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2 BOYS DIE FROM ELECTRICAL SHOCK IN TENNESSEE LAKE: BEAN STATION, Tenn. (AP) — Investigators say a second boy has died after being shocked by a suspected faulty cord from a houseboat as they swam in a Tennessee lake.

Grainger County Sheriff Scott Layel said 11-year-old Nathan Lynam died Thursday night at Children's Hospital in Knoxville. Ten-year-old Noah Winstead of Morristown died at the scene Wednesday afternoon.

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency spokesman Matt Cameron said a marine surveyor was helping Thursday as investigators looked for the source of the electrical charge. The boys were shocked as they swam near two houseboats in Cherokee Lake.

Layel said it wasn't immediately clear whether the boys encountered an electrical field in the water or if they were shocked when they touched a metal ladder to one of the houseboats.

BOATING EXPERTS SAY NY YACHT OVERCROWDED; 3 DEAD: OYSTER BAY, N.Y. (AP) — A yacht that capsized with 27 friends and family aboard on an outing to watch Fourth of July fireworks was severely overcrowded and doomed to tip over, safety experts said Thursday as the skipper blamed the tragedy on a wave that came out of the dark.

Three children died after becoming trapped Wednesday night in the cabin of the 34-foot vessel off Oyster Bay, on the north shore of Long Island.

Sal Aureliano, who was at the helm of the Candi I, saod  he saw two lightning bolts and then a wave suddenly hit.

OFFICIALS: ROMNEY, RNC HAUL IN $100 MILLION-PLUS:

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee combined to raise more than $100 million in June, two GOP officials said Thursday, a striking number for a challenger who for the second straight month outpaced President Barack Obama and the Democrats.

Given the pace of Obama's heavy advertising spending and Romney's focus on husbanding his resources, the imminent Republican nominee's fundraising put him on pace to reach Obama's impressive cash reserves this summer, just as most voters begin tuning in for the fall campaign.

 

 

NEW JOBS REPORT LOOMS OVER OBAMA CAMPAIGN BUS TRIP: SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) — Campaigning by bus through swing state Ohio, President Barack Obama cast his re-election bid as a bet on the American worker Thursday, even as he braced for a Friday unemployment report that will help set battle lines for the hot summer to come.

The monthly unemployment numbers could alter or harden voters' views of Obama's core re-election argument that he pulled the U.S. back from recession while Republican Mitt Romney embraces policies that led to an economic near-collapse. A weak report could undermine Obama's position, while improvement could help the president — though concerns about jobs are sure to a major issue through Election Day.

Obama tellingly chose to start his summer of on-the-road campaigning in two political battleground states that have a rosier economic outlook than some parts of the nation. Both Ohio and Pennsylvania had unemployment rates of 7.3 percent in May, well below the national average of 8.2 percent.