Star gazers will want to be looking upward this weekend: The Orionid meteor shower is one of the best meteor showers of the year and should not be missed.
According to NASA's website: "Earth will pass through a stream of debris from Halley's Comet, (the) source of the annual Orionid meteor shower. Forecasters expect 25 meteors per hour when the shower peaks on Oct. 21."
The best part of this cosmic display: No telescope required?but you may need an alarm clock. According to L.A.'s Griffith Observatory, the brightest displays will fall between 11 p.m. Saturday and 5:40 a.m. Sunday, Pacific time.
Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, noted in a statement, "With no Moon to spoil the show, observing conditions should be ideal." He added, "The Orionid meteor shower isn't the strongest, but it is one of the most beautiful showers of the year."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/watch-orionids-meteor-showers-weekend-214213383.html
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NEWS 12 WESTCHESTER REPORTER AND ANCHOR LISA LAROCCA HONORED BY
COLUMBUS DAY SOCIETY OF HARRISON
LaRocca recognized for journalistic excellence
and comprehensive reporting on topics affecting the Italian-American community
News 12 Westchester is pleased to announce that award-winning reporter and anchor Lisa LaRocca was recently honored by the Columbus Day Society of Harrison for her journalistic excellence and comprehensive reporting on topics affecting the Italian-American community.? Ms. LaRocca, whose hometown is Harrison, NY, was presented with the ?Columbus Day Medallion? at an awards dinner held at the Westchester Manor, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY.
On receiving the award Ms. LaRocca said: ?Knowing that members of the Italian community in my hometown of Harrison feel that I represent them well means the world to me.? This award is truly a testament to my parents who taught me from an early age about my heritage and roots, the importance of family and to always be proud to be an Italian American ? and I am! I?m privileged to work for News 12 Westchester and have the opportunity to report on the topics that matter most to my community.?
?Lisa LaRocca has been a dedicated employee of News 12 for the past two decades,? said News 12 Westchester News Director Janine Rose.? ?It is easy to understand why she is so beloved in the Italian-American community, and we are very proud of her accomplishment.?
Ms. LaRocca first joined the News 12 family as a reporter with News 12 Long Island.? She then moved to Westchester and became a reporter and anchor for News 12 Westchester where she has covered major breaking events in the region.? Before joining News 12, Ms. LaRocca worked as a reporter and anchor at WPDE, an ABC affiliate in Myrtle Beach, SC.? She started her career working behind-the-scenes for a number of nationally syndicated programs, including ?Live with Regis and Kathie Lee.?? Ms. LaRocca has received numerous awards for her work with News 12, including a New York Emmy? Award and a New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association award.? She has also been honored by the Society of Professional Journalists and the New York Chapter of Black Journalists, and has received numerous awards from various Westchester organizations for her work in the community.?
About News 12 Westchester
News 12 Westchester is the exclusive 24-hour local news channel dedicated to serving the county of Westchester, New York.? The cable exclusive service can currently be seen on the Cablevision and Time Warner Cable systems in Westchester, and the Comcast system in Putnam County.? News 12 Westchester is part of News 12 Networks, the country?s first, largest, and most watched regional news network.? News 12 Networks is owned and operated by Cablevision Systems Corporation.
About Cablevision
Cablevision Systems Corporation is one of the nation's leading media and telecommunications companies. In addition to delivering its Optimum-branded cable, Internet, and voice offerings throughout the New York area, the company owns and operates cable systems serving homes in four Western states.? Cablevision?s local media properties include News 12 Networks, MSG Varsity and Newsday Media Group.? Cablevision also owns and operates Clearview Cinemas.? Additional information about Cablevision is available on the Web at www.cablevision.com.
Contact: ????
Deborah Koller-Feeney
Vice President, Marketing
516-393-1946
Source: http://harrison.patch.com/announcements/harrison-columbus-day-society-honors-news-12-reporter
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The insulating strip lies laterally beneath the eyes. The conductive strips were close together so the kids could stick the long and short legs of the LED into the positively and negatively charged dough, respectively, to complete the electrical circuit and light up the LEDs.
2. Place the pan over low to medium heat and stir until the mixture is lumpy. Keep stirring, incorporating all of the ingredients, scraping the bottom of the pan so that they don't stick to it.
3. After the mixture forms a ball, set it aside to cool on waxed paper dusted with flour.
4. Gradually add about ? cup flour, kneading the dough until it is the consistency of Play-Doh.
2. Add food coloring of choice to ? cup distilled water.
3. Stir 1 tablespoon of the liquid at a time into the flour?sugar mixture and combine. Gradually alternate adding the remaining water and kneading in about ? cup flour until the texture is like Play-Doh.

Create the Circuit and Add Power and Lights
1. Roll two pieces of conductive dough and one piece of insulating dough into short cylinders like little hot dogs. Smush together the three pieces, with the insulating dough in the middle. Make sure that the pieces of conductive dough are not touching each other.
2. Clip one end of each electrical lead to the positive and negative battery terminals, and connect the other ends to the pieces of conductive dough.
2. Insert the shorter of the two prongs of an LED into the conductive dough attached to the negative terminal, and the longer prong into the positively charged dough. You have just completed the circuit, and the light should be glowing!
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Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama spar at the second presidential debate. (Shannon Stapleton/AP)
By?Liz Goodwin, Yahoo! News?|?The Ticket
As Mitt Romney continues to climb in the polls, some campaign watchers are crediting his momentum to a shift to the center on key issues. Former President Bill Clinton even joked about the supposed move last week at a Democratic rally for President Barack Obama in Las Vegas.
?I thought, ?Wow, here?s old Moderate Mitt,?? Clinton said, referencing Romney?s performance in the first presidential debate, where the former governor of Massachusetts said he was against tax cuts for the wealthy. ??Where ya been, boy???
On Thursday, two days after the second presidential debate, the Associated Press chimed in, writing that?Romney has moved to the center?on a range of issues in a bid to win over on-the-fence voters in swing states. (Just last February, while battling through a hard-fought Republican primary, Romney described himself as a ?severely conservative? politician.) And it noted the same areas in which other media outlets and pundits have said the shift is taking place: taxes, women?s issues?and immigration.
But there?s a hole in the argument: Immigration stakeholders on both the right and left say they have yet to see ?Moderate Mitt? appear on this particular issue. In fact, Romney?s immigration policies are regarded as some of the most conservative of the last half-dozen presidential cycles.
?If you?re someone who favors robust enforcement of U.S. immigration laws, Romney is the best presidential candidate that you?ve had in decades,? Steve Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies told Yahoo News. (The center is a conservative think tank that advocates for reduced legal immigration and an end to illegal immigration.) ?I would say that he has generally not etch-a-sketched [on the issue],? Camarota added.
Frank Sharry, the executive director of the liberal immigrant advocacy group America?s Voice, tweeted after the second debate that Romney is ?the most anti-immigrant candidate ever.?
While Romney has shifted slightly away from the days of the primary?when he touted the endorsement of Kris Kobach, who drafted Arizona?s law targeting illegal immigrants, and recalled firing ?illegals? who had worked in his yard, through a contractor, in Belmont, Mass.?his comments on immigration during the town hall debate differed more in tone than substance.
On Tuesday night, Americans heard the candidates discuss their visions for the country?s immigration system for the first time when an undecided voter asked what Romney would do ?with immigrants without their green cards that are currently living here as productive members of society.?
Romney first responded by slamming President Obama for failing to keep his promise to pass his version of immigration reform, which would have included a path to citizenship for many of the nation?s 11 million illegal immigrants. The governor also praised America as a ?nation of immigrants? and said he wants to increase high-skilled legal immigration.
But Romney went on to espouse views seen as anathema to earlier Republican presidential candidates, who were eager not to alienate Hispanic voters by seeming unwilling to even consider a path to citizenship.
?There are 4 million people who are waiting in line to get here legally. Those who?ve come here illegally take their place. So I will not grant amnesty to those who have come here illegally,? Romney said, a position he also held in the primary.
The GOP challenger also defended his ?self-deportation? policy that he introduced in the primary. It proposes that many of the nation?s illegal immigrants will voluntarily leave the country if employers are forced to check immigration status, making mass deportations unnecessary. (At the debate, Obama characterized Romney?s self-deportation policy as ?making life so miserable on folks that they?ll leave.?)
The sole point that Romney appeared to drift center-ward on immigration turned out to be a case of misinterpreted wording. Romney said that military service should be ?one way? for young illegal immigrants who were brought to the country by their parents to gain legal residency. This suggested that Romney was open to creating more routes to legal residency for these young people, such as attending college.
Such a position would put Romney closer in line with the Democrat-backed Dream Act, which would give citizenship to people under 30 who join the military or attend college, and which Romney has vowed to veto.
But a Romney aide told Yahoo News that the candidate still thinks military service should be the only route to permanent residency.
Romney?s decision to stay the course on immigration is an interesting one, as top Republicans?including Romney?have warned that the party is ?doomed? if it cannot attract the fast-growing demographic of Hispanic voters, who will make up 9 percent of the electorate this year.
[Political junkie? Sign up for the Yahoo! News Daily Ticket newsletter today]
The Romney campaign is betting, then, that his economic message will be more important to this block of voters than its immigration one. Hispanic voters are by no means a homogenous or single-issue group, and polls show that, like most voters, they care most about the economy and jobs, with immigration trailing behind.
But Republican strategists stress that a hostile-sounding tone on immigration issues can alienate many Latino voters, no matter the candidate?s economic platform. And a Latino Decisions poll shows that more than half of all Hispanic voters know at least one person who is undocumented, meaning the issue is personal.
The most recent?Pew Hispanic Center poll?has Romney picking up just 21 percent of the Hispanic vote, compared with 69 percent for Obama. (Romney is polling?much better among Latinos in the swing state of Florida, however, where a strong Cuban-American presence tends to boost Republican candidates.)
George W. Bush picked up more than 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004, while John McCain slipped to 31 percent in 2008. The downward trend is not good news for the GOP. But some conservatives argue that embracing legalization measures will not necessarily help Republicans reverse the downward slide. The New York Times? Ross Douthat?writes that ?a party?s overall brand matters more than its stance on a single issue?, and that embracing restrictionist policies doesn?t mean forfeiting the Hispanic vote.
Romney seems willing to break from tradition. Republican President Ronald Reagan signed the first immigration reform bill in 1986, offering legalization to nearly 3 million people in the country. George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and John McCain?as well as their Democratic rivals?all supported legalization measures to some degree either while running for president or in office. Bob Dole, however, ran on a platform in 1996 that?would have allowed public schools to deny entrance to children?who couldn?t prove their citizenship. (Dole voted for Reagan?s legalization 10 years earlier.)
Matt Barreto, a pollster with Latino Decisions and a political science professor at the University of Washington, said he thinks Romney?s performance in the debate is unlikely to gain him any ground with Latino voters.
Read more and see the video:
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Tags: "nation of immigrants", campaign 2012, Cuban-American, economy, election 2012, fast-growing demographic of Hispanic voters, health care, Hispanics, Hispanics are 9 percent of the electorate, immigrants, immigration, jobs, Latino Decisions poll, latinos, News, Obama, Pew Hispanic Center poll, politics, Romney, schools
Source: http://johnib.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/has-romney-moved-to-the-center-on-immigration/
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The election-year embrace of Mitt Romney by some evangelical Christians now borders on a bear hug, given a series of moves by Billy Graham and his family that appear to say it?s OK to vote for a Mormon.
This week, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association removed Mormonism from its list of religious cults.
The reclassification follows Romney?s visit to Graham?s mountain home last Thursday, a meeting that also included Graham?s son Franklin, who now runs the association for his 93-year-old father.
Mormons consider themselves Christians and say their faith tracks the teachings of Jesus. But they give equal stature to the Book of Mormon and the Bible. Several of their beliefs ? including that God the Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus are separate deities and not part of the divine Trinity ? further separate them from mainstream Christian teachings.
An article on the Graham website had classified Mormons, along with Jehovah?s Witnesses, the Unification Church, Unitarians, Spiritists and Scientologists, among others, as cults.
?Our primary focus at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has always been promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ,? Ken Barun, the evangelical association?s chief of staff, said in a prepared statement.
?We removed the ( cult) information from the website because we do not wish to participate in a theological debate about something that has become politicized during this campaign.?
The Grahams, however, long ago waded into the politics of the presidential campaign. In the current issue of the association?s Decision magazine, Franklin Graham poses the question in a column titled: ?Can an Evangelical Christian Vote for a Mormon??
He answers it with a rousing yes.
?We are at a profound crossroads. Our secularized society has shaken its fist in God?s face and rejected his very name,? Franklin Graham writes. ?? We must not silence our voices when government clashes with the worship of God.
?I pray that all Christians and God-fearing Americans will put aside labels and vote for principles ? God?s principles.?
While Billy Graham has never formally endorsed a candidate, the ties between the family and Romney have grown tighter, starting with Franklin?s call before the South Carolina presidential primary for conservative Christians to not hold Romney?s religion against him. ?We are not electing a pastor-in-chief,? he said at the time.
Mark DeMoss, Franklin Graham?s longtime spokesman, is now a Romney adviser. DeMoss told The Associated Press last week that Franklin Graham ?is doing everything he can to encourage churches to encourage their people to get out and vote.?
The younger Graham has also had his run-ins with President Barack Obama. In 2010, the Army withdrew an invitation for Franklin Graham to speak at a Pentagon prayer breakfast because of his criticism of Islam.
In February, Graham questioned Obama?s Christianity while raising the possibility that the president is a Muslim.
In his Decision magazine column, Franklin Graham cites a statement by former President Bill Clinton that Obama has a plan to ?rebuild America.?
?God-fearing Americans have no desire to see America rebuilt ? but rather restored,? he writes. ?To ?rebuild it? would be to create a new nation without God or perhaps under many Gods.?
The Grahams? actions could further cement conservative Christian support for Romney in the Nov. 6 election, even though most evangelicals don?t consider him a Christian.
That religious divide cost Romney heavily in the South Carolina primary, when he finished a distant second to Newt Gingrich, a Catholic who is twice divorced.
?Romney?s Mormonism will be more a cause of concern than Gingrich?s infidelity,? the Rev. Brad Atkins, president of the S.C. Baptist Convention, said at the time.
Mark Harris, pastor of First Baptist Church of Charlotte and president of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention, says evangelicals now have a clear choice.
?While certainly we differ and have deep theological issues with Gov. Romney?s religion and faith, we do share similar values,? Harris said.
On topics such as same-sex marriage and abortion, ?our values are far more similar than nonsimilar.?
Move to the mainstream
Throughout his six-decade career, Billy Graham made several moves that made Southern evangelicals uncomfortable ? from preaching for integration to including Catholics and more moderate denominations on his crusade teams.
For their part, Mormons have moved more to the cultural, economic and political mainstream, says Bill Leonard, professor of Baptist studies, church history and religion at Wake Forest University.
?Up until the 1950s, you either were a Mormon or you despised the Mormons, because they were considered so weird in the minds of the evangelical majority that there was an almost demonic quality to them.?
Since then, Mormons such as Romney?s father, George, who was the governor of Michigan and ran for president in 1968, and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch broke public barriers. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also broke with its longstanding tradition of polygamy. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir became a cultural icon.
Today, Mormons make up about 2 percent of the U.S. population. The Carolinas are home to some 115,000 of the church members.
A Pew Research Center survey earlier this year found that 66 percent of Mormons consider themselves conservative, and almost 75 percent described themselves as Republican or Republican-leaning.
Attempts to reach a local church spokesman were unsuccessful.
In his October column in Decision magazine, Franklin Graham called for the rebirth of a political alliance built on faith ? ?made up of Christians, Jews, Mormons, Catholics ? to take a stand for our religious freedoms and rights.?
Conservative Christians now need those partnerships, Leonard said, given a Pew study this month that showed Protestants are no longer the religious majority in the United States. The fastest-growing religious groups, those not affiliated with a particular church, tend to vote Democratic.
?You could make the case that for the religious right, this is a last-ditch effort in terms of their public privilege, in terms of being the religious majority,? Leonard said.
Some still doubt Mormonism
For now, some other Conservative Christian groups have not followed the Grahams? move.
The Christian Research Institute of Charlotte, which was begun in 1960 to counteract the threat posed by ?cults and other alternative religious systems,? still considers Mormonism a cult.
It says Mormon doctrines ?compromise, confuse or contradict the nature of God, the authority of Scripture, and the way of salvation.?
Even the Billy Graham Evangelical Association website has not been completely scrubbed of concerns about the Mormon religion.
Under the section of ?Billy Graham?s My Answer,? a questioner who has been invited by a couple ?to come to their assembly hall to study the Bible? is warned to be wary of those (like Mormons) that claim ?the books their founder wrote or ?discovered? are from God, and have equal authority to the Bible.?
?Ask God to lead you to a church where Christ is honored and the Bible is taught,? the website counsels.
Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/10/17/3603920/graham-family-ties-tighten-with.html
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A fantastic home improvement venture will work for homeowners to take. If convenience and sweetness weren?t adequate bonuses, then perhaps increased marketability of your property is. It really is wonderful exercise and entertaining to be effective by yourself house and reap the benefits of so that it is the ideal it might be. Below are a few concepts that can be done to be able to optimize your home improvement undertaking.
If you decide to go along with a licensed contractor for your own home enhancement strategies, usually pick the contractor with the greatest status, instead of the most affordable a single. A professional who gives really low price ranges is usually somebody who executes sloppy work that may not very last. You may find yourself restoring any work which has been done. Aside from that, however if a project is completed incorrectly, it could present a threat to the people in your home. Select somebody you can rely on.
Pooling your solutions with fellow house owners is one method to save money while you are stepping into redesigning. Look for a neighbors who likes home remodeling projects, and obtain tools from him or her as an alternative to purchasing resources for the one use. The two of you may help by revealing ideas.
At home, take away every one of the incandescent lights from the fittings and substitute these with ones that are energy-efficient. These new lights previous a long time. Likewise, they can be more affordable, better, and better for that setting. Replace outdated lamps with energy efficient bulbs since they blow out.
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Attempt improving your home?s mailbox to get a simple front yard enhancement. Incorporating a whole new mail box will make your home show up up-graded, which assists increase the amount of entrance charm to it. Consult with your area to be sure that it makes sense restrictions. Furthermore, if you are living inside a local community by using a homeowner?s association, you then want to make sure that it can be allowable just before purchasing it. This task is might be accomplished within a pair hours.
Every single springtime, inspect the roof for evidence of damage. For example, swap any shingles that demonstrate signs of curling. By correcting small roof problems, you might be preventing future issues.
Look at your premises for low locations, mostly near the base of the house. Lower regions on your residence must get completed with compacted soils so that water will not pool right here throughout storms and trigger deterioration. Water that gathers close to in your home?s foundation could leak into the residence, and even rot solid wood regions.
Since you now are armed with just a few reliable recommendations to help you, creating a sound selection relating to redesigning need to seem much less challenging. Keep in mind, high quality renovations to your residence will not only permit you to have got a more inviting room and can also enhance the overall benefit of your residence.
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-->Source: http://www.defaulttricks.com/home-remodeling-recommendations-that-could-benefit-everyone/
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The burned remains of Big Tex stand at the State Fair of Texas Friday, Oct. 19, 2012, in Dallas. Fire destroyed Big Tex on Friday, leaving behind little more than the metal frame of the 52-foot-tall metal-and-fabric cowboy that is an icon of the State Fair of Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
The burned remains of Big Tex stand at the State Fair of Texas Friday, Oct. 19, 2012, in Dallas. Fire destroyed Big Tex on Friday, leaving behind little more than the metal frame of the 52-foot-tall metal-and-fabric cowboy that is an icon of the State Fair of Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
The burned remains of Big Tex stand at the State Fair of Texas Friday, Oct. 19, 2012, in Dallas. Fire destroyed Big Tex on Friday, leaving behind little more than the metal frame of the 52-foot-tall metal-and-fabric cowboy that is an icon of the State Fair of Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
FILE - In this Oct. 6, 1997 file photo, Big Tex watches over the crowd at one end of the Texas State Fair midway in Dallas. Fire destroyed Big Tex on Friday, Oct. 19, leaving behind little more than the metal frame of the 52-foot-tall metal-and-fabric cowboy that is an icon of the State Fair of Texas. (AP Photo/Bill Janscha, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 27, 2002 file photo, Big Tex welcomes visitors to the Texas State Fair in Dallas. Fire destroyed Big Tex on Friday, Oct. 19, leaving behind little more than the metal frame of the 52-foot-tall metal-and-fabric cowboy that is an icon of the State Fair of Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
DALLAS (AP) ? Big Tex, the metal cowboy whose slow drawl of "Howdy, folks!" made him an icon of the State Fair of Texas for 60 years, was destroyed Friday when flames engulfed his 52-foot-tall frame.
Some material that made up Big Tex's hands and sleeves could still be seen as firefighters gathered around the scorched area. This year's fair, which closes Sunday and had been celebrating the towering structure's birthday, went on despite the fire ? just as Big Tex would want it.
"Big Tex is a symbol of everything the state fair stands for," fair spokeswoman Sue Gooding said. "Big Tex is where my parents told me, 'If you get lost, meet at Big Tex.'"
The cowboy always was easy to spot, with his 75-gallon hat and 50-pound belt buckle.
Gooding said she didn't know what caused the fire, but noted that electrical controls move Big Tex's mouth and head. A Dallas fire spokesman didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Bill Bragg, the voice of Big Tex who read scripts from a nearby trailer while the giant cowboy's mouth moved, said someone came in and told him the structure was on fire. He stepped outside the trailer and watched Big Tex burn.
"It was a quick end," said Bragg, who is a radio engineer outside the three weeks a year that he works at the fair.
Several Big Tex backers say he will return next year, including Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, who tweeted that the icon would be rebuilt "bigger and better for the 21st Century."
"My job is safe and secure," said Bragg, who has been the man behind Big Tex for 11 years. "They're telling me, 'Take the rest of the day off and we'll see you next year.'"
Big Tex's hands, boots and face were made of Fiberglas, Gooding said. Most of his clothing was provided by a Fort Worth retailer. Gooding said the steel structure that held all the material will be evaluated, and a new one will be built if necessary.
The structure was removed later Friday in essentially the same way workers put it up every year ? with a crane that slowly lowers it. Only this time, the steel skeleton was covered with a tarp and taken away in almost a funeral-like procession.
Stanley Hill, who supervises a food stand that has been located near the structure for 18 years, said he noticed smoke coming from Big Tex's neck area and then watched for about 15 minutes as the giant cowboy burned.
"I couldn't believe it," Hill said.
No one was injured in the fire, Gooding said.
Big Tex was actually built in 1949 as a giant Santa Claus for a Christmas celebration in Kerens, 60 miles south of Dallas. Intrigued by the idea of a towering cowboy, the State Fair paid $750 for the structure, which debuted as Big Tex in 1952.
Big Tex is inextricably linked to the State Fair. The State Fair website is www.bigtex.com and visitors to the site see their cursor turn into an image of Big Tex's head, clad in a cowboy hat. The fair's Twitter account features the cowboy's image as well.
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In this photo taken, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, speaks during an interview at his office in Colorado Springs, Colo. As head of the USADA, his mission is to make sports a sanctuary for finding out who's most talented and who worked the hardest, not who's the best cheater. Most recently, that mission has led him to spearhead the case that's ended lance Armstrong?s cycling and triathlon careers. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
In this photo taken, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, speaks during an interview at his office in Colorado Springs, Colo. As head of the USADA, his mission is to make sports a sanctuary for finding out who's most talented and who worked the hardest, not who's the best cheater. Most recently, that mission has led him to spearhead the case that's ended lance Armstrong?s cycling and triathlon careers. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
In this photo taken, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, speaks during an interview at his office in Colorado Springs, Colo. As head of the USADA, his mission is to make sports a sanctuary for finding out who's most talented and who worked the hardest, not who's the best cheater. Most recently, that mission has led him to spearhead the case that's ended lance Armstrong?s cycling and triathlon careers. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
In this photo taken, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, speaks during an interview at his office in Colorado Springs, Colo. As head of the USADA, his mission is to make sports a sanctuary for finding out who's most talented and who worked the hardest, not who's the best cheater. Most recently, that mission has led him to spearhead the case that's ended lance Armstrong?s cycling and triathlon careers. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
In this photo taken, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, speaks during an interview at his office in Colorado Springs, Colo. As head of the USADA, his mission is to make sports a sanctuary for finding out who's most talented and who worked the hardest, not who's the best cheater. Most recently, that mission has led him to spearhead the case that's ended lance Armstrong?s cycling and triathlon careers. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
In this photo taken, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012, Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, speaks during an interview at his office in Colorado Springs, Colo. As head of the USADA, his mission is to make sports a sanctuary for finding out who's most talented and who worked the hardest, not who's the best cheater. Most recently, that mission has led him to spearhead the case that's ended lance Armstrong?s cycling and triathlon careers. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) ? Even those who don't recognize his name will almost certainly know what Travis Tygart has been up to lately.
To put it simply, he's the man who's been making life difficult for Lance Armstrong.
Part teacher and part preacher for his cause, Tygart's official title is chief executive officer of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. He's a man who doles out lessons about playing fair while also trying to cajole confessions from those who don't.
His mission: Make sports a sanctuary for finding out which athlete is most talented and has worked the hardest, not who's the best cheater.
Most recently, that mission has led Tygart to spearhead the case that's ended Armstrong's cycling and triathlon careers. Only a year ago, that task seemed even more difficult than out-pedaling him in the Tour de France. Now, Armstrong has been cut loose by his major sponsors and is no longer the face of the Livestrong charity he founded.
As it turns out, the man who became Armstrong's greatest adversary is like him in some ways.
Both Armstrong and Tygart are 41. Like Armstrong, Tygart is in great shape and loves to get on the bike every once in a while.
And like Armstrong, Tygart has a stubborn streak in him. A big one.
"I saw at an early age that working hard is how you become successful," says Tygart, who learned his lessons about teamwork and sports growing up in Florida, where he was on state-championship baseball and basketball teams in high school.
"Playing sports as a kid, I learned all the valuable lessons that I think sports should teach. I'm determined to do everything possible to maintain those lessons for kids growing up."
Tygart has parlayed that credo into a career that, because of his role in taking down one of the world's most famous athletes, has made him among both the most trusted and reviled figures in sports ? even if only a small minority of sports fans would recognize him walking down the street.
"I always knew I wanted to do something that made a difference. It was never about anything other than trying to change the world for a better tomorrow," he says, a self-conscious laugh creeping in when he hears how much his words seem like a superhero's catchphrase.
If it all sounds a bit sanctimonious and too good to be true, well, his critics certainly won't argue. To them, he is a hatchet man who ran a witch hunt to settle an old score against Armstrong ? a foe who eluded sanctions for more than a decade.
"This isn't about Tygart wanting to clean up cycling," Armstrong wrote in a letter to The Associated Press, before USADA ordered his seven Tour de France titles stripped and before a massive report detailing the evidence against him was released. "Rather it's just a plain ol' selective prosecution that reeks of vendetta."
The case Tygart's agency produced included testimony from 11 former teammates of Armstrong's, along with 15 others, who teamed up to paint the picture of Armstrong as a drug-pushing bully. The report exposed what Tygart calls the most extensive doping program sports has ever seen.
On Wednesday, a week after USADA's documents were released, Armstrong left his post as chairman of his Livestrong foundation, the same day Nike announced it would sever ties with its longtime pitchman.
It was the latest in a steady drumbeat of bad news for Armstrong, all delivered ? either directly or indirectly ? courtesy of the agency Tygart has led since 2007 when his predecessor, Terry Madden, stepped down.
USADA was formed in 2000 as a way of taking drug cases that were decided by the U.S. Olympic Committee and placing them in the hands of a group that would be run independently. The agency is partially funded by the USOC and partially by the government. It runs on an annual budget of about $14 million and is tasked with finding and catching the drug cheats, spreading the message of clean sports and staying on top of the science in a business where the bad guys are always a step ahead.
As outside counsel, then general counsel, then CEO for USADA, Tygart has worked on every major doping case of the past decade, including the investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, which showed how sophisticated the performance-enhancing drug game had grown and resulted in the prosecution of Barry Bonds.
Among those caught in USADA's net over the years: 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis; Olympic gold medalists Marion Jones and Justin Gatlin; cyclist Tyler Hamilton; all the players listed in the Mitchell Report, which documented doping in baseball and which was put together with Tygart's input. All have had their accomplishments stripped or brought into question.
Through it all, Tygart insists he's treated the so-called celebrity athletes the same way he treats the unknowns ? the 40-something marathon runners and teenage in-line skaters who also fall under USADA's purview.
"He states his mission and his vision and you feel it," says Daniel Eichner, the former science director at USADA. "To him, it's all about protecting clean athletes. There's no other agenda."
Very few of the breakthroughs come easy for Tygart, a married father of three, avid skier, runner and, yes, cyclist, who on Tuesday celebrated his daughter's 11th birthday and also his 10th anniversary as a USADA employee.
He always loved the law but wanted some sort of sports connection and says when he sees injustice anywhere, "it's just infuriating, whether it's in sports or other areas of life."
Those who've known him for years say the message doesn't change once the necktie comes off.
"Travis is passionate about sport," said Rich Young, a partner at Bryan Cave LLP, who represents USADA as outside counsel and hired Tygart for that work in 2000. "He's a baseball and basketball player. He's got kids who are athletes. He really gets the difference between true sport and circus."
A native of Jacksonville, Fla., Tygart comes from a family well-respected in the Florida law community. His brother and sister are lawyers. His father was a trial attorney who now works as a mediator. His uncle is a judge. After graduating with a philosophy degree from North Carolina, Tygart returned to Florida and taught high school government classes for three years, while also coaching baseball and basketball. From there, he went to Southern Methodist to get his law degree and begin the path toward becoming the single most powerful man in the U.S. anti-doping game.
Much has been made of death threats he received during the Armstrong investigation. Why does he keep on going?
"Because I've heard the stories from the athletes," he says. "I've heard them from the clean athletes who left their sport and felt personally robbed."
He thinks of lifelong friends such as T.R. Lewis, who had major league potential but never made it. Lewis came up during the 1990s ? the steroids era ? and got aced out by players he knew were using performance-enhancing drugs. He says looking at the Mitchell Report "is like someone leafing through their high school yearbook. It's all these guys I played with, played against."
"I don't mean to overstate my presence in the game, but I joke with Travis that, in some regard, I'm the poster boy for the players who got left behind," Lewis said.
And Tygart is their faithful servant.
The CEO said he was confused in February, when federal prosecutors abruptly decided not to charge Armstrong and drop a nearly two-year investigation. "You'll have to ask them why they shut down," is all he'll offer when pressed on the subject.
He was irritated when the feds refused to share their evidence with USADA, as had been customary in similar instances in the past.
Instead of quitting, Tygart hit the phones and revved back up on his own investigation. Unlike the feds, he did not need to tie Armstrong to criminal activity, much of which allegedly occurred in Europe. He needed to show that the cyclist broke the rules of sport.
Months later, Armstrong was charged under USADA's rules. The cyclist opted in August not to fight the accusations, still denying he used performance-enhancing drugs but saying the arbitration system was rigged against him.
Tygart went ahead and banned Armstrong from competition and ordered that race results back to 1998 be erased. Then his agency released its report on the case.
"At the end of the day, the truth is too powerful, whether it was this case or any other," Tygart said. "And at the end of the day, the truth was revealed."
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