Business: Facebook considers imposing a ban on political ads on its social network leading up to the November election. A15

Business ......................... A15Comics ....................... C4,C5

Dear Abby..........................C3Local ..................................A3

Lottery ..............................A2Obituaries .......................A14

Puzzles ................. B5,C3,C5Sports ................................ B1

INDEX

By Jill Colvin and Eric TuckerThe Associated Press

WASHINGTON >> President Donald Trump com-muted the sentence of his longtime political con-fidant Roger Stone on Friday, just days before he was set to report to prison. The move, short of a full pardon, is sure to alarm critics who have long railed against Trump’s re-peated interventions in the na-tion’s justice system.

Stone had been sentenced in February to three years and four months in prison for lying to Congress, witness tamper-ing and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. He was set to re-port to prison by Tuesday.

Stone told The Associated Press that Trump had called him earlier Friday to inform him of the commutation. Stone was celebrating in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with conservative friends and said he had to change rooms because there were “too many people opening bottles of Champagne here.”

In a statement, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany called Stone a “victim of the

WASHINGTON

Stone spared prison by TrumpPresident commutes sentence of longtime friend convicted for lying to Congress in Russia probe

By Reese Dunklin and Michael RezendesThe Associated Press

NEW YORK >> The U.S. Roman Catholic Church used a special and unprecedented exemption from federal rules to amass at least $1.4 billion in taxpayer-backed coronavirus aid, with many millions going to dioceses that have paid huge settlements or sought bankruptcy protection be-cause of clergy sexual abuse cover-ups.

The church’s haul may have reached — or even exceeded — $3.5 billion, making a global reli-gious institution with more than a billion fol-lowers among the biggest winners in the U.S. government’s pandemic relief efforts, an Associ-ated Press analysis of federal data released this week found.

PANDEMIC RELIEF

Catholic Church got $1B in taxpayer funds, local dioceses millions

By Theresa Walkerthwalker@scng.com

The National Institutes of Health has awarded $14.4 mil-lion to the UCI MIND insti-tute at UC Irvine to continue its crucial work in the study of Alzheimer’s disease, for which there remains no cure or pre-vention.

UCI MIND, formally known as the Institute for Memory Im-pairments and Neurological Disorders, is one of only 32 Al-zheimer’s Disease Research Cen-ters around the country funded by the National Institute on Ag-ing, an arm of the NIH. UC Ir-vine is one of the original half-dozen research centers estab-lished by the NIH in the early

1980s to study Alzheimer’s dis-ease and other dementia-related disorders.

The latest NIH funding kicked in on April 1, but it was only recently announced by UCI. The grant is an increase over a previous award of about $10 million that UCI MIND re-ceived in 2015 as part of a five-year competitive cycle for the NIH awards.

Dr. Joshua Grill, director of UCI MIND since March 2015, called the $14.4 million “an ex-tremely important success for us.”

Money awarded by the NIH, Grill said, “is the lifeblood of our center.”

He added: “It’s continued

HEALTH

UCI awarded $14.4 million Alzheimer’s research grant

By Dan Albanodalbano@scng.com

The greatest catch of Phillip Blanks’ life didn’t happen on one of the football fields he loved as a youth.

He wasn’t wearing athletic cleats let alone shoes because his opportunity arose so sud-denly amid chaos.

But the former Saddleback College wide receiver and

CATCH OF A LIFETIME

Ex-Saddleback College football player saves child from burning building

COURTESY OF ABC7

Phillip Blanks, 28, rushed to an apartment building ablaze in Phoenix, Ariz., on July 3 and made a diving catch of a burned 3-year-old boy dropped by his mother off a third-story balcony.

TODAY’S FORECASTCoastal:Inland:

High 79/Low 69High 96/Low 67

Full weather report A11

Phillip Blanks dove and caught 3-year-old who was dropped from a third-floor balcony

GRANT >> PAGE 9BLANKS >> PAGE 9

CHURCH >> PAGE 10

Stone

STONE >> PAGE 14

Neowise can be viewed passing by Earth at sunrise and sunset this summer. But act now, because it won’t be back for nearly 7,000 years.

By Will Lesterwlester@scng.com

It’s time to experience a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Comet Neowise, discovered in March, will continue its trek past Earth where it’s visible in the early morning hours for at least another week, according to NASA. It’s also likely to be visible at sunset into mid-August.

The 3-mile-wide comet, made of chunks of ancient ice from the outer solar system, is expected to get brighter in the coming days as it passes within 64 million miles of Earth. Its closest pass will be on July 22.

But if you miss it, you’re out of luck. According to Scientific American, Comet Neowise won’t be back in the neighborhood for close to 7,000 years.

Here’s how to catch a glimpse:• It’s best viewed in areas away

from city lights with a clear view of the horizon.

• Comet Neowise is expected to be visible through July 22 at sunrise in the northeast sky.

• It’s likely to be visible just after sunset through mid-August (although it may fade from sight before then) in the northwest sky, just below the Big Dipper.

• Smartphone apps with interac-tive maps of the constellations can help find the comet’s exact spot.

• Comet Neowise is visible to the naked eye but binoculars will help see the comet’s tail.

Source: NASA, Scientific American

THE SKY

Catch a comet

TOP: Neowise, at upper left in photo, streaks across the sky before sunrise from Adelanto on Friday.ABOVE RIGHT: Comet Neowise is just visible, at right in photo, in the early morning sky from Adelanto on Friday.

PHOTOS BY WILL LESTER — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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