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Drive-Thru Workers Could Get $50K 'Facebook Killer' Reward | (Apr 19, 2017 12:11 AM CDT) The McDonald's employees who bravely held up the order of an armed and dangerous customer could be in line for a big payday. Police were able to catch up with alleged Facebook killer Steve Stephens after drive-thru workers at the Erie, Pa., McDonald's recognized him Tuesday morning and tried to stall him, meaning the workers could be in line for the $50,000 reward offered by the FBI, ATF, and US Marshals Service for the arrest of the fugitive, TMZ reports. Stephens, on the run after allegedly killing an elderly man in Cleveland, wasn't arrested: He shot and killed himself after a police chase, but law enforcement officials say there's still a very good chance that the workers could get the reward. |
18M Could Lose Insurance in 1st Year of ObamaCare Repeal | (Jan 17, 2017 2:42 PM) Within 10 years of Republicans dismantling the Affordable Care Act, 32 million more Americans could be uninsured and individual insurance premiums could double, according to a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The report, requested by Democrats, is based on 2015 legislation to repeal ObamaCare passed by Congress but vetoed by President Obama, Politico reports. According to the New York Times, the CBO states the result of repealing major parts of the ACA—penalties for not having insurance, expanding Medicaid, ending subsidies for low-income people—would have immediate negative consequences that only worsen over time. The report found that in the first year 18 million people could lose insurance and premiums could increase by 25%. While the CBO's estimates jibe with those from insurance companies and the Obama administration, Republicans argue the report is one-sided because it doesn't take into account an ObamaCare replacement. A spokesperson for Mitch McConnell tells Politico that repealing the ACA without replacing it is a situation that simply doesn't exist. However, Republicans in Congress have yet to introduce any sort of replacement plan. And New York Magazine reports Newt Gingrich has already suggested doing away with the CBO over—in the magazine's words—its inconvenient budget math. |
36 Dead After Bus Crashes Into Tunnel Wall | (Aug 11, 2017 12:25 AM CDT) A long-distance passenger bus crashed into the wall of an expressway tunnel in China's northwest, killing at least 36 people and injuring 13 others, official media reported Friday. The front end of the red bus was left mangled after it ploughed into the wall at the entrance to the tunnel on a four-lane highway, according to photos published by state media. The crash occurred in Shaanxi province shortly before midnight Thursday as the bus, with a legal carrying capacity of 51 people, was on its way to Luoyang, a city in central China, from Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan. The Xinhua News Agency and other media outlets said the bus was the only vehicle damaged, although it wasn't clear if any other vehicles were involved in causing the crash. Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun ordered a swift investigation into the accident, according to state broadcaster China Central Television. Highway accidents are common in China because of high speeds, aggressive driving, and a failure to leave adequate braking distance, the AP reports. The World Health Organization estimates that traffic accidents kill around 260,000 people in mainland China each year—a rate of 18.8 in every 100,000 people. |
Boy, 12, Wins Bravery Medal After Trying to Save Dad | (Mar 23, 2017 1:50 PM CDT) As a raging fire burned through the three-story brick home of a family in Norristown, Pa., a 12-year-old boy watching the flames grew increasingly worried about his father, who was still recovering from hip-replacement surgery. Not realizing that his dad, Sanford Harling Jr., who was 58, had jumped out of a second-story window, Sanford Harling III, who was 12, broke free from a family friend and ran in to help him, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. I’m going to go back in to get my dad because he’s walking with a walker, he said. That's the last time anyone saw him alive; firefighters found the 12-year-old on the first floor, where he'd died of smoke inhalation and thermal burns in the Feb. 5, 2016 blaze. On Wednesday, Sanford was among 20 people named national heroes by the Carnegie Hero Fund, which has bestowed the honor upon nearly 10,000 people since it was established in 1904 with the mission of freeing them from pecuniary cares resulting from their heroism, reports Patch.com. (Each recipient receives a one-time $5,000 grant.) As we said from the beginning, he was a hero, says Fire Chief Tom O'Donnell. Harling Jr. feels the same way, calling his son my angel. A GoFundMe page set up to help the family of My Little Hero! raised nearly $42,000, surpassing its $25,000 goal. Of the 20 heroes named in 2017, Sanford was among three who died performing their heroic acts. He was a seventh grader and part of the Norristown Youth Eagles Football Program. (See how this toddler saved his twin brother's life.) |
Biden Has Riddle-Like Answer About Possible 2020 Run | (Oct 26, 2017 4:14 AM CDT) Is he or isn't he? The answer appears to be Yes. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Joe Biden gave an intriguing answer to the question of whether he plans a 2020 White House run. I haven't decided to run, he said, but I've decided I'm not going to decide not to run. We’ll see what happens. The former vice president said that if it hadn't been for the illness of his son, Beau, who died of brain cancer in May 2015 at age 46, there is no question he would have run in 2016. I had planned on running, and I wasn’t running against Hillary or Bernie or anybody else. Honest to God, I thought that I was the best suited for the moment to be president. He said he felt that Clinton was a prisoner of history, and there never seemed to be any joy in her campaign. Biden's new memoir, Promise Me, Dad, will be released this fall. It covers the time from Beau's 2013 diagnosis to the aftermath of his death. In the Vanity Fair interview, Biden said he kept the option of a run open in 2015 partly to keep Beau—who once told him it was his duty to run—optimistic. It would have bothered Beau a great deal if I’d not run because of him, he said. Biden's wife, Jill, said she now often wonders what Beau would have wanted. He wouldn't want us to grieve forever, although you do, she said. So, moving forward, what would Beau want Joe to do? You can probably answer that question. Asked whether she thought Biden, who will be 75 next month, should slow down and enjoy life, she said: Do you understand what 'Enjoy life' means for Joe? |
600-Year-Old Scroll Has Game of Thrones Link | (Jan 5, 2018 11:31 AM) A 600-year-old scroll describing the wars that inspired Game of Thrones might not be done making its mark on history. For the first time, the Canterbury Roll—detailing England's history until the Middle Ages—is being published online, making it accessible to the world, reports News.com.au. (The first stage is here, and the rest should be out in 2018.) As New Zealand's University of Canterbury celebrates 100 years since it acquired the 16-foot genealogical scroll, British scientists will begin studying the 15th-century manuscript next week in the hope of discovering hidden features. Using specialized equipment, they'll complete ground-breaking work that has never before been applied to this type of manuscript, according to a release. Researchers have so far gathered that the manuscript dates to the Wars of the Roses, a series of wars fought for England's throne by two noble families: the Lancasters and Yorks, who became the Lannisters and Starks in George RR Martin's Game of Thrones, per Mental Floss. Created by the Lancaster side, the visually spectacular scroll then fell into Yorkist hands and they rewrote part of it, says researcher Chris Jones. He notes the University of Canterbury acquired it in 1918 from a Canterbury nurse named Sybilla Maude, whose family claimed to have been keeping it since the Middle Ages, per Radio New Zealand. It's now the most significant and substantial medieval artifact in New Zealand, Jones says, adding that the public can interact directly with the manuscript. Check out how here. |
Police Confiscate Country's Last 2 Dancing Bears | (Dec 28, 2017 5:04 AM) It's going to be a happy new year for Rangeela and Sridevi: A wildlife group says it has rescued the sloth bears from owners in Nepal who forced them to dance to entertain crowds, National Geographic reports. The bears were swiped from the wild at a young age and their owners had pierced their noses with a burning hot rod and shoved a rope through it so he could control them, World Animal Protection says. The group says the bears are believed to have been the last two dancing bears in Nepal, which officially banned the practice 40 years ago. Police confiscated the bears after the owners were tracked down in a remote village. The animals are now at a national park in Nepal and will be given a permanent home at a wildlife sanctuary next year. The rescued sloth bears, 15 and 17 years old, showed signs of trauma including cowering and paw-sucking, wildlife officials say. Mary Hutton, founder of the Free the Bears group, tells the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that dancing bears are generally kept in appalling conditions, often by owners who can't afford to feed them more than a few pieces of bread a day. The group says it has helped end the practice in several other countries, including India, where more than 600 bears were freed during a 15-year campaign. Wildlife protection groups say a major part of the effort is finding new employment for the owners of dancing bears, which is why two of the owners in Nepal were given temporary jobs helping to look after the animals instead of being charged or fined. |
Got $36M? This Nuke Plant Could be Yours | (Oct 17, 2016 7:03 AM CDT) It's not the Brooklyn Bridge, but authorities in Alabama do have a nuclear power plant they want to sell you. Minimum bids for the never-finished Bellefonte nuke plant start at $36.4 million, which is essentially the value of the 1,400-acre patch of land on the Tennessee River in Hollywood, Ala., with a couple of reactors thrown in, reports the Times Free Press. That's a fraction of the approximately $5 billion that authorities have spent over nearly a half-century to develop the site, once the state's largest energy project. Work began in 1973 on two nuclear reactors—four were planned—when demand for electric power was growing by 5% a year. But as demand ebbed, the project stalled and, faced with a final price tag of $8 billion, the Tennessee Valley Authority decided to quit while it was behind. Support for nuclear power waned after the 1979 meltdown at Three Mile Island, per the Washington Post. Selling the property now is a smart business decision, says the TVA. The auction is set for Nov. 14, and bidding has begun; Phoenix Energy in Nevada has already offered $38 million. Hollywood Mayor Frank Buster Duke, who worked at the site as a pipe fitter, hopes a buyer will finish the plant—and generate much-needed jobs. The plant was 90% complete when TVA quit building it, and I know they would have to change and update some things, but I sure hope somebody could operate it to make power, Duke tells the Times Free Press. (The US Army has a secret nuke facility buried beneath the Greenland ice sheet.) |
Child Underwent 13 Surgeries. Cops Say They Weren't Needed | (Dec 13, 2017 2:48 PM) By the time he was 7 years old, Christopher had been seen at Texas hospitals and pediatric centers 323 times and underwent 13 major surgeries, the Forth Worth Star-Telegram reports. He was put on full-time oxygen, confined to a wheelchair, fitted with a feeding tube, and entered into hospice care. Christopher's mom, 34-year-old Kaylene Bowen, said he had a rare genetic disorder and cancer and needed a lung transplant. Now Bowen is in jail and doctors can't find anything wrong with Christopher, according to NBC DFW. Bowen was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of injury to a child, and Christopher's father, Ryan Crawford, says he believes Bowen has Munchausen syndrome by proxy, wherein a person seeks attention by faking medical conditions in others. Crawford says the behavior started before Christopher was even born—with Bowen claiming multiple hospitalizations during her pregnancy—and wants to know why it took so long for authorities to step in. How do you do 13 surgeries and not question the fifth surgery? The sixth surgery? Crawford asks WFAA. Crawford says he went to family court multiple times to convince them there was nothing wrong with Christopher. In response, he was blocked from visiting his son and told he was in denial about his son's impending death. CPS finally took Christopher away from Bowen last month after doctors could find no evidence to support her claim the 8-year-old had a seizure. Police say Christopher has suffered three life-threatening blood infections due to Bowen's actions over the years. Christopher is in foster care, and Crawford is seeking custody. |
50 Injured After Deck Gives Way at Montana Lodge | (Jun 20, 2017 12:33 AM CDT) Dozens of people who attended the memorial of a firefighter at a Montana resort gathered after the service on the lodge's deck with its sweeping lake and mountain views, only to have the structure gave way, injuring at least 50. Saturday's collapse at the Glacier Presbyterian Camp left two people in critical condition, and left many more to wonder whether the 10-foot-high deck buckled from the weight of too many people or if there was another reason it failed, the AP reports. Determining the cause of the collapse will be up to the resort's insurer, Lake County Sheriff Don Bell says. It was not a crime, so we won't be investigating it,' he says. It'll be handled between the property owner and the people who got injured yesterday. The injured were taken by ambulance and helicopters to five hospitals—the nearest one 30 miles away—while others drove themselves to be treated for broken bones, scrapes, and bruises. Officials for the Kalispell Regional Medical Center say that there were a number of orthopedic and neurological injuries that required immediate surgery. One critically injured person was transported to a hospital in Seattle. The people injured ranged from 3 years old to older than 80, Lakeside/Somers Fire Chief Tom Havens says. The Flathead Beacon reports that out of dozens of people hospitalized in Kalispell Saturday, the nine remaining patients Monday were all in good condition. |
Drought-Related Hunger Kills 110 in Somalia in 48 Hours | (Mar 4, 2017 3:14 PM) Somalia's prime minister said Saturday that 110 people have died from hunger in the past 48 hours in a single region—the first death toll announced in a severe drought threatening millions of people across the country. Somalia's government declared the drought a national disaster on Tuesday. The UN estimates that 5 million people in Somalia need aid, amid warnings of a full-blown famine, the AP reports. The death toll announced by Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire is from the Bay region in the southwest part of the country alone. Somalia was one of four regions singled out by the UN secretary-general last month in a $4.4 billion aid appeal to avert catastrophic hunger and famine. Thousands have been streaming into Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, in search of food aid, overwhelming local and international aid agencies. Over 7,000 internally displaced people checked into one feeding center recently. The drought is the first crisis for Somalia's newly elected Somali-American leader, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed. Previous droughts and a quarter-century of conflict, including ongoing attacks by extremist group al-Shabab, have left the country fragile. Mohamed has appealed to the international community for help. About 363,000 acutely malnourished children in Somalia need urgent treatment and nutrition support, including 71,000 who are severely malnourished, the US Agency for International Development's Famine Early Warning Systems Network has warned. |
Missouri's 8-Week Abortion Ban Temporarily Blocked | (Aug 27, 2019 2:47 PM CDT) A new Missouri ban on abortions at or after eight weeks of pregnancy won't take effect Wednesday after a federal judge temporarily blocked it from being implemented, the AP reports. US District Judge Howard Sachs put a pause on the law as a legal challenge against it plays out in court. Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri filed the lawsuit, arguing that the law is unconstitutional and goes against the landmark 1973 US Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. The law includes exceptions for medical emergencies, but not for rape or incest. If courts don't uphold the eight-week ban, the measure includes a series of less-restrictive bans ranging from 14 weeks up to 20 weeks. The policy also bans abortions based solely on race, sex, or a diagnosis indicating the potential for Down syndrome. |
Northern California Hit by 6.5 Earthquake | (Dec 8, 2016 9:19 AM) A magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit Northern California on Thursday morning. The quake, which was initially reported at 6.8, hit about 100 miles west of Ferndale at 6:50am local time, per USGS, meaning it was centered in the Pacific Ocean at a depth of 6.2 miles. (Ferndale is about 20 miles south of Eureka and 260 miles north of San Francisco.) There are no reports yet of injuries or damage. The National Tsunami Center is not reporting any danger of tsunamis at this point, CBS San Francisco reports. |
2 Numbers Should Scare Trump, Republicans | (Apr 3, 2017 11:37 AM CDT) The non-partisan Cook Political Report has a sober warning for President Trump and Republicans: If things stay on their current track, the midterm elections in 2018 could be disastrous for them. The forecast has two numbers to watch: Trump's approval ratings among Republicans (currently 85% at Gallup) and among independents (33%). Generally speaking, if a president dips below 85% among his own party and sits in the 30s among independents, his party is in real danger of losing control of one or both houses of Congress in the midterms. (The GOP currently controls both.) The analysis warns that Trump's public criticism of the GOP's Freedom Caucus in the wake of the health care failure is only making things worse for him by ratcheting up divisions within the party. The more the GOP gets bogged down in process instead of progress, the more likely it is that their voters become disillusioned and that independent voters abandon them, writes Amy Walter. Combine these ingredients with an energized Democratic base and you have all the ingredients for a disastrous midterm election in 2018 for the GOP. There's a lot of time before the elections, of course, but the analysis has a reminder of the consequences: Think all these Russia stories are troubling for the White House now? Just imagine what they'll look like with Democrats in charge of the oversight committees. (Click for the full analysis.) |
Making a Murderer Inmate May Be Free in 90 Days | (Jun 23, 2017 7:00 AM CDT) A big win for Brendan Dassey: A federal appeals court panel has ordered Wisconsin to retry the inmate within 90 days or set him free, Courthouse News reports. The Chicago-based 7th Circuit panel upheld a ruling that overturned his conviction last year in the case made famous by Netflix's Making a Murderer. Dassey, now 27, was 16 years old when he was arrested for allegedly helping uncle Steven Avery rape and murder Theresa Halbach. He was interrogated without a parent or lawyer present and in Thursday's 2-1 ruling, judges wrote that the fact-feeding, the false promises, the manipulation of Dassey's desire to please, the physical, fatherly assurances led to a confession that should not be considered voluntary. Dassey, who suffered from cognitive problems, recanted the confession but was sentenced to life in prison. Dissenting judge David Hamilton said the ruling calls into question standard interrogation techniques that courts have routinely found permissible, even in cases involving juveniles. Dassey's lawyers said they were elated by the ruling and will now work to get him back to his mother after 4,132 days in prison as of Thursday, the AP reports. Wisconsin's Justice Department, which blocked Dassey's release last fall, says it hopes the erroneous decision will be reversed by either the full 7th Circuit court or the US Supreme Court, reports Fox 6. (A lawyer for Avery says the real killer was Halbach's ex-boyfriend.) |
Take That, Martin Shkreli: Schoolkids Cook Up $2 Dose | (Dec 1, 2016 7:36 AM) Remember Martin Shkreli, the hedge fund manager who last year founded Turing Pharmaceuticals, acquired an essential anti-parasitic drug, and quickly jacked up its price 55-fold, from $13.50 to $750 a pill? Well, he's just been shown up by a group of high school chemistry students in Australia who've produced a generic version of Turing's drug, Daraprim, for $2 a pill, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Led by chemist Alice Williamson and motivated by a dose of disgust, a class of Sydney Grammar School students turned 17 grams of 2,4-chlorophenyl acetonitrile into 3.7 grams of pyrimethamine, the active ingredient in Daraprim. If that sold in the US as Daraprim, it would cost about $100,000 because of the price hike, notes the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The project was more about principle than anything else, says Williamson. I thought if we could show that students could make it in the lab with no real training, we could really show how ridiculous this price hike was and that there was no way it could be justified, she tells the Guardian. Shkreli has taken to Twitter to note his lack of enthusiasm: almost any drug can be made at small scale for a low price. glad it makes u feel good tho. Also, don't hold your breath waiting for this cheaper alternative to show up in the US. Williamson says complex legal rules effectively make it impossible. We'd have to go through a whole new clinical trial because we would have to compare the Sydney Grammar stuff with the officially sanctioned stuff—and Turing would have to give us the drug to allow those comparisons to be made. (Shkreli made news of the musical variety when Donald Trump won.) |
Plane Ends 2 Secretive Years in Space | (May 7, 2017 3:15 PM CDT) The Air Force owns two X-37B space planes, and one of them is finally back on the ground after a nearly 2-year-long secret mission. While the what is unknown, the how long is clear: 718 days in orbit, reports Space.com, with the unmanned plane landing Sunday morning at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida—and flying into the record books. It was the Air Force's fourth such mission since April 2010 and the longest to date. A fifth is planned for 2017, reports Reuters. There's plenty of speculation about what the 29-foot-long plane, which looks like a mini-space shuttle, is up to up there. Reuters cites one group's belief that the secrecy indicates intelligence-related hardware tests are being conducted. An Air Force fact sheet offers up this much: The primary objectives of the X-37B are twofold; reusable spacecraft technologies for America’s future in space and operating experiments which can be returned to, and examined, on Earth. One cool fact: Though its mission is classified, its location isn't, thanks to what Space.com refers to as keen-eyed amateur astronomers. The site offers a satellite tracker when missions are active, and notes the X-37B usually looks like a star of middling brightness moving across the sky. |
2 Missing Students Show Up on ATM Video | (Feb 9, 2017 2:13 PM) Two female New Mexico State University students who went missing after attending a hip-hop concert in El Paso, Texas, last week have been spotted on surveillance video on Monday in Beverly Hills, Calif. The Las Cruces Police Department confirmed Wednesday that the women on the ATM surveillance video are McKinnah Sinclair, 18, and Charlie Daniels, 19, who were reported missing Tuesday after failing to return to their university or get in touch with family following Friday's concert. Police now say they're concerned for the teens' welfare, but believe they traveled to California on their own, the Las Cruces Sun-News reports. The teens have not gotten in touch with family or friends, and no one has been able to reach them via cell phone or social media. A family member of one woman is in Los Angeles and working with the LAPD in an attempt to find them. Police initially said they believed the teens, who are roommates, traveled to Juarez, Mexico, after the concert, the Houston Chronicle reports. El Paso Proud notes that the women, who withdrew cash from the ATM at which they were spotted, appear to be wearing the same clothes in Monday's surveillance images as they were wearing at Friday's concert, based on pictures they posted to social media from the concert. |
King Who Famously Switched to the Allied Cause Dies at 96 | (Dec 5, 2017 8:42 AM) Former Romanian King Michael I, who was forced to abdicate by the communists in the aftermath of World War II, died on Tuesday. He was 96. Michael, who played a pivotal role in Romania's switch to the Allied cause following a coup in 1944, spent decades in exile working as a chicken farmer and aircraft pilot. He finally got his citizenship back in 1997, eight years after the collapse of communism. Michael's death leaves only two people alive who headed their nations during the war—former King Simeon II of Bulgaria, and the Dalai Lama of Tibet, both of whom were children at the time. In a statement, the Romanian royal house said Michael died in his residence in Aubonne, Switzerland. Michael had been suffering from leukemia and another type of cancer and last year withdrew from public life, handing over his responsibilities to his oldest daughter. |
6 Cops Shot Friday in Separate Incidents | (Aug 19, 2017 6:28 AM CDT) Three separate shootings in Florida and Pennsylvania Friday have taken the life of one police officer while injuring five more. NPR reports that Officer Matthew Baxter was killed and Sgt. Sam Howard remains in grave critical condition after responding to an incident in central Kissimmee, Fla., Friday evening. Per CNN, the officers were caught off guard by gunfire when responding to a suspicious activity call. They were unable to return fire in the possible ambush. Florida Gov. Rick Scott called Baxter, a father of three and three-year veteran on the force, a hero, tweeting: Tonight we lost a brave officer - Matthew Baxter. Husband/father/hero. Praying for @kissimmeepolice ; President Trump also sent condolences over social media after the news broke. Kissimmee police have three suspects in custody and are searching for another. This is a tough time for each one of us, Kissimmee Chief Jeff O'Dell said, asking the public to keep the police department and the families of the fallen officers in our thoughts and prayers. In a separate incident 165 miles north of Kissimmee in Jacksonville, Fla., two officers responding to an attempted suicide call Friday night were shot. The suspect began shooting the responding officers through a door with a high powered rifle before exchanging gunfire outside. The suspect was shot and died later at the hospital; one injured officer is in critical condition, the other in stable condition. Meanwhile, NPR reports that two state troopers serving a warrant in Pennsylvania Friday were shot. No updates on their condition, but they were said to be alert and conscious after the shooting occurred, when one was flown to a nearby hospital while the other was transported by ambulance. |
Fire Kills 24 at Religious Boarding School | (Sep 14, 2017 12:33 AM CDT) A fire killed 24 people, mostly teenagers, trapped behind barred windows and a blocked exit in an Islamic school dormitory on the outskirts of Malaysia's capital early Thursday, officials said. Firefighters rushed to the scene after receiving a distress call at 5:41am and took an hour to put out the blaze, which started on the top floor of the three-story building, Kuala Lumpur police chief Amar Singh said. He said there were at least 24 charred bodies, 22 of them boys between 13 and 17, and two teachers. Singh said 14 other students and four teachers were rescued, with six of them hospitalized in critical condition. The fire broke out near the door of the boys' dormitory, trapping the victims as it was the only entrance and the windows have grills, fire department senior official Abu Obaidat Mohamad Saithalimat said. He said the cause was believed to be an electrical short-circuit. A witness says she saw hands reaching out through the grilled windows and heard boys crying and screaming for help, but the fire was too strong for her to do anything, the AP reports. The Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah is a private Islamic center, known as a tahfiz school, for Muslim children to study and memorize the Koran. Many such centers are exempt from state inspections, and the Star reports that the school opened about a year ago without applying for a fire permit. |
20K People Just Trolled Mike Pence | (Nov 17, 2016 7:34 AM) Donald Trump has many fearing for the future of women's reproductive freedom, but last week's election outcome wasn't all bad for Planned Parenthood. The organization has seen an unprecedented outpouring (of) support in the days since in the form of 160,000 donations, including 20,000 in Mike Pence's name, reports the Indianapolis Star. The future vice president—who as governor of Indiana signed legislation banning abortion in the case of a fetal anomaly, per NBC News—isn't intentionally driving the generosity. Twitter users have been encouraging people to donate to Planned Parenthood using Pence's official contact information so he'll receive a certificate in response, and 20,000 have followed suit, including Amy Schumer. Pence, meanwhile, is keeping mum. |
SpaceX Flying 2 Space Tourists Around the Moon Next Year | (Feb 27, 2017 5:51 PM) SpaceX says it will fly two people to the moon next year, a feat not attempted since NASA's Apollo heyday close to half a century ago, the AP reports. Tech billionaire Elon Musk—the company's founder—announced the surprising news Monday. Two people who know one another approached the company about sending them on a weeklong flight just beyond the moon, according to Musk. He won't identify the pair or the price tag. They've already paid a significant deposit, he noted. Musk said SpaceX is on track to launch astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA in mid-2018. This moon mission would follow about six months later, by the end of the year under the current schedule, using a Dragon crew capsule and a Falcon heavy rocket. The moon mission is designed to be autonomous—unless something goes wrong, Musk said. I think they are entering this with their eyes open, knowing that there is some risk here, Musk told reporters in a telephone news conference, a day after teasing via Twitter that an announcement of some sort was forthcoming. They're certainly not naive, and we'll do everything we can to minimize that risk, but it's not zero. But they're coming into this with their eyes open, said Musk, adding that the pair will receive extensive training before the flight. Musk said he does not have permission to release the passengers' names, and he was hesitant to even say if they were men, women, or even pilots. He would only admit, It's nobody from Hollywood. The passengers would make a long loop around the moon, skimming the lunar surface and then going well beyond, perhaps 300,000 or 400,000 miles distance altogether. The mission won't involve a lunar landing, according to Musk. Click for more details. |
Ex-Priest Gets Life for 1960 Murder of Parishioner | (Dec 8, 2017 6:53 PM) A jury on Friday sentenced an 85-year-old former priest to life in prison for the 1960 killing of a schoolteacher and former beauty queen who was a member of the parish he served, the AP reports. The same jurors in Texas found John Feit guilty of murder Thursday night. Prosecutors asked jurors Friday for a 57-year prison term—one year for each year he had walked free since killing Irene Garza after she went to him for confession at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen. The 25-year-old Garza disappeared April 16, 1960. Her bludgeoned body was found days later. An autopsy revealed she had been raped while unconscious, and beaten and suffocated. Prosecutor Michael Garza, who is not related to the victim, said at a news conference that he wished that he could take credit for the conviction and sentence, but it was God-driven. |
Zillow Offers $1M Prize for Algorithm Improvement | (May 29, 2017 3:47 AM CDT) Zillow says its Zestimate home valuation algorithm needs some work—and it is willing to pay $1 million to whoever can improve it the most. The company has announced the Zillow Prize for the person or team who can make the algorithm that changed the world of real estate deliver results that are closest to actual sale prices, GeekWire reports. The tool is closely watched by millions of home buyers and sellers, with inaccurate Zestimates creating plenty of friction, though the company says it has now reduced the error rate to the point where half of all its estimates are within 5% of a home's sale price. Zillow says data scientists trying for the prize can compete in the public qualifying round until next January. After that, the contest will be narrowed to 100 teams, with the grand prize awarded in early 2019. More than 300 teams have already started working on their entries, though none appear to have made much progress in improving the algorithm, which has been delivering estimates off by an average of $40,000 on Seattle homes, reports the Seattle Times. It was off by more than that when Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff sold his home in the city last year: it went for just over $1 million, 40% under the Zestimate. |
Shots Fired in Great McCain-Paul War of 2017 | (Mar 16, 2017 2:16 PM CDT) Infighting! We got GOP infighting here! Yahoo News reports senators Rand Paul and John McCain are having a bit of a tiff this week after McCain called Paul out on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday. McCain was seeking a vote on a Senate bill—expected to be widely supported—in favor of Montenegro's efforts to join NATO. According to Politico, 23 of 28 NATO member nations have already voted in favor of Montenegro joining—but Russia is strenuously opposed to it. McCain claimed anyone who didn't support the bill would be carrying out the desires and ambitions of Vladimir Putin. After Paul blocked a vote on the bill and left the Senate, McCain went further, accusing Paul directly of working for Vladimir Putin. Paul responded to McCain's comments Thursday, and he didn't pull any punches. I think maybe he's gotten a little bit unhinged, Paul said, adding that McCain makes a really, really strong case for term limits. And he accused McCain of possibly being past his prime. Paul justified his opposition to the Montenegro bill by saying that the US military has enough on its plate without possibly having to support the small country, the Hill reports. He also claimed NATO membership isn't supported by a majority of Montenegro citizens. Paul said being called a traitor for opposing the bill might be a little over the top. Paul and McCain have clashed on foreign policy before, with Paul accusing McCain of wanting war everywhere. |
Ford Recalls 53K Trucks Over Rolling Issue | (Apr 2, 2017 11:12 AM CDT) Ford is recalling 53,000 2017 F-250 trucks because they can roll away even when they are parked due to a manufacturing error, reports the AP. Ford says drivers should use the parking brake to make sure that parked cars don't move. Dealers will also replace the defective part for free, but Ford doesn't have the replacement parts yet. It will notify owners when the parts are available. The recalled trucks have 6.2-liter engines. They were built at a Kentucky plant from October 2015 through Thursday and sold in North America. The company says it is not aware of accidents or injuries due to this defect. |
Doctors Claim 1st Documented Fatal Marijuana Overdose | (Nov 16, 2017 2:05 PM) (The doctors involved in this study have since denied calling this case a definitive marijuana overdose; update here. Original report follows.) In news that could change what we thought we knew about marijuana, as well as alter the progress of marijuana legalization, two doctors in Colorado say they've documented the first-ever fatal marijuana overdose. The DEA says no deaths from marijuana overdoses have ever been reported, and the National Institutes of Health says there is insufficient evidence for fatal THC overdoses. But in a case study published in CPC Emergency Medicine last March, Dr. Thomas Nappe and Dr. Christopher Hoyte of the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center concluded the 2015 death of an 11-month-old child was caused by marijuana. The doctors spoke publicly about the case for the first time this week in an interview with KUSA. The child died of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle that can be caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. But Hoyte and Nappe say they didn't find any of that. The only thing that we found was marijuana. High concentrations of marijuana in his blood. And that’s the only thing we found, Hoyte says. It's unclear when or how the child ingested marijuana, though it's highly unlikely it entered his system through passive means like second-hand smoke, the Denver Channel reports. While Hoyte and Nappe are confident they've documented the first death by marijuana overdose, other doctors are skeptical. The case study provides no evidence that marijuana can cause myocarditis and admits it's possible it was caused by something doctors couldn't test for. One emergency medicine specialist says the case study's conclusion is too much. |
2016 Was 'Worst Year Yet' for Syria's Children | (Mar 13, 2017 2:03 AM CDT) In Syria, last year was the worst yet for the country's rising generation, with at least 652 children killed in 2016, the United Nations' child relief agency said Monday, warning that the situation has hit rock bottom. There was no letup to attacks on schools, hospitals, playgrounds, and homes as the Syrian government, its opponents, and allies of both sides showed callous disregard for the laws of war, the AP reports. UNICEF said at least 255 children were killed in or near schools last year, and 1.7 million youngsters are out of school. One of every three schools in Syria is unusable, some because armed groups occupy them. An additional 2.3 million Syrian children are refugees elsewhere in the Middle East. The figures came in a UNICEF report released ahead of the sixth anniversary later this week of the 2011 popular uprising against President Bashar Assad's rule, which quickly escalated into full-blown civil war. The UNICEF report warns that for Syria's young generation, coping mechanisms and medical care are eroding quickly, driving children into child labor, early marriage, or combat. There were more than 850 confirmed cases of children being recruited as fighters. A report released a week ago by the international charity Save the Children said Syrian youngsters are showing signs of toxic stress that can lead to lifelong health problems, struggles with addiction, and mental disorders lasting into adulthood. (US Marines have joined the fight for Raqqa in eastern Syria.) |
Kevin Barnaby's Credit Stinks. He's 4 Years Old | (Feb 3, 2018 7:33 AM) Like a lot of Americans, Kevin Barnaby Jr.'s credit is messed up. The difference in his case is that he's a 4-year-old with two Capital One credit card accounts. Writing for BuzzFeed, Leticia Miranda uses his story as a launchpad from which to dive into the hazy issue of child identity theft. Hazy because, as Miranda writes, KJ’s experience is not an uncommon one—it's just that child identity theft is poorly documented and poorly policed. Kids make for good victims, the FTC's identity theft program manager tells her, because their credit is squeaky clean, the theft can go undiscovered for years, and family members have easy access to their SSNs. Sometimes parents use them out of desperation—to keep the lights on, for instance. In KJ's case, his estranged father bought his girlfriend an engagement ring. Miranda asks the big question: Why are banks issuing credit cards based on the SSN of a toddler? Blame loopholes in part, she says, citing a 1974 federal privacy law that makes the feds' SSN database inaccessible to banks and credit bureaus. They're therefore left verifying things using a process of their own making (Miranda points out they could cross-check with the Social Security Administration using a form filled out by the potential credit-card holder, but that would slow the process by up to a week). Making it tougher is that since 2011, kids have been doled out randomized SSNs. In KJ's case, his father allegedly used his son's SSN but his own date of birth to open the cards. He's been convicted of felony identity theft, but KJ's mom is still struggling to clear her son's credit, and is suing three major credit bureaus in an attempt to do so. Read the full story here. |
Dow Ends Day Down 98 | (Jun 27, 2017 3:11 PM CDT) Technology and phone companies led stocks modestly lower in a day of choppy trading on Wall Street, the AP reports. Major indexes flittered between small gains and losses through the middle of the day Tuesday, then turned lower in the early afternoon and stayed lower through the closing bell. Seagate Technology slumped 6.8% and Advanced Micro Devices lost 4.9%. Verizon gave up 2%. Banks were the only major industry group to rise. JPMorgan Chase climbed 0.9%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 19 points, or 0.8%, to 2,419. The Dow Jones industrial average gave up 98 points, or 0.4%, to 21,310. The Nasdaq composite fell 100 points, or 1.6%, to 6,146. |
Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor Dead at 99 | (Dec 18, 2016 6:09 PM) Zsa Zsa Gabor, the jet-setting Hungarian actress and socialite who helped invent a new kind of fame out of multiple marriages, conspicuous wealth, and jaded wisdom about the glamorous life, has died. She was 99. The middle and most famous of the Gabor sisters died Sunday of a heart attack at her Bel-Air home, said her husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt. Gabor had been hospitalized repeatedly since she broke her right hip in July 2010 after a fall at her home. She already had to use a wheelchair after being partly paralyzed in a 2002 car accident and suffering a stroke in 2005. Most of her right leg was amputated in January 2011 because of gangrene and the left leg was also threatened. Her misfortunes were duly reported to the media by von Anhalt. The great aunt of Paris Hilton and a spiritual matriarch to the Kardashians, Simpsons, and other tabloid favorites, she was the original hall-of-mirrors celebrity, famous for being famous for being famous. Starting in the 1940s, Gabor rose from beauty queen to millionaire's wife to minor television personality to minor film actress to major public character. With no special talent, no hit TV series such as her sister Eva's Green Acres, Zsa Zsa nevertheless was a long-running hit just being Zsa Zsa—her accent drenched in diamonds, her name synonymous with frivolity and camp as she winked and carried on about men, dahling, and the droll burdens of the idle rich. Her secret, in part, was being in on the joke, once saying about a 1956 TV role, I play a fabulously rich woman who has just bought her fifth husband; she is very unhappy. I won't tell you who it's supposed to be. |
6 Dead in 'Horrific' Crash Between School Bus, City Bus | (Nov 1, 2016 9:28 AM CDT) Police are investigating a Tuesday morning crash in Southwest Baltimore between a school bus and a commuter bus that left six dead, the Baltimore Sun reports. No children were reportedly on the school bus, but the driver of that bus died, while five people on the MTA bus perished, Baltimore Police spokesman TJ Smith said at a Tuesday presser. Significant injuries were also reported, per Smith, who advised via Twitter that it's a fluid situation and that he doesn't yet have info on those who died. The superintendent of a nearby cemetery tells the Sun the crash—which reportedly involved the school bus first slamming into another car and a cemetery pillar before hitting the MTA bus— sounded like a trainwreck. Cops say the crash took place around 6:30am, per CNN. Smith, who said the horrific accident was among the worst he's ever seen in his career, per NBC4, sent out a gentle reminder via Twitter message to the media to be mindful of the fact that there were fatalities and to consider your own children and loved ones as you film. |
He Placed a 911 Call 3 Years Ago, Then Vanished | (Dec 18, 2016 4:12 PM) It's a chilling and partially inaudible 911 call, and one of only a few clues: In the wee hours of Aug. 9, 2013, Brandon Lawson ran out of gas. The Houston Chronicle reports he was along Highway 277 near Bronte, Texas, and he started walking north. Then, at 1:20am, came the 911 call, the last time Lawson was ever heard from. NBC DFW has portions of the transcript: Yes I'm in the middle of a field (inaudible) pushed some guys over, right here going towards Abilene, on both sides. My truck ran out of gas, there's one car here, the guy's chasing (inaudible) to the woods, please hurry! The dispatcher asks if an ambulance is needed. The last thing the 26-year-old father of four says: No I need the cops. A website set up about the disappearance explains Lawson had left his San Angelo home minutes before midnight and later called his brother asking for gas. His truck—keys and phone removed—was found undamaged. As father Brad Lawson puts it to NBC DFW, His cell phone battery dies so he had no flashlight, it's rocky cactus terrain out there, if he had fell down or something we would have found him in a search. But there's been no sign of him. In a press release issued in 2014, the president of LostNMissing, a nonprofit helping Lawson’s family, said we also believe there is a second voice on the 911 tape and if that proves to be correct, that person has knowledge as to what has happened. Law enforcement has never confirmed this. Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (325) 658-HELP. (The search continues for a young Michigan woman who vanished.) |
Hurricane Maria Continues to Strengthen, Hits 175mph | (Sep 19, 2017 6:55 PM CDT) Category 5 Hurricane Maria's maximum sustained winds have increased to 175mph, the AP reports. The National Hurricane Center in Miami says an Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter plane took the reading Tuesday evening as the storm was about 70 miles southeast of St. Croix. Maria is moving west-northwest at 10mph and is expected to pass near the US Virgin Islands on Tuesday night and hit Puerto Rico on Wednesday. A hurricane warning was in effect for Puerto Rico and the US and British Virgin Islands, as well as St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montserrat and portions of the Dominican Republic. Hurricane center forecasters say it now appears likely that Maria will still be at category 5 intensity when it moves over the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Hurricane Maria is expected to bring life-threatening flooding from rain and storm surge. |
Man Gets 1,503 Years for Raping His Daughter | (Oct 23, 2016 9:21 AM CDT) A 41-year-old California man has been handed a 1,503-year sentence for repeatedly raping his teenage daughter over a period of four years, in a stark departure from headlines about convicted rapists getting slaps on the wrist. Rene Lopez drew the longest known sentence handed down in Fresno Superior Court history, reports the Frenso Bee, after being convicted of 186 counts of felony sexual assault; he showed no remorse, repeatedly blamed his daughter, described her testimony as hearsay, and turned down numerous plea deals that would have afforded him a much more lenient sentence. One such deal would have seen him go free in 13 years. The abuse began in May 2009, when the daughter was assaulted by a family friend and Lopez chose to turn her into a piece of property and use her to satisfy his sexual needs, per the prosecutor. The victim was sexually assaulted by her father two to three times a week for the next four years—he paid for an abortion when she became pregnant—with the abuse ending only when she fled Lopez's house. When my father abused me, I was young, the victim, now 23, told the court. I had no power, no voice. I was defenseless. The case is being held up in contrast to one in Montana, where a father recently received just 60 days for raping his daughter, notes the Washington Post. Bravo. We need to clone this judge, writes one online commenter on the Facebook page of a victims' group. |
5 Girls Allegedly Killed for Clapping, Singing | (Dec 19, 2016 4:49 PM) The video shot in the remote Kohistan area of Pakistan and posted online in 2010 shows five girls clapping along to music while a boy dances nearby. Innocent as it may seem, authorities are now investigating anew whether it led to the murder of all those in the video for the high crime of mingling with members of the opposite sex, reports the Washington Post. They think a tribal court deemed the gathering a penalty worthy of death, and villagers—perhaps even the youths' own families—then meted out the sentences. The older brother of the young man pictured petitioned the Supreme Court for help, and while the court dismissed his case in 2012, it ordered a new investigation last month. I know I will probably be killed, too, but it doesn't matter, says 26-year-old Afzal Kohistani. What happened is wrong, and it has to change. The families and village elders insist that nobody was killed over the video. But when investigators returned to the village last month with the girls' thumbprints and birth dates, they were presented with females too young to be the ones in the video, according to a judge's report. One girl's thumbs had been disfigured so that her thumbprints were useless; her parents said she'd had a cooking accident. Families of two said the girls were living far away and unable to return home to meet with investigators, reports the Express Tribune. All this leads to the suspicious conclusion that something is wrong at bottom, the judge wrote. He recommended an exhaustive inquiry. |
16 Hurt in Penn Station Panic | (Apr 15, 2017 8:35 AM CDT) There was panic at Penn Station Friday evening after police used a Taser on what they said was a belligerent suspect in the Amtrak waiting area. Passengers at the New York City station, which was already overcrowded due to a train stalled in a tunnel, thought they had heard gunshots and fled, CNN reports. It turned into a stampede as other people saw the fleeing passengers and joined the mass exit around 6:30pm, leaving bags and other belongings scattered around the underground station, NBC 4 reports. Witnesses who got off a train as the panic began say they saw a wave of screaming, falling people. Shoppers fled for the exits in nearby Macy's after rumors of a shooter spread there. Anna Renzi, 24, tells the New York Daily News she was waiting with her family for a delayed train to DC at Häagen-Dazs when crowds ran by. I thought I heard someone yell 'shooter,' that’s why I threw my nephew behind a counter and jumped over and they just had us hide in the storage closet because I had the kids, she says. The employees were so awesome, they just had us hid there until it was safe to come out. The FDNY says fire crews who had just finished dealing with the stalled train stayed to help police deal with people injured in the stampede. The department says none of the 16 people treated had life-threatening injuries. |
2 Americans and Their Dogs Rescued After 5 Months at Sea | (Oct 26, 2017 11:55 AM CDT) Two Americans and their two dogs set out to sail from Hawaii to Tahiti in the spring, but after their engine died in bad weather May 30, they were forced to use only the ship's sails to attempt to get back to land. Instead, they drifted in the Pacific Ocean for five months before they were finally rescued Wednesday, CBS News reports. Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava started issuing distress signals every day after they'd been at sea two months, but no other vessels were close enough to hear them. As they drifted off course—they were ultimately found 900 miles southeast of Japan, almost 5,000 miles from their original destination, per ABC News—they survived by using water purifiers for drinking water and eating the year's supply of dry food they had on board. They were discovered by a fishing ship from Taiwan Tuesday, and the US Navy's USS Ashland, which was in the area, helped with the rescue. I'm grateful for their service to our country. They saved our lives. The pride and smiles we had when we saw [US Navy] on the horizon was pure relief, Appel says in a Navy statement. The group will remain on the Ashland until its next port of call. |
Homeless Man With New $375K Windfall: I Want to Help Others | (Nov 27, 2017 6:59 AM) Just $20 changed her plight, and his life—and now a homeless man wants to help others with his sudden good fortune. Kate McClure started a GoFundMe for 34-year-old Johnny Bobbitt Jr. after the destitute veteran used his last 20 bucks on her when her car ran out of gas on a Philly interstate earlier this month. Her crowdfunding effort on Bobbitt's behalf has since surpassed $375,000, and the new friends appeared together on Good Morning America on Sunday to talk about everything that's happened since they first met, ABC News reports. I just got her gas to help her get back on her way, Bobbitt said. I wasn't expecting anything in return. Wearing sunglasses on GMA due to an infection in his eye from wearing his contacts too long on the streets, Bobbitt explained it can get lonely in his situation, but that McClure and her boyfriend, Mark D'Amico, have just treated him like a regular person. In an interview with the BBC, Bobbitt added he's blown away by the generosity from McClure, D'Amico, and everyone who's donated. Per GMA, Bobbitt actually asked the couple at one point to halt the fundraiser, which they did for all of 12 minutes before people insisted they still wanted to donate. McClure is arranging to hire a lawyer and financial adviser for Bobbitt, who says he plans to offer some of the cash that's come his way to organizations that help people in need. Everybody out there is facing some kind of struggle, so if I can touch their life, the way mine was touched, [it'd be] an amazing feeling, he said. I want to feel the feeling on the opposite end. His sudden windfall will also help him purchase a home, per WQAD. One thing no one should expect him to splurge on, however, is a luxury vehicle. There won't be no brand new car, he said, because buying used is smarter. |
He's 39 and Unemployed —and Blames Oxford | (Nov 22, 2017 8:19 AM) Seventeen years later, Faiz Siddiqui is still peeved about a poor grade he got in university—so peeved, in fact, that he's suing his former school for $1.3 million. At the High Court in London on Tuesday, a lawyer described how Siddiqui's dream of becoming an international commercial lawyer was crushed when a poor grade in the Indian special subject of his modern history course at Oxford University meant that he received a low upper second-class degree in June 2000, rather than a first-class or high upper second, report the BBC and Guardian. (In the UK, degrees are ranked based on a student's average mark.) Siddiqui, 39, who is unemployed, is seeking $1.3 million in lost wages while blaming inadequate teaching in what was anticipated to be his favored special subject, his lawyer says. Oxford acknowledges four of seven staff members who taught Asian history were on sabbatical during the 1999-2000 academic year. But a lawyer for the school—who describes Siddiqui's academic performance as laced with inconsistency, per the Telegraph—says Siddiqui received the same instruction as he would've in any other year. Siddiqui disagrees, claiming 13 of 15 students in the same situation as him received their lowest or joint lowest mark in the special subject. He adds his tutor failed to notify examiners of his health issues; Siddiqui says his clinical depression and insomnia only intensified following his inexplicable failure. A judge is expected to determine liability at the end of a seven-day hearing; the school lost its bid to have the case thrown out in December. A win for Siddiqui could open the floodgates for similar claims, per the Guardian. |
As Internet Turns 28, Inventor Issues Warning | (Mar 13, 2017 5:37 AM CDT) When Tim Berners-Lee submitted his proposal for a World Wide Web to help the European Organization for Nuclear Research manage its data, he didn't realize he was creating a future that would feature fake news and data-stealing dildos. The British computer scientist marked the 28th anniversary of his invention with a letter at the World Wide Web Foundation listing three problems that need to be dealt with for the web to fulfill its true potential as a tool which serves all of humanity. |
Woman Scores Half-Court Shot, $500, Fiancé | (Feb 19, 2017 11:59 AM) When Erin Tobin shoots, sometimes she really scores: The 30-year-old New Yorker and college basketball fan was watching her alma mater Siena take on Manhattan on Thursday night in Albany when she got the opportunity to take a half-court shot with a $500 gift card on the line. Not only did she sink the shot and score the cash, reports People, but she turned around to see the Dunkin' Donuts mascot ditching his costume—revealing Tobin's boyfriend, Steve Duckett, who sank to one knee, ring in hand. I was jumping up and down after hitting the shot since my brother said he’d give me $50 if I even hit the rim, says Tobin. Then I turned around expecting a gift card from Dunkin’ Donuts and there he was on his knees and I didn’t have any words. Spoiler alert: She said yes. Says Duckett: I said to myself, ‘Of course she would hit the shot.' The AP notes that that wasn't the end of Tobin's streak that night: Siena beat Manhattan 94-71. |
Last Straw: Navy Fires 7th Fleet Commander | (Aug 23, 2017 1:33 AM CDT) The commander of the Navy's Asia-based 7th Fleet was dismissed Wednesday after a series of warship accidents raised questions about its operations in the Pacific, per the AP. A two-sentence statement issued by the Navy said Adm. Scott Swift, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, had relieved Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command. The move follows four Navy accidents in the Pacific since late January, including two collisions that left sailors dead and missing. While each of these four incidents is unique, they cannot be viewed in isolation, Swift said late Tuesday. He said the Navy will carry out a deliberate re-set of all its ships in the Pacific, focused on navigation, mechanical systems, and bridge resource management. It will include training and an expert assessment of each ship. The Navy said that Rear Adm. Phillip Sawyer, who had already been named as Aucoin's successor, would assume command immediately. Aucoin assumed command of the 7th Fleet in September 2015 and was due to retire in a few weeks. Seven sailors died in June when the destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with a container ship off Japan. On Monday, the destroyer USS John S. McCain and an oil tanker collided off Singapore, injuring five sailors and leaving 10 others missing. (Some bodies have been found in the damaged ship.) |
Missouri's Legislature Approves Abortion Ban at 8 Weeks | (May 17, 2019 5:31 PM CDT) Missouri's Republican-led House on Friday passed sweeping legislation designed to survive court challenges, which would ban abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy. The ban would be among the most restrictive in the nation, the AP reports. It includes exceptions for medical emergencies, but not for pregnancies caused by rape or incest. Doctors would face five to 15 years in prison for violating the eight-week cutoff. Women having abortions would not be prosecuted. Republican Gov. Mike Parson has pledged to sign the bill. |
Election Could Help Give America Its 51st State | (Nov 7, 2016 1:35 AM) If Ricardo Rossello has things his way, this is going to be one of the last elections where there are a mere 50 American states voting. The New Progressive Party candidate has a big lead in the race to become the island's next governor, and he has come out as a strong supporter of the movement to make the US territory of 3.5 million people the 51st state. We feel statehood or the lack thereof is one of the critical root problems in Puerto Rico, the 37-year-old scientist and son of a former governor tells the AP. He says statehood is the best way to revive the economy of the island, which has been in a recession for a decade and is $70 billion in debt. Rossello says he plans to hold elections for senators and representatives that will be sent to Washington to demand statehood, a tactic that the AP notes worked for Tennessee in 1796. We reserve the right to use all means necessary so we can finally finish the 500-year debacle that has been colonialism, says Rossello, who also plans to draft a state constitution. According to the latest polls, per Univision, Rossello is at 41%, 8 points ahead of his nearest rival, David Bernier of the anti-statehood Popular Democratic Party. (Puerto Ricans backed statehood in a 2012 referendum.) |
For $725 a Night, You Can Sleep Where Trump Did | (Aug 9, 2017 11:50 AM CDT) Want to live like a Trump? Now's your chance: The president's New York City boyhood home is on Airbnb. The 1940 Tudor-style house in Queens is being offered for $725 a night. The listing says the house has five bedrooms and sleeps up to 20 thanks to a slew of bunkbeds. The amenities include a giant cutout of President Trump in the living room, which the listing calls a great companion for watching Fox News late into the night. The listing also notes that not much has been changed since the Trumps lived here, the kitchen is original and the opulent furnishings represent the style and affluence in which the Trumps would have lived. Smoking, pets, and parties are no-nos, reports the AP. Trump photos and memorabilia appear throughout, though the listing makes clear the home has no ties to the president or White House. The cutout isn't the only quirk. The listing notes guests have access to the entire house but should note that I live in one of the bedrooms which will not be accessible to you during your stay. Newsday reports that the principal of Paramount Realty USA, Misha Hagani, confirmed the listing's authenticity. Paramount auctioned the house to an unidentified buyer in March for $2.14 million (some have claimed it was bought by a woman from China). Hagani says he can't disclose whether the home was placed on Airbnb by the property owner or by a leaseholder. |
4 Die in Horrific Theme Park Accident | (Oct 25, 2016 4:52 AM CDT) Police in Queensland, Australia, are investigating a horrific accident that left four people dead on a ride at a popular Gold Coast theme park. Two men and two women in their 30s and 40s died on the Thunder River Rapids ride at the Dreamworld park on Tuesday, with two people thrown from the ride and two others trapped in a conveyor belt underneath after what police describe as a malfunction, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The ride—described by visitors as one of the tamest of the park's 50 or so attractions—features six-person circular rafts moving along an artificial river, the BBC reports. The water was drained during a desperate attempt to rescue the two trapped people, reports the Guardian. Police have yet to name the victims, who are believed to have been part of a family group. We saw a bunch of people running out hysteric, we saw a little girl screaming for her mum, it was scary, a woman who was lining up for the ride at the time of the accident told reporters. We believe she was on the ride, I don't believe she was in the same raft, but we do understand from what she said it was her family involved and she was screaming for her mother. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has promised there will be a full investigation of the horrific, horrific scene. The theme park, which is Australia's biggest, says it will be closed until further notice. |
US: Magnitude 3.5 Quake Detected in N. Korea | (Sep 23, 2017 9:12 AM CDT) A small earthquake shook North Korea early Saturday, according to South Korean officials, raising fears that the country had carried out another nuclear test amid its escalating dispute with the US. The quake happened near where North Korea has carried out other nuclear tests, which have registered as small earthquakes, though opinions are split on the source of the latest quake, the Guardian reports. A key method is to look at the seismic waves or seismic acoustic waves and the latter can be detected in the case of a man-made earthquake, a South Korean meteorological official says. In this case we saw none. So as of now, we are categorizing this as a natural earthquake. China's official Xinhua news agency, however, says an explosion was the likely source of the quake, which China measured at 3.4 magnitude, the AP reports. The US Geological Survey says it measured the quake at 3.5 and it cannot confirm whether it was natural or not. China also announced Saturday that it is limiting petroleum exports to North Korea under the terms of a UN resolution passed after a nuclear test earlier this month, reports USA Today. At a rally in Alabama Friday night, President Trump mocked Kim Jong Un as Little Rocket Man and told supporters they had nothing to fear from North Korea, despite the country's threat to detonate a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific, reports the Washington Post. |
Girl, 5, Killed by Celebratory Gunfire Minutes Into 2017 | (Jan 1, 2017 5:40 PM) An Alabama New Year's Eve party turned tragic just minutes after the clock struck midnight: As a man, one of the approximately 30 party guests, allegedly fired celebratory gun shots toward the ground, a 5-year-old girl walked into the line of fire, the News-Courier reports. She was shot in the chest and pronounced dead at an Athens hospital. Police say that when suspect Fidel Rodriguez Canchola, 34, realized what had happened, he fled the scene on foot. He was arrested at his home Sunday morning and charged with criminally negligent homicide. |
Mudslides, Flooding Kill at Least 250 in Sierra Leone | (Aug 14, 2017 5:40 PM CDT) Mudslides and torrential flooding killed at least 250 people in and around Sierra Leone's capital early Monday following heavy rains, with many victims trapped in homes buried under tons of mud, the AP reports. Survivors and volunteers dug through the mud and debris at times with their bare hands in a desperate search for missing relatives, and military personnel were deployed to help with the rescue operation in the West African nation. Initial Red Cross estimates said as many as 3,000 people have been left homeless by the disaster, and the figure is expected to rise. Communications and electricity also have been affected. The mortuary at Connaught Hospital was overwhelmed by the number of dead, and bodies had to be spread out on the floor, said coroner's technician Sinneh Kamara. At least 250 bodies had been brought to the facility already, and that toll did not include the untold numbers buried alive in their homes as they slept. More bodies also were expected to be found as floodwaters receded. Homes were destroyed by the flooding, while others were inundated by the floods, leaving many without shelter, said Sasha Ekanayake, the Sierra Leone director for the charity Save the Children, adding that some children have been separated from their families. |
Yahoo: Actually, All 3B Accounts Were Affected in 2013 Breach | (Oct 3, 2017 5:28 PM CDT) Yahoo has tripled down on what was already the largest data breach in history, saying it affected all 3 billion of its users, not the 1 billion it revealed late last year, the AP reports. The company announced Tuesday that it's providing notice to additional user accounts affected by the August 2013 data theft. The breach was previously disclosed by the company in December. Following its acquisition by Verizon in June, Yahoo says, it obtained new intelligence while investigating the breach with help from outside forensic experts. It says the stolen customer information did not include passwords in clear text, payment card data, or bank account information. |
Walmart Shooting Claims Another Victim, 8 Months on | (Apr 27, 2020 12:48 AM CDT) The death toll from the August mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart is now 23. More than eight months after he was shot in the store's parking lot, Guillermo Memo Garcia has died, KTSM reports. The soccer coach leaves behind his wife and two children. Twenty girls from the team he coached were at the store on Aug. 3 selling snacks as a fundraiser when the shooting broke out. Five parents were shot, and the father of another coach was shot and killed. Garcia, whose wife was also among those shot, had been in the ICU since the shooting. He was the last remaining hospital patient from the shooting, KVIA reports. He fought long and hard, with the help of all his troops he won many battles but lost the war, Garcia's wife says in a statement. I would like to thank the community for all the love, support, and prayers. On behalf of the Garcia family we would like to give the community the opportunity to pay their respects but due to the current circumstances we feel that right now is not the right time. ... When the pandemic and social distancing orders pass we will have a proper memorial and mass where the community can pay their respects to an El Paso warrior! |
Suit: Woman Spent $150K on Matchmaker, Got Mr. Awfuls | (Aug 10, 2017 8:42 AM CDT) A retired corporate executive said in a lawsuit that she spent $150,000 on a matchmaking service that set her up with a string of highly incompatible suitors, including men who were married, mentally unstable, or felons, the AP reports. Darlene Daggett, former president for US commerce for the QVC home shopping channel, settled the lawsuit against Kelleher International hours after it was filed in federal court last week, per the Philadelphia Inquirer. Per the suit, the 62-year-old Daggett, a divorced mom of four, wanted someone to spend her retirement with and felt social dating sites did not provide her with the degree of screening and privacy she was looking for. She said she paid $150,000 for a CEO Level membership with Kelleher International that guaranteed her matches from around the globe, but then endured a series of bad courtships that fell short of what the service promised. Her attorneys described one match as a disgraced New York judge who was censured for sleeping with an attorney, court records show. Another said he was waiting for his terminally ill wife to die before he began dating again. Another claimed he suffered from trauma that caused him to lie uncontrollably. Daggett said she later pursued a stalking complaint when that relationship turned sour, and that suitor is now awaiting sentencing on a $10.5 million federal bank fraud case. Kelleher CEO Amber Kelleher-Andrews, a former actress who appeared on Baywatch and Melrose Place, said in a statement that her company is responsible for thousands of marriages over the years. It doesn't always work out, Kelleher-Andrews said, adding her company works to end courtships fairly and reasonably. |
After 14 Years of Playing 66513, They Won World's Biggest Lottery | (Dec 22, 2016 11:35 AM) There was much celebration in Madrid Thursday after all the tickets with the top prize-winning number in Spain's $2.4 billion Christmas lottery were sold in one city neighborhood. The number 66513 appeared on 1,650 tickets in the lottery known as El Gordo ( The Fat One ), with each ticket holder winning $418,000. The winning tickets are normally sold in several different lottery offices around the country but this time they were all sold from one office in the modest Acacias neighborhood of the Spanish capital. Many of the tickets were bought by workers and residents at the neighborhood's Penuelas retirees' home, where staff members have been buying the same ticket number for 14 years, reports the AP. One winner's touching story: Vicente Villaverde, 44, a gas company worker who lives across the street from the lottery office, said he has bought lottery tickets ending in 13 for the past six years. As I have had so much bad luck in my life, I have always said the number 13 will bring me fortune. And this year it has! He planned to get speech classes for his 7-year-old son who has Down syndrome. Other lotteries have larger individual top prizes but El Gordo, which dates from 1812, is ranked as the world's richest for the total prize money on offer. This year it dished out 25 million prizes. Standard tickets cost $21, and organizers said ticket sales totaled $2.7 billion this year, up 3.5% from last year. |
169 Restaurants Look, Taste Like McDonald's. They Aren't | (Oct 15, 2017 12:05 PM CDT) McDonald's has an unusual problem in India: It recently severed ties with a partner that helped bring the Golden Arches to the nation, but now that company refuses to stop selling McDonald's food under the McDonald's name. In all, about 170 restaurants have gone rogue, in the words of the Wall Street Journal. Back in August, McDonald's canceled its franchise agreement with Connaught Plaza Restaurants, which operates 40% of McDonald's outlets in India. But rather than close up shop, the restaurants are operating as usual. McDonald's has been pressuring suppliers to cut off deliveries with mixed success, and Connaught Plaza's managing director, who brought the chain to India in 1996, hopes to keep the food flowing for as long as possible. I cannot allow a large organization, this [multinational] monster, whatever you want to call it, to truly belittle our contributions, says Vikram Bakshi. McDonald's, meanwhile, accuses Connaught Plaza of various contractual issues, including a failure to pay royalties. Bakshi's legal battles with McDonald's actually stretch as far back as 2008, and this latest round is expected to drag out in the courts as well. India has a growing middle class, and that theoretically makes the country a great market for McDonald's, notes the Economist. But it adds that this recent trouble illustrates multinationals’ worst fears about India, from the instability built into the joint-venture model to the ease of stymieing legal judgments. In the meantime, the Maharaja Macs continue to be served at the non-McDonald's McDonald's. |
Caught in Huge Data Breach: 150K Gov't Workers, Military | (Dec 15, 2016 12:32 PM) Yahoo announced Wednesday that hackers lifted info from more than 1 billion accounts—said to be the largest single data breach ever of an email provider—and more bad news emerged later that day about who some of the account owners were. Per Bloomberg, upward of 150,000 military and government workers had accounts infiltrated in the August 2013 hack, meaning everything from names, telephone numbers, and birthdates to passwords, alternate email accounts, and security questions are now in the hands of cybercriminals and a national-security risk. The workers had provided their official government accounts to Yahoo as a backup in case their email became inaccessible. Account owners include everyone from FBI agents, White House staff (past and present), and service members from every branch to NSA and CIA employees, among others. This new info was discovered when cybersecurity researcher Andrew Komarov stumbled across a database of pilfered Yahoo user info being covertly sold online; he intercepted the database and alerted government officials (who, in turn, told Yahoo, which hasn't confirmed this report to Bloomberg). What this could mean for overseas spies is an easier time at their jobs, as they now may have an alphabetized hit list of targets. It could also throw a wrench in Yahoo's sale to Verizon. We will review the impact of this new development before reaching any final conclusions, a Verizon rep tells the New York Times. Komarov doesn't think the hack was done by a foreign state, but by pros with potential spammer customers. He tells Bloomberg that individual consumer privacy was potentially ... destroyed ... several years ago without [consumer] knowledge. (Everything you need to know about the hack, via Time). |
Christie's Forced to Reveal Name of $14.5M Bidder | (Jul 28, 2017 6:37 PM CDT) A famous auction house must give up the name of the buyer who tried to pay $14.5 million for a rare idol the Turkish government claims was illegally taken from the country, a judge ruled Wednesday. According to Christie's, the 9-inch Guennol Stargazer comes from the Chalcolithic period between 3000BC and 2200BC and is one of about 15 such complete idols in existence. The Guennol Stargazer is an iconic work of art and universally recognized as the finest Kiliya idol in existence, the auction house's head of antiquities says. Back in April, an anonymous buyer agreed to pay $14.5 million for the idol at auction. The next day, the Turkish government filed a lawsuit demanding the return of the idol and the would-be buyer's name, Courthouse News reports. Now, despite the buyer backing out of the sale, a judge has ruled Christie's must hand over the buyer's name and contact information to lawyers for the Turkish government. Artnet News calls the ruling highly unusual. The judge reasons the buyer may have information about the idol, about the bidding process, or about Christie’s vigilance in determining the provenance of the idol. According to Turkey, the Guennol Stargazer was illegally dug up and smuggled out of the country in the 1960s. It's changed hands multiple times prior to being put up for auction by Christie's. The idol is an irreplaceable part of Turkey’s cultural patrimony, a lawyer for the Turkish government says. The Guennol Stargazer is currently being held in a vault at Christie's. |
'Pushed to the Limit': 23-Year-Old's Death Blamed on Overwork | (Oct 11, 2017 11:50 AM CDT) The Japan labor standard office has determined that the suicide of a 23-year-old man who worked at Tokyo's new Olympic stadium construction site stemmed from overwork, and therefore his family was eligible for government compensation, the AP reports. Hiroshi Kawahito, a lawyer representing the victim's family, said on Tuesday that the victim, in charge of quality control of materials at the stadium site, recorded 190 hours of overtime in one month before killing himself in March, according to Japan's NHK public television. The worker was less than a year on the job. The amount of overtime was way over 80 hours, a threshold for karoshi, or death from overwork. Labor officials in Tokyo found that the victim, who was not identified by name, also recorded 160 hours of overtime in January. |
Post-9/11 Muslim Registry May Return Under Trump | (Nov 17, 2016 11:43 AM) How might Donald Trump translate his calls for restrictions on Muslim immigration into policy? One possibility is the reinstatement of a national registry of visitors from high-risk countries. The revelation comes from a Reuters interview of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is known for his anti-immigration views within the GOP and who has been advising Trump since the campaign's early days. Kobach said Trump's transition team is considering dusting off the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, which Kobach himself helped design as a member of George W. Bush's Justice Department in the wake of 9/11. Under the program, people from nations deemed high-risk had to undergo interrogations, fingerprinting, and, in some cases, periodic check-ins upon entering the US. The program, NSEERS, was abandoned in 2011. These programs had Kobach's signature all over them, the director of the Migration Policy Institute tells NBC News. Now, the architect of the old program again has a seat at the table. Kobach, in fact, is rumored to be on Trump's list of attorney general candidates, reports McClatchy. Meanwhile, a spokesman for a pro-Trump super PAC has drawn attention for saying the mass internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII could serve as a model for Trump's policy on Muslim immigrants. We've done it based on race, we've done it based on religion, we've done it based on region, Carl Bigbie of the Great America PAC told Fox News, per Politico. Come on, you’re not proposing we go back to the days of internment camps, I hope, responded Megyn Kelly. I’m not proposing that at all, Higbie responded. But I’m just saying there is precedent for it. |
Boy, 5, Dies After Day Care Leaves Him in Hot Van 8 Hours | (Jun 15, 2017 7:03 AM CDT) Police in Arkansas are investigating how day care workers could have left a 5-year-old boy in a sweltering van for hours, NBC News reports. Christopher Gardner Jr. was found unresponsive, strapped into a booster seat at 3:30pm on Monday. That was more than eight hours after the van had arrived at Ascent Children's Health Services, per WMC, and only as it was time to drive the kids home. Administrators at the day care center for special needs children fired four workers Wednesday for failing to follow procedures, reports CNN. There are simply no words to express the overwhelming sadness we feel at the death of this child, Ascent CEO Dan Sullivan says in a statement. We are heartbroken. Workers are required to walk to the back of the van and check each seat, and then verify the van's roster with a class attendance sheet to ensure all the kids are accounted for, reports ABC News. West Memphis police tell CNN that temperatures in the parking lot were 91 degrees on Monday when they arrived, and that Christopher may have been asleep when the van arrived at the facility. They say the temperature inside a nearby sealed van was measured at 141 degrees, notes NBC. I just need some answers, says Christopher's mother, Ashley Smith, per ABC. I just want justice for my son. Great-grandmother Carrie Smith tells WMC that Christopher suffered in that van. She says they had a routine when Christopher came home each day. When he got off the van he'd say, 'Granny, have you got me a cookie today?' (Two toddlers died last week after being left overnight in a hot car.) |
At 6pm Friday, Mark Zuckerberg Shows Up for Dinner | (Apr 30, 2017 11:03 AM CDT) An Ohio family says they learned just 20 minutes before dinner this week that a planned mystery guest would be Facebook founder and billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, reports the AP. I knew we were having a mystery guest, and that was about it, Dan Moore tells the Youngstown Vindicator. It was completely incredible. Zuckerberg showed up at 6pm Friday to dine with the Moore family in Newton Falls, about 55 miles southeast of Cleveland. We got to know a very cool guy, Moore says. Or as Mashable puts it: Kind strangers keep feeding Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg had asked his staff to find Democrats who voted for President Trump, though not all the dinner chat was political. Moore says he and his wife, Lisa, talked about their work with an orphanage in Uganda and that Zuckerberg says he's now planning a fundraiser to benefit the orphans. Zuckerberg's project, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, says he visited Youngstown's Eastern Gateway Community College Friday and met with people recovering from opioid addiction in Dayton Saturday. He has challenged himself to visit people in all 50 states. |
Experts Say Something's Up With Votes in 3 Swing States | (Nov 22, 2016 6:55 PM) A group of notable academics believes it's found persuasive evidence that something is fishy with the presidential votes in three swing states, and it's encouraging Hillary Clinton to ask for a recount, New York Magazine reports. The group, which isn't going on the record at the moment, includes prominent computer scientists and election lawyers. In Wisconsin, the group found Clinton got 7% fewer votes in counties that used voting machines instead of paper ballots or optical scanners. The group estimates hacking or vote manipulation in those counties may have cost Clinton 30,000 votes; she lost Wisconsin by 27,000. The group says there's also evidence of possible vote tampering in Pennsylvania and Michigan. Clinton would need all three of those states to win the electoral college. The group of academics is pushing for an independent review of votes in those three states—especially in light of Russia's hack of the DNC—something that the White House is against. The Clinton camp was informed of the evidence last week but hasn't publicly commented. They have until Friday to ask for a recount in Wisconsin; deadlines in Michigan and Pennsylvania are next week. Meanwhile, NPR reports Clinton's lead in the popular vote is 1.75 million and growing. A voting data analyst believes she'll end up winning the popular vote by 2.5 million—thanks to 2 million uncounted votes in California—the largest-ever margin of victory for someone not becoming president. |
Mountain of Garbage Collapses, Kills at Least 35 | (Mar 12, 2017 11:31 AM CDT) A mountain of trash gave way in a massive garbage dump on the outskirts of Ethiopia's capital, killing at least 35 people and leaving several dozen missing, as officials vowed to relocate those who called the landfill home. Addis Ababa city spokeswoman Dagmawit Moges said most of the dead were women and children, and more bodies were expected to be found. It was not immediately clear what caused Saturday night's collapse at the Koshe Garbage Landfill, which al Jazeera notes buried more than 30 makeshift homes. The landfill has been a dumping ground for the capital's garbage for more than 50 years. About 150 people were there when the landslide occurred, resident Assefa Teklemahimanot told the AP. Addis Ababa Mayor Diriba Kuma said 37 people had been rescued and were receiving medical treatment. Dagmawit said two had serious injuries. An AP reporter saw four bodies taken away by ambulances after being pulled from the debris. Elderly women cried, and others stood anxiously waiting for news of loved ones. Six excavators dug through the ruins. My house was right inside there, said a shaken Tebeju Asres, pointing to where one of the excavators was digging in deep, black mud. My mother and three of my sisters were there when the landslide happened. Smaller collapses have occurred at the Koshe landfill in the past two years but only two or three people were killed, Assefa said. In the long run, we will conduct a resettling program to relocate people who live in and around the landfill, the Addis Ababa mayor said. Around 500 waste-pickers are believed to work at the landfill every day. City officials say close to 300,000 tons of waste are collected each year from the capital, most of it dumped at the landfill. |
Dow Ends Day Up 40 | (Oct 17, 2017 3:16 PM CDT) Stocks are closing slightly higher Tuesday as two major indexes reached new records, the AP reports. Industrial companies and banks slid. Boeing fell 0.4% after rival aircraft maker Airbus took a majority stake on Bombardier's C-series passenger jets. Netflix sank 1.4% as investors worried about its mounting spending on programming. Health care companies rose. UnitedHealth Group, the country's biggest health insurer, jumped 5.5% after reporting a strong quarter. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 1.7 points to 2,559. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 40 points, or 0.2%, to 22,997. The Nasdaq composite was little changed at 6,624. More stocks fell than rose on the New York Stock Exchange. |
Trump's 1st Cabinet Picks Officially Confirmed | (Jan 20, 2017 5:37 PM) Two of Donald Trump's cabinet picks are officially in place after Senate votes Friday, the AP reports. First, the Republican-led Senate voted to confirm James Mattis to be Defense secretary. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who challenged the idea of a former military leader in a civilian job, voted no. Mattis retired from the Marine Corps in 2013. Mattis will replace Ash Carter, who has been former President Barack Obama's defense secretary since February 2015. Republicans pushed for fast approval to ensure the post wouldn't be empty even for a brief amount of time after Trump's swearing-in. The Senate also voted convincingly to put a tough-talking retired Marine general in charge of overseeing Trump's pledge to crack down on illegal immigration. Senators confirmed John Kelly's nomination to lead the Homeland Security Department 88-11. Among Kelly's likely first assignments will be executing Trump's plans for the fate of a program that has protected more than 750,000 young immigrants from deportation. Kelly says he's in favor of a wall at the Mexican border, but he says a physical barrier alone isn't enough to secure the 2,000-mile frontier. |
Girl's HIV Drugs Were Halted 8 Years Ago. It's 'Promising' | (Jul 24, 2017 7:53 AM CDT) A South African girl born with the AIDS virus has kept her infection suppressed for more than eight years after stopping anti-HIV medicines—more evidence that early treatment can occasionally cause a long remission that, if it lasts, would be a form of cure. Her case was revealed Monday at a Paris AIDS conference, where researchers also gave encouraging results from tests of shots every month or two instead of daily pills to treat HIV, the AP reports. That's very promising, the US' top AIDS scientist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said of the prospects for long-acting drugs. Current treatments keep HIV under control but must be taken lifelong. Only one person is thought to be cured: the so-called Berlin patient, a man who had a bone marrow transplant in 2007 from a donor with natural resistance to HIV. But transplants are risky and impractical to try to cure the millions already infected. So some researchers are aiming for the next best thing: long-term remission, when the immune system can control HIV without drugs even if signs of the virus remain. Aggressive treatment soon after infection might enable that in some cases, and the South African girl is the third child who achieved a long remission after that approach. She was in a study sponsored by Fauci's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which previously found early treatment helped babies survive. The unidentified girl started on HIV drugs when she was 2 months old and stopped 40 weeks later. Tests when she was 9 1/2 years old found signs of virus in a small number of immune system cells, but none capable of reproducing. The girl doesn't have a gene mutation that gives natural resistance to HIV infection, Fauci said, so her remission seems likely due to the early treatment. |
Man Sues Walmart Over Watermelon Injury, Wins $7.5M | (Nov 10, 2017 6:37 AM) An Alabama man who said he tripped and broke his hip while buying a watermelon at a Walmart store has won a $7.5 million verdict in his lawsuit against the retailer. Henry Walker on Wednesday was awarded the damages after a jury trial in Phenix City, Alabama, just west of the Georgia state line, court records show. Walker had sued Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., saying his foot became trapped in a pallet beneath the watermelons as he reached for one of the fruits at a Phenix City Walmart on June 25, 2015. Al.com reports that when the then-59-year-old turned back toward his shopping cart, he fell. One of his lawyers says that Walker's days of playing basketball three times a week ended with the injury, which now requires him to use a walker. |
18 CIA Operatives Have Died in Afghanistan: Report | (Sep 6, 2017 2:23 PM CDT) Eighteen. It's a number the New York Times says hasn't been reported until now, and the number you'd arrive at by counting select chiseled stars in a wall at the CIA HQ in Langley, Va. It represents the number of CIA operatives killed in Afghanistan since 9/11, and the Times provides context: It's a tally ... that rivals the number of CIA operatives killed in the wars in Vietnam and Laos nearly a half century ago. It sees the count as a reflection of the heavy sacrifice the agency has made in Afghanistan over the past 16 years as well as the agency's creep toward the front lines. These are not men who are easily replaced. Many were part of the CIA's paramilitary force, the Special Activities Division, including the two whose July 14 funeral anchors the Times' account. Brian Hoke and Nathaniel Delemarre were buried together in Arlington, with the Times piecing together what it could of their secretive backgrounds and the attack that took their lives. Both married with children, the two were part of an Oct. 21, 2016, assault on an ISIS stronghold in Jalalabad; Hoke was apparently shot and Delemarre came to his aid. Hoke died quickly, and a wounded Delemarre died in Germany. Hoke's wife had this to say of her husband in an email to the Times: He was the kind of person movies are made about, as are most of his colleagues. Unbelievable human beings. Read the full story for more on the others who died, including seven lost on one deadly day. |
Stocks Sink Again Thursday, With Dow Down 600 Points | (Feb 8, 2018 12:19 PM) Stocks are sinking again Thursday, extending a streak of losses that has yanked the market away from record highs. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 633 points, or 2.5%, as of 1pm ET to 24,267. It's on track for its fifth loss in the last six days. Technology companies, the leading sector over the past year, and banks fell the most, and Boeing and Caterpillar took some of the worst losses. The S&P 500 shed 58 points, or 2.2%, to 2,620 as of 1pm ET. It's now down 8.8% from the latest record high it set January 26. It's still up 15% over the past year. The Nasdaq composite fell 170 points, or 2.4%, to 6,884. The losses were broad. Four stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, and 10 out of the 11 industry sectors in the S&P 500 index were down, the AP reports. |
Parents Can Buy 'Peace of Mind' at Fla. School for $120 | (Nov 7, 2017 8:27 AM) A Miami private school's store is now open, but this year, in addition to mascot-themed athletic wear, students can soup up their backpacks, too. Or rather their parents can, because the backpack insert at the nondenominational Florida Christian School costs $120, reports the Miami Herald. That's because it's bulletproof, the newest security measure taken by the school after 2012's Sandy Hook massacre. I'd rather be prepared for the worst than be stuck after saying, 'Wow, I wish we would've done that,' says George Gulla, the school's security chief. Since Gulla came on board, the school, which has students from preschool age through high school seniors, has also put in place security cameras, easily identifiable security guards, and even shooter drills where students are taught to hold their backpacks in front of their bodies to protect [their] center mass, Gulla explains. Enter parent Alex Cejas, who is offering thin, soft-armor backpack inserts made by his company, Applied Fiber Concepts. No thicker than a binder, the insert is meant to stop bullets from smaller pistols and revolvers (though not more powerful weapons) and offer peace of mind, says Cejas. The Washington Post cites products geared toward schools that have emerged since Sandy Hook, with manufacturers producing everything from bulletproof backpacks and binder inserts to writing tablets that can double as shields. But a security expert tells the Herald in the schools he's studied, it's a breakdown in the school's procedures or human error that usually causes or worsens incidents, not a lack of high-tech security gear. He also says the arrangement Cejas' company has with the school is highly unusual —parents can print the order form right from the school's website. |
China Bans Foreigners From 8 Countries | (Nov 6, 2020 11:46 AM) China has temporarily banned the entry of foreigners from at least eight countries as COVID-19 cases rise in Europe and elsewhere. Non-Chinese can no longer enter from Russia, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Philippines, India, and Bangladesh, even if they hold a valid visa or residence permit for China, the AP reports. Embassies in those countries have posted online notices in recent days announcing the temporary suspension of entry. China, where the coronavirus first emerged, has enacted strict measures to guard against new infections from abroad. Health authorities on Friday reported 30 imported cases in the most recent 24-hour period, including 15 in Shanghai. That brought the total number of imported cases during the pandemic to 3,510. China largely closed its borders in March but in recent months, it had relaxed restrictions, allowing some foreign nationals to enter if they tested negative for the virus and spent two weeks in quarantine, AFP reports. The country is now drawing on the practices of many countries and adjusting its handling of the entry of the relevant people into China based on the changing pandemic situation, a foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday. Citizens of countries including the US are still currently allowed to enter China, but the tightened restrictions require them to obtain a health certificate from a Chinese embassy within 48 hours of travel with results of a nucleic acid test and an antibody test. |
Suspect Hiding From Cops Calls 911 for Rescue | (Oct 25, 2017 2:52 AM CDT) A Utah man who was hiding from police and fled arrest had to call 911 to be rescued after getting stuck in his hiding spot. Salt Lake City police say 46-year-old Shane Paul Owen called dispatchers for help on Tuesday, more than six hours after he accidentally locked himself in a old, vacant church's boiler room. Officers were looking for Owens on Monday because he is a suspect in a string of burglaries and had warrants out for his arrest. Police say an officer spotted him and attempted to pull his vehicle over, but Owen fled, got out of his car and ran into the church, the AP reports. |
Exploding Takata Airbag Blamed for 12th US Death | (Jul 11, 2017 6:47 AM CDT) Another person has died as a result of an exploding Takata airbag, though in this case the car involved wasn't even in a crash. Honda says it recently learned about an incident on June 18, 2016, in which a man was using a hammer to make repairs on a 2001 Honda Accord when the airbag inflator activated and ruptured, sending metal fragments flying. Ramon V. Kuffo, 88, who did not own the vehicle but had taken apart the center console with the ignition switch on, died of head trauma a day after a neighbor found him bleeding from the face in the passenger seat of the car parked in his yard near Miami, Fla., reports the Detroit News. The airbag had deployed and the rupture most likely contributed to his death, says a Honda rep. Kuffo's death is the 12th in the US and 17th worldwide to be blamed on the faulty inflators, which have injured 180 in the US. Honda—which only learned of the incident with a legal claim in March, per the New York Times—notes the Accord had one of Takata's most dangerous inflators with a reported 50% chance of it rupturing in a crash. But though owners of the car were sent 12 recall notices over seven years, our records indicate that the recall repair was never completed, Honda says. Almost 70 million airbags in 42 million vehicles have now been recalled due to the faulty inflators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it's essential to safety that high-risk inflators are replaced immediately. (Takata has filed for bankruptcy.) |
Failed Cartel Raid Leaves 8 Dead on Streets | (Oct 19, 2019 12:01 PM CDT) Mexican security forces aborted an attempt to capture a son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman after finding themselves outgunned in a ferocious shootout with cartel henchmen that left at least eight people dead and more than 20 wounded, authorities said Friday. The gun battle Thursday paralyzed the capital of Mexico's Sinaloa state, Culiacan, and left the streets littered with burning vehicles, the AP reports. Residents took cover indoors as automatic gunfire raged outside. It was the third bloody and terrifying shootout in less than a week between security forces and cartel henchmen, raising questions about whether President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's policy of avoiding the use of force and focusing on social ills is working. |
Guy's $500 Donation to David Duke Shuts Down His Bar | (Sep 4, 2017 7:49 AM CDT) A Minneapolis bar was forced to close after it was revealed the owner donated to David Duke's 2016 Senate campaign. Outraged to learn their boss had given $500 to the ex-KKK leader, many employees at Club Jager walked off the job, reports the Star Tribune. Several performers promised to boycott the bar, with one local DJ writing on Facebook that he couldn't condone a venue where the owner supports the likes of David Duke and his messages of hate. Former bartender Drea Kingston tells WCCO the contribution is vile and it’s disgusting. Jack Callahan, who canceled the trivia night he hosted, says per the Tribune that employees got angry messages calling them Nazi sympathizers. A group of men followed and spit on one worker, calling her a Nazi lover. The bar was empty by mid-week save for a few white supremacists who showed up to support owner Julius DeRoma, per City Pages. By Thursday, the remaining employees decided to shut it down for good, Callahan tells theTribune, adding that they didn’t want to keep this guy’s business operating and continue to face the harassment. He calls the episode pretty emotional for the racially diverse staff. Half the people were in tears, Callahan tells City Pages, and the other half were pretty much punching walls. Workers felt betrayed by DeRoma, who was rarely in the bar but who Callahan says, per the Tribune, seemed like a really nice guy. De Roma tells WCCO his Duke donation just basically free speech. He says the controversy was blown up beyond what it should be. (Duke's godson was heir to the throne—until he flipped.) |
8th-Grade Football Star Featured in Sports Illustrated Shot Dead at Party | (May 6, 2019 4:40 AM CDT) In November, Sports Illustrated featured 14-year-old football sensation Jaylon McKenzie as one of Six Teens Who Will Rule the Future in Sports. Less than six months later, he was dead. Police say the eighth-grader was fatally shot after leaving a party in the southern Illinois city of Venice Saturday night. Mother Sukeena Gunner tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that witnesses told her Jaylon was hit by a stray bullet after a fight broke out and he left the party to avoid it. It’s so hard to fathom that someone took my baby from me because he dreamed so big, she says. Police say a 15-year-old girl was critically injured by stray gunfire. Family members say Jaylon, who went to Mason-Clark Middle School in East St. Louis, had already received scholarship offers from the University of Missouri and the University of Illinois. He's supposed to bury me, I'm not supposed to bury him, father Otis Gunner tells KMOV. He says this fall, Jaylon—who played running back, receiver, and defensive back—would have fufilled his dream of playing football at East St. Louis High School. Since he was a baby that’s what he wanted to do, the father says. He didn’t get the chance to put on that blue and orange jersey but that’s what he wanted to do. Police, who say no arrests have been made, have put out an appeal for information. |
Balcony Collapse Kills 2, Injures 8 Swimming Athletes | (Jul 27, 2019 3:30 PM CDT) A balcony inside a nightclub in South Korea collapsed on Saturday, killing two people and injuring 16, including an American and other athletes at the world swimming championships, officials said. Hundreds were at the nightclub in the southern city of Gwangju when the collapse occurred next to the athletes' village, the AP reports. Two South Korean men died while 16 others were injured, police say. According to a police account, the injured include 10 foreigners, eight of them athletes who were in Gwangju to participate in the swimming championships. Among the athletes were three Americans, two New Zealanders, one Dutch, one Italian, and one Brazilian, a police officer says, requesting anonymity ahead of an official announcement. |
3 Storm Chasers Die in Texas Crash | (Mar 29, 2017 1:50 AM CDT) Three storm chasers were killed in West Texas on Tuesday—and it wasn't by the tornado they were pursuing. The Texas Department of Public Safety says the three men were killed in a collision at a rural crossroads near the town of Spur, around 70 miles east of Lubbock, CNN reports. Kelley Williamson, 57, and Randall Yarnell, 55, both of Cassville, Mo., and Corbin Jaeger, a 25-year-old from Peoria, Ariz., were killed when the Missouri men's Chevrolet Suburban SUV ran a stop sign and hit Jaeger's Jeep. They were traveling in different directions amid a storm system that brought heavy rain and tornadoes to the area, the AP reports. Williamson, who was driving, and Yarnell were contractors for the Weather Channel. Kelley and Randy were beloved members of the weather community, the channel said in a statement. We are saddened by this loss and our deepest sympathies go out to the families and loved ones of all involved. FOX 4 reports that Williamson was streaming on YouTube at the time of the accident. The video ends as he runs the stop sign. The National Weather Service says the storm system will shift eastward Wednesday, with tornadoes possible in East Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. |
Facebook Sex Video Triggers Child Porn Charges for 1,004 | (Jan 16, 2018 7:47 AM) The two videos tallied up to 59 seconds and could ruin my life, says one 19-year-old. She doesn't appear in the footage, but was one of 1,004 people—996 of them between the ages of 15 and 24—notified Monday that they face preliminary charges for sharing child porn. The New York Times delves into the case, which involves video taken of two consenting Danish 15-year-olds having sex. The sex part is legal in the country. but sharing the videos runs afoul of Denmark's child-porn laws. The videos were disseminated via Facebook's Messenger app; Facebook deleted them in the fall upon learning about them and reported them to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which alerted Europol and Danish police, NBC News reports. After months spent tracking social media accounts and IP addresses, Danish police made their move in what Bloomberg calls the biggest case of its kind in the country. Prosecutors will make the call on whether to move forward with the charges, and the Times predicts that if they do, it's unlikely anyone will end up in prison. But the paper notes that getting off scot-free could be tough: A conviction would make getting certain jobs (with law enforcement, or working with children) impossible, and even if they were to successfully argue they thought the couple was at least 18, they could be hit with a charge for sharing the video without consent. The videos, which some outlets are calling revenge porn, were made by friends of the couple at a party and then shared by those friends. (This revenge porn targeted female Marines.) |
Millennials' Colorectal Cancer Risk Like Those Born in 1890 | (Feb 28, 2017 12:27 PM) Colonoscopies are a rite of passage for 50-year-olds—could that one day be true for 30-year-olds? We're not there yet, but we may be on our way. Researchers from the American Cancer Society have identified a sharp rise in colon and rectal cancer rates among millennials and GenXers after reviewing some 500,000 cases dating to 1974. How sharp? Their study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, finds people born in 1990 have twice the risk of colon cancer and four times the risk of rectal cancer as someone born in 1950. And here's the longer view: Colorectal cancer risk among millennials has escalated back to the level of those born circa 1890, says lead study author Rebecca Siegel in a statement picked up by Live Science. About 135,000 Americans are diagnosed annually with the cancers (and 50,000 die each year, reports USA Today), but those 55 and younger now make up an appreciable number of diagnoses: 29% of rectal cancer and 17% of colon cancer cases. Colorectal cancer had been thought a success story, as increased screening tamped down overall rates, says Siegel. But what researchers found is a dichotomy between the younger and older groups. For instance, rectal cancer rates were down over the 1974 to 2013 study period for those 55 and up, but grew 3.2% annually for those ages 20 to 29. And anything more than about 1% a year is a big change, says Siegel. The researchers didn't identify a cause, but point out a trio of risk factors: obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, and a low-fiber diet. |
After 15 Years, Still No Answer to Who Killed Jam Master Jay | (Oct 28, 2017 1:54 PM CDT) A mural of Run-DMC's Jam Master Jay looms over the hallway of the Queens recording studio where he was shot to death 15 years ago. The memorial gives no hint of a disturbing footnote to the DJ's tale of fame and misfortune: The killer, so far, has gotten away with it. New York City police detectives acknowledge that their investigation into the October 30, 2002, killing of the artist, whose given name was Jason Mizell, has gone cold, the AP reports. But some hold out hope that witnesses could still come forward. It's not resolved to the legal eye, but the street always talks, said Jeremy Lam, a friend of Jam Master Jay's family and a partner in the latest version of the Queens studio. |
Walter Becker, One Half of Steely Dan, Dead at 67 | (Sep 3, 2017 12:15 PM CDT) Walter Becker, one half of the legendary rock duo Steely Dan, died Sunday at the age of 67, the New York Times reports. Becker, a guitarist, bassist, and vocalist, formed the band with Donald Fagen in 1972 after the two men met at Bard College in the late 1960s. Together they became one of the most successful rock acts of the 1970s, creating a sound that owed as much to jazz as rock and roll. Since forming, the band has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. After breaking up for most of the 80s the band re-formed in 1993 and won the Grammy award for album of the year that year. While the cause of Becker's death has yet to be announced, he had been suffering from an undisclosed illness in recent months that kept him off recent Steely Dan shows, Vulture reports. In a statement released Sunday, Fagen says he intends to keep the music we created together as long as I can with the Steely Dan band. |
'A New Low for Crime': 200 Pumpkins Stolen | (Oct 26, 2016 10:57 AM CDT) Almost 200 pumpkins were stolen from a New Jersey farm stand in the wee hours of Tuesday, a crime that required the culprits to make three trips to fill up their van with pumpkins. All three trips were caught on surveillance video that's been released by the family-run Farms View Roadstand in Wayne. While pumpkins may sound like a strange target for theft—one customer tells NBC New York it's a new low for crime —the owner's son explains that the thieves can make between $2,500 and $3,000 from the stolen pumpkins. The family is offering a $1,000 reward for tips that result in an arrest. |
Tom Petty Dead at 66 | (Oct 2, 2017 11:24 PM CDT) Iconic rocker Tom Petty is dead at age 66, a spokesperson confirms to the AP. The news comes after a day of confusing reports on Petty's condition. Per TMZ, he was found at his home Sunday night in full cardiac arrest and was placed on life support; his family decided to remove him from life support when it became clear he had no brain activity. On behalf of the Tom Petty family we are devastated to announce the untimely death of of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty, the longtime manager of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers says in a statement, per Rolling Stone. He suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu in the early hours of this morning and was taken to UCLA Medical Center but could not be revived. He died peacefully at 8:40pm PT surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends. |
Election 2016 Has a Final Rebuke for Democrats | (Dec 11, 2016 9:07 AM) There's a freshman senator named John Kennedy headed for Washington, DC, in January, but Democrats won't exactly be happy to see him: The Republican won a runoff race for a Louisiana Senate seat Saturday night, sending Democrat Foster Campbell packing and delivering a final rebuke to Democrats who had been hoping to turn the seat blue and hold the GOP to a 51-49 edge. The win caps a year of historic Republican wins up and down the ballot, said the RNC co-chair in a statement. And with 52 seats in the US Senate, we are excited for Republicans to confirm a conservative Supreme Court justice and begin working with President-elect Trump to pass an agenda of change for the American people. Kennedy is the state's treasurer and replaces retiring Sen. David Vitter, reports the Hill. He was the frontrunner in the race from the get-go, notes the AP. |
Sea Search Ends for 8 Troops | (Aug 2, 2020 11:40 AM CDT) Eight troops missing after their landing craft sank off the Southern California coast during a training exercise are presumed dead, the Marine Corps announced Sunday. The Marines said they had called off the search that started late Thursday afternoon when the amphibious assault vehicle sank with 15 Marines and one Navy sailor aboard. Eight Marines were rescued, the AP reports; one of them later died, and two are in critical condition. The 26-ton, tank-like craft took on water and quickly sank in hundreds of feet of water—too deep for divers—making it difficult to reach. It is with a heavy heart that I decided to conclude the search and rescue effort, said Col. Christopher Bronzi, commander of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. The Marines ranged in age from 19 to their early 30s. |
Trump, Family Will Sit Down With 60 Minutes | (Nov 10, 2016 3:33 PM) 60 Minutes has landed the first extensive interview with President-elect Donald Trump, the AP reports. CBS announced on Thursday that Lesley Stahl will interview Trump on Friday at his home in New York City. 60 Minutes will broadcast the interview, which will focus on Trump's election, on Sunday night. Stahl will also speak to Trump's family, including incoming first lady Melania and children Ivanka, Tiffany, Eric, and Donald Jr. The president-elect met with President Obama on Thursday at the White House, a meeting Obama called excellent. |
Sailors Had to Eat Rats During 4 Years as Pirate Hostages | (Oct 24, 2016 4:02 AM CDT) Some 26 forgotten hostages held by Somali pirates for years after the piracy crisis faded from the headlines are finally free. The captives, fishermen from Vietnam, Taiwan, Cambodia, Indonesia, China, and the Philippines, were freed Saturday with the help of the Hostage Support Partners group, which negotiated with tribal and religious leaders. John Steed, a retired British colonel who works as a coordinator for the group, tells the AFP that the men are in reasonable condition, considering that they have spent over four and a half years in deplorable conditions away from their families. He says the men are the last remaining seafarers taken hostage during the height of Somali piracy. Steed says one crew member died during the March 2012 hijacking of their Omani-flagged vessel and another two died during their captivity. He says the boat sank a year after its capture and the men were taken to a village in Somalia, where they were held by pirates making increasingly irrational demands. On Sunday, the freed sailors were flown from Somalia to Kenya, where one of them told the BBC he felt like the walking dead after so long as a captive. He said food and water were in short supply and the men had eaten rats to survive. Eat anything, even you not like, you feel hungry, you eat it, he said. You eat rat, you cook it. |
Unemployment at 9-Year Low, but There's a Downside | (Dec 2, 2016 8:12 AM) The US unemployment rate fell to a nine-year low of 4.6% last month, though not for the best reason: Many of the unemployed gave up looking for work, reports the AP. Employers added a solid 178,000 jobs in November, nearly matching the average monthly gains this year. Those gains point to the steady economic growth that President-elect Donald Trump is poised to inherit. Average hourly pay slipped, however, after a solid gain the previous month. Pay has increased at only a modest pace in the past year. The report's mixed signals illustrate the challenges facing Trump: On the surface, steady job gains and a low unemployment rate suggest the economy is healthy. But weak pay increases and fewer Americans working or looking for work point to longer-term challenges. Fewer than 60% of adults have jobs—3 percentage points lower than when the Great Recession began in late 2007. In part, that trend reflects retirements by the nation's many baby boomers. But it also means hiring hasn't kept up with population growth. What's more, the Wall Street Journal notes that the unemployment rate probably can't drop much lower, given that anything below 5% is historically low. |
Dow Ends Day Up 186 | (Feb 3, 2017 3:07 PM) Banks and other financial companies led a rally on Wall Street after President Trump took steps to scale back financial industry regulations, the AP reports. JPMorgan Chase rose 3.1% Friday. Goldman Sachs jumped 4.6%. Traders were also encouraged by news of a pickup in hiring last month. Small-company stocks, which stand to reap outsized benefits from faster economic growth, also rose sharply. The gains put the Nasdaq composite at another all-time high. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 16 points, or 0.7%, to 2,297. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 186 points, or 0.9%, to 20,071. The Nasdaq increased 30 points, or 0.5%, to 5,666. |
No Miracles: 33 Trapped Miners Found Dead in China | (Nov 2, 2016 7:17 AM CDT) All 33 coal miners trapped underground by a gas explosion in China have been found dead, reports the AP. Two of their fellow miners made it to safety in the aftermath of Monday's blast, but rescuers working around the clock found no others alive. All bodies have been recovered, and rescuers were shown bowing their heads in honor of the dead. The State Administration of Work Safety ordered an investigation into the blast, adding that those responsible must be strictly punished. Local officials in Chongqing also ordered smaller mines to shut down temporarily, Xinhua said. About 600 miners were killed in accidents in 2015 in China, reports USA Today. |
Ford Is Recalling 1.3M Pickups | (Oct 19, 2017 12:05 AM CDT) Ford is recalling about 1.3 million 2015-2017 F-150 and 2017 Super Duty vehicles in North America because of potential door problems. The company said Wednesday that in some vehicles a frozen door latch or bent or kinked actuation cable may cause a door to not open or close, the AP reports. If consumers are able to open and close such doors, the door may appear closed, but the latch may not fully engage, increasing the risk for a possible injury. Ford said it's not aware of any accidents or injuries related to the issue. The company's dealers will install water shields over door latches and inspect and repair door latch actuation cables if necessary, free of charge to customers. |
Walking Dead Stuntman on Life Support After 20-Foot Fall | (Jul 13, 2017 11:05 PM CDT) A stunt gone terribly wrong on the set of AMC’s hit zombie series The Walking Dead has temporarily halted production of the show’s eighth season in Atlanta. According to USA Today, stuntman John Bernecker sustained serious head injuries during a stunt after falling 20 to 30 feet onto concrete Wednesday. Bernecker was medically evacuated to Atlanta Medical Center, where he was in the ICU. TMZ reported Thursday night that Bernecker was on a ventilator and his prognosis was not good, while Deadline spoke to a source who said he is brain-dead and on life support while his family makes arrangements. AMC earlier released a statement regarding the tragic accident, saying Bernecker and his family are in our thoughts and prayers. In a separate statement, the SAG-AFTRA union (which represents stunt performers) said it was investigating the incident. As always, the safety and security of our members and others on set is of crucial concern to us and we are focused on this in our investigation. Bernecker’s girlfriend Jennifer Cocker made a plea to the doctors treating him on Facebook, writing: John deserves to be seen by every neurosurgeon and doctor there is until one of them sees the life we all know he has in him and bring him back to us... THIS ISNT FAIR. Per the Hollywood Reporter, the New Orleans native is a seasoned stuntman whose recent work includes Get Out, The Fate of the Furious, and the Hunger Games franchise. Sources say he was rehearsing a fight scene with an actor on the Walking Dead set when he had his accident; it was meant to end with a routine stunt fall from a balcony, but Bernecker lost his footing. |
Man, 74, Confesses 'Out of the Blue' to 1993 Murder | (Apr 7, 2017 1:39 AM CDT) On the 24th anniversary of the crime, a 74-year-old Louisiana man confessed to killing his son-in-law in North Carolina, officials say. Maj. Tom Effler of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office in Goldsboro, NC, said that on Feb. 7, Allen Deaver told authorities he'd killed Sydney Maurice Gregory on Feb. 7, 1993, the AP reports. Gregory, who was in his 20s, was beaten and left inside a mobile home that was set on fire in Seven Springs, NC. This came out of the blue, Effler said of learning of the crime. It wasn't even on our radar. Effler said Deaver began talking with his minister about the crime while he was hospitalized in February. Deaver didn't say why he killed his daughter's husband, Effler said. It's my opinion that because he started talking about it while in the hospital, maybe his conscience was bothering him or he might have wanted to just get it off his chest before he meets his maker, Effler speculated. Gregory was found in the bedroom of his burned mobile home. His death certificate lists blunt force trauma as his cause of death. No one else was injured. Effler said Deaver moved to Walker, La., shortly after the slaying. A Wayne County grand jury indicted Deaver on a charge of first-degree murder Wednesday. Effler said deputies from the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office arrested him on a fugitive warrant and he's being held in Louisiana without bond at the parish jail. |
Man Sues After Being Denied $5M Lottery Pay Day | (Jul 22, 2017 9:37 AM CDT) A Long Beach, Calif., man has filed a lawsuit after he was denied a $5 million Scratchers ticket prize on a technical measure: his teenage son bought the ticket. Per the Daily Bulletin, Ward Thomas’ suit filed Friday against the California Lottery Commission alleges breach of contract among other complaints. Thomas says he sent his 16-year-old son Benjamin into a Mobil gas station to exchange and cash out 12 winning tickets in October, reports ABC 7. The father and son took home $230 along with five $20 Scratchers tickets, which they played when they returned home. One of those tickets yielded a $5 million prize, which he says he validated that night at a 7-Eleven and later again at a Santa Ana lottery office. Ward says that after submitting his claim, the lottery commission confirmed the winning, but come December, denied his claim for the cash prize because his son was not of legal age (18) to purchase the ticket. The suit claims that workers at the gas station, also a defendant, never said Benjamin was too young to buy the tickets and failed to enforce this rule. It also accuses the commission of false advertising since there were no signs at the store stating age requirements. The California Lottery Commission and Mobil station did not comment on the pending litigation. |
One of Last 3 Remaining Shakers Dies | (Jan 4, 2017 2:22 AM) Sister Frances Carr, one of the last remaining members of a nearly extinct religious society called the Shakers, has died. She was 89. Carr died Monday surrounded by family and friends in the dwelling house at the Shaker community at Sabbathday Lake in New Gloucester, Maine, after a brief battle with cancer, Brother Arnold Hadd, one of the group's two remaining members, tells the AP. She had a death with dignity and love, Hadd says. She was surrounded by love, tears, and a lot of Shaker songs. Their community at Sabbathday Lake was settled in 1783 and was one of more than a dozen such communities created in the New World by the Shakers, formally known as the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearance. The group, which fled persecution in England, practiced equality of the sexes, pacifism, communal ownership of property, and celibacy. The Shakers' numbers declined because members are celibate and the group stopped taking orphans like Carr, who arrived as a 10-year-old after her father died and her mother was unable to care for her. She never forgot her humble beginnings and devoted herself to helping the disadvantaged, especially children, stepping into situations to provide food, shelter, and money, Hadd says. She had a great passion for being a Shaker and serving God and serving her fellow man, he said. Her favorite song was In as much as ye have done it to the least of these, ye have done it unto me. He says she remained hopeful to the end that the Shakers would grow again. |
Newt Gingrich Predicts 'Political Surprise' for 2018 | (Dec 28, 2017 1:30 PM) One common sentiment among political pundits is that Democrats are on track to deliver a political shellacking to Republicans in the 2018 elections. At Fox News, however, Newt Gingrich is predicting the great political surprise of the new year: Republicans will not only win, they'll win big. After members of the elite media have spent two years savaging President Trump, lying about Republican legislation, and reassuring themselves that Republican defeat was inevitable, the size of the GOP victory in 2018 will be an enormous shock, writes the former House speaker. One key reason for his prediction is the newly passed Republican tax plan. Ordinary Americans have been told in the press over and over that the changes will hurt them and benefit the rich, he writes. But when people actually receive fatter paychecks next year, Gingrich argues, they'll see the truth. In fact, the tax cuts will be the 2018 proving ground of media liberal bias and dishonesty, he writes. What's more, he predicts that Democrats who voted against the measure will pay the price in the midterms, particularly the 10 Senate Democrats up for re-election in states won by Trump. Click for the full column, in which Gingrich references another by Dilbert creator Scott Adams that offers up a list of 20 doomsday political predictions about Trump that Adams says failed to materialize. |
Amelia Earhart May Have Been Found—76 Years Ago | (Nov 1, 2016 12:00 PM CDT) For 79 years, people have been searching for Amelia Earhart. But for 76 years, the mystery of her disappearance might have been solved. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery says Earhart's bones were perhaps found on the island of Nikumaroro in Kiribati in 1940, three years after her plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. TIGHAR scientists who've focused the Earhart search on Nikumaroro have been familiar with the bones—identified as male, and then lost—for some time: In 1998, scientists including Richard Jantz discovered the skeletal measurements and determined they were consistent with a female of Earhart's height and ethnic origin. But another break came recently when Jantz realized a forearm bone was longer than normal, reports News.com.au. Jantz then asked a forensic imaging specialist to compare the arm bone measurements to a photo showing Earhart with partially bare arms. Paying close attention to the location of Earhart's shoulder, elbow, and wrist, the specialist estimated Earhart's radius bone in her forearm was 76% of the length of her humerus, or upper arm bone— virtually identical to the castaway's bones, TIGHAR says in a statement, per USA Today. It adds the average woman's forearm was 73% of the length of her humerus during Earhart's lifetime. The match does not, of course, prove that the castaway was Amelia Earhart, but it is a significant new data point that tips the scales further in that direction, the group says. (TIGHAR might have also found a piece of Earhart's plane on Nikumaroro.) |
2 Pilots Fired for Bizarre Fight in Cockpit | (Jan 11, 2018 2:08 AM) An Indian airline says it has fired two pilots who reportedly fought in the cockpit, with the man allegedly slapping the woman during the New Year's Day flight from London to Mumbai. Jet Airways said in a statement that it has terminated services of both the cockpit crew with immediate effect, the AP reports. The company has released no further details. Indian media have reported the male pilot slapped his female co-pilot during an argument in the cockpit of the Boeing 777, and that she emerged crying and for a time refused to return to the cockpit. Sources tell the Times of India that the cockpit was briefly left unattended when the male pilot left to try to persuade the female pilot to return. The flight, which was carrying 324 passengers and 14 crew members, landed safely. |