For the second straight year, Erin Howard of Huntsville has advanced to the finals of the National Spelling Bee.

Erin is a 12-year-old sixth-grader at Mountain Gap School and correctly spelled both words asked of her in Wednesday’s preliminary rounds.

Her first word at the event being held in Washington D.C. was wambenger – a widely distributed Australian pouched mouse. The correct spelling came after the two spellers immediately preceding Erin misspelled their words.

Erin’s second word was arraign – which means to call a prisoner to court to answer charges of an indictment.

There was a bit of drama for Erin to advance, however. Though she spelled her words correctly on Wednesday, so did 187 other competitors and only 50 advance to the finals. The finalists were determined by their scores on the written test taken Tuesday.

With some tense moments a few bouts of levity, Round 3 concludes. Waiting w/ bated breath to find out who advances to Finals. #spellingbee

— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 31, 2017

And your 2017 #spellingbee finalists are…

— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 31, 2017

#speller36 Erin Howard

— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 31, 2017

Erin is aiming to become Alabama’s first National Spelling Bee champion since Julie Junkin of Pickens County in 1974.

The finals will be televised Thursday at 9 a.m. on ESPN2 and resuming at 7:30 p.m. Thursday on ESPN.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the Women in the World Summit at Lincoln Center in New York last month.

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Mary Altaffer/AP

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the Women in the World Summit at Lincoln Center in New York last month.

Mary Altaffer/AP

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton argued Wednesday that Russian meddling in the 2016 election in large part cost her the White House, and said she’s was « leaning » toward believing that President Trump’s campaign did, indeed, collude with the Russians.

During an interview at Recode’s Code Conference, Clinton argued that the Russians « could not have known how best to weaponize » damaging information about her campaign and fake news stories perpetrated on social media unless they had been « guided » by Americans.

Multiple investigations into potential ties between Trump associates and Russia, as well as Russian interference in the U.S. election, are ongoing.

Clinton’s latest comments continue a post-election emergence where the former Democratic nominee continues to point fingers for her loss, though other accounts of the Clinton campaign have put more fault in her corner.

Trump tweeted Wednesday night that she « blamed everybody but herself, refuses to say she was a terrible candidate. »

Clinton’s response: « People in covfefe houses shouldn’t throw covfefe. »

At the conference, Clinton said her campaign’s assertions that there was Russian meddling had been « basically shooed away. »

 » ‘There she goes, « vast right-wing conspiracy, » ‘ now it’s a vast Russian conspiracy, » she said. « It turned out we were right, and we saw evidence of it. »

The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russia attempted to interfere in the election in an effort to get Trump elected, though there so far has been no evidence of collusion with the Trump team. Former CIA Director John Brennan told lawmakers earlier this month that he was concerned about contacts between Trump associates and Russian officials, but he said he didn’t know if « collusion existed. »

In addition to her Russia comments, Clinton on Wednesday said stories about her controversial private email server while at the State Department were overblown, calling it « the biggest nothing-burger ever. »

« It was a mistake. I’ve said it was a mistake, » she added. « And obviously, if I could turn the clock back, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place. But the way that it was used was very damaging. »

Trump brought up the server regularly on the campaign trail.

Clinton said she takes responsibility for mistakes made by her campaign, but echoed comments she’s made since the election as well — that she was on a trajectory toward winning until then-FBI Director James Comey released a letter less than two weeks before Election Day saying that he was re-examining her email investigation.

« Comey was more than happy to talk about my emails, but he wouldn’t talk about the Russians, » she said.

Comey has testified it makes him « mildly nauseous to think that we might have had some impact on the election. » But he defended his handling of both investigations, saying that not disclosing that they were re-opening the investigation just before the election would have jeopardized the FBI’s independence and that the Russia investigation, which began last summer, was treated « consistently under the same principles » as the Clinton email probe.

Trump fired Comey earlier this month, initially citing how he handled the investigation into Clinton’s email server as the impetus. However, the president later said the Russia investigation played a role.

Even with that last-minute October surprise, Clinton said she still believed she was going to win — and that perhaps that was why the warnings about Russia’s involvement seemed to fall on deaf ears.

« I also think I was the victim of the very broad assumption I was going to win. I never believed it, I always thought it would be a close election, » she said.

But her campaign ultimately saw measurable drops with women voters in the suburbs of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, in particular, Clinton said.

« I knew that I’d taken a tremendous hit after the Comey letter and later I understood the role that WikiLeaks played in it. But the Comey letter was measurable, » she said. « You could see my drop. »

However, pollsters have said that « there is at best mixed evidence to suggest that the FBI announcement tipped the scales of the race. » And the new book Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign details how many early missteps ultimately hurt her campaign.

Clinton has pointed fingers before at Comey for contributing to her loss. And in a commencement address last week at her alma mater, Wellesley College, she jabbed more directly at Trump and the controversies engulfing his administration.

But on Wednesday she unleashed her harshest blame yet against her own party, claiming the Democratic National Committee was vastly unprepared for the 2016 election when it came to data-gathering compared to the GOP’s robust operation.

« I set up my campaign and we have our own data operation. I get the nomination, so I’m now the nominee of the Democratic Party. I inherited nothing from the Democratic Party, » she said.

« I mean, it was bankrupt, it was on the verge of insolvency, its data was mediocre to poor, nonexistent, wrong, » Clinton added.

Pulling the United States out of the Paris climate deal would have unforeseen consequences for President Trump, his international agenda and U.S. climate policy.

It would leave the world’s superpower outside an accord meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that includes nearly every other country in the world, aside from Syria and Nicaragua.

While it is not entirely clear that Trump has made up his mind to end U.S. participation in the deal, sources say that at a minimum, he is leaning in that direction.

Here’s how to interpret and understand the decision.

Trump is playing to the base

Trump has called the pact a “bad deal” for the United States, and made withdrawing from it a key component of his “America First” campaign platform.

At an April rally, he called the agreement “one-sided,” and said “the United States pays billions of dollars while China, Russia and India have contributed and will contribute nothing.”

Given his past statements and promises, it isn’t hard to see why Trump would want to pull the United States out of the deal.

Yet the decision has provoked a furious internal battle within the White House, pitting Trump’s family members Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner against adviser Steve Bannon and EPA administrator Steve Pruitt.

Pulling the United States out of the deal means Trump is siding with Bannon and his base over the objections of centrists in his government — and the business community.

Exxon Mobil Corp. and many large American businesses urged Trump to stay in the deal, arguing it would maintain U.S. influence over future talks.

“By remaining a party to the Pars agreement, the United States will maintain a seat at the negotiating table to ensure a level playing field so that all energy sources and technologies are treated equitably in an open, transparent and competitive global market,”

Exxon CEO Darren Woods wrote in a May 9 letter to Trump.

By pulling out of the Paris accord, Trump would be signaling he’s willing to take on supporters of the deal who are usually his allies — in order to back his core base of supporters.

Many Republicans on Capitol Hill are likely to support pulling out of Paris — 20 leading Senate Republicans, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnellMitch McConnellTrump pulls US out of Paris deal: What it would mean Climate change drama grips the White House The Hill’s 12:30 Report MORE (R-Ky.) asked Trump to do just that last week.

Withdrawing from Paris would greatly please conservative groups, who have orchestrated an all-out push in opposition to the pact.

“Without any impact on global temperatures, Paris is the open door for egregious regulation, cronyism, and government spending that would be disastrous for the American economy as it is proving to be for those in Europe,” said Nick Loris, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

“It is time for the U.S. to say ‘au revoir’ to the Paris agreement,” he said.

Jobs, jobs, jobs

Trump wants his presidency to be about jobs and his decision to be viewed as an economic win for the United States.

A recent report commissioned by the oil industry-backed American Council for Capital Formation found that the deal would eliminate $3 trillion in GDP and 6.5 million jobs by 2040. A Heritage Foundation paper last year didn’t go quite as far. It predicted that Paris would prevent 400,000 jobs and cause a GDP loss of $2.5 trillion.

Yet there are also economic arguments for staying in the pact.

The International Renewable Energy Agency estimated recently that the pact would make the world $19 trillion richer by 2050.

The Department of Energy says 3 million Americans worked in clean energy last year, a number that would be threatened by a Paris pullout.

To environmentalists and other Paris supporters, Trump would be ceding American international dominance in clean energy industries like wind, solar and carbon capture technology to other major powers like China and Europe.

“If the Trump administration fails to show leadership on domestic climate actions and support the Paris Agreement on climate change, it will cede a competitive economic edge to nations like China,” Gina McCarthyGina McCarthyTrump pulls US out of Paris deal: What it would mean Regulations, farmers and the law Former EPA chief: Environmental regulations targeted by Trump benefit ‘normal human beings’ MORE, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief under Obama, wrote Wednesday in Foreign Policy.

But that’s just economics.

Climate scientists nearly unanimously blame human activity for climate change, warning it will have wide-ranging health and safety impacts for billions of people. The Paris deal — with its emissions targets and its global fund to adapt to the impact of climate change — was designed to unite the world against that threat.

Trump, though, does not believe the science behind climate change, and has called it a hoax perpetuated by the Chinese, and he and his administration have said the economic impacts of climate regulations are the real danger to Americans’ livelihoods.     

Diplomacy

The decision follows Trump’s first foreign trip as president, which began with cheers in Saudi Arabia but ended with conflict in the European Union.

Withdrawing from the Paris climate deal will earn the president bad reviews from allies in France and Germany who have urged Trump to take a more proactive approach to climate change.

Paris opponents, including the president, say the deal gives countries like China and India a leg up economically over the U.S., because they are not cutting their emissions in real terms under Paris.  

American and international officials warn leaving will hurt the country on the diplomatic stage.

“Pulling out of Paris would cause serious diplomatic damage,” Todd Stern, President Obama’s chief climate negotiator, wrote in an Atlantic op-ed on Wednesday.

“The countries of the world care about climate change. … The president’s exit from Paris would be read as a kind of ‘drop dead’ to the rest of the world. Bitterness, anger, and disgust would be the wages of this careless act.”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Tuesday that leaving Paris would create a leadership vacuum that adversaries like China and Russia could enter into in the U.S.’s place.

“If one country decides to leave a void, I can guarantee someone else will occupy it,” he said in a speech at New York University.

Erasing Obama

Trump has spent much of his first months in office seeking to erase the legacy of President Obama, with mixed success.

He’s sought to repeal ObamaCare and roll back various regulations, including those underpinning the former president’s efforts to meet U.S. commitments in the Paris deal.

Under Paris, Obama pledged a 26 percent to 28 percent reduction in U.S. emissions by 2025, a lofty goal that was underpinned by a host of federal mandates to cut emissions from the electricity, transportation and fossil fuel sectors.

Trump’s decision to align the U.S. against nearly every country in the world shows the extent to which he’s willing to dismantle the Obama administration’s climate agenda.

In March he signed an executive order to begin the process of formally repealing Obama’s aggressive unilateral climate agenda, including ending carbon rules for power plants that were key to achieving the Paris goal.

Several other departments have kicked off efforts to roll back Obama rules designed to help the climate: Interior is reviewing a coal leasing overhaul and offshore drilling restrictions, Transportation and the EPA are reconsidering emissions standards for cars and the EPA is rolling back methane regulations, freezing one such rule even as Paris news broke on Wednesday.

BizCon is a business conduit that focuses on success stories in the Sturgis community.

For most young adults in smaller cities like Sturgis, if you are looking to make your mark in a field like marketing, video or graphic design, you see your future in big cities like Chicago or Los Angles.  
But Brett Scheske and Sam Adams, co-owners of Hype Brand Management, are making their mark in their hometown and doing some big things.
Both Brett and Sam are locals — Brett from Sturgis and Sam from Centreville.  Brett graduated in 2003 and majored in writing and minored in film at Grand Valley State University.  Sam graduated in 2005 and went through Western Michigan’s graphic design program.  After college they followed a traditional path, working in bigger cities across the state and country, before gravitating back toward home.
They connected as part of a freelance collaboration. Sam was working as a graphic designer and brought Brett in as a videographer on a project.  
“We collaborated on the whole project, the client was really happy with everything, and that’s when we decided we wanted to start our own branding company” Brett said.
The two formed Hype Brand Management, a branding and social media marketing company that “builds identities” for companies through video, logos, marketing campaigns and more.
A big focus for the company is on social media and internet marketing, a huge and growing sector of the branding and advertising market.  
“A lot of the companies that hire us, hire us to spark their social media content” Brett said.  
For Hype, being successful in this area is all about content.  
“Good content equals good traffic,” Sam said. “Our content is compelling…we have been able to get all kinds of new clients and our work really stands for itself.”
When Hype was founded in 2015, Brett and Sam saw a need, but like many small start-ups, didn’t know where the business would go.  
“We knew there was a need for something like this in this community” Brett said. “We didn’t realize how many people would be knocking on our door.”  
A big part of their success in starting and growing the business was their connection to the community.  
“We came back wanting to start a business, see this community grow, wanting to be part of it. We utilized our contacts in this area – we grew up with a lot of these people …we know a lot of people in this town, and once we rolled out this business, we let everyone know what we were doing.”
In just a short time, Hype has seen its client list grow significantly.  They serve a wide range of businesses and organizations in the Sturgis area, including banks, insurance companies, restaurants, event centers, a number of area schools and many more, even developing a brand for professional bass fisherman Chad Grigsby.  
The company is more than a local business however.  While about 50 percent of the business comes from within St. Joseph County, the other half is spread to businesses around the state and country.  Indeed, one of their big opportunities involved taking a local job and turning it into more.  
“Local Wings Etc. in Sturgis, decided to give us a chance and produce a video for them just on the local level” Brett said. “There are 50 locations, but this was just for the Sturgis location. Wings Etc. corporate got ahold of the video, loved it, and they are now one of our clients. Gene Harrison and Wings Etc. here in Sturgis gave us an opportunity, we took advantage of it, and now we are doing commercials for all 50 locations that are on TV.”
Like any new and successful business, all the growth has made keeping up hard.  While they are always willing to sit down with potential clients, they are “at maximum capacity” for projects and looking to continue to expand.  
The business currently employs Brett, Sam, and two full time employees  —  Liam Adams and Sean Clark, plus an intern.  Hype is “trying to find talent,” according to Sam, and in keeping with their own experience, the partners are looking locally for new hires.
The group has used local high school interns that are looking to pursue careers in the field, something that not only helps the students in their goals, but is valuable for Hype as well.  
In the end, Hype Brand Management is excited to be back home and part of the growth of Sturgis.  
According to Sam, “(We) love to be a part of this new evolution of things.  My girlfriend owns the Craftsman’s Daughter, to Jackie’s new salon shop (Jaclyn Nicole Salon), it’s just kind of a younger vibe of people that are young adults that are growing downtown – it’s fun to be a part of it.”
“We want to do big things, and we want to do big things in a small town” Brett said. “You don’t necessarily have to leave Sturgis to do big things.”

TrueView is a Google AdWords feature designed to make video advertising simple and effective.

Specifically, the too, helps you place video ads on YouTube, the second largest search engine after Google, whose parent company owns both platforms. The three way marketing connection between YouTube and your business comes together with TrueView for Shopping.

How to Use TrueView Video Ads on YouTube

With these five steps you will be able create your TrueView video ads and the necessary accounts to start advertising.

Step 1: Establish a Google AdWords Account

If your business is already advertising on Google via your AdWords account, you are one step ahead. If not, your first step will be to create an account with AdWords.

Step 2: Sign in to your AdWords Account

Once you are on your AdWords homepage, you click on the “Campaigns” tab on the top row. Then click the “ + Campaign” button, on its drop down menu and click “Video.”

When you click “Video” it will take you to your “Create campaign” page to add in your video campaign details.

Step 3: Enter Video Campaign Details

This is the page where you will add all the details associated with your ad. Options include:

• Campaign name
• Campaign Type
• Daily Budget
• Networks to target
• Locations to target
• Languages

 After you enter the details, click “Save and continue” so you can create your Ad Group.

Step 4: Create an Ad Group

You should now be on the “Create an ad group and ad” section.

On this page, you will fill in the ad group name and video ad details.

The video ad details consist of two options:

• Video ad type
• Video ad format

You can choose one of the two video ad types:

For video ad formats you have two options:

• In-Stream — ad plays before, during or after viewers chosen video.
• In-Display — ad appears on the right side of YouTube pages along with recommendations and search results.

Once you choose your option, a new section of details will appear to create your ad.

Step 5: Create Your Ad

In this section, you will fill out the information that creates your ad. You will also see a preview of your ad to show you the final version before moving forward.

In order to show your video as a TrueView advertisement, it must be hosted on YouTube. That means you will need to create a YouTube channel.

Once you create your video and upload it onto your channel, you will have a video URL. It’s that URL that you will add in the video details.

The greatest benefit of TrueView videos is that you are only charged when your audience interacts with your ad.

The “Bidding” section is where you dictate how much you are willing to pay for that interaction. Interactions are defined as:

• Viewing 30 seconds of your ad,
• Viewing your entire ad if it is less than 30 seconds,
• Clicking on any of your Calls to Action (CTA’s) or associated banners.

Once you have finalized the bidding details, you can click “Save ad group.”

The final screen will allow you to link your YouTube channel to this particular AdWords account if you haven’t already.

Click “Finish” and you are done.

TrueView is now at work targeting your audience with your video.

Images: Google

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• by Gavin O’Malley
   @mp_gavin,

  Yesterday

Video ads now account for 50% of all app install marketer spend, according to AdColony’s latest App Install Marketing Survey.

“Video is huge for app install marketers,” a
company representative said Wednesday.

Full-screen video ads accounted for a full 25% of that spend — while in-feed and social video made up 7% and 16%, respectively — according to the
mobile video ad company. 

Considered the fifth-most-effective app install format, interactive ads — or “playables” — are now being used by 64% of top app install marketers.
Going forward, budgets assigned to interactive ads are on the rise, according to the company.

This year, 45% of app install marketers are most excited about playable ads, while 22% are pumped
for video and 18% are geared up for social.

Not surprisingly, marketers also appear to be devoting more resources and people power to the app efforts.

On average, their teams are
larger than ever, localizing ad creatives for more than seven languages at a time and optimizing their campaigns four times per week, AdColony finds.

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For effective ad targeting, most marketers
are concerned with mobile operating system, geography and device, while a distinct minority are considering behavioral measures, the strength of consumers’ Web connection or their mobile
carrier.

Mobile game developers represented three-quarters of survey respondents. A full 59% of respondents came from North America, according to the company formerly
known as Opera Mediaworks.