Obama picks civil rights advocate Loretta Lynch to be next U.S. attorney general
Lynch.WASHINGTON — President Obama on Saturday picked Brooklyn federal prosecutor Loretta Lynch to be the next U.S. attorney general who, if confirmed by the Senate, would be the first Black woman in the job.Lynch would replace Eric Holder, the first Black attorney general, who has held the job since Obama took office in 2009. She was...Obama to seek authority from Congress for “Islamic State” fight
WASHINGTON — President Obama said on Wednesday he would seek fresh authorization from Congress in the next few weeks for the U.S. military campaign against Islamic State militants, taking a new approach to congressional backing for the fight.Obama made the announcement at a news conference after his Democratic Party suffered big...Republicans sweep Congress Obama: “I hear you.”
WASHINGTON — Tuesday's elections brought sweeping victory for Republicans, who solidified their grip on the U.S. House of Representatives and took control of the U.S. Senate.The president's tone after the Republican takeover of the Senate boiled down to this: He shares the blame for Democrats' sweeping losses and will consider...Quarantine-like monitoring approved for U.S. troops on Ebola mission
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday approved a strict, 21-day quarantine-like monitoring period for all U.S. troops returning from the Ebola relief mission in West Africa, the Pentagon said.Hagel, acting at the recommendation of top military commanders, signed a memo asking for an implementation plan for the...U.S. tightens Ebola monitoring for West African visitors
WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, the United States imposed new constraints on on people entering the country from three nations at the center of West Africa's Ebola epidemic, mandating that they report their temperature daily and stay in touch with health authorities.President Obama expressed cautious optimism about the situation in the...Man arrested after jumping White House fence, causing lockdown
WASHINGTON - A man jumped the White House fence on Wednesday evening and was attacked by Secret Service dogs before being arrested, a Secret Service spokesman said."Dogs got him," the spokesman said, referring to the intruder.Video showed Secret Service agents surrounding the man on the north lawn of the White House, which was put on...Ebola scare hits Dallas, Cleveland and Atlanta
DALLAS — Several schools were closed and six airline crew members placed on leave Thursday following news a nurse with Ebola had taken a commercial flight, heightening anxiety over the spread of the virus and how authorities were handling the health emergency.In Washington, federal health officials will be questioned by lawmakers at...Accused White House fence jumper faces more charges
WASHINGTON — An Iraq war veteran accused of running inside the White House armed with a knife faces more charges under a federal grand jury indictment returned on Thursday.Omar Gonzalez, 42, is alleged to have climbed over the White House fence on Sept. 29, burst through the front door and made it to the executive mansion's East Room...Tennessee man jailed after beheading threats, ISIS membership claim
NASHVILLE — A Tennessee man was in custody on Thursday and facing criminal charges after claiming to be a member of ISIS and threatening to behead his neighbors and burn down their homes, police said.Tullahoma Police Chief Paul Blackwell said the man - Terry Wayne McCullough, 59 - is a known troublemaker but that the threats had to be...
Ebola patient dies in Texas; five U.S. airports to screen for fever
October 10th, 20140 DALLAS — The first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States died on Wednesday, underscoring questions about the quality of care he received, and the government ordered five airports to start screening passengers from West Africa for fever.Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan died in an isolation ward of a Dallas hospital, 11...Chicago-area man charged in attempt to join “Islamic State” in Syria
CHICAGO — A Chicago-area man was charged on Monday with attempting to support a foreign terrorist organization after he was arrested on Saturday at O'Hare International Airport on allegations he was on his way to Syria to join the militant group "Islamic State."Mohammed Hamzah Khan, 19, of the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, appeared...Ebola hits the U.S., Texas man becomes first diagnosed resident
The ambulance which carried Thomas Eric Duncan, who suffered from Ebola.DALLAS — Two days after he was sent home from a Dallas hospital, the man who is the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States was seen vomiting on the ground outside an apartment complex as he was bundled into an ambulance.The hospital cited the...Secret Service director resigns under fire
WASHINGTON — U.S. Secret Service Director Julia Pierson resigned under fire on Wednesday after a series of security lapses came to light that exposed gaping holes in the protective cocoon around President Obama.Pierson, in her position for just 18 months, faced mounting calls from lawmakers to step down in the fallout from a...
Muslim Scholars release open letter to IS, blasting ideology
September 26th, 20140 Nihad Awad, center, executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, and more than 10 Muslim-American leaders endorse a letter written by more than 100 Islamic scholars that denounces ISIS.WASHINGTON — More than 120 Muslim scholars from around the world joined an open letter to the “fighters and followers” of the...U.S. Attorney General Holder to step down
United States Attorney General Eric Holder holds a news conference announcing updates in the Justice Department's investigation of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in Washington September 4.WASHINGTON — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, an unapologetic liberal voice and one of President Obama's closest allies,......
In U.N. speech, Obama appeals for broadcoalition against “Islamic State”
September 26th, 20140 UNITED NATIONS — President Obama made his case to the United Nations on Wednesday for a more forceful, coordinated global response against Islamic militants in the Middle East that would seek to dismantle their "network of death."In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Obama used graphic language to condemn the methods of...New York man charged with trying to help “Islamic State”
NEW YORK — A Rochester, New York, man has been indicted on charges of trying to provide material support to the "Islamic State" militant group and attempting to murder U.S. soldiers, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.A federal grand jury in Rochester handed down a seven-count indictment against Mufid Elfgeeh, 30, following......
U.S. to help train people to spot potential violent extremists
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government launched a program on Monday to reach out to key members of communities across the country to try to stop radicalized young people joining "Islamic State "and other extremist groups fighting in Syria and Iraq."Today, few threats are more urgent than the threat posed by violent extremism," Attorney...Children’s respiratory illness spreads to a dozen U.S. states: CDC
WASHINGTON — A serious respiratory illness sickening U.S. children has spread to 12 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday, as it predicted that more states will report cases in coming weeks.The growing list of states with confirmed cases now includes Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,...“Islamic State” attracts several female jihadis from Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS — U.S. law enforcement is investigating a new phenomenon of women from the American heartland joining Islamic State as President Obama vows to cut off the militants' recruiting at home.At least three Somali families in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have female relatives who have gone missing in the past six weeks and may...U.S. Army soldier accused of smuggling immigrants
TEXAS — A U.S. Army soldier has been accused of smuggling two undocumented immigrants across the Texas-Mexico border while in uniform, according to a federal criminal complaint.Eric Alexander Rodriguez, 20, a private in the Army, was charged with felony "bringing in and harboring certain aliens" on Friday in United States District......
Ted Cruz gets booed off stage at Middle East Christian event
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was booed off the stage at an event hosted by a Christian organization in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night.The conservative firebrand delivered the keynote address at an event hosted by In Defense of Christians (IDC), an organization that raises awareness of persecuted Christian and minority communities in...New York man pleads guilty to trying to join al Qaeda
NEW YORK — A New York man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to attempting to join the militant group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, considered to be one of the most active wings of the network, prosecutors said.Marcos Alonso Zea, 26, was arrested last October at his Long Island home in a joint investigation by local and federal......
U.S. to alert retailers to bomb materials to counter home-grown threat
WASHINGTON — The government plans to give U.S. retailers a list of materials that can be used in explosives and ask them to look out for suspicious behavior as a way to combat domestic terrorism, the homeland security secretary said on Wednesday.On the eve of the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Jeh Johnson said the...
Obama’s anti- “Islamic State” strategy met with skepticism
September 12th, 20140 WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s new strategy to "degrade, and ultimately destroy" the Islamic State is being met with widespread skepticism among both hawks and doves, as well as regional specialists.While Congress is expected to acquiesce, if not formally authorize, the plans he outlined in his nationally televised......