Potential for Tornado (12:01 a.m. July 1, 2014) -- National Weather Service (N. Indiana / SW Michigan)

from WEATHER dot-com posting: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTHERN INDIANA HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... LA PORTE COUNTY IN NORTHWEST INDIANA... WESTERN ST. JOSEPH COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL INDIANA... STARKE COUNTY IN NORTHWEST INDIANA... BERRIEN COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN... * UNTIL 1245 AM EDT/

Severe Thunderstorm Watch -- until 10 p.m. June 30, 2014

Counties affected in Michigan (BERRIEN and CASS); NW Indiana (Porter, St. Joseph, Elkhart).

Weather Statement (June 30, 2014): Monday morning

from National Weather Service (www.weather.com): A PERIOD OF STRONG GUSTY WINDS THIS MORNING.. STRONG WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH WEAKENING THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTHWEST INDIANA WILL SPREAD ACROSS NORTHERN INDIANA AND SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN EARLY THIS MORNING. SUSTAINED WINDS NEAR 30 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 45 MPH ARE POSSIBLE. WINDS OF THIS MAGNITUDE ARE CAPABLE OF BRINGING DOWN SMALL TREE LIMBS.

What is the issue the SCOTUS will decide in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (June 30, 2014)?

from SCOTUS BLOG page: Issue: Whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000bb et seq., which provides that the government “shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion” unless that burden is the least restrictive means to further a compelling governmental interest, allows a for-profit corporation to deny its employees the health coverage of contraceptives to which the employees are otherwise entitled by federal law, based on the religious objections of the corporation’s owners. http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/sebelius-v-hobby-lobby-stores-inc/

Changes in Iraq from Last Ramadan to this year's period of fasting (Ramadan) -- Alice Fordham report filed

5 a.m. -- National Public Radio (Morning Edition program) -- posting by Middle East correspondent (Alice Fordham): For more than a billion Muslims, the holy month of Ramadan begins this week, as different religious leaders sight the first new moon of the month. Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn to dusk and traditionally break that fast with an elaborate meal followed by a lot of tea and sweets. But many face a bleak Ramadan this year. In Iraq, extremists have taken over much of the country and show no sign of easing their fighting. In the Abu Afif candy store in Baghdad, the cooks are hard at work layering paper-thin pastry and drenching it in rose petal syrup, then sprinkling chopped pistachios over wide steel dishes of their famous baklava. There's also rainbow-colored candy and cherry-topped cakes, but not many buyers. One customer, Mohammad Ali, reckons people have been afraid to shop since Sunni extremists took control of much of Iraq and vowed Baghdad would be next "This situation in the country at this time is not good, not good for everyone," Ali says. In recent years of relative calm, Baghdadis have spent the warm Ramadan nights out in parks, malls and newly-opened fairgrounds. Ali says that's changed. "All of us stay in the home in the evening," he says. "Before we [were] going shopping, in the coffee shops with the friends [and] going everywhere ... at night; but now, no." Usually people buy new clothes during Ramadan, too. But across the street, Abbas Karim is watching music videos in his elegant and very empty gentleman's outfitters. "It's a wartime situation," he says. "Business is down to five percent of what it was, and people are saving their money for an emergency." That emergency is one so many people in Baghdad are afraid of since longstanding sectarian tensions flared this month and Sunni militants took over much of the north and west of the country. They're led by the extremist group known until recently as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. In a dramatic Ramadan statement Sunday, the group re-branded as just the Islamic State, and declared authority over all Muslims worldwide. They plan to take Baghdad and are thought to have infiltrated territory around the city. Aymenn Al-Tamimi, an analyst at the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, thinks the militants will push forward through Ramadan. "I don't really think, in terms of the fighting, ISIS ever really lets down during Ramadan; things just continue as they are actually," Tamimi says. Flush with money and weapons captured in Iraq, the group could push further into the territory across the border in Syria. Activists in the crucial Syrian city of Aleppo fear an onslaught. The extremists may even have a religious imperative to fight harder: Many Islamic scholars believe that those killed in battle during Ramadan are particularly blessed. Tamimi also thinks the Sunni militants will use the sacred month to shore up support in the areas they control. Even last Ramadan, the group was powerful in Syria, and in addition to fighting, its members put on Quran-reciting competitions and distributed toys to children. In the sweet shop, Mohammad Ali says he wishes Ramadan would bring the sects together, not push them apart. In Ramadan, Sunni and Shiites all break the fast at sunset. "All the people break at the same time, praying at the same time," he says. "This makes us one union and heart to heart, not difference for us." Ali says war makes Iraqis weak, but he hopes Ramadan could make them strong again. http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/06/29/326776082/for-iraqis-a-ramadan-filled-with-fear-and-uncertainty

100 years ago, June 28, 1914 (streets of Sarjevo) -- Assassination of Prince Franz Ferdinand

from AP coverage (posted at FREEP dot-com, Detroit Free Press): SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA — Artists and diplomats have declared a new century of peace and unity in Europe in the city where the first two shots of World War I were fired exactly 100 years ago. On June 28, 1914, the Austro-Hungarian crown prince Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, where he had come to inspect his occupying troops in the empire’s eastern province. The shots fired by Serb teenager Gavrilo Princip sparked a war, followed decades later by a second world conflict, costing 80 million European lives in total. On Saturday, Austria was represented in Bosnia not with military might but by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performing works of European composers reflecting the century’s catastrophic events. The program concludes with the joint European hymn, Beethoven’s “Ode of Joy.” http://www.freep.com/article/20140628/NEWS07/306280053/world-war-i-europe-bosnia

Background for month-long RAMADAN (posting at I.B. Times)

www.ibtimes.com/ (posted on June 26, 2014): Muslims are preparing for Ramadan, their holy month, which begins this Saturday (June 28, 2014). The Fiqh Council of North America said the month will begin Saturday and run through Monday, July 28, 2014. During Ramadan, Muslims will fast and practice abstinence from dawn until sunset for 30 days. The annual event marks the anniversary of the Qur'an being revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. Ramadan is the ninth month of the 12-month Islamic calendar, starting after the sighting of the new moon. The holy month starts at sunset, or rukyah, when the moon is spotted, and goes on until the next new moon appears. The month of fasting, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is celebrated by more than 1.5 billion Muslims around the world, including in the U.S., where there are nearly 2.6 million Muslims, according to the Pew Research Center. The purpose of Ramadan is to focus on spirituality, charity and prayer as well as withholding any acts of violence during the fast. All Muslims around the world are expected to participate, with the exception of the elderly, sick and pregnant. In Saudi Arabia, the Interior Ministry threatened to deport non-Muslim foreigners who do not respect the month of fasting. The official statement urges anyone in the nation to "respect the sentiments of Muslims by not eating, drinking or smoking during Ramadan's daylight hours in public places, including roads and workplaces." The typical greeting during Ramadan is "Ramadan Kareem" or "Ramadan Mubarak." Muslims are expected to refrain from food and drink and abstain from smoking and sex each day during the month from dawn to dusk. The breaking of the fast, or iftar, begins at dusk by eating dates. Some Muslims have slightly different variations and have broader definitions of practices during Ramadan. Ramadan commences annually with a celebration called Hilal, comprised of feasting and prayer. Ramadan ends with the three-day Eid al-Fitr festival, sometimes abbreviated as Eid, where many feast and join in Islamic prayer, known as salat, while saying "Allahu Akbar" or "God is Great.”