A 15-year-old girl suburban Houston girl who survived an attack in which her parents and four younger siblings were killed says she's on the road to recovery.

 

Cassidy Stay thanked first responders Saturday while speaking to a crowd at an elementary school in her hometown of Spring, the Houston Chronicle reported flower arrangement. It was her first public appearance since the shootings.

 

"Happiness can be found even in darkest of times, if one remembers to turn on the light," Stay said, paraphrasing a quote by Albus Dumbledore, the beloved headmaster of the Hogwarts school of wizards from the Harry Potter books.

 

Cassidy Stay, right, the lone survivor of a family massacre in Texas, wipes her eyes as she sits next to her uncle Drew Lyons during a community memorial at Lemm Elementary School on Saturday, July 12, 2014, in Spring, Texas.

Stay was released from a hospital Friday,  two days after the attack in which her skull was fractured by a bullet graze.

 

Authorities say her aunt's ex-husband, Ronald Lee Haskell, stormed into the family's home Wednesday and fatally shot her parents and four siblings, who ranged in age from 4 to 13 years old. They say Stay survived by playing dead and called police to warn that Haskell intended to go to her grandparents' house next.

 

"I'll be able to see them again one day alexander hera wedding," she said of her slain relatives.

 

The 33-year-old Haskell is accused killing the family members after binding them and putting them face-down on the floor of their home.

 

Haskell had a handful of previous run-ins with law enforcement in Utah, where he had lived with his wife nu skin hk. Neighbors said Haskell's marriage was so rocky that Stay went to Utah last fall to help her sister escape the relationship and start a new life in Texas.

 

The move was confirmed in a brief statement this morning by the company, which has traditionally sold contracts and hardware for the mobile service providers already operating in the country.

 

A spokesperson told TheJournal.ie  that more details will be announced shortly, office furniture with the deal set to be completed “soon”.

 

The retailer reportedly finalised an agreement last week with Hutchison Whampoa, which bought up the 02 network in Ireland earlier this year after securing approval for the deal from the EU’s competition authority.

 

Concerns had been raised over the market share the deal would give to Hong Kong-based giant Hutchison Whampoa, which already controls the Three Mobile network here.

 

Europe insisted that Three make efforts to aid smaller competitors as a condition of approving the deal nu skin.

 

Competitor Vodafone has raised a red flag over the merger, and is thought to be contemplating legal action to block the deal, which it argues will distort the market in Ireland.

 

The British operator is not alone in its stance, nu skin hk with the Irish domestic competition watchdog also raising concerns about the market dominance of one player after the takeover.

 

In a statement released last month ComReg said:

 

ComReg remains of the strong view that that the behavioural commitments are insufficient to address the structural competition deficit identified as likely to result from the proposed acquisition nuskin hk.

 

ComReg could not be reached for comment this morning.

 

American and US Airways announced changes Tuesday to their policies on checked-bag fees and redeeming miles for free flights.

 

Passengers traveling on American on miles they earned or who paid full price for an economy seat won't get free checked bags anymore. Some elite-level frequent fliers on both airlines will get one less free bag than before nuskin hk.

 

When it comes to redeeming miles for free flights, US Airways is ending blackout days. American will change the number of miles to get an unrestricted free flight — more on popular travel days, fewer on less-busy ones. And it's making an array of changes to the miles needed for international trips.

 

Suzanne Rubin, an American Airlines vice president who oversees the AAdvantage loyalty program, said the changes will increase revenue but she declined to give a figure.

 

The two carriers merged in December and formed American Airlines Group Inc., and Tuesday's changes are designed to bring the policies of the two closer together. Between them nuskin hk, they have 110 million loyalty-program members, Rubin said.

 

Other changes:

 

— For U.S. travel on or after June 1, American members can redeem miles for an unrestricted "AAnytime" award at 20,000 miles, 30,000 miles or 50,000 each way instead of the current 25,000-mile flat rate. The less-flexible "MileSAAver" awards will continue to start at 12,500 miles.

 

— Mid-tier elite members (platinum on American; gold and platinum on US Airways) will get two free checked bags; a reduction of one for the US Airways' Dividend Miles elites.

 

— Lower-level elites (gold on American; silver on US Airways) will get one free checked bag nuskin hk, a reduction from two for the American customers.

 

— Removing a charge for second checked bags on trips to South America.

 

Rubin said the company was not considering charging a fee for carry-on bags, nuskin hk as Spirit Airlines does.

The ongoing struggle over the direction of the GOP played out this weekend as the California Republican Party met at its convention: The party in California and elsewhere is torn between supporters who want to steadfastly hold to conservative principles and those who want to take a more moderate, nu skin pragmatic approach that could resonate with a broader cross section of voters.

 

The choice could not be more clear than in the two Republicans vying to challenge Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown. Tim Donnelly is a conservative state assemblyman who advocates expanding gun rights, and Neel Kashkari is a former U.S. Treasury official who wants to focus on the economy and education.

 

California GOP: Gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari at the California Republican Party 2014 Spring ConventionAP Photo: Ben Margot

Gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari gestures while speaking to supporters at the California Republican Party 2014 Spring Convention Friday, March 14, 2014, in Burlingame, Calif.

Kashkari is clearly in the expansion camp.

 

"The Republican Party in 2012 was cast as the party of no, the party that doesn't like different, diverse communities, the party that's only for old, rich white guys," Kashkari, 40, told the gay group Log Cabin Republicans on Saturday.

 

"The new Republican Party that I want to build is the diverse Republican Party. ... Every ethnicity, every sexual orientation, every lifestyle, everyone is welcome. The biggest tent you've ever seen in your life," he said.

 

The GOP has been steadily losing support in California for two decades, and registration has slipped below 29 percent. The party has struggled to win over younger voters and minorities, and party Chairman Jim Brulte said broadening the party's reach to potential new voters is a top priority this election year.

 

Still, the delegates who typically attend party conventions are among the most active and passionate, so many of those at the weekend gathering in Burlingame were sporting "Donnelly for governor" stickers.

 

"The only thing Republican about Kashkari is the 'R' after his name," said Judi Neal, a member of the Pasadena Republican Women Federated. "I don't think he's capable of reaching out to conservatives."

 

Christopher Cole, who is chairman of the party in Lassen County in far northeastern California, said a moderate candidate would have a tough sell wooing conservatives in his county.

 

"We respect all candidates, but I think Tim's probably got the heart and soul of the county, particularly on hot-button issues like guns," Cole said. "I'm thinking about inviting Neel up there, but I don't know how his reception would be."

 

Kashkari did not address a conservative group that met Saturday morning, nu skin hk and the California Republican Assembly endorsed Donnelly, 47, a lawmaker from the San Bernardino community of Twin Peaks. Likewise, Donnelly did not appear at the Log Cabin Republicans meeting.

 

One of the issues that has energized conservative activists is a law signed by Brown that allows transgender students to access the restrooms and locker rooms of their choice. A proposed ballot initiative to repeal the law failed to gather enough signatures to qualify.

 

"It is not about homosexuality, and it is certainly not about transgender students — it's going to turn them into targets," Donnelly told the conservatives. "We are going to unite parents against this stupid law."

 

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is now a professor at Stanford University in Palo Alto, implored Republicans to unite around a shared vision of the nation during a luncheon address.

 

"California needs to be rebuilt, too, around these principles of individual responsibility and liberty," Rice said to applause.

 

Both of the California gubernatorial candidates recognize the need to appeal to Latino voters in a state where about half the residents are Hispanic. Their messages to the California Republican National Hispanic Assembly were very different, however.

 

"I think we have to stop pandering and thinking there is a different message because of someone's skin color, because the colors of freedom are red, white and blue," Donnelly told the group.

 

Kashkari, who is of Indian heritage, said he deliberately gave his first television interview to the Latino network Univision.

 

"I said I want your viewers to know they are not an afterthought — they are my first thought," he said.

 

At Donnelly's convention booth, placed next to a tea party display, volunteers were working a "genius bar" modeled after a feature in Apple stores, demonstrating and installing the campaign's mobile application to potential supporters.

 

For many of the delegates, this weekend is their first chance to meet Kashkari, who is best known as the former U.S. Treasury official who oversaw the bank bailout at the start of the Great Recession. He recorded an Instagram video before reporters, and his enthusiastic young volunteers handed out bumper stickers and bags of popcorn.

 

California's top-two open primary means the two candidates with the most votes in June will advance to the general election, regardless of their party affiliation. Whoever advances will likely need to capture voters beyond the Republican base.

 

Either candidate faces long odds in attempting to defeat the incumbent Brown, who is 75 and seeking an unprecedented fourth term as governor. He has amassed nearly $18 million in contributions and is expected to easily win re-election.

 

Log Cabin Chairman Charles Moran, a party activist, said he was encouraged that Kashkari supports gay marriage and that Donnelly has said he thinks government should get out of peoples' marriages, whether gay or straight g-suite manchester.

 

"I'm hoping that the party has finally gotten it through their heads that fighting battles on social issues in California will result in losses for Republicans," he said.

 

Donnelly opposes abortion but said Friday that it is not relevant in the governor's race. But on Saturday he wore on his lapel an anti-abortion pin meant to represent a fetus at 10 weeks, along with a flag pin featuring an American Revolution-era flag. Donnelly declined to discuss the anti-abortion pin when asked.

 

Donnelly lost his campaign manager in a public falling out earlier this week and has struggled with fundraising, said his message is appealing "way beyond the conservative base."

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California Gov. Jerry Brown said he is not sure legalizing marijuana is a good idea in his state because the country could lose its competitive edge if too many people are getting stoned.

 

If pot smoking gains more legitimacy in the nation's most populous state, Brown said he worries it could have negative ripple effects.

 

"The problem with anything, a certain amount is OK. But there is a tendency to go to extremes," he said in a wide-ranging interview aired Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." ''And all of a sudden g-suite cardinal manchester, if there's advertising and legitimacy, how many people can get stoned and still have a great state or a great nation?"

 

Californians voted to legalize medical marijuana in 1996. But Brown said he is watching closely to see how Colorado and Washington handle their new laws that go a step further by regulating the growth and sale of taxed recreational marijuana at state-licensed stores. Colorado's pot shops opened Jan. 1, and Washington's are expected to open later this year.

 

"We have medical marijuana, which gets very close to what they have in Colorado and Washington. I'd really like those two states to show us how it's going to work," he said. "The world's pretty dangerous, very competitive. I think we need to stay alert, if not 24 hours a day, more than some of the potheads might be able to put together."

 

Brown, who was interviewed remotely from San Francisco, nu skin hk also discussed California's drought problems, climate change and his future political career.

 

Now, as he prepares to run for his fourth term as governor, Brown said that despite his progressive politics, the key to turning California's budget deficit into a projected multibillion-dollar budget surplus was exerting fiscal discipline.

 

"You've got to be tough on spending. No matter how liberal you want to be, at the end of the day, fiscal discipline is the fundamental predicate of a free society," he said g-suite.

 

Brown also mused about the Democratic Party's future, saying he favored a Hillary Clinton bid for president in 2016.

 

"She's got more experience, both domestic and international," he said. "I mean, it's her nomination if she wants it, as far as I'm concerned."