Suspected arson burns down Houston mosque
HOUSTON — A homeless man has been arrested and charged with arson for a fire that destroyed a building at an Islamic institute in Houston, fire officials said on Monday. The blaze early on Friday at the Quba Islamic Institute destroyed one of three buildings there, but no one was injured. Fire officials said Darryl Ferguson, 55,...U.S. creates new agency to lead cyber threat tracking
U.S. Department of Homeland Security employees work during a guided media tour inside the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center in Arlington, Virginia.WASHINGTON — Calling the destructive cyberattack on Sony Pictures "a game changer", a top White House official on Tuesday announced a new intelligence unit to...
White House calls climate change greater threat to country than terrorism
February 13th, 20150 White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.WASHINGTON — According to the Washington Times, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Americans no longer face the same threat of attack that they did prior to Sept. 11, 2001, crediting the administration's efforts to degrade organizations such as al Qaeda. Earnest said...Obama asks Congress to authorize war on “Islamic State”
President Barack Obama is flanked by Vice President Joe Biden (L) and Secretary of State John Kerry (R) as he delivers a statement on legislation sent to Congress.WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday sent Congress his long-awaited formal request to authorize military force against "Islamic State," meeting swift resistance from...ADC, AAI and CPAO to demand Boehner cancels Netanyahu’s speech
WASHINGTON — Last week Representatives Keith Ellison (D-MINN), Steve Cohen (D-TN), and Maxine Waters (D-CA) authored a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner (OH-8), voicing their disapproval of his invitation to Israeli PM Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of Congress on March 3. Media networks and political...House votes to repeal and eventually replace Obamacare
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives added another notch to its lengthy record of Obamacare repeal votes on Tuesday by approving a measure that would scrap the healthcare law and direct oversight committees to come up with a replacement. Defying a White House veto threat, lawmakers voted 239-186 on a measure to eliminate...Ebola virus sent out of high-security lab was likely dead
CHICAGO — An internal investigation of an Ebola incident at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory in December found that samples sent to a lower-security lab were "unlikely" to have contained live virus and posed no threat to staff, the CDC said on Wednesday. The close call followed mishaps involving anthrax...California man arraigned in threats to Muslim civil rights group
SAN DIEGO — A San Diego-area man accused of placing a threatening phone call to one office of a Muslim civil rights group and sending a threatening message to another pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to hate crimes charges. The case against John David Weissinger stems from a profanity-laced phone message received by a staff member...Dearborn Heights teen wins first place in national essay contest
DEARBORN HEIGHTS — Zeina Condon, a 17-year-old Lebanese American senior at Dearborn High School, won first place in the Voice of Democracy essay contest. The annual contest is hosted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a national organization for war veterans. This year’s topic focused on why veterans are important to the nation’s...Blizzard pounds U.S. northeast
A man walks out of an ocean front house covered in ice during a winter blizzard in Marshfield, Massachusetts January 27.BOSTON — A blizzard swept past New York City and struck hardest at some 4.5 million people around Boston, dropping nearly three feet of snow in areas and triggering high tides that breached a seawall and forced...Professor sues school for dismissing him over anti-Israeli remarks
CHICAGO — A professor who lost a University of Illinois job offer over anti-Israel Twitter messages has sued the university's board of trustees and key administrators to try to get that job. Steven Salaita filed his lawsuit Thursday, January 29 in Chicago. The suit asks the court for an order letting him go to work at the University...One in five U.S. children now rely on food stamps
WASHINGTON — The number of children in the United States relying on food stamps for a meal spiked to 16 million last year, according federal data, signaling a lopsided economic recovery in which lower income families are still lagging behind. The roughly one in five children who received food stamps in 2014 surpassed pre-recession...
Spy agency employee was flying drone that crashed at White House
January 30th, 20150 U.S. President Barack Obama walks with Saudi Arabia's King Salman (C) at Erga Palace in Riyadh January 27.WASHINGTON — An employee of a U.S. spy agency has confessed to operating a small drone that crashed on the grounds of the White House, the latest in a series of incidents that raised questions about the president's security. A...U.S. top court rules for Muslim inmate over prison beard ban
Arkansas inmate Gregory Holt.WASHINGTON — An Arkansas policy prohibiting inmates from having beards violated the religious rights of a prisoner who had wanted to grow one in accordance with his Muslim beliefs, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday. The justices, on a 9-0 vote in a closely watched case involving prisoner...U.S. tributes, protests mark MLK Day
NEW YORK — Tributes to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. were held across the United States on Monday, with observers linking the federal holiday to a rallying cry in recent protests over police brutality: "Black lives matter." King's 1960s dream of racial equality was being viewed through a lens focused on the deaths of......
Obama strikes defiant tone with Republicans in big speech
WASHINGTON — President Obama struck a defiant tone for his dealings with the new Republican-led Congress on Tuesday, calling on his opponents to raise taxes on the rich and threatening to veto legislation that would challenge his key decisions. Dogged by an ailing economy since the start of his presidency six years ago, Obama...Justice Department preparing to clear Ferguson officer
Darren Wilson.WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department is about to close the investigation into the shooting death of an unarmed Black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, and clear the White police officer involved of any civil rights charges, The New York Times reported this week. The newspaper quoted law enforcement officials as saying......
U.S. appeals court hears case on NYC police surveillance of Muslims
PHILADELPHIA — Civil rights groups asked a panel of federal judges on Tuesday to overturn a lower court's ruling that there was nothing harmful in New York City police conducting surveillance on Muslims in neighboring New Jersey without suspicion of a crime. The hearing came days after the deadly attacks in Paris by Islamist gunmen,...Obama seeks enhanced cybersecurity following Twitter hack
WASHINGTON — President Obama sent a bill to Congress on Tuesday to strengthen U.S. cybersecurity laws to protect government, businesses and consumers while protecting privacy, after recent hacking attacks against Sony Picture, Home Depot Inc, Target Corp and on Monday the federal government itself on Twitter. "We've got to stay...White House to curb methane emissions from oil, gas production
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s administration unveiled rules on Wednesday to slash methane emissions from oil and gas production by up to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025, its latest move to solidify the Democratic president's credentials on climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Interior proposed...U.S. police organizations criticize response to alleged brutality
WASHINGTON — U.S. police are being unfairly targeted in response to allegations of police brutality, leaders from three police organizations said at the first public meeting of President Obama's policing task force on Tuesday, January 13. In a tense back and forth, Fraternal Order of Police President Chuck Canterbury told the task......
Federal tax refunds delayed
WASHINGTON — The deadline to have your Federal taxes filed will remain April 15th, but under new directives issued to the IRS no refunds are to be issued before October 15, 2015. This means that early filers who normally receive their refunds around the beginning of February will have to wait an additional 7 months longer than normal...Homeland Security extends Temporary Protected Status for Syrian nationals
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has formally announced that the Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, has approved a request made by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) to extend and redesignate Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for Syrian nationals currently in the United......
FBI says Sony hackers ‘got sloppy,’ posted from North Korea addresses
FBI Director James Comey.NEW YORK — FBI Director James Comey said this week that hackers behind the cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment provided key clues to their identity by sometimes posting material from IP addresses used exclusively by the North Korean government. The hackers, who called themselves "Guardians of Peace",...Obama discusses auto bailout success during Detroit visit
DETROIT — President Obama, on a trip to unveil elements of his State of the Union address, took a victory lap in Michigan on Wednesday to tout his support of the auto industry. However concerns about trade policies hung in the background of his tour. "America's resurgence is real," Obama said at a Ford Motor Co plant near Detroit......
