High school teacher fired for taking students on field trip to strip club
Cedar Lake, IN — A teacher at an Indiana high school was fired and is accused of taking students to a strip club and allowing them to drink at his home.31-year-old Travis Lechien is a chemistry teacher at Hanover Central High School in Cedar Lake. According to a probable cause affidavit, prepared by Lake County prosecutors, some...Five dead at four locations after shooting spree in Texas town
Terrell, TX — A man suspected of shooting to death his mother, aunt and three others in four locations was charged with murder on Tuesday, Oct. 29, after a manhunt and high-speed car chase through the Texas town of Terrell, law enforcement authorities said. Charles Everett Brownlow, Jr., 36, was captured in a wooded area about...New York bus driver bans 10-year-old boy from boarding for speaking Arabic
BROOKLYN — A new lawsuit filed Friday, Oct. 25, in Brooklyn Federal Court claims that a 10-year-old Brooklyn boy was called a “terrorist” and banned from boarding a bus when he recited a Muslim prayer in Arabic, after losing his MetroCard.According to the family’s lawyer, Hyder Naqvi, the boy was trying to board a bus home...Cut in food assistance to impactlow-income Americans
WASHINGTON - One of every seven Americans will take a hit on Friday, Nov. 1, when a $5 billion cut in food stamps, the first across-the-board reduction in the history of the decades-old federal program, takes effect.But if conservative Republicans in Congress get their way, this week's pullback may be just a taste of what's to...Woman sentenced to 37 years in prison for starving adopted Ethiopian child to death
WASHINGTON — A U.S. woman was sentenced to 37 years in prison on Tuesday, Oct. 29, for starving her Ethiopia-born adopted daughter and leaving her to die outside in the cold in Washington state.Stay-at-home mother Carri Williams, 42, was convicted last month of homicide by abuse, in connection with the 2011 death of 13-year-old...Middle schooler kills teacher, wounds two students in Nevada
NEVADA- A 12-year-old boy who killed a teacher and wounded two fellow students at his Nevada middle school likely brought the gun from home, raising questions about whether the parents could face liability.A day after the shooting, police were searching for reasons why the boy, among the youngest school shooters in U.S. history, opened...
Obama calls on House to pass immigration reform this year
October 25th, 20130 WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama Thursday, Oct. 24, again called on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform before the end of the year."It's good for economy. It's good for national security. It's good for our people and we should do it this year," the president said in a statement as he was flanked by business,...Florida convicts recaptured after escape, more arrests expected
TALLAHASSEE - Two recaptured killers who walked away from life terms in a Florida prison had "a lot of help" obtaining forged release papers, and more arrests are coming, the head of the state's law enforcement agency said on Sunday.The two convicted murderers, released from the Apalachicola Correctional Institute on forged documents...Colorado farmers plead guilty for starting deadly food-borne outbreak
DENVER - U.S. prosecutors have charged brothers Eric and Ryan Jensen, former owners of Colorado-based Jensen Farms, with six counts each of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce, tied to shipping tainted melons to markets in 2011.The farmers' listeria-contaminated cantaloupes killed 33 people in 2011, after they began...U.S. 2014 tax-filing season delayed as result of shutdown
Washington D.C. - The start of the 2014 tax filing season will be delayed by one to two weeks early next year as a result of the government shutdown, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said on Tuesday.The original tax filing start was scheduled for January 21, but the IRS said in a statement that the start date has been pushed back to...Slain Boston Marathon bombing suspect linked to triple killings
BOSTON - Slain Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev took part in a 2011 triple homicide in a nearby town, according to a Chechen immigrant who was himself killed when approached by investigators for questioning , federal prosecutors said on Monday in newly filed court papers.Ibragim Todashev, 27, who has been identified as...Teacher found dead outside U.S. high school; student in custody
BOSTON -Police in Danvers, Massachusetts, began an investigation late on Tuesday, Oct. 23, after receiving calls that a student at the school had not returned home, and that a teacher had also not gone home and was not responding to her cell phone, Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett told reporters on Wednesday. After a...Tennessee cop fired after shooting, pepper spraying squirrel
MOUNTAIN CITY, Tenn.-- Jody Putnam, a police officer in Mountain City, Tenn., was fired last after a violent run-in with an agitated squirrel.Putnam arrived at Mountain City's Dollar General, on Sept. 27, when animal control was unavailable to respond to a call about a squirrel running amok in the store.According to the city's Tomahawk...U.S. ‘soft power’ takes a hit over government shutdown
WASHINGTON - A picture spoke volumes about the United States' loss of global prestige and influence due to the shutdown of its government in a partisan standoff over the federal budget and debt.Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin beamed front and centre in the family photograph of Asian leaders at last...Wal-Mart shoppers empty store shelves after food stamp glitch
LOUISIANA — Managers of Walmart stores in the small, north Louisiana towns of Springhill and Mansfield alerted police on Saturday evening, October 12 that throngs of shoppers had flooded into the stores and were buying groceries, using electronic benefit cards that contained no credit limits.When word got out Saturday that the EBT......
Two charged in Fla. after bullied girl’s suicide
October 18th, 20130 Winter Haven, Fla - Two girls, ages 12 and 14, have been charged with felony aggravated stalking for the suicide of Rebecca Ann Sedwick, 12, who became so despondent that she climbed a tower at an abandoned cement plant and jumped to her death in September. Sedwick.The middle school students appeared before a judge on Tuesday and...Washington state marijuana panel to approve 334 pot stores under new regulations
WASHINTGON — After nearly a year of research, planning and public hearings, Washington state is poised to approve the rules for its new legal marijuana industry.The rules will dictate everything from the security at and size of licensed marijuana gardens, to how many pot stores can open in cities across the state.Washington and......
Cleveland police to suspend 63 officers after fatal car chase
CLEVELAND — Cleveland Police Chief Mark McGrath announced this week that, following an 11-month investigation, his office will issue suspensions for 63 of the 104 officers involved in a 25-minute high-speed car chase that resulted in the fatal shooting of the driver and his passenger.The officers will serve suspensions totaling...
Overloaded boat full of illegal migrants sinks off Miami coast, kills 4
October 18th, 20130 MIAMI — At least four people died, and 11 others were rescued, after a small boat, packed with suspected migrants from Haiti and Jamaica, capsized off the coast of Miami on Wednesday, October 16.Coast Guard crew members found the survivors clinging to the hull of the 15-20 foot power boat after getting a call at about 1:00 a.m....Florida convicts sought after release on forged orders
ORLANDO — Florida authorities searched on Thursday, Oct. 17, for two convicted murderers released from prison, based on forged court documents that indicated their life sentences had been reduced, state corrections officials said.The forged signature of a high-profile judge, who presides in the county where the men committed their...Poll: GOP approval ratings fall
WASHINGTON - The Tea Party’s approval rating is spiraling downward — and that’s not just among Republican voters.The conservative group’s favorability has fallen a dramatic 20 percentage points among moderate and liberal Republicans, down to 27 percent from 46 percent in June, according to a new Pew poll released on......
Lawmakers launch budget talks as Washington returns to work
October 18th, 20130 WASHINGTON — U.S. lawmakers launched an effort to resolve budget differences in a less confrontational fashion on Thursday, as Washington picked up the pieces from a political crisis that has slowed the economy and undermined the country's international standing.As hundreds of thousands of federal employees returned to work, Republican...72-year-old missing man survives 19 days in snowy California wilderness
CALIFORNIA — Gene Penaflor, 72, was discovered by hunters on Saturday, October 12, after 19 days in the Mendocino National Forest in the Coastal Mountain Range of northwestern California.The Mendocino National Forest is run by the U.S. Forest Service and has been closed, due to the government shutdown, according to the forest......
Janet Yellen to become first chairwoman of the Federal Reserve
WASHINGTON — U.S. Federal Reserve vice chair Janet Yellen has been picked by President Barack Obama to take over as head of America’s central bank at what is widely considered to be a crucial period for the country’s economy and banking industry.The 67-year-old New Yorker will become the first woman to lead the national bank and...Denver couple charged with abuse after four sons found amid cat feces
DENVER — Wayne Sperling, 66, and Lorinda Bailey, 35, were taken into custody last week, after a search of the couple's apartment found their sons, aged 2, 4, 5 and 6, living in an apartment amid cat feces and swarming flies. The boys had appeared to be malnourished and unable to communicate with humans except by grunts. Police......