Calm largely holds in Missouri after grand jury opens shooting investigation
August 22nd, 20140 FERGUSON Mo. – Small crowds staged largely peaceful protests late on Wednesday over the Aug. 9 fatal shooting of a Black teenager by a White police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, the calmest night since riots erupted over the racially charged killing.U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder met the parents of 18-year-old Michael Brown and...Cost of raising a child in U.S. tops $245,000
WASHINGTON – An average middle-income family in the United States can expect to spend about $245,000 over 18 years to raise a child born in 2013, the U.S. government estimated on Monday.The Department of Agriculture's annual "Cost of Raising a Child" report showed child-rearing costs - which reflect food, housing, childcare,...American man arrested at New York City airport after returning from Lebanon
NEW YORK – An American alleged to have ties with Islamic state terrorists abroad was arrested at a New York airport on Aug 2. and is being held without bond, due in part to his Twitter rants reportedly suggesting his militant leanings.FBI agents arrested Donald Ray Morgan, 44, of North Carolina, at John F. Kennedy International...
U.S. can keep court orders, phone companies secret in NSA spy case
August 15th, 20140 WASHINGTON – The U.S. government need not turn over a secret surveillance court's orders or the names of phone companies helping it collect call records, because it might reveal methods needed to protect national security, a federal judge decided this week.U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, rejected...Police fire tear gas, stun grenades at Ferguson protesters
FERGUSON, Mo — Police here fired tear gas, stun grenades and smoke bombs to disperse several hundred protesters late Wednesday, the fourth night of racially charged demonstrations after police shot and killed an unarmed Black teenager.Protesters have gathered every night since Saturday when 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed by...New York man accused of online death threats against Obama
NEW YORK – An upstate New York man was accused on Tuesday of threatening to kill President Obama and other political leaders just days after he was arraigned on charges that he had made previous online death threats against them, authorities said.Brandon Correa, 30, of Rochester, faces a seven-count indictment charging him with...Virginia GOP official resigns after anti-Muslim comments
RICHMOND – State GOP Treasurer Bob FitzSimmonds unapologetically stepped down more than a week after he responded in harsh fashion to comments President Obama made praising Muslim Americans. ‘This is pure nonsense. Exactly what part of our nation's fabric was woven by Muslims,’ FitzSimmonds wrote.FitzSimmonds, the outspoken...
Deal may be near for Colorado woman accused of aiding Islamist insurgents
August 8th, 20140 DENVER – U.S. prosecutors and lawyers defending a Colorado woman accused of providing material support to Islamist militants fighting the governments of Syria and Iraq may be close to resolving the case, court records show.Shannon Maureen Conley, born in 1996, has been in federal custody since she was arrested in April for allegedly...Younger Americans less likely to support Israel, poll suggests
WASHINGTON — As the death toll mounts in Gaza to more than 1,900, polls indicate American’s support for Israel remains strong and in some cases has grown.Those same polls, however, reflect a “deep partisan divide” and show a widening generational gap as sympathy for the Palestinians grows among younger people.A Pew Research poll...
University of Illinois fires professor Steven Salaita after Gaza tweets
August 8th, 20140 SalaitaCHICAGO — Steven Salaita was fired from his position as associate professor in the American Indian Studies program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) apparently over views critical of Israel, especially its current massacre in Gaza.Meanwhile, Cary Nelson, former president of the American Association of...More than 17,000 sign up for class action against Facebook over NSA’s spying program
WASHINGTON – More than 17,000 Facebook members have joined a class action lawsuit accusing the social network of violating data protection law and supporting spying by America’s National Security Agency.The suit was launched on 1 August by a 26-year-old Austrian law student, Max Schrems, who filed his claim to be heard in his home...U.S. surveillance programs threaten freedom of press
WASHINGTON — U.S. surveillance programs are making it more difficult for government officials to speak to the press anonymously, two rights groups said on Monday.Large-scale surveillance, on top of the Obama administration's crackdown on national security leaks, threatens the freedom of the press and the right to legal counsel,...U.S. surveillance programs threaten freedom of press
WASHINGTON — U.S. surveillance programs are making it more difficult for government officials to speak to the press anonymously, two rights groups said on Monday.Large-scale surveillance, on top of the Obama administration's crackdown on national security leaks, threatens the freedom of the press and the right to legal counsel,...Girl dies after being hit by plane on Florida beach
FLORIDA — A 9-year-old girl, who was struck by a plane that crash-landed on a Florida beach and killed her father, also has died from her injuries, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said on Tuesday.Oceana Irizarry and her family were walking on Caspersen Beach in Venice on Sunday when the pilot of a single-engine Piper plane alerted...Four California teens charged in murder of China graduate student
LOS ANGELES — Four teenagers were charged with capital murder on Tuesday in the beating death of a graduate student from China not far from the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles, prosecutors said.Two of the suspects, 19-year-old Jonathan Del Carmen and Andrew Garcia, 18, could face the death penalty if they are......
U.S. Senate bill proposes sweeping curbs on NSA surveillance
WASHINGTON — Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) introduced legislation on Tuesday to ban the U.S. government's bulk collection of Americans' telephone records and Internet data and narrow how much information it can seek in any particular search.The bill, which has White House backing, goes further than a version passed in May by the...More than a third of U.S. adults pursued by collection agencies
WASHINGTON — More than a third of U.S. adults have bad debt that has been handed over to a collection agency and their average debt in collections is $5,178, according to a study published on Tuesday by the Urban Institute.The authors of the report by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank said vicious cycles of bad debt can hold......
Poll: American opinion of Arabs,Muslims is getting worse
WASHINGTON — How Americans view Arabs and Muslims has gotten worse in recent years, with negative feelings strongest among republicans and senior citizens, according to a poll released this week.Only 27 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of Muslims, down from 35 percent in 2010, according to the Zogby poll, commissioned by...State candidates spend big money in race to win election
LANSING — According to published reports, Gov. Snyder is outspending his opponent, former representative Mark Schauer in his re-election efforts.Snyder has raised $3.3 million, compared to the $1.8 million raised by Schauer. In addition, most of the governor’s contributions come from individuals (the Michigan Republican Party gave...U.S., European airlines halt flights to Israel due to war
WASHINGTON — Air carriers in the United States and Europe this week halted flights to Tel Aviv after warnings from governmental agencies in an effort to ensure passenger safety as turmoil in Israel and the region intensified.U.S. carriers Delta Air Lines, American Airlines Group and United Airlines were the first to announce...Feds discover police civil rights misconduct in New Jersey
NEWARK N.J. — Federal investigators found police repeatedly violated civil rights in Newark, New Jersey's largest city, and recommended an independent monitor to oversee changes, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.The city has agreed to accept the findings of the Justice Department probe, which has been under way since......
9/11 Commission raises concerns over Middle East fighters entering the U.S.
WASHINGTON — After 13 years of struggle, Americans are showing a growing public fatigue and waning sense of urgency over terrorism, an attitude that threatens U.S. security, members of the panel that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks said in a report on Tuesday.A decade after issuing the official account of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks...German woman charged in Los Angeles with trying to extort Saudi sheikh
LOS ANGELES — A German woman who falsely claimed she was raped and tortured by the son of a Saudi sheikh in Los Angeles was charged on Monday with trying to extort at least $15 million from one of Saudi Arabia's wealthiest men, prosecutors said.Leyla Ors, 33, faces up to four years in prison if convicted on charges of attempted......
Utah man arrested in bomb plot to cause uprising against government
UTAH — A Utah man has been arrested in connection with a plot to blow up a police station, kill police officers and destroy infrastructure to delay an emergency response, authorities said.John Huggins, 47, believed that the plan, once carried out, would spark an anti-government uprising, according to documents lodged with a Federal...White House trims 2014 deficit projection to $583 billion
WASHINGTON — The White House lowered its U.S. federal deficit forecast for the 2014 fiscal year by $66 billion to $583 billion on Friday on the basis of gathering economic momentum as evidenced by gains in hiring."The deficit has been cut by more than half as a share of the economy, representing the most rapid sustained deficit......