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US | Baltimore Mourns Freddie Gray as Officials Call for Reforms | Hundreds of mourners attended an often emotional funeral on Monday for Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old man whose death in police custody on April 19 has ignited protests around the city and spurred calls for police reforms. The two-hour ceremony was part remembrance, part political protest, and featured national civil rights leaders and family members of several black men who have died in police-related deaths. Below projected screens reading "Black Lives Matter All Lives Matter" sat Gray's body in a white shirt, pants and shoes inside a white casket. Along with the prayers and sermons came calls for change. Billy Murphy, the Gray family's lawyer, urged the police to adopt body cameras. Maryland Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings said Baltimore would not rest until incidents like Freddie Gray's death no longer happened. Rev. Jesse Jackson reminded those attending that "the White House is watching. The whole world is watching," while saying that violence distracts the city from making real change. Jackson also urged officials to focus on bringing change to low-income neighborhoods like the one surrounding Gilmor Homes, where Gray was arrested on April 12. He died a week later from a severe spinal injury. The most dramatic moments at Monday's ceremony came from Jamal Bryant, a prominent Baltimore preacher, who electrified those in attendance by pledging that "Freddie's dead is not in vain.", "After this day, we're going to keep on marching," Bryant said, urging the city's young black men to take action to help change some of the city's most impoverished neighborhoods. "I don't know how you can be black in America and be silent." He finished by leading a call-and-response of "No justice, no peace," which the city's protesters have routinely chanted. Will Perkins, a 28-year-old resident of West Baltimore who attended the funeral to "be a part of it", said that the violent protests seen on television in the last few days represented only a small fraction of the mostly peaceful demonstrations throughout the city. He described the relationship between police officers and residents of his West Baltimore neighborhood as essentially non-existent. "There's no communication between police and the community," he said. "They're not helping us. They don't get out of their cars. They don't help. And I feel like if it doesn't change, it's going to be a riot. If nothing good comes out of this, then it's going to get bad." |
US | How Authorities Will Investigate the Bombs Sent to Clinton Obama CNN and More | A number of suspicious packages sent to Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, CNN and other public figures and organizations were found to contain explosive devices this week, setting off a nationwide search for the person or people responsible. The first package was found Tuesday to the mailbox of billionaire and major Democratic funder George Soros. The same evening, the Secret Service discovered an explosive device addressed to Clinton's home in Chappaqua, New York. The agency found another device addressed to Obama on Wednesday. CNN evacuated its New York offices after what's believed to have been a pipe bomb was found in its mailroom, officials told TIME. The Florida office of former DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was evacuated Wednesday after a suspicious package was intercepted. The San Diego field office of Sen. Kamala Harris was also evacuated after a suspicious package was found near the building her communications director later said the package was not addressed to Harris. As law enforcement officials work to find the source of the bombs, experts say they will try to determine the source of the materials used in making them, question mail carriers who may have been involved in delivering them, and look for video footage of the deliveries themselves. No person or group has taken responsibility for the attempted attacks thus far, and no motive has been established. Most mail addressed to high-profile recipients goes through a screening process involving X-ray scans and a search for anything suspicious, says Evy Poumpouras, a national security journalist who served in the Secret Service for 13 years. That can include inspecting items for wires or mechanical devices, oil leaking from boxes, strange smells, and powdery substances. Once an item is flagged as suspicious, the first step is to isolate and secure the packages to avoid any casualties or damage, she says. "Leave the device as it is, leave it undisturbed and back away from the area," says Poumpouras. "You're going to call in the expert who deal with this. They're going to want to make sure they can shut it down, take it out of the area and then start an investigation.", A local bomb squad will typically take over such investigations. Bomb experts, equipped with the appropriate gear to deactivate explosives, can determine whether the suspicious item is indeed a bomb, a fake device or a faulty explosive. In cases when suspicious devices are confirmed to be bombs, experts will first render the device safe, then begin a forensic investigation of the device or devices. Poumpouras says authorities will attempt to determine how a bomb was made, isolate the source of its parts, and examine whether there's any DNA on the device that may be analyzed. Meanwhile, federal investigators will likely join state police, the postal service and private security companies to reverse-engineer the steps leading up to the attack. "You just work backwards. If you find that a company sells certain components, you can ask them where they sell them," Poumpouras says. "Then figure out when and where they were purchased. Is there a paper trail? Or did they come in a different way?", Scott Alswang, executive vice president of SOS Security and a 20-year Secret Service agent, says authorities will also be looking at security camera footage for clues. People with Secret Service protection like Clinton and Obama typically have high-quality cameras on their premises, meaning there's a good chance of finding revelatory footage, he says. "If they get real lucky, they can do some facial recognition and grab a suspect pretty quick," says Alswang. |
US | 2 Dead 17 Injured What to Know About the Marshall County High School Shooting | The second high school shooting in two days brought tragedy to Marshall County High School in Benton, Kentucky, Tuesday morning. A student opened fire in Marshall County High School with a handgun at about 8 a.m. The student killed two classmates and wounded more than a dozen before members of the Marshall County Sheriff's Department apprehended him. In total, two people were killed and 17 others were injured in the Marshall County High School shooting. Police said 14 of the victims suffered gunshot wounds. Five others are being treated for other injuries. One 15-year-old female student died at the scene, and a 15-year-old male student died at the hospital. Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin said that all the victims were students "as best we know.", Officials said they are not releasing the names of the victims at this time, though the families of the deceased have been notified. Authorities said that the shooter is a 15-year-old boy who is a student at the school. He was apprehended at the school in a "non-violent" manner, and he is being charged with murder and attempted murder. Kentucky State Police Lt. Michael Webb added that authorities are investigating the suspect including "his home and details with him." No motive for the shooting has yet been given. Police disrupted the shooting when they arrested the boy, Webb said. "There's no way to know at this point how much farther it would have went," he said. The area recently marked its 20th anniversary since the Heath High School shooting. On December 1, 1997, a freshman opened fire on a prayer group at the Paducah school, just 30 miles away from Benton, killing three and injuring five. |
US | Pharmaceutical Executive Once Gave Lap Dance to Doctor in Alleged Opioid Bribe Scheme Witness Testif | BOSTON A former pharmaceutical executive accused of joining in a scheme to bribe doctors into prescribing a powerful painkiller once gave a lap dance to a doctor the company was pressuring to get his patients on the drug, her onetime colleague said Tuesday. Jurors heard the testimony on the second day of the closely watched federal trial in Boston against Insys Therapeutics founder John Kapoor and four other former executives. They include Sunrise Lee, whom prosecutors have described as a former exotic dancer who was hired to be a regional sales manager even though she had no experience in the pharmaceutical world. The executives are charged with conspiring to pay doctors kickbacks in the form of fees for sham speaking events that were billed as opportunities for other physicians to learn about the drug, a highly addictive fentanyl spray. In reality, prosecutors say, the events were mainly social gatherings for doctors and their friends to enjoy a fancy meal. Lawyers for Kapoor, 75, and the others have denied all wrongdoing. Kapoor's attorneys told jurors as the trial opened Monday that any criminal activity was orchestrated by Alec Burlakoff, former vice president of sales, who pleaded guilty to the kickback scheme and is expected to testify against Kapoor. The case has put a spotlight on the federal government's efforts to go after those it says are responsible for fueling the deadly drug crisis. Holly Brown, who worked as an Insys sales representative, told jurors that her superiors encouraged her to focus her attention on a doctor who was known for prescribing lots of opioids in Chicago and northwest Indiana. Brown said she had concerns about Dr. Paul Madison, describing his office as a "shady operation" being run out of a "dingy strip mall in a not-so-nice area of town.", Despite that, Madison became a speaker for Insys and started getting paid, Brown said. She said she struggled to get other doctors to attend Madison's speaking events because of his unsavory reputation, so Madison would invite his friends. "The idea was that these weren't truly meant to be educational programs but they were meant to be rewards, basically, for the physicians," Brown said. Brown described after one Chicago dinner going with Lee, Madison and another sales representative to a club called The Underground. At one point, Brown said, she saw Lee sitting on Madison's lap and "bouncing around," with Madison's hands "inappropriately all over" Lee's chest. Lee's lawyer, Peter Hortsmann, denied the allegation during his opening statement Monday after prosecutors had mentioned it and accused them of "objectifying her in the same way Alec Burlakoff did and Dr. Madison did," The Boston Globe reported . On Tuesday, Hortsmann tried to show that Brown's memory was faulty, noting that they all had been drinking. He also pressed Brown on whether she had been warned that Madison had a "certain reputation with female sales reps" and whether it seemed that Madison "appeared to be taking advantage" of Lee at the club. Brown said she had been warned and agreed with the latter observation. Madison was convicted in autumn in an unrelated matter on a variety of charges, including health care fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced in March. Madison's lawyer said Tuesday his client had no comment. Testimony will continue Wednesday in the trial, which could last more than three months. |
US | Read What the Head of the US Marines Said to Female Marines After the Naked Photo Scandal | Top Marine Gen. Robert Neller told senators he intends to solve issues in the Marines that prompted former and current Corps members to share nude photos of female service members online without their permission. Neller directly addressed female Corps members, and asked them to trust Marine leadership to "take action and correct this problem.", "I ask you to trust me personally as your commandant and when I say I'm outraged that many of you haven't been given the same respect when you earn the title Marine," he said. Read his full remarks below. |
US | Obama Do Not Turn Away From Injured Veterans | President Barack Obama somberly thanked veterans for their service and acknowledged that the U.S. hasn't always provided enough support upon their return home during a Sunday speech at the opening of Washington, D.C.'s Americans Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial. "With this memorial we commemorate, for the first time, two battles our disabled veterans have fought The battle over there and the battle here at home," Obama said. The memorial, which the President says is a reminder not to "rush into war," is the first one on the National Mall to specifically honor veterans who were injured in combat, ABC News reports. It joins the World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War memorials that exist around the Mall. Obama's remarks come during the same year the Veterans Affairs scandal put the conversation around veterans' physical and mental health at the forefront. "If you're an American and you see a veteran, maybe with a prosthetic arm or leg, maybe burns on their face, don't ever look away," Obama said. "Do not turn away. You go up and you reach out and you shake their hand and you look them in the eye and say those words every veteran should hear all the time Welcome home. Thank you. We need you more than ever. You helped us stay strong. You helped us stay free.", ABC |
US | The Hidden War Corporations Fight Against Counterfeiting | Phony goods show up all over the world and in all forms from low-tech Nike athletic apparel to high fashion Chanel bags and, more ominously, to drugs of all kinds, even chemotherapy compounds. Counterfeit goods have been around for a long time but the internet has extended their reach and allows the makers of phony goods to sell them with ever more impunity. China, with nearly unlimited manufacturing capacity, has been unable or unwilling to effectively police the counterfeit trade. What's the harm? For some consumers, a knock-off Gucci handbag or Rolex watch allows them to wear a famous badge without busting their budgets. And some marketers have argued that even counterfeits help to reinforce a brand's equity. In the case of phony drugs, however, the risks are much higher even if the price is lowertoday, more and more unregulated cancer drugs are getting into hospitals. Whatever the products, American firms' losses to counterfeiters have been mounting. That's why some companies have stepped up private enforcement, doing the ground work so law enforcement can move in. One company, Wisconsin-based Empire Level, recently went on the offensive, serving a complaint and summons to eight alleged Chinese counterfeiters at the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas. |
US | Colorado Will Use Extra Marijuana Revenue to Prevent Bullying in Schools | Colorado plans to distribute millions of dollars in surplus marijuana tax revenues to schools in an effort to prevent bullying. The money, totaling about 66 million, is available due to Proposition BB, which permits the state to keep the surplus tax revenues from marijuana, Denver7, an ABC affiliate, reported. About 2.9 million of the surplus funds will go toward bullying prevention grants offered to approximately 50 schools by the Colorado Department of Education for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the CDE announced. The schools will receive grants up to 40,000 per year for bullying prevention. Schools that receive the grant will get specialized training from a prevention coach and form a bullying prevention committee including teachers, staff and parents. "It's a lot of money," Dr. Adam Collins, bullying prevention and education grant coordinator for the CDE, told Denver7. "It's a great opportunity for schools to apply and make sure the social and emotional wellness of their students is taken care of.", Colorado schools have until Oct. 21 to apply for the grant. |
US | These Are the Victims of the Texas Church Shooting | At least 26 people were killed when a gunman opened fire on a church in a rural community in Texas Sunday, law enforcement officials said. The victims ranged in age from 18 months to 77 years and included at least eight members of an extended family as well as a mother and her two young daughters, family members and officials said. The gunman, identified by authorities as 26-year-old Devin Kelley, shot churchgoers at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, a small town located in Wilson County. At least 20 others were injured in the attack and taken to local hospitals. Ten were in critical condition as of Monday. Of the 26 people who died, 23 were found dead inside the church, while two people were found outside. One person died after being transferred to a local hospital, authorities said during a press conference Sunday. Among those killed was the 14-year-old daughter of First Baptist Church's pastor Frank Pomeroy, according to the girl's mother Sherri Pomeroy. The couple was out of town during the shooting. The attack, which has become one of the most deadly mass shootings in recent U.S. history, comes just a month after a shooter opened fire on a crowd at a concert in Las Vegas, killing 58 people. The suspected Texas gunman was chased from the scene and later found dead in his vehicle from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said Monday. Fourteen-year-old Annabelle Pomeroy was among the 26 killed in Sunday's church attack, her father told ABC News. Frank Pomeroy is the pastor of the First Baptist Church and said he and his wife Sherri Pomeroy were out of town when the gunman opened fire on his congregation. Annabelle is his youngest daughter. Frank Pomeroy said Annabelle "was one very beautiful, special child.", At a news conference, Sherri Pomeroy described the church congregation as a close-knit family. "We ate together, we laughed together, we cried together, and we worshipped together. Now most of our church family is gone, our building is probably beyond repair and the few of us that are left behind lost tragically yesterday," she said. "As senseless as this tragedy was, our sweet Belle would not have been able to deal with losing so much family.", Annabelle's uncle Scott Pomeroy posted a tribute to Facebook, saying "Heaven truly gained a real beautiful angel this morning along with many more.", , At least eight members of an extended family were killed on Sunday. Crystal Holcombe, three of her children, and her in-laws, Karla, Marc, Noah and Bryan Holcombe, were among those killed in Sunday's church attack. Crystal, who was eight months pregnant, died with her unborn child and three of her children, Emily, Megan and Greg, the Washington Post reports. Her husband, John Holcombe, survived with two of her other children. Bryan Holcombe, who was an associate pastor in the church, was walking up to the pulpit when Kelley opened fire. His parents, Joe and Claryce Holcombe, told the Post that John was killed in the shooting along with his wife Karla. Bryan and Karla's 26-year-old son, Marc Daniel Holcombe, was killed with his infant daughter, Noah Holcombe. "This is unimaginable. My father was a good man, and he loved to preach. He had a good heart," Scott Holcombe, Bryan's son told the New York Times. Nick Uhlig, Crystal's cousin who was not at the church when the gunman opened fire, told the Associated Press that Bryan did prison ministry and would sing and play the ukulele for prison inmates. Joann Ward and her young daughters, 5-year-old Brooke Ward and 7-year-old Emily Garza, were all killed during the church massacre, family members told the Dallas Morning News. The girls' uncle, Michael Ward, struggled to comprehend the tragedy. "It's unreal at first," he told the newspaper. "The church of all places.", Michael Ward, 31, said he carried his wounded 5-year-old nephew Ryland Ward out of the church once the bullets stopped. The boy had been shot four times, in the stomach, groin and arm, his uncle said. He is now fighting for his life at the hospital. "They got him all cut open, from the gunshots," Michael Ward told the Morning News. "I don't think he's going to make it.", Authorities on Monday said the gunman had sent threatening text messages to his mother-in-law in the lead-up to the massacre, and that the shooting may have been motivated by a domestic dispute. Kelly's mother-in-law did not go to the First Baptist Church on Sunday, but his wife's grandmother, 71-year-old Lula Woicinski White, was reportedly among the victims. Relatives describe White as a "caring person a God-loving person" who was "best friends" with the people at her church, according to the New York Daily News. "I miss her badly already. We texted every day. We loved each other to the moon and back," White's sister Mary Mishler Cleburne told the newspaper. Teenager Haley Krueger was also among the victims of Sunday's mass shooting. Charlene Marie Uhl, Krueger's mother, told CNN her daughter had helped prepare breakfast that morning at the church. "She was a vibrant 16-year-old that loved life," Uhl said, adding that Krueger loved babies and had planned to become a nurse at a neonatal clinic. A deeply religious couple who met while in the military were among those who died at the First Baptist Church. R. Scott Marshall, 56, and Karen Marshall, 57, met while serving at North Carolina's Seymour Johnson Air Force Base more than 32 years ago, R. Scott's sister Holly Hannum told People. "They lasted," Hannum said. "They had kids, they traveled they had a love that lasted over time.", She continued "The one thing I am holding on to is the fact that they were Christians, in the Lord's house, worshipping him. They loved each other and died together.", Richard Rodrguez, 64, and his 66-year old wife Theresa Rodrguez, were "just amazing people" who enjoyed gardening and were deeply involved in their church. That is according to Richard's daughter, Regina Amador, who spoke with People while surrounded by members of her extended family. "We've just been sitting around a table, reminiscing, looking at pictures of them. I can't believe this is happening, but it's happening," Amador said. Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Robert Corrigan "was everything his killer was not." So runs the headline of a tribute to the retired airman and his wife Shani Corrigan on veterans' news site Task Purpose. Citing the Clare County, Michigan, director of veterans' services, Task Purpose reports that the Corrigans were high-school sweethearts there before Robert joined the Air Force in 1985. He served for three decades rising up the ranks and earning the admiration of his peers before retiring to Texas in 2015. "Chief Corrigan was one of those few leaders who really got to know his people," Bethany Keirans, a veteran Air Force staff sergeant, told Task Purpose. "He'd remember exactly what his airmen and NCOs were going through he'd stop by your unit and ask, Hey, how's it going, how's your kid?' He cared about our personal lives and not just our professional lives.", The couple is survived by two sons. Both are on active-duty. Tara McNulty was a 33-year-old single mother who was remembered for how deeply she loved her children, her friends told the Washington Post. McNulty was killed in the church shooting, and her two children were wounded, according to the Austin American-Statesman. "It rips your heart out of your chest," McNulty's best friend Amber Maricle told the Post. "She was like my soul sister. We could literally finish each other's sentences.", Dennis Johnson, 77, and Sara Johnson, 68, were killed in the church massacre. Their family confirmed their deaths to the Washington Post but declined to comment further. |
US | America Keeps Getting Less White and Less Christian | The percentage of white Christians in the United States has continued to decline below a majority, according to a new survey, amid increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the country and growing numbers of people who identify as religiously unaffiliated. The survey released Wednesday by the Public Religion Research Institute PRRI found that just 43 of Americans now identify as white and Christian. By comparison, 81 of Americans identified as white Christians in 1976. The report reinforces the findings of a 2015 survey by the Pew Research Center, which found that the number of white Christians in the U.S. had fallen to 46. The PRRI survey identified a specific decline in the percentage of Americans who identify as white Protestants now just 30. Overall, a majority of Americans today are Christian, represented by a growing percentage of black and Hispanic Christians. While non-Christian religious groups are growing, they still account for less than 10 of the American population. But those religions are made up of higher percentages of young people, compared to the aging group of white Christians. About a quarter 24 of Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated, and about a third of those Americans are under 30. The survey which polled 101,438 between Jan. 6, 2016 and Jan. 10, 2017 has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.4 percentage points. |
US | I Dont Want to Go Anywhere Else but Home How Residents Will Rebuild a Paradise Destroyed by Wildfire | Brenda Howell is glad her father isn't alive to see Paradise, Calf. today. He was the longtime fire chief of the mountain town of 26,000 and always warned it was a "tinderbox" with wooden houses built along winding roads in a densely forested mountainside. Northern California's Camp Fire proved all of his fears were well founded when it ripped through the town last Thursday. The wildfire wiped out 95 of Paradise, killing at least 49 people in town and seven others in the surrounding area. More than 8,000 homes and businesses were destroyed, leaving most of the city a charred ruin. Howell lost her home and, like many of her neighbors, she didn't have fire insurance leaving her with almost nothing. But she's determined to rebuild. "This is my home. I don't want to go anywhere else but home," Howell says. As residents of Paradise vow to rebuild the town, community leaders are hoping to build it safer less prone to catastrophic damage in future fires like the Camp Fire, and with better evacuation routes. Greg Bolin, Paradise's vice mayor, says that it will be important to make sure all new homes are built up to California state fire code. Many of the buildings in the town were made of wood and built in the 1960s. New buildings could be made of flame resistant materials and include tweaks such as putting venting on the roof to prevent embers from getting inside the attic to make them safer. Bolin also hopes to make sure there are no longer trees near buildings. "This is a town that loves trees. We have to be careful with how many trees we have around our structures," Bolin says. William Stewart, a specialist at the University of California-Berkeley's Center for Forestry, says that building homes up to state fire code could reduce the risk of them being destroyed in a fire by 70. But properly protecting the town will require the local, the state and the federal government to work together. Stewart says Paradise will need improvements such as widening the roads to enable evacuations managing the vegetation on nearby federal land and in the town and investing in infrastructure. "If you just focus on one thing, the others will get dropped," Stewart says of the recovery process. "It's a multi-pronged problem.", The cleanup alone promises to be a challenge of historic proportions. Sean Smith, the debris coordinator for the California Office of Emergency Services, says his agency expects this to be the biggest debris cleanup since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Initial estimates for the cost of debris removal alone are about 1.2 billion, Smith said. Rebuilding without fire insurance will be a challenge for Howell and many of her neighbors. Community members in this situation must depend on charity and government programs such as FEMA's Individuals and Households Program and loans from the Small Business Administration, according to a FEMA spokesperson. Despite the destruction, Smith says that given his past experience with fires, he believes most residents of the town will start over and rebuild. "Folks always come back and rebuild. I have no doubt that these folks will come back," Smith says. Eric Lamoureux, who is directing the California Office of Emergency Services' response to the crisis, says his immediate goal after the fire is extinguished is to get rid of dangerous debris and to get utilities such as electricity and water up and running. Lamoureux says his office is focused on helping the community to navigate federal bureaucracy in order to receive financial support for the recovery effort. Federal funds will provide for about 75 of the town's recovery costs, and 75 of the remaining cost will be provided by the state. Those funds will pay to rebuild streets, public utilities and other public property. Private insurance and individuals will be responsible for rebuilding their homes unless they can acquire separate grants from charities or the government. Lamourex says that it is absolutely possible for the community to come back. "We can make it safe to rebuild there," Lamoureux says. |
US | Son of Boston Police Captain Arrested as WouldBe Terrorist | The son of a Boston police captain has been arrested in a counter-terrorism operation by the FBI. Alexander Ciccolo, 23, bought two pistols and two rifles from an undercover informant, according to ABC News. When agents searched his apartment in Adams, Mass. they found material that could be used to make a bomb, including a pressure cooker and certain chemicals, as well as paperwork planning for an attack. Ciccolo was described as a recent convert to Islam he used the name Abu Ali al-Amriki who was inspired by ISIS as well as the Boston Marathon bombing. Ciccolo's father, Captain Robert Ciccolo, was a first responder after the 2013 bomb at the Boston Marathon. He had alerted authorities about a year ago that his estranged son was "spouting extremist jihadist sympathies." He and his family put out a statement after his son's arrest, writing, "While we were saddened and disappointed to learn of our son's intentions, we are grateful that authorities were able to prevent any loss of life or harm to others. At this time, we would ask that the public and the media recognize our grief and respect our desire for privacy.", Ciccolo was one of more than 10 suspects arrested on July 4 in connection with a possible terrorist attack, officials said, but the news was kept quiet until Monday. He has been detained in a Rhode Island prison since his arrest and is scheduled to appear in court for a detention hearing in Springfield, Mass. on Tuesday. ABC News |
US | How You Can Help the Residents of Flint | As Flint, Mich. struggles with a lead contamination crisis in the city's drinking water, a number of charities have set up programs to help with everything from delivering water bottles to helping pay utility bills. Here are a few organizations currently taking donations. The Salvation Army, The Salvation Army of Genesee County "is collecting funds to help purchase water, filters and pay delinquent water bills for residents who have received shutoff notifications," the organization announced on its website. Donate here. United Way, The United Way of Genesee County set up a Flint Water Fund to pay for filters and bottled water as well as "emergency support services and prevention efforts." They say 100 of the donations will go straight to the cause. Donate here. The Community Foundation of Greater Flint , The local charity's Flint Child Health Development Fund is focusing on short- and long-term measures to provide health services for children, particularly in the 6-and-under age range. Donate here. American Red Cross, The American Red Cross of East Central Bay-Michigan is dispatching volunteers to distribute water, filters and test kits to the citizens of Flint. Find out more here. Catholic Charities, Catholic Charities of Shiawassee and Genesee Counties has been serving meals 1,000 meals per day in three soup kitchens and is taking donations of cases of water bottles. Find out more here. Food Bank of Eastern Michigan, The food bank is accepting shipments of more than 100 crates of bottled water donations of 100 cases or fewer should go to the Red Cross or Catholic Charities. Find out more here. |
US | Supreme Court Ruling Will Force Power Plants To Stem Downwind Pollution | The Supreme Court restored a 2011 Environmental Protection Agency rule governing power plant emissions that cross state lines Tuesday, in a 6-2 ruling that could force about 1,000 power plants to improve pollution controls or simply reduce electricity production. The Cross-State Air Pollution rule requires 28 states, mostly in the midwestern and southern United States, to take steps to limit power plant emissions that pollute the air downwind, The Wall Street Journal reports. The regulation deals primarily with emissions of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide, both of which are known to cause heart and respiratory problems. Tuesday's decision, written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, reverses a ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which found that the rule was too onerous in demanding emissions reductions on certain states and that the EPA didn't give states the chance to develop their own standards. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented. WSJ |
US | Flints Water Crisis Explained in 3 GIFs | The town of Flint is still reeling from the contamination of its water supply, which exposed thousands of residents to lead-laced water, put Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder in the political hot seat and prompted an emergency declaration from President Obama. So how did a town of 100,000 lose access to something as basic as clean drinking water? First you have to understand how Flint got its water before the crisis. Flint's water when it was safe, For almost half-a-century, Flint purchased water from Detroit, which properly treated the water with orthophosphate, a chemical that essentially coated the pipes as water flowed through them, preventing lead from leaching into the water supply. Here's what the process looked like then. A change in the water supply, Flint switched from Detroit's water supply to the Flint River in 2014, in part to save money. But the city did not use corrosion control to prevent lead from entering the water. The river itself was also found to contain eight times more chloride than Detroit's water, a chemical that is highly corrosive to metals. Most residents in Flint have decades-old lead service lines that connect their homes to the city's main water pipes. When water from the river flowed through those pipes, it ate away at their insides, allowing lead to enter the supply. Here's what it looked like after the switchwith red used to connote lead, a colorless substance. Don't drink the water, Once Flint switched its water supply, most Flint residents knew it immediately. Residents described the water coming from their taps often as a brownish-yellow and said it both smelled and tasted odd. It was later discovered that the water was carrying significant amounts of lead, which can prove especially damaging to children. In October 2015, the city switched back to the Detroit water supply, but Flint's water is still deemed unsafe to drink. Below, you can see what some of the contaminated water actually looked like. |
US | Two American Sisters Found Dead at Indian Ocean Island Resort | Two American sisters vacationing together on an island in the Indian Ocean were found dead in their room on Sept. 22, and members of their family are now traveling to the Seychelles to find out how they died. Authorities on Mah, about 900 miles east of Africa's coast, said Robin Korkki, 42, and Annie Korkki, 37, were found unresponsive on the morning of Sept. 22 with no sign of injury or apparent cause of death. Their brother told the Minnesota Star Tribune that his mother and brother were on their way to the 2,000-a-night luxury resort where the Korkki sisters were vacationing to learn more about what happened. "There were no marks on them whatsoever," the Seychelles Tourism Minister told NBC News. "They had a good time in the day and then they went to their room.", The sisters had been drinking the day before and were helped back to their room around 815 p.m. according to local paper Seychelles Nation. Chris Korkki, their brother, said the family had very little additional information. "At this point, the only details we know are the articles flying around online," Chris Korkki told the Star Tribune. "Two things keep going through my mind This isn't happening, and we just want answers.", Minnesota Star Tribune |
US | Catholic School Teen Speaks Out After Viral Standoff with Native American Veteran I Wanted the Situa | The student whose standoff on the National Mall with a Native American veteran went viral last weekend said Wednesday that he wished he had walked away and avoided the confrontation. Nick Sandmann, a junior at Kentucky's Covington Catholic High School, was with classmates at the anti-abortion March for Life in Washington, D.C. on Friday. In a video that quickly went viral, he appears to stare down Omaha Tribe elder Nathan Phillips, a veteran and activist who was drumming and singing a ceremonial song after participating in the Indigenous Peoples March on the same day. "I wanted the situation to die down and I just wish he would've walked away. But I knew as long as I kept my composure and didn't do anything that he might perceive as aggressive or elevation of the conflict, that it would hopefully die," Sandmann told the Today Show's Savannah Guthrie in an interview that aired Wednesday morning. , "Now I wish I would've walked away. I didn't want to be disrespectful to Mr. Phillips and walk away if he was trying to talk to me," he said. "But I was surrounded by a lot of people I didn't know that had their phones out, had cameras, and I didn't want to bump into anyone or seem like I was trying to do something.", , The video quickly took on heightened meaning, representing national divisions as it showed Sandmann, a young white man, grinning and wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, face-to-face with a Native American veteran almost 50 years his senior. Sandmann told Today that he wasn't smirking. "I see it as a smile saying that this is the best you're going to get out of me," Sandmann said. "You won't get any further reaction of aggression, and I'm willing to stand here as long as you want to hit this drum in my face.", A video that circulated later provided a fuller picture of the entire interaction, which began with a group of Hebrew Israelites taunting the group of Covington Catholic students. "They started shouting a bunch of homophobic, racist, derogatory comments at us," Sandmann told Guthrie. "I definitely felt threatened.", Phillips said he started to move between the two groups "to use the drum, use our prayer and bring a balance, bring a calming to the situation.", "I didn't assume that I had any kind of power to do that, but at the same time, I didn't feel that I could just stand there anymore and not do something," he told CNN. "When I started going forward, and that massive group of people started separating and moving aside to allow me to move out of the way or proceed, these young fellow put himself in front of me and wouldn't move," Phillips said. "If I took another step, I would be putting my person into his presence, into space, and I would've touched him, and that one thing would've been the thing that that group of people needed to spring on me.", Sandmann said he was unsure of what Phillips was trying to do, "whether he was trying to join in and drum to our chants or what he was doing.", In videos, the Covington students appear to mock Phillips' singing and make tomahawk-chop motions a gesture with a racist history that the boys have said was part of a school chant. Phillips has said he heard the Covington crowd shouting "build the wall," but Sandmann said he did not hear anyone say that. Asked if he heard any of his classmates shout racist slurs, Sandmann said "We're a Catholic school and it's not tolerated. They don't tolerate racism. And none of my classmates are racist people.", Phillips told CNN he felt "fear" during the interaction "fear for the next generation, fear of where this country's going, fear for those youths, fear for their future.", "What they were doing wasn't making America great," he said. "It was just tearing down the fabric." |
US | Asia Argento Denies Sexual Assault Allegation and Says Anthony Bourdain Supported Paying Accuser | Asia Argento, one of the most prominent voices in the MeToo movement, has denied allegations that she sexually assaulted a former co-star when he was 17 years old and said in a statement that it was her late partner Anthony Bourdain who insisted on paying her accuser to keep quiet. The New York Times reported on Sunday that Argento privately agreed to to pay 380,000 to Jimmy Bennett in the months after she became one of the first women to publicly accuse movie producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault. Bennett, who starred in a in the 2004 film The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things with Argento when he was 7, allegedly claimed in legal documents that Argento assaulted him in a California hotel room in 2013 when he was 17 and she was 37. "I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false," Argento said in a statement obtained by the Guardian. "I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett.", A spokesperson for Carrie Goldberg, the attorney who represented Argento in the matter, did not immediately respond to TIME's request for comment. In her statement, Argento said that her friendship with Bennett ended after Bennett allegedly "unexpectedly made an exorbitant request of money for me" amid his own "severe economic problems." Argento said that Bourdain, who died in June of apparent suicide, "insisted the matter be handled privately Anthony was afraid of the possible negative publicity that such a person, whom he considered dangerous, could have brought upon us.", She said that Bourdain personally helped to pay Bennett. Bourdain's longtime lawyer, now charged with handling his estate, did not immediately respond to TIME's request for comment. "This is, therefore, the umpteenth development of a sequence of events that brings me great sadness and that constitutes a long-standing persecution," Argento said. "I have therefore no other choice but to oppose such false allegations.", The Times report noted that Goldberg characterized the money as "helping Mr. Bennett" in a letter that detailed the agreement, which did not include a non-disclosure clause. The Times noted that Bennett sued his mother and stepfather in October 2014, alleging that they had taken some of his acting earnings. The case was privately settled in December 2014, according to the Times. Bennett's attorney did not immediately respond to TIME's request for comment. Bennett has not spoken publicly about the allegation. The Times report was based on legal documents that were sent anonymously to the newspaper. A spokesperson for the Times said in a statement on Tuesday "We are confident in the accuracy of our reporting, which was based on verified documents and multiple sources. It is worth noting that Ms. Argento, her lawyer and agent were contacted repeatedly and given four days to respond to the story that published in The Times on Sunday.", On Monday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said it was aware of the incident. A spokesperson for the department tells TIME that the department is attempting to reach out to Bennett and his representatives "in an effort to appropriately document any potential criminal allegations." |
US | How Donald Trumps Golf Game Leaves Local Governments in the Rough | Donald Trump has some of the most valuable golf courses in the worldjust ask him. In July, as part of his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Trump declared that seven of his 12 domestic courses were worth at least 50 million each. One course, the Trump's West Palm Beach, he even counted twice, saying it was worth over 50 million for the course and the same for the fact that members of Mar-a-Lago Club pay for access to itfor a total of 100 million when it came to measuring his net worth. But when local governments try to tax Trump on his golf properties, he incredulously turns out his pockets, often claiming that his courses are worth far less than the estimates on his nomination filings. Trump and his subsidiaries have employed this tactic with at least six of his U.S. courses, according to town and county officials in numerous states. In at least one instance, the discrepancy between what Trump said a course would sell for when claiming to the public he's worth "TEN BILLION DOLLARS" and what he told local officials come tax time was at least 48.6 million, or 97 less. Why Trump is fighting these valuations seems clear He's trying to save money on his tax bill. No one with knowledge of the situation is claiming Trump is breaking the law. The real estate developer, like others, appears to be exploiting a tax loophole that is pretty common in municipal law, having to do with something called current use. At issue is how local governments tend to do their assessments. Most municipalities will appraise real estate for tax purposes based on how much the property is generating in income as is, and not on what the land could generate if it were to sell to a developer looking to turn a golf course into a residential development or a condo community. In other words, the intrinsic value of the property may far exceed the tax assessment because municipalities do their calculations based on the current use. Fighting the assessed values is something Trump has done for years, and he's far from the only developer who does it. Trump doesn't try to hide his tax maneuvers or feel it needs to be justified any more than anyone would justify paying more for a better tax accountant. "I want to reduce the taxes, and I feel it's overvalued as a golf course," Trump explains. But in the past 10 months, as Trump has made his bid for president he has used the opposite tactic in tallying up what he is worth, often going with the much higher values the golf courses could go for in sales. Why he would list the values of these courses well above their current use also appears obvious to make his assets seem maximally valuable. Asked how he reconciles valuing his golf properties at one amount in his candidacy filings and then claiming they're actually worth a fraction of those figures for tax purposes, Trump said it's a matter of the properties' potential values. "As a development site, they're unbelievably valuable," Trump says. "I could convert Doral in Miami into thousands and thousands of housing units, but that is a different value as golf. It was always very important to me to have the land. I always want to have the option. ", , How Trump handles the valuations on his golf propertiesinflating their theoretical value to boost the perception of his wealth while simultaneously claiming local tax assessors are overvaluing the same coursesis just another window into how he's run his campaign, as well as his casinos and other business over the years, as Fortune detailed here Business the Trump Way. It is another sign, Trump supporters would say, of the GOP nominee's shrewd business sense. But in municipalities across the country that have tangled with Trump, the tactic has been seen as a means to put his own interests way in front of the communities he does business in. What's more, while other developers seek to lower their tax bills, experts say the vast ocean of difference between Trump's public disclosure of the properties' worth vs. what he says the value is when seeking relief on local taxesand how hard he fights for that reliefseems to be considerably larger than is typical in real estate circles. "That's what happens when property owners who have the money and the ability to hire lawyers, and can grieve their taxes, are successful," says Dana Levenberg, a town supervisor, and Democrat, in Ossining, N.Y. "Everyone else has to pick up the difference In this case, we are not the powerful. This is local government, vs. a real estate tycoon So how do we get ahead?", Mike Raio, an assessor in Pine Hill, N.J.home to Trump's eponymous Philadelphia course, which Trump valued at between 5 million and 25 million on his financial filing for his presidential runconfirms that Trump's golf properties are taxed only as golf courses and would be more valuable as housing lots. The same case can be made at any of the other locations of Trump's courses, because of their vast acreage and prime locations. "An area like ours around Philadelphia, in today's market, you'd put down apartment units. Something that big, you could probably get a few hundred units on there. At 150,000 a unit, 100,000 a unit, you'd have a much more valuable property, Raio explains. But this isn't the whole story. The conversion from open space recreation use to housing is a lengthy process. One cannot simply assume the conversion of a property from one to the other, Vince McClaren, a commercial appraiser in the West Palm Beach property appraiser's office says. "Until someone comes in and applies for a zoning change, or a use change, or approval, and that's approved, I can't make that assumption with the assessment.", That approval process is lengthy and rigorous, particularly in counties who may already have a highly saturated housing market. There are certainly no guarantees of a successful transition. In short, Trump's explanation makes sense in theory, but in practice it's much more complicated. But for municipalities big and small, from Ossining to Miami-Dade County, the cost of Trump's tax challenges is not esoteric or theoretical. It's very real, and potentially very expensive. Take Trump National-Westchester in the suburbs northeast of New York City, which Trump valued on his candidacy filings at more than 50 million. According to the Town of Ossining, the property is taxed at a much lower valuation of 14.3 million, and yet Trump is still fighting the town, insisting his course is worth a mere 1.4 million. If Trump gets his way, the developer would only have to pay Ossining a mere 47,000 in property taxes, according to The Journal News, down from the 471,000 the town would like to charge him, which is still far below the 1.7 million Trump would have to pay a year if the property were valued same as it was on his own net worth statement. The biggest loser could be Ossining's school district, which will be left with 255,000 less if Trump wins his fight with the town. Not to mention the costs to the city for defending the valuation. A property expert alone cost the town 25,000 at the last hearing, according to assessor Fernando Gonzalez. That means tens of thousands of dollars in lost tax revenue, plus thousands of dollars in costs even if the town ends up being right. And Trump has had some success in winning these tax fights. At Trump Doral in Miami, site of the WGC-Cadillac Championship, Trump won a reduction is his property's assessed value of just shy of 8.8 million for 2014, resulting in nearly 150,000 in tax savings according to a Miami-Dade County records. That's money the county literally had to refund Trump. He's currently contesting his 2015 valuation as well, which the county assessed at 55 million, even though the officials believe the property to worth nearly 70 million. Only a recent law declaring a cap on tax increases on property prevents the county from levying the full amount. In other words, he's fighting the valuation of a property that is already being taxed at well below what the county believes to be its true market value. Even that might be low. Trump bought the Doral course for 104 million. Palm Beach County records show that Trump has pending tax disputes at all three of his Florida courses Trump National West Palm Beach, Trump National Jupiter, whose assessed value Trump has contested three years running, as well as the tax fight over Doral. Trump lost his Jupiter appeal for 2015 at a hearing in February where he asked for a reduction from 14.4 million to between 4 and 5 million in 2015. The county lists the market value at 17.1 million. At Trump West Palm Beach, where the county lists the market value at 7.63 million, Trump is taxed at just under 6.2 million because the county actually owns the land and the course leases it. Trump's dispute at that property was withdrawn the day before a hearing was supposed to be held Feb. 18th. No specific value for reduction was requested. But even in a case where a local municipality wins, it still has to go through a lengthy process. The Palm Beach County property appraiser's office spends nearly half the year tied up in disputes, but Vince McClaren says only about 10-to-15 of the over 120 golf courses in the county file these disputes, adding it's usually the same ones every year. It costs just 15 to file a petition by the petitioner, but ties up staff for weeks at a time, and costs the county to hold hearings in front of magistrates. This sets up a Trump Rorschach test his supporters will say he's a private citizen fighting the tentacles of government that unfairly reaches into the pockets of the wealthy. His critics will say this is shady math the real estate mogul uses to oversell his wealth when it suits him but talks a very different tune when faced with the burden of taxes. The local fallout from Trump's tactics with his golf properties may not matter for the average businessman, but the average businessman isn't running for president. |
US | A Conversation May Change Peoples Views on Transgender Rights | A short conversation may be all it takes to change some people's minds about equal rights for transgender people, according to a new study. The study, published Thursday in Science, backs up the findings of much-discussed earlier research, which was retracted shortly after it was published because it had been fabricated. In the new study, researchers sent canvassers in Miami door-to-door to have 10-minute conversations with about 500 voters. During the discussions, the canvassers asked the voters about a 2014 Miami law that prohibits housing, employment and public discrimination based on gender identity. They followed up with general questions about equal rights and discrimination, outside the context of gender identity. , By the end of the conversation, about 1 in 10 of the voters who originally opposed equal rights for transgender people had changed their mind, the study found. This change of opinion lasted at least three months, and was not affected by the gender identity of the canvasser. The research, conducted by Stanford University professor David Broockman and University of California, Berkley professor Joshua Kalla, follows up on a previously retracted study. The original study, which was widely covered when it was published about a year ago, had purported to examine the effects of conversation on opinions about gay marriage, but it was shown to be fabricated. A number of states have recently considered legislation that would affect transgender people, including a recently passed North Carolina law that requires people to use bathrooms that align with their biological sex at birth. |
US | See What Happens to Your City if We Dont Stop Climate Change | Researchers have long understood that climate change threatens the global economy, with some regions worse off than others. Now, new research shows how unchecked climate change would exacerbate inequality in the U.S. worsening economic conditions in many of the country's poorest regions, while improving conditions elsewhere. "America is a very diverse place," says study author Solomon Hsiang, an associate professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley. "To say that the U.S. will have one experience of climate change is not what we see in the data.", The study, published in the journal Science, evaluates the economic effects of climate change on individual counties toward the end of the 21st century if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, looking at the effect of warming on energy costs, storm damage to coastal regions, crime rates, labor patterns, mortality and agricultural yields. Many places in the southern part of the U.S. stretching from Texas to Florida will experience a sharp GDP decline totaling more than 10. That percentage is even higher in some counties, including Florida's Union County, where losses could near 28. See how your county would fare, "When you get much hotter, economic systems and people's health start to deteriorate," says Hsiang. "That's the main reason the South gets hammered. It happens to be hot. But it also happens to be poor.", The opposite is true across the North. Warmer temperatures will benefit local economies, reducing energy costs in some places and increasing agricultural yields. Across the North, mortality rates will likely decline in more moderate temperatures. But people in counties that may see a spike in GDP should not rest on their laurels, researchers say. Overall, the country should expect a 3 decline in national GDP as a result of climate change. And that sustained recession could lead to political instability and mass migration, affecting everyone from coast to coast. |
US | San Francisco Woman Says She Was Attacked For Using Google Glass | A tech writer has claimed she was assaulted and robbed by patrons of a bar in San Francisco because they didn't like her Google Glass. Sarah Slocum wrote on her Facebook page that she was demonstrating how the wearable computer worked in Molotov's bar when she was "verbally and physically assaulted." A thief allegedly grabbed her 1,500 headset and took off. She was able to pursue the attacker and recover the Glass, but not before another person made off with her cellphone and wallet. Local news outlet KPIX interviewed witnesses who were at the bar when the incident happened. One said that punk rock bar Molotov's was "not really Google Glass country" and that a "level of tact in that sort of establishment might have behooved her." Apparently, patrons were not pleased with the possibility that Slocum could have been recording them without their knowledge. The incident takes place during a time of increasing hostility toward the Bay Area's tech industry. In recent months, protestors have blockaded Google buses and complained that highly paid tech workers are displacing long term San Francisco residents, driving up the cost of living and escalating class tensions. |
US | Hurricane Irma Spaghetti Models Show the Storms Updated Path | The National Hurricane Center is likely to issue hurricane watches for South Florida Thursday as spaghetti models illustrations of the storm's possible track reveal where Hurricane Irma is headed after devastating parts of the Caribbean. An update from the National Hurricane Center Thursday morning said that the eye of Hurricane Irma was moving northwest of Hispaniola and towards the Turks and Caicos islands after lashing against Puerto Rico late Wednesday. Irma's spaghetti models now show that the Category 5 hurricane with 180-mph winds is likely to make landfall in South Florida sometime on Sundaybut tropical-force winds will arrive on Saturday, according to the center. It's important to note spaghetti models are just projections. While it considers "current conditions to get an idea of what the atmosphere is already doing on a three-dimensional gridmodels are required to interpolate, guessing what the environment is like in between," Washington Post reports. This means there can be gaps in the data. , At least 10 people have died on the Caribbean islands where Hurricane Irma has stormed through. More than 95 of the buildings on Antigua and Barbuda, where Irma first hit, have been flattened. Florida officials have warned Interstate 95 and Turnpike roads are already congested by traffic as people attempt to evacuate the state. Counties in South Carolina and Georgia, where Hurricane Irma has been predicted to reach as well, are also under a state of emergency. |
US | US Gets Bad Grades for PreK Education | Most U.S. states have mediocre to poor pre-kindergarten participation rates, according to a new report by Education Week, which shows significant income-related gaps and often meager enrollment rates for preschool students. MORE Big Gaps in Pre-K Availability Nationwide, Report Finds, Education Week gave the U.S. a D-plus overall on preschool participation despite a significant push in a number of states to expand access to pre-K. The states with the most positive marks were Hawaii and Mississippi, which received Bs, along with the District of Columbia, which earned a B-plus. Idaho and Utah ranked at the bottom of the list and received Fs. The grades were based on a number of factors related to preschool access, including the percentage of 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled, the increase in pre-K enrollment in the last several years and the enrollment rate for children whose families are considered at or below the poverty line. The report found that about two-thirds of all children ages 3 to 6 are enrolled in preschool but less than half of kids ages 3 to 4 are in pre-K. MORE Rethinking Pre-K 5 Ways to Fix Preschool, "No state really aces the exam on early childhood education," Christopher Swanson, vice president of a nonprofit organization that publishes Education Week, told US News World Report. |
US | A Physician Has Been Charged With Mutilating the Genitals of Two Girls in Detroit | A physician in Detroit has been charged in a landmark case with mutilating the genitals of two 7-year-old-girls, a practice that is common in some cultures but is internationally recognized as a human rights violation. The Detroit News reports that Jumana Nagarwala has been detained and arraigned in a federal court, where she faces up to 15 years in prison on charges of female genital mutilation and transport with intent to engage in criminal sexual acts. An FBI investigation dating back to at least February, parts of which were unsealed Thursday, found evidence that Nagarwala had made phone contact with the two young girls' families. Interviews and medical examinations revealed that the two girls undergone genital surgery. The FBI documents say that both girls were told not to talk about the procedure, both complained of severe pain, and both identified Nagarwala as the doctor who had performed the procedure, according to the Detroit News. One of the girls, speaking to an FBI agent cited in the court filing, said that after the procedure, "she could barely walk, and that she felt pain all the way down to her ankle," Detroit News reports. According to the court document cited by the paper, Nagarwala agreed to an interview with investigators but has denied taking part in any criminal activity. A spokesperson for her employer, the Henry Ford Health System, said the alleged criminal procedures were not performed at any of the company's facilities and Nagarwala has been placed on leave. Read More Doctors Around the World Rally for New Surgery to Counter Female Genital Mutilation, FBI agents have reportedly identified other girls who may have been victimized by Nargawala in previous years, according to the Detroit News. The FBI estimates that some 513,000 young girls may be at risk nationwide, and efforts are underway to crack down on the crime. The case is believed to be the first of its kind to be tried in a federal court. Female genital mutilation FGM, sometimes referred to as female circumcision, is most common in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, or among migrant communities from those regions. According to the World Health Organization, about 3 million girls are at risk of being "cut" each year, and some 200 million have already undergone the procedure worldwide. Detroit News |
US | White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders Interviewed as Part of Mueller Investigation | WASHINGTON White House press secretary Sarah Sanders has been interviewed as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Sanders says in a statement released Friday that she was "happy to voluntarily" sit for the interview. It was unclear when Sanders was interviewed but she says her boss, President Donald Trump, urged her to "fully cooperate.", CNN was first to report on Sanders' interview. Mueller is believed to be close to wrapping up his investigation into possible collusion between Trump's presidential campaign and the Russian government. Trump has denied collusion and has denounced the investigation as a political "witch hunt." Sanders has also used the "witch hunt" language to describe Mueller's inquiry. |
US | Oklahoma Execution Halted Amid Concerns Inmate Is Innocent | An Oklahoma court halted the execution scheduled for Wednesday of a convicted murderer amid growing concern he may be innocent. The Associated Press reports an appeals court halted the execution of Richard Glossip shortly before he was scheduled to be executed after his attorneys asked for time to review new evidence, including a claim by another inmate that he overheard the other man convicted in the case admit he acted alone. Glossip was convicted of murder in 1977 after being linked to the death of Barry Van Treese. Justin Sneed, who bludgeoned Van Treese to death, said he had been paid to do so by Glossip. But some have questioned the verdict, arguing that Sneed's testimony in court came in exchange for a deal with prosecutors and that there is no concrete evidence linking Glossip to the crime. Sneed's daughter recently argued in a letter that the state delay the execution, saying her father has wanted to revoke his testimony. "One innocent life has already been taken by my father's actions," wrote Sneed's daughter, O'Ryan Justine Sneed. "A second one doesn't deserve to be taken as well.", Another controversial aspect of the execution is its method lethal injection. If the execution proceeds as scheduled, Glossip will be killed using a drug that has led to botched executions in the past. Three different inmates Dennis McGuire in Ohio, Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma and Joseph Wood in Arizona appeared to experience difficulties during executions last year when executioners used the drug midazolam. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the legality of using the drug in June. "I am worried they will botch it again," Glossip told CNN. However, family members of Glossip's alleged victim have said the execution should proceed. The victim's son, Daniel Van Treese, told NBC News that Glossip's defenders "have more money than sense," and were pushing an agenda. "Let us get on with our lives," said Van Treese. |
US | New Sheriff Overseeing Burning Man to Crack Down on Naked RuleBreakers | A new Nevada sheriff tasked with overseeing the upcoming Burning Man festival plans to crack down on the annual desert debauchery. Jerry Allen, 39, who was elected Pershing County Sheriff in January, said he plans to tighten law enforcement for the tens of thousands of festival-goers journeying to the remote Black Rock Desert next week for the annual event, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported on Tuesday. In recent years, many attendees at the weeklong event where nudity is the norm, drugs flow as if on tap and orgies litter the desert have not been charged for crimes like marijuana possession, according to federal reports on the event, but the new sheriff in town said he has a tougher police protocol in mind. "We don't have the personnel to issue citations to 70,000 naked people on the playa, but we will be upholding the law to the best of our ability," Allen said. He added that Burning Man "brings nothing except for heartache" to the conservative, rural county. Burning Man organizers said they remain optimistic because the low number of arrests in years past suggest more festival-goers are abiding by the law. "We've been working with Allen since his election, and he's been involved with all of the large coordination efforts," said Burning Man spokesman Jim Graham. "It's an ongoing process on education, but he hasn't been out there for a few years, so he hasn't seen the progress we've made in recent years.", Burning Man will take place from Aug. 30 to Sept. 7. Reno Gazette-Journal, Listen to the most important stories of the day |
US | A Winter Storm and Thousands of Super Bowl Fans Are Bearing Down on SnowShy Atlanta | ATLANTA Five years after cars, trucks and school buses became marooned on Atlanta freeways in what became known as "snow jam ," another winter storm is threatening the city just as thousands of fans begin pouring into town for Super Bowl 53. A winter storm watch goes into effect at 4 a.m. Tuesday for Atlanta, a city known for grinding to a halt even in relatively light snowfalls. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday said state offices in more than 30 counties in the northern part of the state would be closed Tuesday, including those in the Atlanta area. The National Weather Service projects that up to an inch 2.5 centimeters of snow is possible Tuesday in Atlanta, with up to 2 inches 5 centimeters in far northern suburbs. Forecasters warn of the possibility of ice-glazed roads and highways. The potential for black ice is "the overriding concern," said Homer Bryson, director of the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency. "Temperatures are going to plummet," the governor said at a Monday news conference. "It's very similar to what we saw in 2014 where the roadways will not have time to dry off before the moisture or precipitation on them refreezes," Kemp said. "And that's when you have black ice, and that's what causes wrecks, which causes gridlock and public safety issues, injuries.", Sunday's Super Bowl will be played in downtown Atlanta in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which has a roof. The roof will be open if weather permits, officials have said. There's a 40 percent chance of showers Sunday, but highs will be near 58 degrees 14 Celsius. That's slightly warmer than average for Feb. 3 in Atlanta, climate records show. But forecasters say the more immediate threat is Tuesday, when roads could be treacherous. "It is often easy to pass judgment on how we in Georgia deal with snow and ice, but for those from the north what you do know is that an ice event is very different than a snow event," Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Monday. "And because we don't want a repeat of 2014, we have already begun to pretreat our streets and are paying particularly attention to our sidewalks because we do know that we will have many visitors in our tourist areas.", Forecasters were uncertain how widespread the snowfall will be. "Some uncertainty continues regarding amounts of snow accumulations and how far south and east the threat may extend," the weather service said in a Monday update on the approaching storm. |
US | Obama Says Mass Shootings in US Unparalleled in World | President Barack Obama repeated a call for gun controls reforms Wednesday following news that a mass shooting had killed 14 people in Southern California, according to preliminary reports from authorities. , "We have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world," Obama told CBS News. "There are steps we can take to make Americans saferto make these rare as opposed to normal." Instituting background checks for people hoping to purchase a gun was among the measures suggested by a visibly emotional Obama in a short interview. Police are looking for multiple perpetrators in Wednesday's shooting who reportedly fled the crime scene in San Bernardino, Calif. in a black SUV. |
US | Bounce House Injuries Become an Epidemic | In mid-May, two upstate New York kindergartners playing in an inflatable bounce house were thrown into the sky and jettisoned from at least 15 feet in the air, one boy landing on a parked car and another on asphalt. "It was like a horror movie," one witness told a local paper. "It just kept going up and up." A similar incident occurred on Saturday, when a bounce house was picked up by strong gusts of wind and blown across a Colorado field with two children inside. Despite what may seem like a new rash of freak accidents, children with bounce-house injuries have been regular customers in the nation's emergency rooms for yearsand they're only getting more frequent. Safety experts have been arguing for years that tougher safety guidelines need to be in place. In 2012, a team led by the Center for Injury Research and Policy published the first comprehensive study of such injuries in the journal Pediatrics. The researchers found that there was a 15-fold increase in such injuries from 1995 to 2010, when 31 children per day on average were seen in emergency departments for "an inflatable bouncer-related injury." On average, they found that the patient was about seven years old, and most commonly sustained some kind of fracture or sprain to a leg or an arm. Almost 20 of the cases involved head and neck injuries. Kids usually got hurt while falling inside the bouncerrather than out of itoften into another kid of a different size. The New York case appears to be uncommonly serious According to recent reports, one boy remains hospitalized for injuries related to what police are calling a "tragic accident" that occurred on May 12. The 2012 report found that only 3.4 of the inflatable-injury cases involved being hospitalized. Part of the reason injuries are increasing appears to be a simple one Bouncy houses and moonwalks and inflatable obstacle courses are not only more popular than they were two decades ago but also come in do-it-yourself-packages that parents can purchase and set up themselves. "You can buy them on the shelf at Costco," says Tracy Mehan, a health educator with the Child Injury Prevention Alliance. Drew Tewksbury, a senior vice president at insurance broker Britton Gallagher, developed an insurance program for amusement rentals like bounce houses. He says that trying to set up such playthings without professional operators and attendants is a "recipe for disaster." He also says that the question of liability is always determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on where the bouncy house is, who set it up, whether waivers were signed and whether instructions were followed. Currently there are voluntary guidelines for how to set up and operate a bounce house set out by ASTM International. Nearly 20 states, Tewksbury says, have passed legislation making those guidelines mandatory, rules that cover everything from the number of attendants one must have present to how deeply stakes must be pounded into the ground and how strong winds can be before all children are forced to get out. In the absence of strict guidelines in most states, the Child Injury Prevention Alliance has set out some best practices, like limiting bouncing to kids ages six and older and, ideally, only allowing one child to bounce at a time. The 2012 report found that injury patterns for kids were similar to those gotten on backyard trampolines, and Mehan argues that Americans need to start viewing these fun-time devices with equal wariness. "If this were a disease," she says of the at least 11,000 annual injuries, "it would be considered an epidemic." |
US | Betsy DeVos Moves to End Obamas Guidelines for Campus Sexual Assault Investigations | Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said Thursday that her department will change the Obama Administration's guidance for handling cases of sexual assault on college campuses and rethink the way Title IX regulations against gender discrimination are enforced. "The sad reality is that lady justice is not blind on campuses today. This unraveling of justice is shameful, it's wholly un-American," DeVos said during a speech at George Mason University in Virginia . "There must be a better way forward. Every survivor of sexual misconduct must be taken seriously. Every student accused of sexual misconduct must know that guilt is not predetermined.", DeVos' speech came almost two months after she met with various advocate groups to discuss how sexual assault investigations are handled on college campuses, listening to victims of sexual assault and to students who say they have been falsely accused. Victims' advocates have urged DeVos not to roll back the Obama Administration's controversial Dear Colleague letter. That letter established strict guidelines for universities to follow when investigating sexual assault complaints or risk losing federal funding under Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. On Thursday, DeVos criticized that guidance for creating a system that "has failed too many students," listing examples of victims and accused students who say their cases were mishandled. "Instead of working with schools on behalf of students, the prior administration weaponized the Office of Civil Rights to work against schools and against students," she said. "The era of rule by letter is over. Through intimidation and coercion, the failed system has clearly pushed schools to overreach.", Advocates of sexual assault victims quickly criticized the announcement, arguing the change will result in a reversal of recent progress. "What seems procedural is a blunt attack on survivors of sexual assault," Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women's Law Center, said in a statement. "It will discourage schools from taking steps to comply with the lawjust at the moment when they are finally working to get it right.", Jess Davidson, managing director of the group End Rape on Campus, was among those who protested outside the speech on Thursday. "I have had survivors calling me hysterically in tears worried that their government is going to go back on their civil rights," she said in a phone interview. "They're very scared.", But DeVos' speech was celebrated by Cynthia Garrett, co-president of Families Advocating for Campus Equality FACE, a nonprofit founded by mothers who say their sons were falsely accused of sexual misconduct in college. She said an email group for parents affiliated with FACE lit up with positive messages after DeVos finished speaking "Thank you for giving the innocent accused a platform." "Praise God." "Brought me to tears. Progress is being made," they wrote. "These families have been through a lot. This Google group email exchange has had many days of very heavy, very sad interactions between the families," Garrett said. "But this has given them some hope, maybe not for themselves or their sons or daughters specifically, but for the future.", FACE and some legal experts have argued that the 2011 guidance created a one-sided system that threatens the due process rights of accused students by requiring college disciplinary proceedings to rely on a preponderance of evidence when adjudicating cases of sexual assault a lower burden of proof than is required in criminal courts. But 20 state attorneys general have urged DeVos to keep the protections in place. And on Thursday, former Vice President Joe Biden, who championed efforts to combat sexual assault during his time in the White House, said "any change that weakens Title IX protections will be devastating.", Davidson said the problems with the current system are not a result of the Dear Colleague letter, but rather a result of schools failing to enforce it properly. "I think DeVos might have a fundamental misunderstanding of Title IX and the Dear Colleague letter," Davidson said. "I look at this false equivalency that she set up in her framework about the issues facing survivors and the issues facing the accused, and I think she is trying to shut survivors out.", DeVos said the department will launch a so-called notice and comment process to develop a new approach. "We know this much to be true one rape is one too many, one assault is one too many," DeVos said. "One person denied due process is one too many. This conversation may be uncomfortable, but we must have it. It is our moral obligation to get this right. Campus sexual misconduct must continue to be confronted head-on." |
US | National Guard Soldier Arrested For Trying To Join ISIS | A National Guard soldier and his cousin have been arrested in Illinois for attempting to join the Islamic State of Iraq and greater Syria ISIS, the Department of Justice announced Thursday. Hasan Edmonds, a 22-year-old member of the Army National Guard, had planned to travel to Egypt and team up with the Islamist militant group, according to a criminal complaint filed on Wednesday. Hasan's cousin Jonas Edmonds, 29, is accused of intending to use information provided by his cousin to carry out an attack on the U.S. military facility in Illinois where Hasan had been training. The FBI said it learned of the plan when Jonas asked an uncover agent to help carry out the attack. Jonas allegedly told the agent he would provide uniforms and information about the base. Hasan was arrested at Chicago Midway International Airport Wednesday evening where the FBI said he planned to begin the first leg his journey. Jonas Edmonds was arrested at his home in Aurora, Ill. "We will pursue and prosecute with vigor those who support ISIL and its agenda of ruthless violence," said U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon in a press release, using an alternate abbreviation for ISIS. "Anyone who threatens to harm our citizens and allies, whether abroad or here at home, will face the full force of justice.", The cousins had described their plans to an undercover FBI officer, the complaint says. Both were charged with conspiracy to provide support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization. Read more U.S. Intel Chief Roughly 40 Americans Have Returned From Syria, , |
US | People Are Wearing Purple Today for Epilepsy Awareness Day Heres What That Is | People across the globe are set to color-cordinate today in honor of Purple Day 2018, the international day for epilepsy awareness. Purple Day aims to dispel myths surrounding epilepsy, a condition of the brain that affects 50 million people worldwide. Cassidy Megan, 16, founded the event in 2008 following her own battles with epilepsy after she was diagnosed age 7. The Anita Kaufmann Foundation and Epilepsy Association of Nova Scotia joined forces in 2009 and helped launch Purple Day internationally. , , It's estimated that 2.2 million Americans live with epilepsy today. Celebrities who were or have been affected by the condition include actor Danny Glover, former president Theodore Roosevelt, and rapper Lil Wayne. The condition is characterized by recurrent seizures, and it's one of the most common neurological disorders. An onset of epilepsy can occur at any age, although more often it occurs in childhood or late in life. Seizures can happen at any time, but in more than half of cases they can be controlled with medications. Read more about epilepsy here. |
US | Parents Slam Hollow Excuses From Fraternity Members in Penn State Hazing Death | "I don't want to go to jail for this," the pledge master of a Penn State fraternity wrote in a text message after Tim Piazza was fatally injured in a February hazing ritual, according to evidence presented by prosecutors at a preliminary hearing this week over the sophomore's death. On Tuesday, Piazza's father identified that text and others as evidence that fraternity members took actions "they all knew were wrong and illegal.", The preliminary hearing, which is set to continue in August, will determine whether there's enough evidence to send the case to trial. "Text messages by and among the Fraternity leadership presented in court admitted the obvious when they privately confided to each other and others that they could go to jail' for what they did," James Piazza said in a statement Tuesday night. "Yet their lawyers and other lawyers tried for two days to make it appear that our son's death was merely an accident.", Tim Piazza died in February after a Beta Theta Pi hazing ritual in which he consumed a "life-threatening" amount of alcohol and sustained injuries from a fall down stairs. The fraternity has been permanently banned at Penn State, and 18 fraternity members are now facing charges ranging from hazing to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault. In hearings on Monday and Tuesday, defense attorneys argued that 19-year-old Tim Piazza had been drinking voluntarily and questioned why their clients deserved to be charged, while prosecutors focused on concerned text messages exchanged by fraternity members. "I think we're fed," the fraternity's pledge master said in a text, according to ABC News. "It's not the fact that he drank. He drank because we hazed him too. Main word being hazed," one fraternity member texted another, according to testimony by State College Police Detective Dave Scicchitano, the Associated Press reported. "Make sure the pledges keep quiet about last night and this situation," another said, ABC News reported. James Piazza said he was disappointed by a "grueling" hearing that will now stretch into August. "As we have now sat for three days uncomfortably and impatiently listening to the defense lawyers' hollow excuses and arguments, our thoughts have turned constantly to our son Tim, whose death was caused collectively by men who continue, through their lawyers, to show no remorse, perpetuating the misconduct which caused Tim's death," he said in his statement. |
US | Chelsea Manning Starts Tweeting from Prison | Chelsea Manning, who is serving a 35-year sentence in a Kansas military prison for leaking classified government documents to WikiLeaks, appears to be on Twitter. A Twitter handle with her name sent a series of tweets beginning mid-day Friday that called for an online conversation. By Friday evening, the account had more than 18,000 followers. Manning, formerly Bradley Manning, was sentenced to jail in 2013 for passing hundreds of thousands of classified government documents to Wikileaks. Since being jailed, the soldier has transitioned to female. In February, she was approved for hormone therapy. She is not allowed Internet access, according to the Guardian, and in her tweets she notes the difficulties of tweeting from prison. She says she is dictating them by phone and that the Twitter handle is run by Fitzgibbon Media, a communications firm. Manning also says that she plans to tweet daily or weekly, and activists supporting her told the Guardian that her Tweets will be "her own candid thoughts and comments." |
US | Teen Arrested After Taking Snapchat Selfie With Murder Victims Body | A Pennsylvania teenager was arrested Friday for allegedly murdering a 16-year-old classmate, after taking a selfie with the victim's body and Snapchatting the image to a friend. Although the app is known for making photos disappear in 10 seconds or less, the recipient of the jarring text saved the picture and showed it to police. Maxwell Marion Morton, 16, confessed to killing Ryan Mangan to police, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. He was charged as an adult with criminal homicide, first-degree murder and illegal possession of a 9 mm handgun and is currently being held in a county jail without bail. "Police received a copy of the photo which depicted the victim sitting in the chair with a gunshot wound to the face," a police affidavit says. "It also depicts a black male taking the selfie,' with his face facing the camera and the victim behind the actor. The photo had the name Maxwell' across the top.", District Attorney John Peck said of the Snapchat selfie "I've never seen it before, but it was a key piece of evidence that led investigators to the defendant.", Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Read next Lost Your iPhone? Here's How to Find It , Listen to the most important stories of the day. |
US | Watch Live as Betsy DeVos Gives Major Policy Address on Title IX Enforcement | Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will deliver an address on Title IX policy at George Mason University on Thursday, and it will stream live online. The speech which has been billed as a "major policy address on Title IX Enforcement" comes almost two months after DeVos held separate meetings with sexual assault victims and men who say they were falsely accused of assault. One of the primary issues advocates have focused on is the Obama Administration's controversial Dear Colleague letter, which established strict guidelines for universities to follow when investigating sexual assault complaints or risk losing federal funding under Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. Victims' advocates think the letter was an important step toward universities taking sexual assault complaints seriously and have urged DeVos not to roll back the guidance. But advocates of accused students think it created a one-sided system that lacks due process. DeVos has not yet said whether she plans to alter or retract that guidance, but she has said change is necessary. "No matter where we're coming from, whether you're a survivor, whether you're an accused individual, whether you're part of an institution charged with navigating these issues, it is not working right and well for anyone," DeVos said in an interview with the Associated Press last month. The event will be streamed live on the Education Department's Facebook page. The speech is expected to begin at 1215 p.m. |
US | Man Who Filmed NYPD Chokehold Video Arrested on Gun Charges | The man who filmed a video of a New York City police officer apparently using a fatal chokehold on a suspect was arrested on gun charges Saturday night, an NYPD spokesman announced. Ramsey Orta, 22, was arrested in Staten Island on a charge of criminal possession of a firearm, an NBC affiliate reports. In the video that Orta filmed, Eric Garner, who was arrested for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, can be heard saying, "I can't breathe," as officers wrestle him to the ground. A medical examiner ruled Friday that Garner's death was a homicide and that the officer's chokehold, a move prohibited by the NYPD, was a significant factor in it. "I felt like they treated him wrong even after the fact that they had him contained," Orta told TIME about Garner's arrest. Orta was carrying an unloaded semiautomatic weapon that was reported stolen in Michigan in 2007, police said. Orta is also in the hospital undergoing treatment for a medical condition. NBC |
US | Chelsea Manning Can No Longer Be Called He by the Military Court Rules | Correction appended, The U.S. military is now required to refer to soldier Chelsea Manning with a feminine pronoun or the gender-neutral Private First Class Manning, according to a new court order. Manning, who is serving a 35-year sentence in a Kansas prison for releasing classified documents to WikiLeaks, is undergoing gender reassignment from male to female. She legally shed her masculine name, Bradley, in 2014, but in January the government objected to Manning's decision to adopt female pronouns in filings, saying the 27-year-old was banned from doing so. "Unless directed otherwise by this honourable court, the government intends to refer to Manning using masculine pronouns," the government said last month. However, a court order now says that Manning cannot be referred to as a "he." Lawyers have long alleged that Manning's gender dysphoria has been trivialized and discounted by officials, barring the Oklahoma native from accessing the critical medical attention she needs. Transgender individuals are still not permitted to serve in the U.S. military. According to Manning's legal adviser Nancy Hollander, the new ruling is "an important victory for Chelsea, who has been mistreated by the government for years." |
US | All 50 States Face Deep Freeze | All 50 states will see freezing temperatures on Tuesday, with millions of Americans facing another bitter blast of unseasonably cold air. Up to five feet of snow was possible south of Buffalo, New York, due to an "historic but highly localized lake effect snow event," according to NBC News meteorologist Bill Karins. An arctic blast has socked the nation for days, causing at least 17 deaths since Saturday. While last week's freeze focused on the Rockies and the Plains, the Midwest, Northeast and South shivered overnight. By 225 a.m. ET, Buffalo and Erie, Pennsylvania, had been buried under around two feet of snow. Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News, |
US | Seattle Thieves Steal 50000 Worth of Pot By Cutting Hole in The Wall | You can't fault the Seattle robbers who stole 50,000 worth of medical marijuana Wednesday for lack of creativity. Local detectives reported that when they arrived at the scene of the crimea dispensary "in the 5000 block of East Marginal Way South"they found "a large hole cut into the side of the business and found marijuana strewn about." The thieves may not get away with this cannabis caper for long though. The Seattle Police Department's blog noted that detectives had recovered fingerprints, video surveillance, and other evidence from the scene. Washington state is one of two states in the county, along with Colorado, where marijuana is legal for recreational purposes. As the commercial marijuana industry has grown, dispensary businesses have confronted safety fears because wariness by banks to involve themselves in a business still illegal under federal law forces pot businesses to resort to trafficking in large amounts of cash. |
US | Trump Overseas | The President has licensed the Trump name for use on commercial and residential buildings around the globe, bringing in millions of dollars to the Trump Organization. But many of those deals face increased scrutiny with Trump in office, TRUMP TOWERS ISTANBUL, The President's company doesn't own this Turkish office and residential complex, but it allows his name to be used by owner Dogan Holding, which reportedly paid 1 million to 5 million for the rights, TRUMP INTERNATIONAL HOTEL AND TOWER PANAMA, When this 70-story hotel and condominium opened, expected licensing fees were reportedly worth 75 million, TRUMP TOWER MANILA, This 150 million residential tower, set to open this year, attracted attention after a chief executive behind the tower was named a Philippine envoy to the U.S. |
US | MarijuanaRelated Charges Will Still Be Used to Build Deportation Cases the Homeland Security Chief S | U.S. immigration authorities will continue to enforce federal laws against marijuana and use them as a basis to deport undocumented immigrants, says John Kelly, U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security, on Tuesday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE "will continue to use marijuana possession, distribution and convictions as essential elements as they build their deportation removal apprehension packages for targeted operations against illegal aliens living in the United States," Kelly said in a speech at the George Washington University, according to the New York Daily News. "They have done this in the past, are doing it today, and will do it in the future.", He also toed the hard line on cannabis taken by others in the Trump Administration, calling it "a potentially dangerous gateway drug that frequently leads to the use of harder drugs," reports the Daily News. Kelly's latest statement on marijuana and deportation is markedly tougher than earlier comments on the plant's place in the current administration's war on drugs, reports NBC News. On Sunday, he told NBC's Chuck Todd on Meet the Press that "marijuana is not a factor in the drug war" when asked about how its legalization could affect the U.S. antinarcotics effort. |
US | President Trump Calls Response to Puerto Ricos Hurricane Maria an Unsung Success | President Donald Trump called his government's response to Hurricane Maria an "unsung success" on Tuesday, two weeks after Puerto Rico's leaders dramatically increased the death toll from the 2017 storm to 2,975 people. Trump has repeatedly defended federal efforts in the wake of Maria, a Category 5 storm that destroyed much of Puerto Rico's infrastructure and left most of the island without power for weeks or longer. His latest remarks came after he was briefed on Hurricane Florence, now a Category 4 storm, that's expected to strike the mid-Atlantic coast at the end of the week. "We're as ready as anybody's ever been," he told reporters at the White House. "It's going to be a very large one.", The states of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina haven't seen a storm of such size and intensity in 25 years or perhaps ever, Trump said. "It's tremendously big and tremendously wet," he said. The Trump administration was roundly criticized for its performance during a record year of disasters in 2017, when Hurricane Harvey flooded southern Texas before Maria assailed Puerto Rico. In a report issued earlier this month, the government's chief watchdog found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had been overwhelmed by a series of devastating hurricanes and other disasters in 2017. The Government Accountability Office said the agency had failed to adequately house disaster victims, distribute financial assistance in a timely fashion or do enough to prevent fraud. In Puerto Rico, where the estimated death toll from Hurricane Maria has ranged from as low as 64 to as high as 5,000, the accountability office said the agency's poor response was compounded by a failure to deploy enough qualified staff. "Puerto Rico was an incredible unsung success," Trump said Tuesday. He said that the territory had no electricity even before Maria struck, an exaggeration. While the federal response to storms in Texas and Florida last year was "A-plus," Trump said, "the best job we did was Puerto Rico, but no one would understand that. They had no electric before the storm hit it was dead.", The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority was under bankruptcy protection and some parts of the island that lost power during Hurricane Irma hadn't had electricity restored before Maria hit. But the electricity supply was operating normally before Irma. This time as Florence and a series of other storms barrel toward the U.S. FEMA says it's prepared, even as the agency defends its 2017 response. Florence is forecast to hit the Carolinas later this week. "I'm confident the response in 2017 was good and I'm confident this response will be good," FEMA Associate Administrator Jeff Byard told reporters during a briefing earlier on Tuesday. "This is not going to be a storm we recover from in days. We are planning for devastation.", At the White House, Trump asked FEMA administrator Brock Long if there was still a chance Florence may veer off into the Atlantic. Long said that the expectation is that it will make landfall. "These will be statewide events," Long said, urging residents of areas under evacuation orders to flee. "It's very risky" to remain, Trump added. "It's going to be really, really bad along the coast.", Ricardo Rossell, the Governor of Puerto Rico, responded on Tuesday night saying "no relationship between a colony and the federal government can ever be called a success.", |
US | New York Governor Acts to Protect Exploited Nail Salon Workers | New York Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled emergency measures on Sunday to protect thousands of workers in his state's nail salon industry from wage theft and health hazards. A new multiagency task force will immediately conduct salon-by-salon investigations, protect manicurists from chemicals in nail products, and educate workers on their rights, Cuomo said in a statement. The measures come days after the New York Times published online an indepth investigation into the exploitation of nail manicurists, many of whom are severely underpaid and regularly exposed to potentially dangerous chemicals. "We will not stand idly by as workers are deprived of their hard-earned wages and robbed of their most basic rights," Cuomo said in a statement, according to the New York Times. Nail salons that do not comply with orders to pay workers back wages will be shut down, according to the new rules. NYT |
US | Catholics Selected for the Boston Bomber Jury Could Be Going Against Their Faith | There is a distinct possibility that many of Boston's 2 million Roman Catholics won't be able to perform jury service in the trial of alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev without violating their faith. The criteria for selecting jurors requires them to be able to sentence the accused to death should that eventuality arise, USA Today reports. According to the teachings of the Catholic Church, however, the death penalty must not be used if "nonlethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor.", "It is both ironic and unfortunate that Catholics who understand and embrace this teaching will be systematically excluded from the trial," the Rev. James Bretzke, professor of moral theology at Boston College, told USA Today. Read more at USA Today. |
US | Heres What the Hawaii Missile Alert Looked Like on Peoples Phones | A false alert about a ballistic missile in Hawaii Saturday sent the state and the internet into a panic. Authorities confirmed the alert was an error, and Hawaii's Governor David Ige said he was meeting with authorities to determine what caused the alarm. According to screenshots, the alert read, "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.", Here are some of the screenshots and stories circulating on social media. , , , |
US | FBI Releases Part of Orlando Shooter Omar Mateens Conversation With Police | In a call to 911 dispatchers during his brutal attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Omar Mateen told authorities he was the shooter. "I'm in Orlando and I did the shootings," Mateen was recorded saying. , On Monday, the FBI released a partial transcript and a timeline of the events that occurred on June 12, when Mateen opened fire on club goers killing 49 and injuring 53. Mateen, who was shot and killed by police, killed 49 people and injured 53 others during his attack on the gay club. In the 911 call, the shooter pledges allegiance to ISIS and other terrorist actors. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Sunday the transcripts would not include Mateen's references to ISIS, but in the wake of intense scrutiny on Monday, the FBI and Department of Justice released an unedited version of the transcript to the public. "As much of this information had been previously reported, we have re-issued the complete transcript to include these references in order to provide the highest level of transparency possible under the circumstances," the Department of Justice and FBI said in a statement. According to the FBI, the first call Mateen made to police went as follows, "Chilling, calm, and deliberate" is how FBI's Ron Hopper described the killer's voice during the phone call. Though the FBI released the transcript and the timeline of the shooters engagements with police, the FBI said releasing audio could be traumatizing to the victims. "To expose that now would be excruciatingly painful to exploit them in this way," Hopper said. Officers appeared defensive of their actions during the press conference, saying that they'd received a lot of criticism over the fact that the initial attack started at around 2 a.m. but did not conclude until around three hours later. During a call to responders, Mateen said, "There is some vehicle outside that has some bombs, just to let you know. You people are gonna get it, and I'm gonna ignite it if they try to do anything stupid.", The U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida said the transcripts were being released so that the public could have a better idea of the timeline during the early morning of June 12 and to have a better idea of what the responding officers were dealing with when they responded. The U.S. attorney said the actions of law enforcement "should not be second-guessed" during the press conference, likely in response to questions as to why officers didn't respond to the shootout more quickly. "Lives were saved during their historic work," Lee Bentley, the U.S. attorney, said. According to the FBI, Mateen spoke to dispatchers three times during the attack and police say they were on the scene "within minutes." The officers first entered Pulse for what was then an active-shooter situation, officers said. After the shooter retreated to a bathroom, however, the scene became a hostage situation. Police said there was about a three-hour lag between the active-shooter situation and the end of the hostage engagement. "During that three hours there was no gunfire," Orlando police chief John Mina said. During those three hours, he said, officers were entering and exiting the club and rescuing victims. The investigation into the attack is still ongoing. Hopper, the FBI assistant special agent in charge of the investigation, said it could take "months or even years" to complete. Hopper said investigators had completed about 500 interviews and recovered 600 pieces of evidence from the scene. Law enforcement expects all of the crime-scene evidence will be processed soon and the area could be returned to the public early this week. The FBI said the transcripts were redacted to curb any influence Mateen's actions could have on future attacks, even though the details of the case and what the shooter said have been widely reported. |
US | It Was a Horror Show Videos Show the Moments After the Las Vegas Shooting | At least 58 people were killed and more than 515 injured in a shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on Sunday, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Police say Stephen Paddock opened fire from the Mandalay Bay onto the outdoor Route 91 Harvest Festival, which was taking place across the road from the Mandalay Bay Resort on the famous Las Vegas Strip. Witnesses at the festival reported seeing flashes from the front of the Mandalay Bay. "Country music singer Jason Aldean was just performing and then we heard this loud bang almost like a glass bottle, like a pop sound," one witness said. "Then we heard a pop, pop, pop like firecrackers or something.", "It was a horror show," another witness told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. , , Watch the video above for more. |
US | Three More Women Come Forward to Accuse Bill Cosby of Sexual Assault | Three more women have publicly come forward with accusations that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them in the 1970s and '80s. The three women, including an actress who appeared on The Cosby Show and the former wife of a vice president at the William Morris Agency, joined the more than 40 women who allege they were drugged, sexually assaulted or sexually harassed by the comedian. At a press conference Wednesday, civil rights attorney Gloria Allred, who is now representing more than 21 accusers, said the three women are speaking out now to show their support for other accusers who have been criticized by Cosby's attorneys. "There is no statute of limitations on free speech," says Allred. "A person who alleges that she or he is a victim can speak out at any time.", Cosby has consistently denied the allegations of sexual assault. His lawyer, Marty Singer, previously said that the claims "about alleged decades-old events are becoming increasingly ridiculous." Singer did not immediately comment on the new allegations. At the press conference Wednesday, Colleen Hughes said she was a young stewardess with American Airlines in the early '70s when she allegedly met Cosby on a flight to Los Angeles. Hughes claimed Cosby flirted with her the entire flight and invited her to lunch in Beverly Hills. She agreed to go, but only with another stewardess. Cosby allegedly had a car and driver waiting for them at the airport but the other stewardess never showed up. Hughes claimed she drove with Cosby to the Fairmont Hotel and he allegedly watched television in her room while she got ready for lunch. When she came out of the bathroom fully dressed, she said Cosby had allegedly ordered a bottle of champagne and was drinking it out of her Gucci pump. She claimed he raised the shoe towards her, and said, "A princess should always drink champagne out of a glass slipper.", Hughes said they started watching television and he allegedly tried to hold her hand. The last thing she remembered, she claimed, was waking up around 515 p.m. Her clothes were all over the room and she "felt semen on the small of my back and all over me," she claimed. "It was disgusting," she said. "Bill obviously did not use a condom and there was no lunch and Bill was nowhere to be seen. I was confused and ashamed and never told anyone about what happened to me.", Linda Ridgeway Whitedeer told reporters that at the time of her alleged assault she was the recently divorced wife of Fred Apollo, a vice president and department head of live TV for the William Morris Agency, and who worked closely with the comedian. The former actress, who starred in 1972's The Mechanic with Charles Bronson, claimed she met Cosby on a movie set around 1971. She claimed Cosby told her she was there to be interviewed and then allegedly lured her into the director's office. Once inside, Cosby exposed himself, grabbed her head and shoved his penis in her mouth, Whitedeer alleged. "His attack was fast with surgical precision and surprise on his side," she claimed. "When Cosby was done there was a horrible mess of semen all over my face, my clothes and in my hair.", Whitedeer said she wanted to go straight to William Morris Agency but changed her mind because she didn't want to embarrass her ex-husband. "An actress is like a tennis player," she said at the press conference. "Her integrity and confidence are everything. For me, Bill Cosby was a career-killer.", The third alleged victim, Eden Tiri, said she was a 22-year-old actress when she was given a part playing a cop on The Cosby Show in 1989. While working on the set in front of hundreds of people, she alleged she was led off set to Cosby's dressing room twice but he wasn't there. The third time, Cosby was allegedly waiting for her. Inside the dressing room, she alleged Cosby wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear, "See that's all we were going to do, make love. This is making love. He turned me around, hugged me and I left without saying a word.", On July 29, a California judge ordered the comedian to give a deposition in the civil suit filed by Allred's client Judy Huth. The deposition is scheduled for Oct. 9. "My hope for that deposition is that we will ask questions and he should provide answers," said Allred. "We have a great deal of latitude. We are looking forward to his answers. We are entitled to answers.", Huth claimed that Cosby, 78, molested her inside the Playboy Mansion when she was just 15 years old. She is just one of the nearly 50 women who've accused Cosby of some form of sexual abuse. The deposition will be the first time Cosby has spoken about the sexual assault allegations against him since a separate case in 2005. Portions of that deposition were unsealed earlier last month in the deposition, Cosby admitted he gave Quaaludes to a woman and then had sex with her. |
US | Arctic Blast Takes Aim at Millions of Americans | Parts of the Upper Midwest were waking up to almost a foot and a half of snow Tuesday after a winter blast that caused havoc at airports and on roads. The mid-winter scenes from Montana to Michigan were accompanied by a blanket of sub-zero temperatures that crept south and reached as far as Dallas. Minnesota was hardest hit by the snow with Cambridge and St. Augusta both receiving 16.5 inches by 810 p.m. local time Monday 910 p.m. ET, according to The Weather Channel. Spooner and Glidden in northwest Wisconsin and Montana's Whitefish Ski Resort each received 14 inches, Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News, |
US | Indiana Blocks Syrian Refugee Family From Resettling | A family of Syrian refugees were relocated Wednesday to Connecticut after the Governor of Indiana blocked resettlement in the state. The family of three were set to arrive in Indianapolis Thursday, but were sent to Connecticut after Indiana Gov. Mike Pence ordered state agencies to stop resettlement following last Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris, reports the Associated Press. Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy told reporters that he welcomed the family personally when they arrived in New Haven. "I have to say they were absolutely wonderful and charming folks," Malloy told reporters at a news conference. "I told them that people in the United States are generous and good people but sometimes things happen elsewhere that cause people to forget about their generosity, forget about their native warmth and spirit.", The two governors are an extension of a nationwide debate over what to do with refugees from Syria in the wake of deadly terrorist attacks last week. Indiana is among some 30 states who oppose resettlement of Syrian refugees. Read More See All the States Where Governors Oppose Syrian Refugees, AP, |
US | Scrambling in Terror PETA Slams NHLs Use of Real Penguins at Pittsburgh Game | Animal activists have come down on the National Hockey League after real penguins were released on ice and appeared "terrorized" by pyrotechnics at a Pittsburgh Penguins pregame show earlier this week. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals PETA penned a letter Thursday to the hockey team, slamming its use of the live animals at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh before the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia showdown Saturday. At one point, some of the penguins appeared startled by pyrotechnics fired around them, video shows. "It's inherently stressful for wild animals who naturally shun contact with humans and are extremely sensitive to environmental changes to be hauled around, used as props, and exposed to noisy crowds, with or without explosives going off," PETA's letter said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Hockey fans come to see talented athletes compete, not shy animals terrorized.", , The group urged the NHL to never again use live animals for entertainment purposes. PETA said the penguins were "scrambling in terror after being paraded in front of a screaming crowd and in close proximity to ear-splitting fireworks.", The penguins were from the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium, which said the animals were "very comfortable around people and noises.", , "In addition, it was a great enrichment opportunity for our penguins to be introduced to new sounds, sights and smells," the zoo said in a statement to the Post-Gazette. "The loud pop from the pyrotechnical display temporarily startled the penguins and their first reaction, similar to a human's when startled, they flapped their wings. It was less than 10 seconds and the penguins were back to normal and exploring and playing on the ice." |
US | Santa Fe High School Students Protested Gun Violence a Month Before 10 People Were Killed at Their S | Less than a month ago, about 10 students at Santa Fe High School in Texas participated in the national walkout against school shootings. They handed out fact sheets about gun violence, read a poem by a Parkland shooting survivor and held a sign with a message of solidarity "Santa Fe High School says NeverAgain.", On Friday morning, 10 people at Santa Fe High School were killed when a gunman, reportedly a student, opened fire there. "We read a poem by a parkland survivor, handed out gun violence fact sheets and orange ribbon, did 17 minutes of silence, and then talked about ways to raise awareness for gun violence, and make your voice heard," a Santa Fe student wrote in a tweet on April 20, sharing photos from their walkout on the anniversary of the mass shooting at Columbine High School. Now, Parkland shooting survivors are sharing messages of support with the students of Sante Fe. "This is the most fatal shooting since the one at our school and tragedies like this will continue to happen unless action is taken," the organizers of March for Our Lives said in a statement on Friday. "Santa Fe, we are with you, and we will do whatever we can to support you as the days go on.", , Authorities said 10 people were killed and 10 others were wounded in Friday's shooting. A suspect identified as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis has been taken into custody. The Santa Fe High School shooting follows months of protests and marches against gun violence, and it has become the latest incident to exemplify the frequency of mass shootings in the U.S. One Santa Fe High School student interviewed by a local news station on Friday said she was not surprised that a shooting had occurred at her school. "It's been happening everywhere. I've always kind of felt like eventually it was going to happen here, too," she said. "I don't know. I wasn't surprised. I was just scared.", |
US | These Maps Can Show What Winter Will Be Like Where You Live | , This winter could bring lower than average temperatures to some parts of the northern U.S. with warmer than average temperatures in the south and northeast, according to an outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. But NOAA Climate Prediction Center forecasters say there's a 55 to 65 chance of La Nia developing this year, which is "the biggest wildcard" in this year's winter weather patterns, according to the NOAA's Winter Outlook for the United States. "If La Nia conditions develop, we predict it will be weak and potentially short-lived, but it could still shape the character of the upcoming winter," Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, said in a release. Overall, the NOAA is predicting a greater-than-30 chance of below-average winter temperatures for some northwestern and central northern parts of the U.S. Meanwhile, chances range from about 30 to over 50 for higher than normal temperatures in the southern U.S. across the middle of the country and up into the northeast, including Maine. Hawaii and northwest Alaska also have higher odds of having a warmer winter, while there are better odds of a cooler than usual winter in southeast Alaska. The NOAA is also predicting precipitation levels for the upcoming winter. Most of the northern U.S. has at least about a 30 chance of a wetter than usual winter, while much of the southern U.S. has odds between about 30 and greater than 50 of a drier than usual winter. Northwest Alaska may be wetter than usual, while Hawaii has about 40 odds of being drier than usual. The areas that fall into the unmarked sections of these maps have an equal chance of above-, near-, or higher-than-normal temperatures and precipitation levels, the NOAA says. |
US | First Victims Identified The Latest on the Borderline Bar Shooting in Thousand Oaks | At least 12 people were killed, including a sheriff's deputy, when a gunman entered a crowded bar during a "college country night" event and opened fire in Thousand Oaks, Calif. late Wednesday. Witnesses said that the gunman, who police identified as 28-year-old Marine veteran Ian David Long, threw smoke bombs and shot the bouncer and a cashier before opening fire on patrons at Borderline Bar and Grill at about 1120 p.m. local time. About 60 people were inside the bar at the time of the shooting, police said. Witnesses inside described a chaotic scene, including people throwing bar stools through windows to clear an escape path. One woman said her friend threw her over a wall to get her out of harm's way. Others hid under pool tables and in bathrooms. The entire shooting took about two and a half minutes, police said. Sgt. Ron Helus of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office was fatally wounded during a confrontation with the gunman. He and a California Highway Patrol officer responded to the shooting within two minutes, Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean said early Thursday. The California Highway Patrol Officer "secured the perimeter" and then rescued Helus "out of the line of the gunfire," Dean said. Helus later died at a local hospital. When other officers made entry into the bar about 15 minutes later, they found a bloody scene with 11 victims dead, Dean said. The gunman was also dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Dean said this morning that the bar looked "like hell" after the shooting. In addition to the dead, one person received a minor gunshot wound and eight to 15 people were hurt escaping the bar in the chaos. Helus was a 29-year veteran of the sheriff's office who was hoping to retire next year. Dean said Helus, 54, was his friend and the two often worked out together. "Ron was a hard-working, dedicated sheriff's sergeant. He was totally committed. He gave his all, and as I told his wife tonight, he died a hero because he went in to save lives, to save other people," Dean told reporters, his voice cracking as he spoke. Police said that off-duty law enforcement officers happened to be at the time of the shooting. The officers were unarmed, but tried to help the bar patrons during the assault. , Helus is survived by a wife and a son. Alaina Hously, an 18-year-old student at Pepperdine University, was killed during the shooting. Her aunt and uncle, the actress Tamera Mowry and former Fox News reporter Adam Housley, confirmed her death in a joint statement. "Our hearts are broken. We just learned that our niece Alaina was one of the victims of last night's shooting at Borderline bar in Thousand Oaks," the statement read. "Alaina was an incredible young woman with so much life ahead of her and we are devastated that her life was cut short in this manner. We thank everyone for your prayers and ask for privacy at this time.", Adam Housley had shared his worry about his niece on Twitter in the hours since the shooting, saying that she is a "beautiful soul" and asking for prayers. Alaina Hously's suitemate, who lists her name as Ashley, also took to Twitter to say that her friend was missing. "Pls pray for my residence hall, a handful of girls went to line dance tonight and they're not all accounted for," Ashley wrote. , California Lutheran University confirmed that one of its alums, 23-year-old Justin Meek, had been killed during the shooting. The university said that Meek had saved people during the shooting. "Cal Lutheran wraps its arms around the Meek family and other families, and around every member of this community of caring," the university said. Jason Coffman told reporters that he had learned from police that his son, 22-year-old Camarillo resident Cody Coffman, was killed in the bar. Cody Coffman loved sports and fishing, and was preparing to join the Army, Jason Coffman said. "I just want him to know he's going to be missed," Jason Coffman said. He added that Cody Coffman will be particularly missed by the young man's three younger brothers. "I talked to him last night before he headed out the door," Jason Coffman said. "First thing I said was son, don't drink and drive. Last thing I said was son I love you.", Jason Coffman said that his son's friends had knocked on the family's door at around 1 a.m. to say that they had been at the bar with Cody, but that they had not seen him leave. Cody Coffman was the first victim inside the bar to be named. Authorities announced Helus' death early Thursday. Witnesses reported a chaotic scene inside the bar after the gunman began shooting. "All of a sudden you hear the bang bang of the gun shot and it just started going crazy," one woman who was inside the bar told reporters. "We didn't take it seriously at first because it just sounded like firecrackers.", "Everyone just dropped down onto the floor. We couldn't get out because the shooting was on that side," she continued. "So our friends got the bar stools and started slamming them against the window so we could get out.", A man who was near the front door when the shooting began told ABC 7, "I was talking to my stepdad and I just started hearing these big pops. I look up and the security guard was shot.", "The gunman was throwing smoke grenades all over the place. I saw him point to the back of the cash register. And he just kept firing.", Another witness told ABC 7, "I should have stayed until he changed his clip, but I was worried about my boy. I probably should have stayed. I apologize to anybody who got hurt. I'm sorry. They're so young. I'm 56. This shouldn't have happened to them.", Police said today that Ian David Long, 28, is a Marine Corps veteran. Long lived with his mother in Newbury Park, Calif. police said. Police said that they believe that Long may have been affected by post-traumatic stress disorder, but that they have not yet determined his motive. An FBI official said investigators are working to determine Long's motivation, looking into his state of mind leading up to the shooting, whether there was any potential radicalization and whether Long had any associates. FBI officials added that they are currently examining Long's vehicle and Newbury Park, Calif. residence. After walking inside the Borderline Bar and Grill, Long threw a smoke bomb and carried out the bar shooting with a legal Glock 21 .45-caliber handgun, police said. The gun is designed to hold ten rounds and one in the chamber, but Long's gun had been illegally modified with an extended magazine. Witnesses and authorities described the gunman as wearing dark clothing and staying silent while firing inside the bar. A witness told CNN the shooter wore a black trench coat and eyeglasses and had a black beard. Investigators with the FBI and Ventura County Sheriff's Office have not identified the shooter or explained the shooter's motive. Police have secured Long's house for their investigation. Police said that Long had been involved several incidents where law enforcement were called. In April, police had investigated a "disturbance" at Long's home, and a mental health crisis team had assessed Long's condition. The specialist determined at that time that Long did not appear to qualify for involuntary commitment under California law, police said. "He was somewhat irate, acting a little irrationally," Dean said. According to the Associated Press, that specialist assessed Long but concluded he couldn't be involuntarily committed for psychiatric observation and he was cleared that day. Dean also said the specialist was also concerned that Long might be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder "basing that on the fact that he was a veteran and had been in the Corps," per the AP. Long was also a victim of a battery at a local bar in 2015, police said. Long served in the Marine Corps and was trained as a machine gunner from 2008 to 2011. He was deployed in Afghanistan from November 2010 to June 2011, according to the Marines. Newbury Park resident Winnet Blake, who had been Long's roommate, said he was shocked when he found out about the news. "He was just quiet and kept to himself, he was just a roommate," Blake tells TIME. "I was shocked, I was like what the hell this is crazy.'", The two were roommates two separate times, once in Ventura County for eight months and then again for a year and a half in Los Angeles County. Blake said the last time they were roommates was two years ago. Blake added that while the two lived together Long mostly kept to himself. Blake said Long served in the Marines but, to his knowledge, he did not keep guns around the apartment and he was not aware if he was politically active. "That's not something we spoke about." Blake said. According to the Associated Press, Long's mother, Colleen, posted Facebook photos of her son wearing his military uniform in 2010 and 2011. "My Son is home, well sort of, back in Hawaii, soon to be in Cali come January, hooray!" she wrote on Dec. 14, 2012. Another photo from 2014 shows Long with his arm draped around his mother in front of Dodger Stadium. The two were wearing Dodgers T-shirts and smiles, AP said. It was college country theme night at Borderline Bar Grill, and multiple Pepperdine University and California Lutheran University were inside the bar at the time of the shooting. , , "The University has learned that multiple Pepperdine students were at the venue at the time of the shooting, including students from Seaver College and the School of law," reads a statement from the university. Borderline Bar Grill hosts "College Country Night" every Wednesday from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. according to its website. Police are still working to identify all of the victims killed during the shooting. A police motorcade brought Sgt. Helus's body from a local hospital to the county medical examiner's office Thursday morning. Helus was a 29-year veteran of the Ventura County Sheriff's office. Officers from the sheriff's office lined the medical examiner's office's driveway to salute their fallen comrade. Dean said that Helus' death was a major loss for the sheriffs office. "It's lost a hero. It's lost a great human being," Dean said. , President Donald Trump said he'd been briefed on the news of the shooting. , , California Sen. Kamala Harris and Governor Jerry Brown extended their condolences to the victims. "My heart aches," she wrote. "I'm thankful for the heroic actions of law enforcement but heartbroken that they lost one of their own.", , , , Correction, Nov. 8, The original version of this story misstated the time that the shooting began. It was 1120 p.m. local time Wednesday, not 1120 a.m. |
US | Two Men Charged in Fatal Shooting of Dwyane Wades Cousin | Police charged two men with murder for fatally shooting Nykea Aldridge, a cousin of basketball star Dwyane Wade, on Friday while she was pushing her baby in a stroller and walking to register her children for school. Brothers Darwin, 26, and Derren Sorells, 22, were charged in the shooting, Chicago Police Department spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said. Guglielmi said on Twitter that Derren Sorells is a "documented member of the Gangster Disciples" and is on parole, while Darwin Sorells is a co-conspirator and also on parole for a gun charge. Aldridge, 32, was not the intended target in the shooting, police said. The baby in the stroller was unharmed. "Another act of senseless gun violence. 4 kids lost their mom for NO REASON," Wade who recently signed with the Chicago Bulls, wrote on Twitter. |
US | Gen Stanley McChrystal Pens Blog On How He Survived Being Fired | Gen. Stanley McChrystal has admitted having a crisis of identity after getting fired from the U.S. Army by Barack Obama in 2010, saying he bounced back by thinking creatively about the skills he learned in 38-plus years as a soldier. "There is only one Army in which you serve," McChrystal wrote in a blog posted on LinkedIn Tuesday. "When that identity is gone, it is gone forever. For me, it was gone in an instant, and on terms that I could never have imagined.", McChrystal was the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan when, in June 2010, Rolling Stone ran an article depicting McChrystal and aides poking fun at top civilian leadership in the United States, including Vice President Joe Biden. In the article, by the late Michael Hastings, McChrystal says Obama looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" when in the presence of military brass. "I boarded a flight immediately, returning from Afghanistan to Washington, D.C. to address the issue with our Nation's leadership. Less than 24 hours later I walked out of the Oval Office and in an instant, a profession that had been my life's passion and focus came to an end," McChrystal wrote Tuesday. At the time of the incident, McChrystal apologized publicly for the incident, saying "I extend my sincerest apology for this profile. It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened." But in his LinkedIn post Tuesday, the general describes his portrayal in Hastings' piece as being as "unfamiliar as it was unfair," suggesting he now disputes the article. McChrystal says he recovered from the shock of the incident by re-thinking the skills he had amassed in his decades as a soldier. "Like leaders in many walks of life, my business has been to serve with, and for, others," he said. "By focusing on this simple truth, and allowing it to guide my decisions through a difficult time, this curveball ultimately opened as many doors as it closed." Since leaving the Army McChrystal has started a company, hit the speaking circuit and taught at Yale. |
US | Heroin Laced With Elephant Tranquilizer Linked to 8 Overdose Deaths in Ohio | Heroin laced with carfentanil, a sedative used on large animals, has caused at least eight overdose deaths in Ohio, officials said. The carfentanil-laced heroin may be responsible for five additional deaths as well in the Cincinnati area, Hamilton County coroner Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco said on Tuesday. Carfentanil, an analog of the drug fentanyl, is a synthetic opioid about 10,000 times more potent than morphine. It is often used to knock out large animals, such as elephants and not approved for human use. Because dealers often cut heroin with fentanyl or carfentanil, many users might not know they are taking laced heroin. The opioid epidemic spreading across the U.S. has hit Ohio particularly hard in recent years. In July, Hamilton County officials issued a warning that carfentanil had been found in local supplies of heroin after 35 overdoses across the state, including six deaths, were reported in a three-day period. Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil told CNN local heroin supplies now consist of mostly carfentanil or fentanyl cut with heroin. "It's not heroin cut with anything else anymore, it's synthetic opioids cut with heroin," he said. |
US | Aaron Hernandez Faces New Double Murder Charges | Former NFL star Aaron Hernandez was indicted on two new counts of first-degree murder Thursday, a year after he was charged with the shooting death of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd and released from the New England Patriots. In the new indictment, Hernandez is accused of killing Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado in Boston on July 16, 2012, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley said at a news conference Thursday. The two men were stopped at a traffic light in a car with three others, Conley said, when an SUV drove up and someone in the back seat shot at them. Hernandez, 24, had an encounter with the victims at a club the night of the shooting, Conley said. The former tight end was also charged with three counts of armed assault with intent to murder. Hernandez is currently being held awaiting trial on charges that he and two accomplices shot Lloyd last June. He has pleaded not guilty in that case. |
US | Baltimore Police Officer Acquitted on All Charges in Freddie Grays Death | A judge cleared Baltimore Police Officer Edward Nero of all criminal charges Monday in the death of Freddie Gray, the first verdict in the six trials concerning Gray's death in police custody last year. Nero, 30, was one of six officers involved in Gray's arrest and one of three who were on bike patrol and chased Gray on April 12, 2015. Gray, who was black, died a week later from a severe spinal injury. Nero was charged with second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and two counts of misconduct in office. After Gray's death, the city erupted into violence not seen in Baltimore since the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. Over the last year, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake fired Police Commissioner Anthony Batts and later announced she would not run for re-election after criticism for her handling of the unrest. Read more Inside the Fight to Change Baltimore's Police One Year After Freddie Gray's Death, In the six-day trial, prosecutors argued that Gray's arrest itself was unlawful and said Nero's failure to buckle Gray into the transport van amounted to reckless endangerment. Nero's defense attorneys argued that the officer was merely following protocol during the confrontation with Gray, and that Nero's role in his arrest minimal. Nero chose Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams to decide the case rather than a jury. The first trial of William Porter, who drove the transport van carrying Gray, ended in a hung jury in December. In a statement, Mayor Rawlings-Blake said "This is our American system of justice and police officers must be afforded the same justice system as every other citizen in this city, state, and country.", Read more Freddie Gray Mistrial Could Spell Trouble for Future Cases, The Baltimore Police Department said Monday that Nero would "remain in an administrative capacity" with the agency while it conducts an internal investigation into the incident. The next trial involving Officer Caesar Goodson, Jr. the driver of the van, is scheduled to begin June 6. |
US | Court Warrantless Cell Location Tracking Is Unconstitutional | A federal appeals court has for the first time ruled that law enforcement must have a warrant in order to track a person's location data from nearby cell phone towers. "There is a reasonable privacy interest in being near the home of a lover, or a dispensary of medication, or a place of worship, or a house of ill repute," the three judges of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in a unanimous opinion Wednesday. "That information obtained by an invasion of privacy may not be entirely precise does not change the calculus as to whether obtaining it was in fact an invasion of privacy.", The ruling is a landmark victory for privacy activists. "This opinion puts police on notice that when they want to enlist people's cell phones as tracking devices, they must get a warrant from a judge based on probable cause," said American Civil Liberties Union Staff Attorney Nathan Freed Wessler. "The court soundly repudiates the government's argument that by merely using cell a phone, people somehow surrender their privacy rights.", The case was originally brought in Miami by Quartavious Davis, who is serving more than 160 years in prison for several violent armed robberies. Davis appealed after phone location data was used as evidence in his case, but a judge declined to vacate his sentence, finding that the police acted in "good faith" in their investigation. The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet issued a ruling on the question of law enforcement access to suspect cell phone location data. However, in a 2012 opinion upon which the 11th Circuit judges based their opinion delivered Wednesday the court found that using a GPS tracking device to follow a suspect's location does constitute a search and thus Fourth Amendment considerations apply. |
US | TSA Beefs Up Cell Phone Checks at Overseas Airports | The Transportation Security Administration will ask U.S.-bound travelers at certain overseas airports to power up their cell phones and mobile devices as a part of enhanced security measures amid new security concerns. Owners of devices that cannot turn on will not be allowed to bring them onto the plane, the TSA announced in a statement Saturday. The owners may also face additional screening. The news follows Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson's instructions for the TSA to step up security at foreign airports with direct flights to the U.S. earlier this week. It also follows reports from ABC News citing U.S. intelligence analysts that terrorist groups in Syria were developing new kinds of bombs to be brought onto commercial planes. The Department of Homeland Security is also asking airport authorities in Europe and other locations to increase random screenings of U.S.-bound travelers and more closely scrutinize shoe size, ABC reports. |
US | What to Know About Recent Immigration Raids in US Cities | Hundreds of undocumented immigrants were arrested in raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in cities across the U.S. this week the first widespread enforcement of President Donald Trump's policy aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration. Trump campaigned on a promise to take action against illegal immigration, pledging to deport up to 3 million undocumented immigrants by targeting those with criminal records. Notably, experts have challenged Trump's estimates of the number of undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of crimes. The raids took place at homes and workplaces in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, the Los Angeles area, North Carolina and South Carolina, the Washington Post reported, citing immigration officials. Here are some key details to know, This action follows Trump's executive order on immigration Trump signed an executive order last month aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration. It set a priority of deporting any undocumented immigrant who had been charged with a crime, convicted of a crime or had "committed acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense.", But immigration officials said the recent raids were a "routine" enforcement practice. "These are existing, established fugitive operations teams. ICE does not conduct sweeps or raids that target aliens indiscriminately," said Gillian Christensen, acting press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, according to CNN. "ICE only conducts targeted enforcement of criminal aliens and other individuals who are in violation of our nation's immigration laws.", Raids caused panic in immigrant communities Recent arrests and deportations have affected people who were not considered a priority for deportation under the Obama administration. Protests broke out in Phoenix this week over the deportation of a mother who had lived in the U.S. for 21 years and was arrested during a routine meeting with ICE on Wednesday. She had been convicted of a felony in 2008 for using a fake social security number to gain employment, but she was not previously considered a deportation priority. Officials conducted similar raids during Obama's presidency but prioritized immigrants who were deemed a threat to national security or public safety. Still, more than 2 million people were deported under Obama, leading some critics to label him "Deporter in Chief.", The raids this week caused fear and confusion in immigrant communities, and immigrants' rights advocates argued it was different than typical law enforcement action. Some groups issued guidance for dealing with ICE officials. In Austin, Texas, teachers handed out flyers to students, explaining "what to do if ICE comes to your door," the Austin American-Statesman reported. Democratic leaders and lawmakers spoke out about the arrests "Angelenos should not have to fear raids that are disruptive to their peace of mind and bring unnecessary anxiety to our homes, schools, and workplaces," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Friday. "The Administration should take a just, humane, and sensible approach that does not cause pain for people who only want to live their lives and raise their families in the communities they call home.", Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro confirmed there was a "targeted operation" taking place in the state and said he was "concerned" about the raids. "I am asking ICE to clarify whether these individuals are in fact dangerous, violent threats to our communities, and not people who are here peacefully raising families and contributing to our state," he said in a statement. |
US | Shocking Drone Video Shows Massive Tornado Damage in Florida | Aerial footage captured by a drone shows extensive damage in Pensacola, Florida, after tornadoes raged across the southeastern United States on Tuesday night. The footage, recorded by meteorologist John Oldshue of SoutheasternSky.com, includes several videos that show the destruction along the tornado's two-mile wide path in Pensacola. The damage seems random, as some homes are left in ruins while others were left unscathed. A total of 30 twisters were reported Tuesday, the National Weather Service, according to the National Weather Service. Watch the video above. |
US | Behind the Nationwide Screening of 1984 | The crowd at the sold out show at Nitehawk Cinema in New York was there to see a 30-year-old film that suddenly feels new again. 1984. On April 4, some 200 theaters across 44 states joined Nitehawk in screening the film based on the 1949 George Orwell novel as a protest against the current state of American politics. The story about a dystopian political regime has recaptured audience imaginations in recent months. Shortly after President Donald Trump's inauguration, the novel rose to the top of Amazon's best seller list in the U.S. More recently, a 1984-Broadway adaptation is coming to New York this spring. The film screenings were the brain child of Dylan Skolnick and Adam Birnbaum, who run independent theaters in Long Island and Connecticut, respectively. Birnbaum says he hopes to use this screening "as a springboard and launching pads for future screenings of this nature, whether political, social, educational, or whatever the subject may be." |
US | Gov Bobby Jindal Sues Federal Government Over Common Core Coercion | Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has filed suit against the Department of Education over federal educational standards that he says are intended to "coerce" states into adopting federal guidelines. According to the filing submitted to a Louisiana district court on Wednesday, Jindal charges the Department of Education with violating the 10th amendment by requiring states to participate in a consortium to help implement Common Core standards or risk losing federal funding. The Common Core standards, which were released in 2010, are benchmarks for proficiency in English and math. The Obama administration urged states to sign up to Common Core, saying states using the standards would be more likely to win Race to the Top grants. Forty-four states have adopted them, but some have chosen to withdraw from the standards in the belief that they represent a step towards a federal takeover of education. "Through regulatory and rule making authority, Defendants have constructed a scheme that effectively forces States down a path toward a national curriculum," the suit alleges. Jindal has been a vocal opponent of the Common Core standards, a bipartisan initiative which has gathered critics on the left and the right. He sought to remove Louisiana from the initiative in June, despite its backing from state legislators and the state's Board of Education. |
US | Big Tobacco Planned Big Marijuana Sales in the 1970s | This story was updated on June 5, 2014, Tobacco executives anticipated the legalization of marijuana as early as the 1970's and they wanted a piece of the action, according to newly discovered documents from tobacco company archives. Public health researchers scanned 80 million pages of digitized company documents for keywords such as, "marijuana," "cannabis," "reefer," "weed," "spliffs," and "blunts." The results, published Tuesday in the Milbank Quarterly, reveal a long history of maneuvers toward marijuana-laced products. "The starting point must be to learn how to produce in quantity cigarettes loaded uniformly with a known amount of either ground cannabis or dried and cut cannabis rag," read one memorandum from British American Tobacco's adviser on technical research, Charles Ellis. A hand-written letter from Philip Morris president George Weissman read, "While I am opposed to its use, I recognize that it may be legalized in the near futureThus, with these great auspices, we should be in a position to examine 1. A potential competition, 2. A possible product, 3. At this time, cooperate with the government.", Philip Morris even went so far as to request a marijuana sample from the Department of Justice for research purposes, promising to share its findings with the government so long as the company's involvement remained strictly confidential. "We request that there be no publicity whatsoever," wrote a Philip Morris executive. The Justice Department drug science's chief Milton Joffee obliged with a promise to deliver "good quality" marijuana. While tobacco executives missed the mark on legalization by several decades, they did lay out a persuasive case for vigilance. In early 1970, an unsigned memorandum distributed to Philip Morris' top management read, "We are in the business of relaxing people who are tense and providing a pick up for people who are bored or depressed. The human needs that our product fills will not go away. Thus, the only real threat to our business is that society will find other means of satisfying these needs.", Philip Morris USA spokesman William Phelps said in an emailed statement, "Company documents from 45 years ago on this topic don't represent our current view. Marijuana is illegal under federal law and we have no plans to sell marijuana-based products.", The study's authors said the documents provide proof of tobacco companies' intent to enter the marijuana trade, despite public claims to the contrary. They urged policymakers to prevent tobacco makers from entering the nascent market for legal marijuana "in a way that would replicate the smoking epidemic, which kills 480,000 Americans each year." |
US | When Is the First Day of Spring 2018 4 Things to Know About the Equinox | March is a notoriously fickle month for weather, but one thing that always comes, rain or shine, is the first day of spring even if it doesn't feel like it. Despite three back-to-back-to-back Nor'easters just weeks ago, the first day of spring which falls on Tuesday, March 20 this year is officially here. The first day of spring is called the vernal equinox sometimes also referred to as the spring equinox or March equinox and it is almost always either March 20 or March 21 though it will fall on March 20 for the next two years in a row, according to the National Weather Service., The warm weather ushers in the opportunity to spend more time outdoors, especially with longer hours of sunlight. Here's everything you need to know about the first day of spring, The first day of spring is the only time of year when the sun rises in the east and sets in the west for everyone across the world. It's also the only moment each year that the Earth's tilt is zero in relation to our sun. So, if you were standing on the equator, the sun would pass directly over your head. The first day of spring is determined by the vernal equinox, which is when the sun crosses over plane of the earth's equator, making night and day approximately equal lengths all over the world. One the day of the equinox passes, both of Earth's hemispheres get an equal amount of sunlight. There are actually two ways to determine the first day of spring the astronomical cycle or the meteorologic cycle but most people use the astronomical cycle. The astronomical cycle considers March 20, 2018 to be the first day of spring, and is always based on the March equinox, whereas the meteorologic cycle bases its first day of spring on seasonal weather and temperature patterns. So if you go by the meteorologic cycle, the first day of spring is actually March 1, AccuWeather says. No. The date changes each year since it is determined by the timing of the sun crossing over the Earth's equator, which shifts ever so slightly depending on a few factors. The Earth's orbit is constantly changing in relation to the sun, while at the same time the gravity of other planets impacts the Earth's location in space. Those physical dynamics coupled with the fact that each calendar year always has a different number of days think leap years, means that the first day of springs varies slightly from year to year. The exact time the vernal equinox is supposed to occur this year is at 1215 p.m. on Tuesday, March 20, according to the Farmer's Almanac. The spring equinox in the Southern Hemisphere happens at the exact opposite time of the year, so it's actually the fall equinox for people on the other side of the world the same way that winter and summer are reversed for both hemispheres. |
US | Things Are Not Going to Plan in Trumps US Trade Deficit Wars | The numbers are not looking good for a president who has made reducing the U.S. trade deficit one of his main economic goals. Worse still, signs are emerging that President Donald Trump's trade wars are starting to hit economic growth, not just at home but around the world. New data out Wednesday showed the U.S. trade deficit in July widening at its fastest rate since 2015 as monthly deficits with China and the European Union both hit new records. In the year so far, the U.S.'s overall goods and services deficit is up by 22 billion, or 7 percent, versus the same period last year. The data coincides with Trump's moves to escalate his battles with China and efforts to badger Canada into signing on to a new Nafta, highlighting what economists have argued is the incongruity of his trade policies. Even as he launches his battles in the name of reducing the U.S.'s imbalances, he has been causing the overall deficit to grow by increasing public spending and encouraging domestic investment. "The policies of this administration are policies that may not have been designed to increase the trade deficit, but that is their effect," said Philip Levy, who served on President George W. Bush's council of economic advisers. Also apparent in the trade data are some of the distortions that Trump's policies have been fueling and how they may be helping mask the long-term impact of his trade wars. While soybean farmers are widely seen as one of the likely victims of a trade war with China, for example, a surge in exports of soybeans to get ahead of new tariffs helped boost U.S. GDP growth in the second quarter. In the first seven months of this year, the value of U.S. soybean exports actually increased by more than 40 percent, or 5.7 billion, versus the same period last year, according to the data released on Wednesday. Those distortions are likely to be temporary. And that is why many economists believe U.S. GDP growth may have peaked at 4.2 percent in second quarter, with trade likely to be a drag on growth in the months to come. Andrew Hunter of Capital Economics said the trade data released on Wednesday indicated that after boosting GDP figures in the second quarter, net exports would subtract from it in the second half. In the third quarter, he predicted, net trade would subtract more than a percentage point from GDP growth while the recent surge in the dollar suggested that trade could be a "modest drag" in the fourth quarter too, even before the impact of tariffs starts to take hold. Most economists argue against Trump's characterization of the U.S. trade deficit as a reflection of the country's profits and losses from trade. They also tend to cringe when people invoke reducing the deficit as a policy goal. The last time the U.S. trade deficit shrank significantly was in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis, which saw a collapse in global trade. "Trade policy has very little direct impact on the overall trade deficit in the longer run," said Mary Lovely, a Syracuse University economist. A new Nafta, for example, is unlikely to do much to change the trade deficit, despite the administration's claims, she said. On the other hand, if Trump's trade wars eventually hit business confidence it would certainly affect the trade deficit. "Then we would see a reduction in the U.S. trade deficit, but of course with harmful effects on economic activity and employment," she said. The impacts of Trump's growing trade wars aren't limited to the U.S. They also have only just started to bite. At the World Trade Organization, Robert Koopman, the chief economist, fears that we are beginning to see signs of a slowdown in global trade growth linked to the trade wars. That matters because just a few months ago trade growth was being cited as one of the main causes for a robust streak in the global economy. Around the world, manufacturing surveys are beginning to show a dip in export orders. Air and ocean freight data are pointing to a slowdown. So too is a dip in auto production around the world, Koopman said in an interview. More worryingly, he said, the world is already seeing a slowdown in foreign direct investment that's likely to lead to a longer term impact on trade. It also is significant because, if anything, the Trump trade wars are only just getting started. More significant damage looms ahead, Koopman said, with the Trump administration expected to proceed with a new wave of tariffs on 200 billion of China goods as early as this week and amid its threats to put national-security tariffs on imported cars and parts. The real damage from those measures and any retaliation from China and other U.S. trading partners may not hit the global economy until the first quarter of next year, Koopman said. "There's been a lot more talk than action so far," Koopman said. "The worry is when the action starts happening." |
US | Suicide Hotline Calls Spiked 25 After Kate Spades Death | Calls to the the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline rose by 25 as the high-profile suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain captured public attention. The hotline number 800273-8255 has been widely shared across social media in the last week with celebrities, news outlets and advocates urging people who have suicidal thoughts to call. Fashion designer Kate Spade was found dead last Tuesday in her New York home in an apparent suicide. She was 55. Bourdain, celebrity chef and host of CNN's Parts Unknown was found dead in in a hotel room in France Friday morning from an apparent suicide. He was 61. Calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline jumped 25 in the two days after Spade's death, compared with the same period the previous week, John Draper, the group's director, told the Wall Street Journal. The lifeline connects to a free suicide prevention network of over 160 local crisis centers. Callers are immediately routed to the nearest crisis center where they can speak to trained counselors. Draper said calls to the lifeline can spike following celebrity suicides because of a "collective sense of loss that many people feel.", "The research is really clear that these calls have been shown to reduce emotional distress and suicidal crisis," Draper told the Journal. |
US | A Gas Explosion in San Francisco Damaged Five Buildings | SAN FRANCISCO A gas explosion in San Francisco shot a tower of flames into the sky and burned five buildings including one of the city's popular restaurants before firefighters brought the blaze under control. There were no injuries. Wednesday's explosion and fire sent panicked residents and workers in the city's Inner Richmond neighborhood fleeing into the streets as flames shot above the rooftops of nearby three-story buildings. "We just felt the shaking, and the next thing we knew, people were banging on the door to tell people it's time to start evacuating," said resident Nick Jalali, 28, who was cooking at home when the electricity cut out. Utility crews put out the fire about three hours after private construction workers cut a natural gas line, which ignited the fire, San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said. Authorities initially said five workers were missing, but the entire construction crew was found safe, and no other injuries were reported. Hayes-White said the construction crew was apparently working on fiber-optic wires. Five buildings were damaged, including a building housing Hong Kong Lounge II, a reservations-required dim sum restaurant that is a fixture on the city's "best of" lists. The fire began on the street in front of the restaurant. Officials evacuated several nearby buildings, including a medical clinic and apartments, Hayes-White said. Vehicles on a busy street were rerouted as authorities cordoned off the bustling neighborhood. Caroline Gasparini, 24, who lives kitty-corner from where the fire was, said she and her housemate were in their living room when the windows started rattling. She looked up to see flames reflected in the glass. "We went into crisis mode," Gasparini said. "We grabbed our shoes, grabbed our laptops and grabbed our passports and just left.", Gasparini said they saw employees of the burning restaurant run out the back door and people fleeing down the block. Firefighters worked to keep the fire from spreading while Pacific Gas Electric crews tried to shut off the natural gas line. "It's complicated," Hayes-White said of stopping the flow of gas through the damaged pipe. Though she later acknowledged that "as a fire chief and a resident, yes, I would have liked to see it mitigated.", PGE spokeswoman Melissa Subbotin said state excavation rules required crews to hand dig around multiple subsurface pipelines of various sizes before they were eventually able to "squeeze" a four-inch plastic line. She said since the fire was contained to a limited area, the utility had to weigh the threat from the fire with the risk that would come from more drastic action. "Had we turned the gas off to a transmission system, we would have shut off gas to nearly the entire city of San Francisco," she said. "The objective of this was to turn the gas off safely and as quickly as possible.", Subbotin said PGE would shut off a transmission line in an earthquake. PGE spokesman Paul Doherty stressed that the workers who cut the gas line are not affiliated with the utility, which is under heightened scrutiny over its natural gas pipelines. A PGE pipeline exploded under a neighborhood south of San Francisco in 2010, killing eight people and wiping out a neighborhood in suburban San Bruno. A U.S. judge PGE 3 million for a conviction on six felony charges of failing to properly maintain the pipeline and the utility remains under a federal judge's watch in that case. |
US | See the Official Portraits of Donald Trump and Mike Pence | The White House on Tuesday released the official portraits of President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, which will hang in every federal building in the country. Trump is pictured grinning in front of an American flag, a stark departure from his Twitter profile picture, which shows him seriously staring into the camera. The long anticipated portraits were released more than nine months into Trump's presidency. By contrast, former President Barack Obama's official portrait was released before he was even sworn into office. "We ordered hundreds of them back in January," a federal official recently told the Washington Post. "I periodically ask what's going on, because it's noticed by employees in our agency that there's nothing up." |
US | Celebrities Join Hundreds of Protesters in Los Angeles Rallying Against Climate Change | LOS ANGELES Hundreds of people gathered in Los Angeles on Sunday to protest against climate change and show support for activists demonstrating against the construction of an oil pipeline in North Dakota. Several Hollywood stars, including Mark Ruffalo and Susan Sarandon, were among the more than 800 people who attended the climate rally in MacArthur Park. Rallygoers carried signs urging to "shut it all down now" and chanted slogans like "water is life.", "Not only is it an environmental, but it's a problem in terms of social justice," Sarandon told the rally. "We can do it. We can stop fracking. We can stop the pipeline. But really it's only because of great numbers of people.", Also among celebrity attendees was actress Shailene Woodley, who earlier this month was arrested in North Dakota while protesting the planned pipeline in an incident that was live-streamed on Facebook. Read More Shailene Woodley The Truth About My Arrest, In North Dakota, more than 80 protesters were arrested on Saturday after clashing with police near a pipeline construction site, according to the local sheriff's department, which pepper sprayed demonstrators. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and environmental activists have been protesting construction of the 1,100-mile 1,886-km pipeline in North Dakota for several months, saying it threatens the water supply and sacred sites. The pipeline, being built by a group of companies led by Energy Transfer Partners LP, would be the first to bring Bakken shale from North Dakota directly to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Supporters say the pipeline would provide a safer and more cost-effective way to transport Bakken shale to the U.S. Gulf than by road or rail. There were no reports of arrests at the Los Angeles rally, where demonstrators assembled into the evening decrying climate change, hydraulic fracturing and oil pipelines as a threat to the safety of future generations. "I'd rather walk miles today to protest the building of the pipeline than have my children walk miles to get clean water in the future," 22-year-old college student Steffany Urrea said. |
US | President Trump Is Very Pleased With the Positive Press Covfefe of His LateNight Meme | President Donald Trump has responded after confounding the web with a cryptic, late night tweet, though he still hasn't cleared up the meaning of the word "covfefe". Right around midnight on Tuesday, the President sent a strange message to his 31 million Twitter followers, which simply read "Despite the constant negative press covfefe." The tweet was not immediately deleted and accumulated more than 100,000 retweets and hundreds of humorous reactions before it was finally removed from the site. Now Trump has responded to the mystery surrounding his newly-minted word, which continues to trend on Twitter. "Who can figure out the true meaning of "covfefe" ??? Enjoy!" he wrote in a tweet sent early Wednesday morning, clearly enjoying the attention the presumed-typo garnered overnight. , Trump's second tweet gained more than seven thousand retweets just minutes after it was sent. |
US | These Are the Victims of the Dallas Police Shooting | Five police officers were killed and seven others were wounded after a sniper opened fire from above in downtown Dallas Thursday night. A sniper shot officers on duty at a peaceful protest following the shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile by Louisiana and Minnesota police officers earlier this week. The suspect was shot and killed after a standoff with police. The victims include Dallas Area Rapid Transit DART officer Brent Thompson and Dallas Police Department officers Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Krol, Lorne Ahrens and Michael Smith. Brent Thompson, 43, joined DART Police Department in 2009. He is the first to be killed in the line of duty since the agency was established in 1989. He had just married a fellow officer. Before DART he worked for military contractor DynCorp International, mentoring and training teams in Afghanistan and Iraq. He also described himself on Linkedin as someone motivated by a "team" atmosphere, writing "I enjoy working on challenging tasks and problem solving with my peers. I am constantly looking for different ways to serve the department, this helps to keep my work from becoming sedentary and boring.", Dallas Police Officer Patrick Zamarripa, 32, was a Navy veteran who had imagined being a police officer since childhood, his sister said. He was thrilled with the birth of his daughter two years ago. "He just had a constant smile on his face after he became a father," his sister Laura Zamarripa said. His Twitter photo shows him holding a small child, and on Father's Day he tweeted, , Dallas Police officer Michael Krol, an eight-year veteran of the department, had a lifelong dream of being a police officer, according to local media reports citing a family member. He had previously served as a Wayne County sheriff's deputy and worked in county jails from 2003 to 2007, Sheriff Benny Napoleon said Friday. Dallas Police officer Lorne Ahrens was a former semi-pro football player who stood tall at 6 5. He is survived by his wife, two children and a step-child, according to a Washington Post report. Dallas Police Sgt. Michael Smith, 55, was a former Army Ranger and the father of two young children, according to a USA Today report. DART released the names of the other three of its officers injured in the shootings Omar Cannon, 44, Misty McBride, 32, and Jesus Retana, 39, "As you can imagine, our hearts are broken," the agency said in a statement. "This is something that touches every part of our organization. We have received countless expressions of support and sympathy from around the world through the evening. We are grateful for every message. Thank you.", "We are grateful to report the three other Dart police officers shot during the protest are expected to recover from their injuries. No other Dart employees working in Downtown during the protest or shooting were injured. We also extend our sympathies to our colleagues at the Dallas Police Department in the loss of their five officers." |
US | Nun in Legal Battle With Katy Perry Dies in Court | In a property court battle between a group of nuns and singer Katy Perry, one nun died in court Friday. The group's website standwiththesisters.org posted the message, "Rest with the angels our most precious treasure," along with a picture of Sister Catherine Rose, who passed out during the Friday court hearing, according to CBS. The property dispute between Perry and the nuns stems from the nuns' former convent. The nuns wanted to sell the property to restaurateur Dana Hollister. However, a judge ruled that the sale to Hollister was invalid and she was later ordered to pay Perry and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles 5 million for interfering with the singer's attempts to purchase the property. The nuns argued they had the right to sell the property as opposed to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, from which Perry attempted to purchase the former convent, the Los Angeles Times reported. The case was appealed and the ongoing legal battle has continued, according to Newsweek. |
US | Oregon Chub Becomes the First Fish to Be Taken Off the Endangered Species List | Making history, the Oregon chub became the first fish ever removed from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Animals on Tuesday. The minnow, unique to the state's Willamette River Basin, was listed in 1993, when the population dipped below 1,000. Today the number has climbed to over 140,000 and the minnow can be found in more than 80 locations, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service press release. "This effort succeeded because of an extraordinary partnership between federal and state agencies, landowners and other stakeholders who brought this species and ecosystem back from the brink of extinction in just over 20 years," said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. While the Oregon chub is the first fish to be saved, 28 animals, including America's iconic bald eagle, have also been rescued. |
US | Heres the Size of the March For Our Lives Crowd in Washington | Hundreds of thousands of people converged on Washington, D.C. on Saturday to participate in the March For Our Lives an effort led by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students with the goal of ending gun violence. Aerial photos provided a sense of the March For Our Lives crowd size on Saturday. Organizers estimated that the March For Our Lives attendance in Washington, D.C. reached about 800,000 people, NBC News reported on Saturday afternoon. Law enforcement officials have not yet released an official crowd size estimate, but said they had prepared for 500,000. The 2017 Women's March attracted an estimated 500,000 people in Washington, D.C. according to crowd scientists cited by the New York Times, though some estimated it was even more. Crowd size is often difficult to determine exactly, and it can be a point of contention as the long-running controversy over President Trump's inauguration crowd size indicated. Saturday's demonstration brought downtown Washington to a standstill. From the foot of the Capitol to the White House more than a mile west, Pennsylvania Avenue and its tributaries were mobbed with demonstrators. They carried homemade signs while chanting, "Never again," and "Vote them out.", President Obama's January 2009 inauguration, by comparison, was estimated at one million to 1.8 million attendees. |
US | Social Media Ban Lifted on Muslim Preacher Who Inspired Syrian Fighters | Ahmad Musa Jebril, a Michigan-based Muslim cleric, is free to return to social media after the lifting of a ban imposed upon him because his sermons were inspiring foreign jihadists to join the conflict in Syria, Reuters reports. Last summer, a federal judge ordered restrictions on the imam after he was identified as an English-speaking preacher particularly admired by fighters traveling to Syria to join groups like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra. Jebril's access to the Internet was severely restricted and he had to regularly report to probation officials. Court documents reveal that Jebril, a U.S. citizen, has had a long involvement in hardline Islamist ideology along with his father. Although the bans have now been lifted for a few days, it appears that Jebril has not yet been active on Twitter, YouTube or his own website. Reuters |
US | 16YearOld Maryland School Shooting Victim Jaelynn Willey Dies After Being Taken Off Life Support | A 16-year-old student who was shot by a classmate in the hallway of her Maryland high school on Tuesday morning died Thursday night after being taken off life support, officials said. Jaelynn Willey who was on her school swim team and was the second-oldest of nine siblings was shot in the head by 17-year-old Austin Wyatt Rollins shortly before classes began at Great Mills High School in Maryland on Tuesday. The two had been in a "prior relationship" that recently ended, according to the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office. "This past week, our lives changed completely and totally forever. My daughter was hurt by a boy who shot her in the head and took everything from our lives," Willey's mother, Melissa, said at a press conference Thursday night. "We will be taking her off life support this evening. She is brain dead and has no life left in her.", Using a handgun legally owned by his father, Rollins also shot a 14-year-old male student in the leg, but he was released from the hospital on Wednesday. Rollins died Tuesday after being confronted by a school resource officer, less than a minute after he shot Willey. Police are still investigating whether Rollins died after being struck by the officer or by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. "It is with terribly broken hearts that we learn of the tragic news regarding Jaelynn Willey. No parent should ever be faced with a decision like this," Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said, after Willey's mother announced the family was taking her off life support. "There are no words adequate to express our compassion for her loving family and the entire Great Mills community. All of Maryland grieves with them, and they will remain in our thoughts and prayers.", , Thousands of students are set to march in Washington, D.C. on Saturday to call for action on gun control an effort led by students who survived last month's mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. |
US | Ferguson Police Chief Resigns After Damning Justice Dept Report | The police chief of Ferguson announced Wednesday he is resigning his post, after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old resulted in an excoriating Justice Department report on his department. Thomas Jackson submitted his resignation letter on Wednesday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. "I believe this is the appropriate thing to do at this time," Jackson told the newspaper. "This city needs to move forward without any distractions.", Ferguson Mayor James Knowles said at a news conference on Wednesday that Jackson and the city had agreed to a "mutual separation" that will take effect on March 19. Jackson will receive severance payment and health insurance for one year. "He felt that this was the best forward, not only for the city but for the men and women serving under him," Knowles said. The Department of Justice issued a report last week that found systemic racial bias in Ferguson's police department as well as a court system driven by profits. The report cited racial profiling by police officers and alleged that the court system functioned as a money-making enterprise that targeted the poor and minorities. Protestors and some of Missouri's top elected leaders had previously called on Jackson to step down from his post as police chief in the St. Louis suburb for his handling of the August shooting of teenager Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson. The shooting provoked days of often violent unrest in Ferguson, and inspired protests across the U.S. Two police officers, a court clerk, the municipal judge and the city manager have either been fired or resigned since the shooting. St. Louis Post-Dispatch |
US | Black State Lawmaker Has Police Called on Her as She Campaigns in Her Own District | A black Oregon state lawmaker was canvassing in her district when one of her constituents called the police. Oregon State Rep. Janell Bynum, who is running for reelection this fall, was knocking on the doors of her constituents in Clackamas County just southeast of Portland on Tuesday when an officer arrived, she said in a post on Facebook that included a photo of her and the officer smiling together. , Bynum said she was "canvassing and keeping account of what her community cares about," but was instead deemed as "suspicious" enough by one of her constituents for them to call the cops. In an interview with The Oregonian, Bynum said the officer told her a person called to report someone who was spending a long time outside of homes in the neighborhood. She asked the officer to meet the person who reported her to the cops and spoke to her on the phone, when the constituent apologized. "It was just bizarre," Bynum told the newspaper. "It boils down to people not knowing their neighbors and people having a sense of fear in their neighborhoods, which is kind of my job to help eradicate. But at the end of the day, it's important for people to feel like they can talk to each other to help minimize misunderstandings.", Bynum's experience is just the latest instance of people calling the police on black Americans and people of color for for doing everyday activities. There were the two men sitting in a Starbucks in Philadelphia, the Yale graduate student sleeping in her dorm's study lounge, the two men having a cookout in Oakland and the women checking out of an Airbnb in California all of whom had the cops called on them. The events have resulted in a number of responses, including a company-wide call to action at Starbucks to prevent racial bias and when hundreds turned out in Oakland for a picnic called "Barbecuing While Black.", As for Bynum, she told the Oregonian the experience helped inform her role as a state lawmaker. "We all know that we're not in a society that is perfect, and we have wounds that still need to heal, but at the end of the day, I want to know my kids can walk down the street without fear," she said. |
US | Supreme Court to Hear Abortion Rights Case | The Supreme Court announced Friday it would hear a major abortion rights case next year, the most significant abortion case heard by the court since 1992. The justices will review a Texas law that regulates abortion clinics to the point where many are forced to close, and could determine the extent to which states can regulate what is technically a legal medical procedure. The Court will rule on a 2015 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that allowed Texas to impose regulations on abortion clinics that major medical associations have deemed medically unnecessary. The Texas law, known as HB2, was passed in 2013 and would require abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at local hospitals and force clinics to undergo extensive structural and equipment updates in order to qualify as "ambulatory surgical centers." The law has been the subject of intense litigation, and the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the law earlier this year, but the Supreme Court stepped in with a temporary block in June that kept the law from fully going into effect. The regulations, if upheld, would force over 75 of Texas's abortion clinics to close, leaving fewer than 10 abortion clinics in a state with over 5.4 million women of reproductive age, according to the brief presented by the clinics challenging the law. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Whole Whole Women's Health in its challenge to the Texas law, a woman living in El Paso will have to drive 500 miles to San Antonio 7 and a half hours each way in order to get an abortion. "This is a historic moment," said Nancy Northup, President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, calling the case "the most significant case on abortion access since 1992.", This case will likely force the court to define the term "undue burden," which was left largely up to public discretion by the Supreme Court in the 1992 case Planned Parenthood vs. Casey. In that case, the court ruled that states could regulate abortion as long as those regulations did not constitute an undue burden, which they said included "unnecessary health regulations that have the purpose or effect of presenting a substantial obstacle to a woman seeking an abortion." Prominent medical groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have opposed the restrictions. , |
US | States Try Secrecy to Protect Lethal Injection Drugmakers | States carrying out lethal injections have had to find new ways to execute inmates in recent years. Many have not only experimented with multiple untested drug combinations but have also turned to previously unused pharmacies. And they've increasingly tried to block the identity of those drugmakers in order to keep a steady supply of drugs flowing. A handful of states, including Arizona, Georgia, Missouri and Oklahoma, have passed secrecy laws to protect the anonymity of pharmacies, which fear backlash if it becomes public that they're providing drugs for executions. Ohiohome to a lethal injection earlier this year that was widely considered botchedmay be next. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said this week that it's unlikely executions in the state would proceed unless the legislature provided anonymity for compounding pharmacies and immunity for physicians involved in executions. "You're not going to see a death penalty take place until the General Assembly takes action," DeWine said in a debate with a Democratic opponent Tuesday, according to the Columbus Dispatch. The execution of Ronald Phillips, convicted in the 1993 rape and murder of a 3-year-old girl, is scheduled for Feb. 11. The comments appeared to be an indication of the difficulties Ohio is having obtaining execution drugs following the lethal injection of Dennis McGuire. In August, a moratorium on executions was set by U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost, who postponed all lethal injections in the state after McGuireconvicted in the 1989 rape and murder of 22-year-old Joy Stewartwas executed in a 25-minute-long execution, in which the inmate reportedly made repeated snoring and snorting noises. The state used two drugs, midazolam and hydromorphone, which were obtained from Illinois-based Hospira, a pharmaceutical company. Since then, the McGuire family has sued Hospira, forcing Ohio to look elsewhere for drugs. Like most states, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is attempting to acquire drugs from compounding pharmacies, which are not regulated by the federal government. Many pharmacies, however, are unwilling to manufacture drugs for prison systems unless their identities are shielded. Secrecy laws have become the only way for most states to continue carrying out the death penalty, but those protections are increasingly being challenged. The Guardian, along with the Associated Press and Missouri's three largest newspapers, filed a lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Corrections in May, arguing that under the First Amendment the public has a right to know what drugs the state is using and where the state is obtaining them. In September, the Guardian also joined the American Civil Liberties Union and three other newspapers in a similar lawsuit in Pennsylvania. In a few states, efforts at creating secrecy laws have failed, including in Alabama and Louisiana, both of which failed to pass legislation shielding drugmakers. But most states are pressing forward. "States certainly aren't backing away from their secrecy positions," says Richard Dieter, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-capital punishment organization. "In many states, the legislation already in place has been relied on to claim secrecy. It seems that part of Ohio's, and other states', problems stemmed from their secrecy. So it seems ironic that the proposed solution is even more secrecy." |
US | Drones Help Find Stray Dogs in Texas | We all know about drones and their more dangerous missions flying in war zones, crashing onto the White House lawn. But now they're being used in Texas for a gentler reason to find stray dogs. The World Animal Awareness Society WA2S is filming a new television show called "Operation Houston Stray Dog City," USA Today reports, to examine the stray dog problem in Houston and profile the people trying to save the animals. That's where the drones come in. Tom McPhee, executive director of WA2S, said the drones will "draw a big circle in the air" while volunteers and GPS technology work on the ground, and that combination will help them count all the stray dogs in the Houston area. "It's another amazing tool," McPhee said of drones. USA Today |
US | Man Arrested in Fatal Stabbing of BangladeshBorn Woman in Queens | Police arrested a man for fatally stabbing a New York woman in what many are calling a hate crime. Yonatan Galvez-Marin was charged in the stabbing of Nazma Khanam, a 60-year-old Bangladesh-born woman living in Queens, police said Sunday. Khanam was killed a few feet away from her husband on Wednesday night after the two were walking home from a souvenir shop. Galvez-Marin allegedly approached and asked Khanam for money. When she refused, he stabbed her repeatedly and then fled. "Somebody killed me," Khanam screamed, according to her husband who found the weapon sticking out of her body. Khanam's death come weeks after the shooting of imam Maulama Akonjee and his associate Thara Uddin as they left a Queens mosque. Like the killing of Akongee and Uddin, the NYPD has not labeled the stabbing as a hate crime however, the department's hate crime unit is looking into the case, a spokesperson said on Sunday. Hundreds gathered at the Jamaica Muslim Center for Khanam's funeral service on Friday, where her family spoke and mourned. Many who attended the funeral said they believe the killing was a hate crime. "This was not a robbery and though we do not know all the facts, the reality is this is happening too often," public advocate Letitia James said, according to the Guardian. Khanam's nephew is a New York Police Department transit officer, and several police officers attended the funeral service. Galvez-Marin, 22, was charged with second-degree murder, robbery and criminal possession of a weapon |
US | American Mother Held Hostage by Taliban Details Intolerable Situation for Her Children | The American mother who spent five years as a hostage of the Taliban broke her cheekbone and her hand while trying to stop her captors from attacking her three children, all who were born in captivity, she and her husband said in a new interview Monday. Caitlan Coleman Boyle, 31, of Pennsylvania told ABC News some of her captors "actively hated children" and would sometimes strike her and her children with sticks. A Taliban-linked group captured Coleman Boyle and her husband Joshua Boyle in 2012 while the couple was traveling in Afghanistan. They were held hostage for five years before being rescued in Pakistan last month. Coleman Boyle said her children grew up in brutal conditions, in which the prospect of being beheaded was "always on the table.", "This was an intolerable situation for a child to be in, the constant fear," she said. Coleman Boyle said she would "get beaten or hit or thrown on the ground" when she came between her captors and her children. Her husband said she sustained serious injuries in the process. "She had a broken cheekbone. She actually broke her own hand punching one of them," he said. "She broke her fingers, so she was very proud of that injury.", Coleman Boyle also said she was raped by two of her guards and that her captors killed her unborn daughter in a "forced abortion," according to ABC News. Joshua Boyle said he and his wife had "made the decision" to have children while being held hostage. "It's a sad statement on the state of affairs of the world when a family is asked to justify their decision to have children in any circumstance," he said. Details about their rescue and why the couple was in Afghanistan during their abduction are still unclear. But the couple now hopes their captors will be held accountable and that their children can heal from their past and "grow to be strong," "good" and unafraid. "I hope that they find enough happiness and joy to make up for it," Coleman Boyle said. |
US | What To Know About the San Bernardino Shooting | Two suspects are dead and a third person was detained after a shooting at a center for the developmentally disabled left at least 14 dead and another 21 injured in San Bernardino, California. What Happened?, Violence erupted around 11 a.m. PST Wednesday morning as two shooters entered the Inland Regional Center and opened fire at a holiday party for county employees in an attack that authorities say lasted around five minutes. The pair were dressed in black tactical-style gear and were carrying hundreds of bullets, officials said. "They sprayed the room with bullets," said San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan. Police also found an undetonated remote-controlled pipe bomb at the scene. More than 300 police officers responded to the incident, as the San Bernardino police and fire departments responded along with the FBI. Two suspects, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, escaped in a rented black Ford Expedition, which police later identified in a residential neighborhood about ten miles away. Both suspects were killed after a gun battle with police. Read More At Least 14 Dead in San Bernardino Disability Center Shooting, Where Was the Shooting?, The incident occurred at the Inland Regional Center, which serves about 30,000 developmentally disabled people, including children, according to a spokeswoman for the California Department of Developmental Services. About 640 employees work out of the San Bernardino building. According to the Inland Regional Center's website, it was hosting a Holiday Boutique on Wednesday morning and afternoon. The shooting took place in a conference area that had been rented out for a banquet, according to the center's president and CEO Maybeth Feild. In the aftermath of the shooting, police at the crime scene discovered and destroyed three devices they believed to be explosives, Burguan told the Los Angeles Times. Read More What to Know About the Center Where the San Bernardino Shooting Occurred, How Many Victims Are There?, Police said at least 14 people were killed and another 21 were injured during the incident. San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan told reporters that most of the victims were limited to one area of the facility and that some of those shot had "significant injuries." A responding officer was shot in the leg during a shootout with the suspects but has non-life threatening injuries, according to the San Bernardino county sheriff's office. Another officer sustained cuts to his legs, likely from broken glass. It was the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. According to Mass Shooting Tracker, it was the 354th mass shooting incidentone in which more than four people are shot in the U.S. this year. Watch This Father Reads Texts From Daughter Caught in San Bernardino Shooting, Who Were the Shooters?, Authorities identified one of the suspects as Syed Farook, a 28-year-old American citizen who worked for five years as a health department inspector for San Bernardino County. Police said Farook was at the party at the Inland Regional Center and then left early before returning to execute the attack. Farook's family said that a second suspect, 27-year-old Tashfeen Malik, was Farook's wife, the Associated Press reported. Both Farook and Malik died after police engaged in a gun battle with a dark SUV in a residential neighborhood near the site of the shooting. According to Burguan, the suspects were dressed in "kind of assault style clothing," and armed with two assault rifles and two semiautomatic handguns. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives said that two of the guns were purchased legally by an unnamed individual tied to the investigation. Authorities confirmed that only two individuals committed the shootings. Police detained a third individual after he was seen running away from the scene of the attack, but it is unclear if he was involved. Farook's brother-in-law, Farhan Khan, said that he last spoke to the suspect about a week ago. "I cannot express how sad I am," he told reporters at an Islamic Center in Anaheim. "I have no idea why he would do that. I am in shock that something like this would happen. My condolences to the people who lost their life.", Acting on a tip late Wednesday evening, the FBI conducted a raid of a home in Redlands, Ca. that was linked to the shooting. Officials found thousands of bombs and bullets there enough to conduct another attack. Colleagues of Farook told the LA Times that he was a devout Muslim who had recently traveled to Saudi Arabia and returned with a new wife he had met online. Assistant Director in Charge of FBI Los Angeles David Bowdich said that Farook had spent some time in Pakistan on that trip, and returned with his wife in July 2014. She remained in the U.S. with a K-1 visa in her Pakistani passport, he said. The couple had a six-month old baby who they had left with a grandmother. The colleagues also described Farook as quiet and not someone who talked about religion. What Was the Motivation Behind the Attack?, David Bowdich, FBI assistant director for Los Angeles, said it was not yet clear what motivated the shooting, the Associated Press reports, and that both terrorism and workplace violence were possibilities. Burguan told the press that the attack was "not a spur of the moment kind of thing," saying it required "some degree of planning.", How Have Politicians Responded?, President Barack Obama repeated a call for gun control in light of Wednesday's incident."We have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world," Obama told CBS News. "There are steps we can take to make Americans saferto make these rare as opposed to normal." California Governor Jerry Brown issued a statement Wednesday, saying that the state would "spare no effort in bringing these killers to justice." Many of the presidential hopefuls took to Twitter to respond to the killings in San Bernardino. Read Next Obama Says Mass Shootings in U.S. Unparalleled in World |
US | President Obama Awards Medal of Honor to Army Hero | President Barack Obama awarded the medal of honor Thursday to Florent Groberg, an Army captain who tackled a suicide bomber in Afghanistan and saved other soldiers' lives. Groberg himself was badly injured in the 2012 attack that killed four people, undergoing more than 30 surgeries during his three-year recovery at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Yahoo reports. "August 8, 2012 was the worst day of my life," he said. "What I hope is going to happen is that I represent the four guys that were killed and their families to the best of my ability and that people understand who they are and that they're true heroes in all this," Groberg said in an interview with CNN after the ceremony. This marks the tenth time a living service member has been awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Afghanistan or Iraq seven have received the medal posthumously. |
US | 12YearOld Arrested in Plot to Shoot Baton Rouge Police | Police in Baton Rouge, La. on Friday arrested a 12-year-old boy who they say is a suspect in a plot to shoot police officers using stolen handguns. Three other suspects were already arrested in the case, after eight handguns were stolen in a pawn shop robbery on July 9. The others who were arrested are Antonio Thomas, 17, Malik Bridgewater, 20, and an unnamed 13-year old, the Times-Picayune reported. The 12-year-old boy arrested Friday was charged with simple burglary and theft of a firearm, the AP reported. Police said the plot was the reason for their heavy response to last weekend's largely peaceful protests over the death of Alton Sterling, a black man who was shot and killed by police officers on July 5 while he was pinned to the ground outside a convenience store. The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana is suing Baton Rouge police over their treatment of protesters, claiming authorities used excessive force and carried out mass arrests. "We took this as a very viable threat," Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie said at a press conference last week about the robbery, according to USA Today. "We have received questions as to why we used such a show of force during weekend protests, this is why.", The robbery followed the killing of five police officers by a lone gunman in Dallas. A court filing on Thursday said Bridgewater told investigators he had stolen the items with the intention of selling them. But authorities said an accomplice told investigators they had stolen the guns to shoot police officers, the Associated Press reported. |
US | The Obama Administration Warns Schools Over Transgender Bathroom Access | The Obama Administration wrote every public school district in the country Friday warning local administrators they have to let transgender students use bathrooms matching their gender identity. The guidance signed by Justice and Education officials, while not a legal decree, implicitly threatens noncompliant schools with lawsuits or the withdrawal of federal funding. "As a condition of receiving Federal funds, a school agrees that it will not exclude, separate, deny benefits to, or otherwise treat differently on the basis of sex any person in its educational programs or activities unless expressly authorized to do so under Title IX or its implementing regulations," the letter, posted Friday on the Department of Justice website, says. "The Departments treat a student's gender identity as the student's sex for purposes of Title IX and its implementing regulations. This means that a school must not treat a transgender student differently from the way it treats other students of the same gender identity.", "When a school provides sex-segregated activities and facilities, transgender students must be allowed to participate in such activities and access such facilities consistent with their gender identity," the letter continues. The directive will draw the ire of conservatives who accuse the administration of overreaching on LGBT rights by trying to overrule local decisions. It has already angered Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick told NBC 5 after the advice was first reported, "This will be the beginning of the end of the public school system as we know it.", "President Obama, in the dark of the night without consulting Congress, without consulting educators, without consulting parents decides to issue an executive order, like this superintendent, forcing transgender policies on schools and on parents who clearly don't want it," Patrick said. The Obama Administration's letter comes on the heels of the Justice Department's opposition to North Carolina's attempt to require transgender people to use bathrooms matching their biological sex. |
US | Murders Up in US CitiesBut Crime Rate Still Near Record Lows | The 30 largest U.S. cities saw a double-digit increase in their murder rate in 2016, according to a new year-end report, even as crime nationwide remains near all-time lows. A new study released Tuesday by New York University's Brennan Center for Justice projects that the 2016 murder rate for the largest U.S. cities is up 14 from 2015 while the violent crime rate rose by 3.3. The overall crime rate, however, increased by just 0.3, thanks in large part to historically low levels of property crime, according to the study's authors. Read more Murders Are Up in Many U.S. Cities Again This Year, The trend lines in the report run counter to some of the most dire warnings aired during the presidential election. As a candidate, Donald Trump spoke out against what he characterized as record levels of crime in urban areas. While the murder rate has increased, overall crime across the U.S. is near all-time lows. The report's authors note that "concerns about a national crime wave are still premature, but these trends suggest a need to understand how and why murder is increasing in some cities.", Two cities are largely driving the spike in violent crime Chicago and Charlotte. Violent crime in Chicago is up 17.7 increase this year, and the city accounts for almost 44 of the total increase in murders, according to the report. Charlotte has experienced a number of drug-related murders as well as homicides related to domestic violence and is projected to see a 13.4 increase in violent crime this year. Read more Chicago is Responsible for Almost Half of the Increase in U.S. Homicides, Of the 30 cities studied, just eight showed an increase in their crime rates from 2015. But the study found that 13 cities, including Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia and San Antonio, had increases in their violent crime rates while 21 were projected to see jumps in their murder rates. |
US | Everyone Is Talking About This Photo From the Protests in Baton Rouge | Over the past 48 hours in Baton Rouge, La. where the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling by police officers last week has reignited a national conversation on race and policing, over 120 protesters have been arrested including prominent Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson. But intense attention, however, has been focused on the image of the arrest of a lone woman in a flowing dress that has since gone viral. The woman stands, arms crossed, in front of a phalanx of officers, silent even serene but seemingly refusing to budge. Although the woman's identity is not yet confirmed, her actions were described in detail by the photographer who captured the image. "A group of demonstrators had formed a blockade blocked Airline Highway, which runs in front of Baton Rouge Police headquarters," Jonathan Bachman, a New Orleansbased photographer who was on assignment for Reuters, told the Atlantic. Bachman said officers belonging to several divisions of Louisiana law enforcement, many clad in riot gear, descended on the highway to clear the protesters from its path. "I saw this woman, and she was standing in the first lane in that road," he said. "It happened quickly, but I could tell that she wasn't going to move, and it seemed like she was making her stand. To me it seemed like You're going to have to come and get me.", Bachman further stressed that in contrast to the violence and confrontation that has marked other protests across the country some of which also broke out in Baton Rouge later, this interaction was completely peaceful. "It wasn't very violent. She didn't say anything," he added. "She didn't resist, and the police didn't drag her off.", The image was shared widely on social media and by publications worldwide, with one commenter on the page of New York Daily News reporter Shaun King calling it a "legendary" picture that will someday be in "history and art books," according to the BBC. King himself later tweeted that he had spoken to one of the woman's best friends, and added that she had a 5-year-old son. Although he did not reveal her identity, he subsequently tweeted that she had been released from prison on Sunday evening. In another interview with BuzzFeed, Bachman, the photographer, said he was "humbled" by the response to his image. "That was the first image I transferred to Reuters because I knew it was going to be an important photo," he said. "You can take images of plenty of people getting arrested, but I think this one speaks more to the movement and what the demonstrators are trying to accomplish here in Baton Rouge." |
US | This Is What the Spring Equinox Looks Like From Space | For the Northern Hemisphere, Tuesday, March 20, marks the vernal, or spring, equinox the first day of spring. The National Weather Service shared this image from space of the Earth just before "the sun crossed the equator," or just before the start of spring. For those living north of the equator the imaginary latitude line that marks the middle of the Earth the days will begin to get longer. , Equinoxes happen twice per year the vernal and autumnal equinox when the sun crosses over the equator. During an equinox the length of day and night of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are nearly the same. The word equinox means "equal night"., , "Earth's axis is an imaginary pole going right through the center of Earth from top' to bottom,'" NASA explains. "Earth spins around this pole, making one complete turn each day. That is why we have day and night, and why every part of Earth's surface gets some of each.", We have seasons because Earth's axis is on a tilt, and that tilt "always points in the same direction," according to NASA. So as Earth rotates around the sun, during part of the year, the North Pole tilts towards the sun, and for half of the year the South Pole tilts towards the sun. Thus, causing our seasons summer in the Northern Hemisphere when the North Pole is tilting towards the sun, and summer for the Southern Hemisphere when the South Pole is tilting towards the sun. On an equinox, "the tilt of the Earth's axis is perpendicular to the Sun's rays," according to Time and Date. After this vernal equinox, the Northern Hemisphere will begin to experience the sun's rays more directly, hence spring and summer!, Though, for some in the Northern Hemisphere who are preparing for Winter Storm Toby, it may not feel like spring just yet. |
US | White Christians Now Make Up Less Than Half of America | White Christians no longer make up the majority of the U.S. population, a new survey has found. The number of white Christians in America has dwindled to 46 percent of the total population from 55 percent in 2007, according to a Pew Research Center survey released Monday by National Journal's Next America project. The survey also found that while the percentage of white Christians fell, they still account for nearly seven in 10 Americans who identify as Republicans. In contrast, most Americans who have no religious affiliations align with Democrats, survey results showed. Experts say the shift is partially due to the nation's growing ethnic diversity and the increasing number of Americans who don't have any religious affiliations, the Huffington Post previously reported. Louisiana had the highest percentage of white Christians, with 49 percent, according to the Huffington Post. Pew surveyed more than 35,000 adults in English and Spanish for the religious landscape study in 2014. National Journal |
US | University of Missouri President Resigns After Racism Protests | University of Missouri president Tim Wolfe resigned Monday under intense pressure from students and faculty over the school administration's handling of racial issues. Later in the day, the Chancellor of the school's flagship Columbia campus, R. Bowen Loftin, announced that he would step down at the end of the year. Numerous voices at the school, including Missouri's football team, faculty and the student government, had called for Wolfe's resignation after a series of racist incidents at the school. "The frustration and anger I see is clear, real and I don't doubt it for a second. The faculty and staff have expressed their anger, their frustration, that too is real," Wolfe said Monday morning. "My decision to resign comes out of love, not hate." Wolfe's resignation comes at the height of widespread unrest at the University of Missouri, where the administration's handling of racism has caused deep divisions on campus. Over the fall, one intoxicated white student harassed the Legion of Black Collegians with the N-word, and another student reported being subjected to racial slurs on a separate occasion. The most recent racist incident came on Oct. 24, when a swastika was drawn with human feces on a college dorm's white wall. A wide array of voices had called for Wolfe's removal. More than thirty football players said they would not participate in practices or games until President Wolfe resigned or was fired, with the head football coach Gary Pinkel tweeting his support. A group of university faculty said on Monday they would begin a two-day walkout at the University of Missouri to protest the school's handling of racist incidents on campus. A graduate student, Jonathan Butler, ended on Monday morning a seven day a hunger strike that he said would last until Wolfe was removed. The Missouri Students Association said earlier on Monday that "the academic careers of our students are suffering" and "the mental health of our campus is under constant attack." Co-signed by the student government president, vice president and top officers, the letter formally demanded that Wolfe resign. Michael Sam, the first openly gay football player to be drafted to the NFL, and a Mizzou alum tweeted his support. , Despite Wolfe's resignation, the University of Missouri has yet to agree to some of the students' demands. The ConcernedStudent1950 protest organization has called on the school to overhaul the way it handles racial harassment. The group also demands an awareness curriculum and an increase of black faculty and staff to 10 by the academic year 2017-2018. |
US | StarStudded Malibu Forced to Evacuate After Threat From Ferocious California Wildfire | MALIBU, Calif. The entire city of Malibu was ordered evacuated early Friday as a ferocious Southern California wildfire roared toward the tony coastal enclave. The Los Angeles County Fire Department tweeted that the fire raging through the Santa Monica Mountains was headed to the ocean. Malibu has about 13,000 residents and lies along 21 miles 34 kilometers of coast at the southern foot of the mountain range. "Imminent threat!" the department said in its warning. The erupted Thursday near the northwest corner of the city of Los Angeles as the region's notorious Santa Ana winds gusted, triggering overnight evacuations of an estimated 75,000 homes in western Los Angeles County and eastern Ventura County. The fire then pushed southward, jumped the wide U.S. 101 freeway before dawn Friday and pushed into the Santa Monica range. Another fire was burning farther west in Ventura County, also moving toward the ocean. |
US | Judge Who Gave Stanford Sex Offender a Lenient Sentence Faces Recall Campaign | A Stanford Law professor is leading a recall campaign against a judge who gave an unusually lenient sentence to a man convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on campus. Two witnesses came upon Brock Allen Turner, 20, "thrusting" on top of an unconscious woman next to a dumpster on Jan. 18, 2015. Turner, a former championship swimmer at Stanford, was found guilty of assault with intent to rape an intoxicated woman and sexually penetrating an intoxicated and unconscious person with a foreign object, the Guardian reports. But the judge presiding over the case, Aaron Persky, only gave Turner a six-month sentence, compared with the six years prosecutors had asked for and a maximum sentence of 14 years. The victim's response to her attacker went viral in recent days, and her supporters have become outraged by the lenient sentence. A Change.org petition calling for Persky to be removed from the bench has more than 100,000 signatures, and a similar UltraViolet petition has nearly 50,000 signatures. And now Stanford Law Professor Michele Landis Dauber tells the Guardian she will be leading a formal campaign to recall Persky. "He has made women at Stanford and across California less safe," she said. "The judge bent over backwards in order to make an exception and the message to women and students is you're on your own,' and the message to potential perpetrators is, I've got your back.'", Turner maintains that the act was consensual, a point that the judge said he factored into his ruling in addition to the fact that a longer sentence would have "a severe impact" on the young man. A spokesperson for the Santa Clara superior court told the Guardian that the judge could not comment on this case while an appeal is pending. The Guardian |