After mother’s murder, three-year-old walks a mile to grandma’s house for safety
Orlando — A 3-year-old girl walked more than a mile down a busy road in Florida to her grandmother's house to seek help, after her father allegedly murdered her mother, officials said on Tuesday.Sgt. Kristin Thompson of the Lake County Sheriff's Department described the little girl as "kind of heroic." "That's quite a distance...Oklahoma teen charged with murder in killing of Australian student
DUNCAN, Oklahoma — One of three teens accused of killing an Australian student from an Oklahoma university was charged Wednesday with murder.Michael Dewayne Jones, 17, was charged with first-degree murder, as an adult, and denied bond during a preliminary hearing at a Duncan, Oklahoma, courthouse. Two other suspects have been charged...Rev. Jessie Jackson leads coaltion against Georgia’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ statue
Atlanta — A national coalition led by the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. is seeking to have Georgia's "Stand Your Ground" statute ruled unconstitutional, arguing in a federal lawsuit filed late Monday that the law discriminates against minorities.The 2006 law, which allows citizens to use deadly force in self-defense if they feel...Voters in Seattle suburb approve $15 hr minimum wage
Seattle — A ballot initiative to enact a $15 hourly minimum wage for many workers in a working-class Seattle suburb that houses the region's main international airport was approved on Tuesday, November 5.The measure will mandate that some 6,300 workers at Sea-Tac International Airport and nearby hotels, car rental agencies and parking...Florida city reverses gun ban on neighborhood watch volunteers
ORLANDO, Florida — Police in the Florida city where George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin have backed off a plan to explicitly ban neighborhood watch volunteers from carrying guns while on duty.Earlier this month, police in Sanford, Florida, announced new rules on how civilian patrols can operate in an attempt to revive the...New Mexico man sues police department over repeated anal drug search
Deming, New Mexico — David Eckert, 54, claims that his civil rights were violated, in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court, claiming that police had subjected him to repeated anal probes and enemas, after a routine traffic stop suspecting him of carrying drugs. The legal action stems from Eckert's treatment by the...U.S. poverty rate remains high despite government aid
WASHINGTON — The number of poor people in the United States held steady at nearly 50 million last year, but government programs appear to have lessened the impact, especially on children and the elderly, federal data released this week showed.The Census Bureau, using an alternative measure to the government's main poverty gauge, said...For U.S. in the Mideast, the ice is getting thinner
WASHINGTON — New and unexpected strains in Washington’s ties with two of its closest Middle Eastern allies — Saudi Arabia and Turkey — have underlined the difficult challenges the administration of President Barack Obama faces in navigating its way in the region’s increasingly treacherous and turbulent waters.While...Louboutin wins lawsuit against anti-Islam group
As Rihanna can certainly attest after her lawsuit with Topshop, few things are worse for a person or brand than having its image used without consent. Today's big name fighting an unwarranted association? Christian Louboutin. The luxury shoe label was irked to discover its signature red sole adorning the posters of Flemish anti-Islam...Black customers, actor detained after shopping at Barneys and Macy’s
NEW YORK CITY — Picketers headed for the Manhattan storefront of Barneys New York, Inc. on Wednesday, October 30, to express outrage over complants from black customers, that they were stopped by police after making luxury purchases there.Four black shoppers have said they were stopped and detained in separate incidents at both Barneys...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......
