan’s meteorological station said Conson was moving northwest over open water again and had downshifted into a strong tropical storm. It was expected to hit northern Vietnam this afternoon or evening.
Canada: Fighter jet contract
The government said Friday it will spend $8.5 billion to purchase a new wave of fighter jets from U.S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin. The deal to purchase 65 F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter jets marks one of the biggest military equipment purchases in the country’s history, said Defense Minister Peter MacKay. MacKay said the new jets would replace the Air Force’s aging fleet of CF-18s that recently underwent a $2.4 billion upgrade. The contract is worth $8.5 billion, but the full cost could rise to as much $17 billion once the government signs a maintenance contract. McKay said the deal will ensure Canada remains interoperable with its major allies.
France: Eiffel Tower tickets
The Eiffel Tower’s operating company said it has recovered from the impact of the 2009 economic crisis and visits were back on the rise again in the first half of this year. The number of visitors increased 3.2 percent in the first half to 3.2 million. According to the operating company, the upturn started quietly because of an unusually harsh winter but picked up in the second quarter. The Tower saw 700,000 visitors in June, the highest figure for June since the birth of the Tower in 1889.
From Herald news services
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