President Obama has appointed a Washington lawyer with increasingly responsible government experience to be the State Department’s new special envoy for closing Guantanamo Bay Naval Base Prison in Cuba.

Mr. Cliff Sloan has litigated cases at all levels of federal and state courts, including six U.S. Supreme Court arguments, numerous arguments in the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and matters in trial and district courts across the country.

This Week in History, Jun 16 - Jun 22

Jun 16, 1884
First roller coaster in America opens. On this day in 1884, the first roller coaster in America opens at Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York. Known as a switchback railway, it was the brainchild of LaMarcus Thompson, traveled approximately six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride. The new entertainment was an instant success and by the turn of the century there were hundreds of roller coasters around the country. Coney Island, a name believed to have come from the Dutch Konijn Eilandt, or Rabbit Island, is a tract of land along the Atlantic Ocean discovered by explorer Henry Hudson in 1609. The first hotel opened at Coney Island in 1829 and by the post-Civil War years, the area was an established resort with theaters, restaurants and a race track. Between 1897 and 1904, three amusement parks sprang up at Coney Island--Dreamland, Luna Park and Steeplechase. By the 1920s, Coney Island was reachable by subway and summer crowds of a million people a day flocked there for rides, games, sideshows, the beach and the two-and-a-half-mile boardwalk, completed in 1923.

Jun 17, 1885
Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor. On this day in 1885, the dismantled State of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of America, arrives in New York Harbor after being shipped across the Atlantic Ocean in 350 individual pieces packed in more than 200 cases. The copper and iron statue, which was reassembled and dedicated the following year in a ceremony presided over by U.S. President Grover Cleveland, became known around the world as an enduring symbol of freedom and democracy. Intended to commemorate the American Revolution and a century of friendship between the U.S. and France, the statue was designed by French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi (who modeled it after his own mother), with assistance from engineer Gustave Eiffel, who later developed the iconic tower in Paris bearing his name. The statue was initially scheduled to be finished by 1876, the 100th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence; however, fundraising efforts, which included auctions, a lottery and boxing matches, took longer than anticipated, both in Europe and the U.S., where the statue’s pedestal was to be financed and constructed. The statue alone cost the French an estimated $250,000 (more than $5.5 million in today’s money).

Jun 18, 1812
War of 1812 begins the day after the Senate followed the House of Representatives in voting to declare war against Great Britain, President James Madison signs the declaration into law--and the War of 1812 begins. The American war declaration, opposed by a sizable minority in Congress, had been called in response to the British economic blockade of France, the induction of American seaman into the British Royal Navy against their will, and the British support of hostile Indian tribes along the Great Lakes frontier. A faction of Congress known as the "War Hawks" had been advocating war with Britain for several years and had not hidden their hopes that a U.S. invasion of Canada might result in significant territorial land gains for the United States. In the months after President Madison proclaimed the state of war to be in effect, American forces launched a three-point invasion of Canada, all of which were decisively unsuccessful. In 1814, with Napoleon Bonaparte's French Empire collapsing, the British were able to allocate more military resources to the American war, and Washington, D.C., fell to the British in August. In Washington, British troops burned the White House, the Capitol, and other buildings in retaliation for the earlier burning of government buildings in Canada by U.S. soldiers.

The Democrats will meet two times this primary season in official televised debates. The Republicans have a separate pair of debates, according to NYC Campaign Finance Board.

The Democrats will debate on Aug. 21 and Sept. 3, @ 7PM and the Republicans on Aug. 28 @7PM and Sept. 8 a@ 11:30AM.
These face-offs will also be broadcast on the radio, online and in Spanish.

The threat for severe weather and flash flooding across the Mid-Atlantic
was supposed to diminish during the late evening once the sun went down. However, rains and thunderstorms continue to be supported
along the coast and into the Southeast as the front moves off the
Mid-Atlantic coastline overnight tonight.

More moderate precipitation wrapped around the surface low is still possible in southern New England tonight and early Friday morning as well. Behind this system, high pressure will move in bringing cooler and dryer air with it on Friday and into the weekend.

Researchers have announced that drinking one to three glasses of champagne a week may counteract the memory loss associated with aging, and could help delay the onset of degenerative brain disorders, such as dementia.

Sober scientists at the University of Reading have actually proven that the phenolic compounds found in champagne can improve spatial memory, which is responsible for recording information about one's environment, and storing the information for future navigation.