Tennessee teen pleads guilty to stabbing school principal to death
NASHVILLE — A Memphis teenager on Tuesday, Sept. 3 apologized and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his principal in 2011. Eduardo Marmolejo, 18, accepted a plea that will send him to prison for 35 years, without the possibility of parole."I apologize for my bad behavior," he told the court. "It was wrong...Cleveland kidnapper commits suicide in prison cell
CLEVELAND — Ariel Castro, the former school bus driver who made national headlines for abducting three women and keeping them in the dungeon-like confines of his house, committed suicide by hanging himself with a bed sheet on Tuesday, Sept. 3. Castro.Castro, 53,who pleaded guilty to 937 counts in July, had been taken off suicide watch...Not a ‘slam dunk’: U.S. intelligence can’t prove Assad used chemical weapons
Only days after the White House suggested it was all but certain Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons to gas hundreds of civilians, United States intelligence officials briefed on the situation say the evidence isn’t all there.Despite recent remarks from President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and other...Massive wildfire prompts road blockage in California national park
SAN FRANCISCO — Firefighters, determined to keep a massive blaze from raging into the heart of California's Yosemite National Park, have shut down half of its main east-west corridor, just days before a holiday weekend, marking the end of the peak summer tourist season.A long stretch of Tioga Road through the western half of the park...Federal government allocates $2.5 million for Sandy Hook massacre costs
WASHINGTON — The federal government will give Connecticut $2.5 million to offset costs related to the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday, Aug. 28.Holder said the money from the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Assistance will go to the Connecticut State Police, the Newtown,...Fort Hood shooter sentenced to death for 2009 killings
FORT HOOD, Texas — A military jury on Wednesday, Aug. 28, sentenced a U.S. Army psychiatrist to death for the 2009 mass murder of 13 people, mostly unarmed soldiers, at Fort Hood, Texas. The convicted gunman said he carried on the killings in retaliation for U.S. wars in the Muslim world.Major Nidal Hasan, who said he wanted to...Fast food workers protest across U.S. over wages
NEW YORK — Fast-food workers staged strikes at McDonald's and Burger Kings and demonstrated at other stores in sixty U.S. cities on Thursday, Aug. 29, in their latest action in a nearly year-long campaign to raise wages in the service sector. The strikes spread quickly across the country and have shut down restaurants in New...IRS: Michael Jackson estate owes $702 million in taxes
WASHINGTON — The estate of pop music legend Michael Jackson owes $702 million in federal taxes and penalties, according to the Internal Revenue Service, which accused the estate of undervaluing some of the star's assets by hundreds of millions of dollars.The dollar amounts in dispute had not been previously disclosed in the court...NFL, former players in $765 million deal to settle concussion suit
BOSTON — The National Football League has agreed to pay $765 million to settle a lawsuit brought by thousands of former players, many suffering from dementia and health problems, who accused the league of hiding the dangers of brain injury while profiting from the sport's violence.The deal announced on Thursday ,Aug. 29, comes a week...Man receives jail sentence for growing marijuana on YouTube
AUBURN, N.H. — A New Hampshire man, who chronicled his marijuana-growing operation on YouTube, was sentenced to a year in jail.Kyle Berry of Auburn pleaded guilty to manufacturing a controlled drug, after he was arrested by authorities who were tipped off to his marijuana-growing operation by a series of videos he posted to YouTube,...U.S. soldier behind Afghan massacre apologizes for ‘act of cowardice’
TACOMA, Wash. — A decorated U.S. soldier, who gunned down 16 unarmed Afghan civilians in a nighttime rampage, apologized on Thursday, Aug. 22, at a sentencing hearing to determine his fate, calling the killings "an act of cowardice."Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, a veteran of four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, has admitted...Zimmerman trial costs public $902,000
SANFORD, Fla. — The five-week trial of George Zimmerman that ended in his acquittal in the death of teenager Trayvon Martin cost the public $902,000, officials said.Zimmerman, who was charged with murder in the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, 17, in Sanford, began June 10 and a six-member jury returned the not guilty verdict on...Justice Department says it will sue Texas over voter ID law
Washington —The Justice Department said it will sue Texas on Thursday, Aug. 22, to try to block a voter identification requirement, enacted in 2011, setting up a new battle between the Obama administration and a state that is a conservative stronghold.The requirement, unlike similar laws passed in other states, was enacted with the...Bradley Manning wants to live as a woman and be called Chelsea
Washington — Bradley Manning, the Army private who was sentenced to prison for leaking classified documents, said Thursday, Aug. 22, he wants to live the rest of his life as a woman."I am Chelsea Manning. I am female," the Army private wrote in a statement read on NBC's "Today" by his attorney. "Given the way that I feel, and have felt...California gets OK to force-feed some hunger-striking inmates
SACRAMENTO — California authorities won court approval on Monday, Aug. 19, to force-feed some prisoners on a hunger strike, after officials voiced concerns that inmates may have been coerced into refusing food in a protest against the state's solitary confinement policies.U.S. District Court Judge Thelton E. Henderson, responding......
Obama unveils plan that aims to make college more affordable
Washington — President Barack Obama on Thursday, Aug. 22, proposed a new plan to tackle soaring higher education costs with a system that would rate colleges and universities, based on their value for the money students spend and tie those ratings to disbursement of federal student aid.The president, who has spent much of the summer...University suspends a fraternity over Facebook posts
MIAMI — Florida International University has suspended a fraternity over Facebook posts that referred to selling drugs and hazing new members, officials said.The Facebook posts were made in a "private" group, created by the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity chapter at FIU, The Miami Herald reported. An anonymous person then took screenshots of......
Teen charged with killing kittens
Lake County, INDIANA — A 17-year-old Indiana boy is facing charges for allegedly hunting and killing three kittens with a bow and arrow, police said.The teen, whose name has not been released, allegedly posted photos of the dead kittens on Facebook Aug. 3, the Northwest Indiana Times reported."The photos are really disturbing," Lake...U.S. misprints 30 million new $100 bills
Washington — The U.S. is approaching the release date of its new $100 bills, but the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is facing an embarrassing problem: 30 million bills were incorrectly printed, and fixing them will cost taxpayers an estimated $3.79 million.The new $100 bills were designed to reduce counterfeiting and were scheduled...New Yorker arrested 29 times for transit crimes
New York - A New York City man arrested nearly 30 times over 30 years for posing as a subway worker or bus driver, at times piloting trains full of unsuspecting commuters, was sentenced to up to 5 years in prison on Thursday, Aug. 15, for his latest joyride.Darius McCollum, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a form of...Judge: N.Y. ‘stop & frisk’ policy violates the Constitution
NEW YORK — A federal judge found that stop-and-search tactics used by the New York Police Department have violated the constitutional rights of tens of thousands of citizens and are racist. He has called for a federal monitor to oversee reforms to the policy.Judge Shira A. Scheindlin ruled that police officers have been......
Prosecutors not allowed to see report on Fort Hood shooter
August 16th, 20130 FORT HOOD, Texas — A military judge blocked, on Wednesday, Aug. 14, prosecutors from seeing a mental health report on the U.S. Army psychiatrist who admitted killing 13 soldiers in a 2009 shooting rampage at a Texas army base, even though the suspect wanted to make the report public.The report revealed that Major Nidal Hasan, 42,...
Manning tells court he’s ‘sorry’ for secrets breach to WikiLeaks
August 16th, 20130 FORT MEADE, Maryland — U.S. soldier Bradley Manning on Wednesday, Aug. 14, told a military court "I'm sorry" for giving war logs and diplomatic secrets to the WikiLeaks website three years ago, the biggest breach of classified data in the nation's history."I am sorry that my actions hurt people. I'm sorry that they hurt the United......
U.S. sues to block proposed airline merger
Washington — The Justice Department and several states have filed suit to block the $11 billion merger between American Airlines and US Airways, saying it would cut competition in the industry.The move on Tuesday, Aug. 13, effectively dragged to a halt the long-pending merger to create the world's largest airline as American...Poll: One in 10 Americans have taken drugs prescribed for others
WASHINGTON - One in 10 Americans admit to taking a prescription drug they have not been prescribed, and a quarter of those people have used them just to get high, according to an ongoing Reuters/Ipsos poll. While about six in ten Americans who used another person's prescriptions did so for pain relief, a fifth took them to sleep,......