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Oversight and Government Reform Committee, vigorously rejected charges that guards from his private security firm had acted recklessly while protecting State Department personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. Five workers were found dead 1,000 feet inside an empty underground water tunnel following a chemical fire at a Colorado hydroelectric plant. A federal jury in New York ordered the owners of the New York Knicks to pay $11.6 million to former team executive Anucha Browne Sanders, concluding she'd been sexually harassed and fired out of spite. Tony Award-winning actor George Grizzard died in New York at age 79.
• One year ago: Syrian dissidents formally established a broad-based national council designed to overthrow President Bashar Assad's regime, which they accused of pushing the country to the brink of civil war.
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• Today's Birthdays: Country singer-musician Leon Rausch (Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys) is 85. Retired MLB All-Star Maury Wills is 80. Movie critic Rex Reed is 74. Singer-songwriter Don McLean is 67. Cajun/country singer Jo-el Sonnier (sahn-YAY') is 66. Actor Avery Brooks is 64. Fashion designer Donna Karan is 64. Photographer Annie Leibovitz is 63. Rock musician Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike & the Mechanics) is 62. Singer-actor Sting is 61. Actress Lorraine Bracco is 58. Country musician Greg Jennings (Restless Heart) is 58. Rock singer Phil Oakey (The Human League) is 57. Rhythm-and-blues singer Freddie Jackson is 54. Singer-producer Robbie Nevil is 54. Retro-soul singer James Hunter is 50. Rock musician Bud Gaugh (Sublime, Eyes Adrift) is 45. Folk-country singer Gillian Welch is 45. Country singer Kelly Willis is 44. Rhythm-and-blues singer Dion Allen (Az Yet) is 42. Actress-talk show host Kelly Ripa (TV: "Live with Kelly and Michael") is 42. Singer Tiffany is 41. Rock singer Lene Nystrom is 39. Actor Efren Ramirez is 39. Rhythm-and-blues singer LaTocha Scott (Xscape) is 39. Gospel singer Mandisa (TV: "American Idol") is 36. Rock musician Mike Rodden (Hinder) is 30. Rock singer Brittany Howard (Alabama Shakes) is 24.
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• Thought for Today: "Heresy is another word for freedom of thought." -- Graham Greene, English writer (1904-1991).
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