The Democratic convention formally nominated Hillary Clinton for president on Tuesday, making history by choosing a woman to be the first standard-bearer of a major political party, a breakthrough underscored by a deeply personal speech by Bill Clinton calling her “the best darn change-maker I have ever known.” At 6:39 p.m., the hall erupted in cheers and joyful tears as South Dakota cast the decisive 15 votes to put Mrs. Clinton over the threshold of 2,382 delegates required to clinch the nomination. A sea of delegates waved multicolored signs with Mrs. Clinton’s “H” campaign logo, while others fell into hugs and several women jumped up and down with elation.

*Remaining 3 Freddie Gray Cops’ Charges Dropped:

Prosecuting state’s attorneys on Wednesday dropped all of the remaining charges against the three Baltimore cops involved in the death of Freddie Gray. The move came after three other officers were already acquitted in Gray’s death. The 25-year-old died after he suffered serious spinal-cord injuries in the back of a police van last year while in police custody. He was handcuffed but left unrestrained in the back of the van. The hearing this week was supposed to relate to the impending trial of Officer Garrett Miller, but Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Michael Schatzow instead informed him that prosecutors would be dropping all charges against him, as well as those against Sgt. Alicia Whiteand Officer William Porter. The dropped charges mean that State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby won’t have secured any convictions in the high-profile criminal case that sparked outrage and protests.

*LBN-WHERE THE ELITE AND UNDERDOGS MEET:

*35 YEARS LATER – John Hinckley Jr., Would-Be Reagan Assassin, to Be Freed:

John W. Hinckley, Jr., the man who shot president Ronald Reagan and three others in March 1981, will be released from a government psychiatric hospital next month. Hinckley shot the men 35 years ago in front of the Washington Hilton. According to a judge, the 61-year-old no longer poses a danger to others and will be allowed to live with his mother in Williamsburg, Virginia. He will be released on Aug. 5, and he will have to undergo treatment and monitoring for at least one year, said U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman. In a 103-page ruling, he wrote: “After thirty-four years as an impatient at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, and in view of the foregoing findings, and the successful completion of over 80 … visits to Williamsburg over the last 10 years, the Court finds that Mr. Hinckley has received the maximum benefits possible in the in-patient setting.” He said, “The court finds by the preponderance of the evidence that Mr. Hinckley will not be a danger to himself or to others if released on full-time convalescent leave to Williamsburg under the conditions proposed.” At the time of the assassination attempt, Hinckley said he’d shot Reagan in order to impress Jodie Foster, with whom he was “obsessed.”

*WHO READS LBN? Marissa Mayer, chief executive of Yahoo, and Adam Cahan, a senior vice president:

*Priest’s Killer Freed from Jail Despite Threat to Attack Church:

The man who slashed the throat of a Catholic priest in Normandy, France on Tuesday, identified as Adel Kermiche, 19, was previously freed from jail despite his attempts to join militants in Syria. Kermiche and another attacker killed Father Jacques Hamel, 86, after forcing him to his knees. Both attackers were killed by police. French PresidentFrançois Hollande had meetings on Wednesday to discuss how Kermiche was allowed to be released from detainment after he tried to reach Syria to join ISIS twice. He was awaiting trial. Classmates say Kermiche was a “buffoon” and “easily influenced.” One teen who knew the 19-year-old said he wasn’t surprised to hear about his involvement in the church attack. “He talked about it all the time. He talked about Islam, the things like this he was going to do. He talked about the Quran and Mecca and he told me ‘I’m going to attack a church.’ He said this two months ago on leaving the mosque. On my mother’s life, I didn’t believe him.”

*GET MOVIN’ — READ LBN:

*LBN-BUSINESS INSIDER:   ***Have consumers lost their affection for Apple gadgets, or are they just waiting for the new iPhones to come out in September? Every one of Apple’s major hardware businesses posted declines in the three months that ended in June, the company reported on Tuesday. It was the second quarter in a row of falling sales as the technology giant wrestles with a saturated market and a slow shift to services, not gear, as a major driver of the company’s profits. Over all, the company posted revenue of $42.4 billion, down 15 percent compared with the same quarter last year. The quarter that ended in March was the first time in 13 years that revenue at Apple, which has spent much of the last five years as the world’s most valuable company, was lower than in the same period a year earlier.   ***Former L.A. Mayor and businessman Richard Riordan will be the next guest-of-honor at the popular “City Talk” conversation series on Monday August 1st at Baltaire in Brentwood. The event will be co-moderated by KNX radio anchors Frank Mottek and Bob Brill.

*LBN-HEALTH WATCH:   ***Being out of shape could be more harmful to health and longevity than most people expect, according to a new, long-term study of middle-aged men. The study finds that poor physical fitness may be second only to smoking as a risk factor for premature death.  It is not news that aerobic capacity can influence lifespan. Many past epidemiological studies have found that people with low physical fitness tend to be at high risk of premature death. Conversely, people with robust aerobic capacity are likely to have long lives.

*LBN-SPORT INSIDER:   ***As increasing numbers of parents keep their children from playing tackle football for safety reasons, the National Football League and other groups have sought to reassure them that continuing reforms are making the game less dangerous. No reform has received more backing and attention than Heads Up Football, a series of in-person and online courses for coaches to learn better safety procedures and proper tackling drills. The N.F.L. funds and heavily promotes the program. The league and U.S.A. Football, youth football’s governing body, which oversees the program, have sold Heads Up Football to thousands of leagues and parents as having been provedeffective — telling them that an independent study showed the program reducing injuries by 76 percent and concussions by about 30 percent. That study, published in July 2015, showed no such thing, a review by The New York Times has found. The research and interviews with people involved with it indicate, rather, that Heads Up Football showed no demonstrable effect on concussions during the study, and significantly less effect on injuries over all, than U.S.A. Football and the league have claimed in settings ranging from online materials to Congressional testimony.

*LBN-INVESTIGATES: Monkeys

1. The origins of the word “monkey” are unclear. It could come from Moneke, the name of the son of Martin the Ape in a medieval animal story. It appears also to be related to manikin, from the Dutch manneken (“little man”).
2. Monkeys make up two of the three groups of simian primates, Old World monkeys and New World monkeys. The other group is the apes.
3. A monkey is any primate that is not a human, prosimian, or ape.

Monkeys have tails, but apes do not

4. Monkeys are most easily distinguished from apes by their tails. Apes have no tails.
5. Apes and spider monkeys swing arm-to-arm in trees, but most monkeys don’t. Instead, they run across branches.
6. Monkeys use vocalizations, facial expressions, and body movements to communicate.
7. Grinning or pulling the lip is a sign of aggression in monkeys, along with yawning, head bobbing, and jerking the head and shoulders forward.
8. Monkeys express affection and make peace with others by grooming each other.
9. A group of monkeys is called a “troop.”
10. Monkeys live in trees, grasslands, mountains, forests, and on high plains.

*LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER:   ***Sissy Spacek has signed with UTA. Spacek’s breakout performance came in Terrence Malik’s 1973 crime drama Badlands, in which she starred opposite Martin Sheen. She followed that role with one of her best known performances in Brian De Palma’s thriller Carrie. Playing the titular Carrie in the Stephen Kingadaptation earned the actress her first Academy Award nomination.

*MY REVIEW: “LBN is smart, fast, fair, independent and unafraid. I forward it all of my smart friends and associates.”——Laci R., an LBN reader from Key West, Florida.

French President François Hollande said Tuesday the Islamic State terror group was responsible for the knife attack and hostage situation that killed a priest in Normandy. A statement published by an ISIS-affiliated news agency appeared to confirm Hollande’s claim, noting the group executed the attack. The statement called the attackers “soldiers” of ISIS. A second victim was seriously wounded in the attack, which Hollande called a “vile” terrorist action and a “cowardly assassination.”

*Democrats never mentioned terrorism on Day One of DNC:

Republicans’ claim that Democrats did not mention terrorism or ISIL on the first night of the Democratic National Convention is correct, Politifact said Tuesday morning. Following Monday night’s speeches, Republicans blasted the Democrats for a lack of focus on terrorism from the 61 speakers.  “Based on our searches of C-SPAN closed-captioning text, Congressional Quarterly transcripts and other video archiving services, we couldn’t find any speaker who mentioned “ISIS,” “Islamic” “terror,” “terrorist,” or “terrorism” during the first day of the convention,” Politifact wrote.

*Trump on NATO: ‘We Have to Walk’:

At a Monday night rally, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trumpremained firm on his controversial NATO comments last week, saying the U.S. should give the member nations an ultimatum. “I want them to pay,” he told the crowd. “They don’t pay us what they should be paying! We lose on everything. Folks, we lose on everything.” He added, “We have to walk. Within two days they’re calling back! ‘Get back over here, we’ll pay you whatever the hell you want.’” Trump said Hillary Clinton wasn’t the right person for secretary of State and that she’s responsible for poor negotiations. “They will pay us if the right person asks,” he said. “That’s the way it works, folks. That’s the way it works.”  The same night, Trump said he prefers not to say “Muslim” when singling out groups to block from immigrating to the U.S. On Fox News, The Donald said he’s “talking about territories.” He added, “People don’t want me to say Muslim. I prefer not saying it frankly, myself. So we’re talking about territories.” Trump said that anyone advocating for taking in refugees is “stupid.” He added, “I don’t know. Our leaders, people that do this, they’re stupid people.”

*THINK FREELY – READ LBN:

*THE FORCE CRUSHES – Harrison Ford ‘Could Have Died’ in ‘Star Wars’ Set Accident:

Prosecutors have argued in court that Harrison Ford’s leg injury, which he obtained while filming Star Wars: The Force Awakens, could have killed him. Ford, now 71, was crushed by a hydraulic door—causing severe injuries, including a broken left leg—on the set in June 2014 at Pinewood Studios in London. A prosecutor argued that the lapses caused a “risk of death” and that it “could have killed somebody.” He added, “the fact that it didn’t was because an emergency stop was activated.” Ford was airlifted to a hospital in Oxford after the accident. In a television interview, he said the Millennium Falcon doors have changed significantly since 1977, when they were controlled with a hand-operated pulley. “Now we had lots of money and technology and so they built a fucking great hydraulic door which closed at light speed.” Foodles Production pleaded guilty to two breaches of health and safety law and will face sentencing on August 22.

*WHO READS LBN? Actor Benicio Del Toro:

*LBN-SPOTLIGHT: Is Technology Serving You? —– 

*Bernie: Hillary Will Make ‘Outstanding’ President:

Bernie Sanders delivered a roaring speech to the Democratic National Convention, empathizing with his disappointed followers over his failed primary run, but urging them to throw their support behind his former rival Hillary Clinton. The Vermont senator took the stage Monday evening to thunderous applause, with an extended ovation delaying the beginning of his remarks. After addressing his supporters and thanking them for backing him during the primary race, he turned to praising Clinton and her policy credentials, especially in contrast with “fearmongering” Republican candidate Donald Trump. Ultimately, Sanders concluded, “Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States.” He added: “[She] will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her tonight.”

*Billionaire’s In-Law Kidnapped in Brazil:

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone’s mother-in-law was reportedly kidnapped in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Friday evening, and suspects are asking for a $36.5 million ransom. Aparecida Schunck, 67, the mother of Ecclestone’s wife, 38-year-old Fabiana Flosi, was allegedly taken. Neither city police nor Ecclestone’s representatives have commented on the case. Ecclestone, 85, has a fortune estimated at $3.1 billion.

*LBN-INVESTIGATES: Nicotine is named after Jean Nicot, the French ambassador to Portugal who brought tobacco and smoking to the French court in the mid-sixteenth century as a medicine.

*LBN-NOTICED:   ***Christina Ricci channeling Zelda Fitzgerald while filming “Z: The Beginning of Everything” in downtown NYC.   ***Surf Lodge owner Jayma Cardoso, Fabiola Beracasa, Arden Wohl and Jonah Freeman at Luke Weil’s benefit for LIMPIA, the Long Island Marine Purification Initiative.    ***Bryan Cranston and his wife, Robin Dearden, having dinner at Park Avenue Summer.   ***Rita Ora partying at Up&Down in NYC.   ***James Franco at off-Broadway’s “The Effect,” at the Barrow Street Theatre in NYC.

*LBN-HEALTH WATCH:   ***What kind of hot flasher are you? The hot flash — that sudden feeling of warmth that can leave a woman flushed and drenched in sweat — has long been considered the defining symptom of menopause. But new research shows that the timing and duration of hot flashes can vary significantly from woman to woman, and that women appear to fall evenly into four hot-flash categories. Some women, called “early onset” hot flashers, begin to experience hot flashes long before menopause. Symptoms can begin five to 10 years before a woman’s last period, but the symptoms stop around the time of the final menstrual cycle. Then there are women who don’t experience their first hot flash until after their final menstrual period, the “late onset” hot flasher. And some women fall into a group the researchers called the “lucky few.” Some of these women never experience a single hot flash, whereas others briefly suffer only a few flashes near the end of the menopausal transition. And then there are the “super flashers.” This unlucky group includes one in four midlife women. The super flasher begins to experience hot flashes relatively early in life, similar to the early onset group. But her symptoms continue well past menopause, like those in the late onset group. Her symptoms can last 15 years or more.

*LBN-SPOTLIGHT: “A measure of a person’s power is their circle of influence is greater than their circle of control.”—– 

*LBN- TODAY’S BIRTHDAY:

Carl Jung (1875)
Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of analytical psychology. Early in his career, he worked with psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler, who studied and named “schizophrenia.” Jung wrote a book on the illness, which led to a meeting with Sigmund Freud, and the two formed a close relationship for a number of years.

*LBN- SITE OF THE DAY:

“Find contact information for federal, state, and local government agencies and elected officials.”

*LBN-R.I.P.:   ***The Rev. Tim LaHaye, a leader of the Christian fundamentalist movement and co-author of the best-selling “Left Behind” series of apocalyptic novels prophesying mass slaughters and the end of the world, died on Monday in a San Diego area hospital. He was 90. His death, days after he had a stroke, was announced on the website for his Tim LaHaye Ministries.