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Yahoo News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday takes up one of the biggest cases of its current term when it weighs whether a cross-shaped war memorial on public land in Maryland is an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion.

The so-called Peace Cross, a 40-foot-tall (12 meters) concrete memorial to 49 men from Maryland’s Prince George’s County killed in World War One, is situated on public land at a busy road intersection in Bladensburg just outside Washington.   Continue reading “In major religion case, Supreme Court weighs Maryland cross dispute”

Yahoo News

DETROIT —When Nikki Joly’s Jackson home burned down in 2017, some thought the fire was a hate crime against the transgendered, gay-rights activist who had fought for a local anti-discrimination ordinance.

But now, instead of a victim, the 54-year-old is accused of being the perpetrator.   Continue reading “Gay rights activist set fire to his own home in fake hate crime, Michigan police say”

The Weather Channel

Continue reading “Winter Storm Ryan Dumps Heavy Snow on the Northwest: Butte, Montana, Schools to Close for First Time in Two Decades”

Fox News

At least three Venezuelan troops have abandoned their posts at the country’s border with Colombia as confrontations with protesters over incoming humanitarian aid grow more violent by the day.

The soldiers have abandoned their watch near the Simon Bolivar International Bridge at the Venezuela-Colombian border near Urena, where the Venezuelan National Guard fired tear gas at residents on Saturday, BBC reports.   Continue reading “Venezuelan troops abandon posts amid violent clashes with protesters at Colombian border”

AP News

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The State Land Office says this month’s oil and natural gas lease sale has netted more than $35 million.

Officials say that includes the largest open bid sale in the agency’s history, with numerous tracts in southeastern New Mexico closing at more than $12 million.   Continue reading “New Mexico oil and gas lease sale nets $35 million”

Yahoo News

A Coast Guard lieutenant arrested earlier this week on drug and gun charges was planning to commit domestic terrorism, according to a court filing from the U.S. District Court in Maryland.

In a motion filed Tuesday, U.S. attorneys said Christopher Hasson, a lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard who has served at the service’s headquarters in Washington since 2016, had a hit list of targets, a cache of guns and a series of communications with white supremacists. The first sentence in the motion imploring the court to detain Hasson pending trial: “The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country.”   Continue reading “Coast Guard lieutenant accused of murder plot ‘on a scale rarely seen in this country’”

SP Global

Washington — With developers of about 10 projects racing to build deepwater crude export terminals off Texas and Louisiana, Enbridge only sees enough demand for one of them in the late 2021-early 2022 timeframe, the company said in its fourth-quarter 2018 earnings call.

Enbridge, Kinder Morgan and Oiltanking have proposed the Texas Colt Offshore Loading Terminal offshore Freeport, Texas. It would be capable of loading VLCCs directly, something only the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port can currently do.   Continue reading “Competition heats up in US oil exporting race”

Wood TV

SOLON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Four people, including children, were found shot to death in northern Kent County Monday afternoon.

Speaking to reporters at the scene, Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young would not say how many of the victims are children, nor would she provide any information about the victims’ genders. She said authorities were still working on confirming their identities.  Continue reading “Sheriff: 4 dead, including children, in northern Kent Co., Michigan”

Reuters

NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Indian Oil Corp, the country’s top refiner, has signed its first annual deal to buy U.S. oil, paying about $1.5 billion for 60,000 barrels a day in the year to March 2020 to diversify its crude sources, its chairman said on Monday.

IOC is the first Indian state refiner to buy U.S. oil under an annual contract, in a deal that will also help boost trade between New Delhi and Washington.   Continue reading “Indian Oil signs first annual deal for U.S. oil”

Yahoo News

An 11-year-old student in Florida is facing charges after refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and creating a disturbance in the classroom, police said.

The boy was arrested for causing a disruption and refusing repeated instructions from school staff and law enforcement, Polk County Public Schools spokesperson Kyle Kennedy said in a statement. He was not arrested for refusing to participate in the pledge – even though students have the right to do so by Florida law and district policy.    Continue reading “Florida student faces misdemeanor charges after refusing to stand for Pledge of Allegiance”

Yahoo News

AURORA, Ill. (AP) — A 15-year employee being fired from a suburban Chicago manufacturing company started shooting Friday, killing five co-workers and wounding five police officers before he was killed by police, authorities said.

Aurora, Illinois, Police Chief Kristen Ziman said 45-year-old Gary Martin “was being terminated” before he started shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. — which makes valves for industrial purposes — in the city about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago.   Continue reading “Employee being fired fatally shoots 5 co-workers in Illinois”

Yahoo News

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A gunman opened fire in an industrial building in Aurora, Illinois on Friday, city and law enforcement officials said, wounding several people before he was taken into custody.

“We have an active shooter incident at 641 Archer Av. This is an active scene. Please avoid the area,” the Aurora Police Department said in a tweet shortly after 2 p.m. central time, adding that additional details would be forthcoming.   Continue reading “Gunman wounds several people in Illinois building, suspect held”

Fox News

President Trump said Friday he is declaring a national emergency on the southern border, tapping into executive powers in a bid to divert billions toward construction of a wall even as he plans to sign a funding package that includes just $1.4 billion for border security.

“We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border … one way or the other, we have to do it,” Trump said in the Rose Garden.   Continue reading “Trump declares emergency on border, eyes $8B for wall as he signs spending package”

Yahoo News

Several groups on Thursday filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s policy that requires Central American asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases are decided in the U.S.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, requests that a judge strike down the plan formally called “Migrant Protection Protocols” but commonly referred to as “Remain in Mexico.”    Continue reading “Lawsuit challenges Trump plan keeping asylum-seekers in Mexico until case decided”

Breitbart – by John Binder

The details of a Republican-Democrat border deal package includes about $1.3 billion for 55 miles of construction at the United States-Mexico border for “physical barrier” and $415 million in “humanitarian relief” for border crossers.

The bipartisan offer to President Trump falls short of the $5.7 billion that the White House requested in border wall funding, providing just $1.375 billion in total to construct about 55 miles of new physical barriers in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, sector of the southern border. The full text of the legislation can be read here. Section 230 discusses border construction funding — which appears to limit new construction to bollard fencing:   Continue reading “Congress Reveals Details of Border ‘Compromise’ to Avoid Shutdown”

AP

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — TransCanada Corp. believes its Keystone pipeline is likely the source of an oil leak near St. Louis that Missouri officials have estimated at 1,800 gallons (6,814 liters), a spokesman for the company said Friday.

Sections of both the Keystone pipeline and Enbridge Inc.’s Platte pipeline were closed as crews sought to find the source of the leak, which was discovered Wednesday in St. Charles County.   Continue reading “TransCanada says Keystone likely source of Missouri oil leak”

Oil and Gas Journal – by Nick Snow

US Bureau of Land Management state offices generated more than $1.1 billion of revenue from onshore oil and gas lease sales during 2018, a record amount nearly triple the previous record of $408 million for the comparable period in 2008, Acting Interior Sec. David Bernhardt announced on Feb. 6.

Bonus bids from the 28 oil and gas lease sales during calendar 2018 came to a preliminary $1,151,109,064 for 1,412 parcels, covering almost 1.5 million acres, he said in Hobbs, NM.  Continue reading “BLM reports record-breaking onshore oil, gas lease revenue in 2018”