Reuters

JAKARTA (Reuters) – The captain of a sinking Indonesian ferry managed to steer his ship onto a reef to enable the evacuation of more than 100 passengers, but 31 people drowned as the vessel floundered in stormy seas, officials said on Wednesday.

The latest ferry disaster in Indonesia, which happened on Tuesday near Sulawesi island, came two weeks after an overcrowded ferry sank on Lake Toba in Sumatra, one of the world’s deepest volcanic lakes, with the death of more than 200 people.   Continue reading “Captain of sinking Indonesian ferry sails onto reef; 31 dead”

Patch – by Daniel Hampton

FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ — When a 72-year-old Fountain Hills man tried to put his 92-year-old mother in an assisted living home, she pulled out a pistol hidden in her robe and shot him to death, authorities said. Now, she’s been charged with first-degree murder.

After learning of her son’s plans, Anna Mae Blessing hid a pair of handguns in her robe and confronted him in his bedroom at their home Monday, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said in a release. The home is located near North La Montana Drive and East El Lago Boulevard.   Continue reading “Arizona Mom, 92, Kills Son Over Nursing Home Plans: Authorities”

The Oregonian

PENDLETON — A rural Oregon county will be without law enforcement officers after a sheriff and his deputies announced their departures.

Wheeler County Sheriff Chris Humphreys, a former Portland police officer dogged by controversy, notified county officials last month of his plans to leave, giving officials up to six months to find a replacement, the East Oregonian reported.   Continue reading “Departing sheriff, deputies leave rural Oregon county without officers”

The Federalist – by Christopher Jacobs

Just when you think the move for government control of health care couldn’t get any worse, somehow it manages to. Last Wednesday, the District of Columbia City Council approved a requirement for all DC residents to purchase health insurance. The mandate would take effect in January, right when the federal mandate penalty drops to $0, as per last year’s tax law.

The D.C. mandate contains three elements that make it just as bad as, if not worse than, the federal mandate it is intended to replace. Continue reading “DC Passes Law Requiring People To Buy Health Insurance Or Have Their Property Seized”

Fox News

Rescue workers in Thailand who successfully located the 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped in a cave for 10 days are now racing against time to get them out before water levels rise.

Rescuers had earlier suggested that they would wait for water levels to drop, which could take until October, but heavy rains forecast for later this week could flood the cave even further, meaning the boys, ages 11-16, face the prospect of having to move quicker than anticipated.   Continue reading “Thai youth soccer team could have to dive out of caves or wait months to be rescued”

Fox News

Nineteen senior investigators at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have called for the government agency to be disbanded in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

The massive law enforcement agency, which employs more than 20,000 people and was created in 2003 in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is responsible for both homeland security investigations (known as HSI) and for the deportation of undocumented migrants (known as ERO, for enforcement and removal operations).  Continue reading “19 ICE investigators call for agency to be disbanded in letter amid ‘abolish ICE’ protests”

Fox News

At least 41 cops have left the Seattle Police Department this year, many of them reportedly citing frustration with the city’s politics and a perceived lack of support from local officials.

Though documents showed some officers left the force due to retirement, a source in the department told Q13 FOX some 20 officers left and sought employment at other law enforcement agencies.   Continue reading “Seattle cops flee the force in ‘mass exodus’ due to frustrations with city’s politics, report says”

Free Thought Project – by Rachel Blevins

Annapolis, Maryland – Five people were killed in another mass shooting after a man opened fire at the Capital Gazette newspaper on Thursday afternoon, in what is being called a “targeted attack” by a deranged individual who reportedly went as far as mutilating his own fingers in order to keep police from identifying him.

Fueling conspiracy theories online, just one week before the shooting at the newspaper’s headquarters, the Capital Gazette reported that “Annapolis Police will be conducting an active shooter drill.”   Continue reading “Days Before Shooting, Capital Gazette Reported Police Would Be Conducting Mass Shooting Drills”

Yahoo News

A man who police say opened fire at a Maryland newspaper office Thursday, killing five and injuring two others, had a long, acrimonious history with the newspaper, including a lawsuit and years of harassment of its journalists on Twitter.

Jarrod Warren Ramos, swiftly arrested by police after the attack, was charged Friday with five counts of first-degree murder.   Continue reading “Shooting suspect had bitter history with Maryland newspaper”

Chicago Tribune

At least five people were killed and several others were “gravely injured” in a shooting Thursday afternoon at the Capital Gazette in Anne Arundel County, authorities said.

A shooter is in custody, police said. Police would not name the suspect or say what type of weapon was used.   Continue reading “Five dead, others ‘gravely injured’ in shooting at Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis”

CNN

Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn breaks ground on a new plant in Wisconsin Thursday after receiving a controversial $4 billion package of tax breaks and other incentives to build there.

President Donald Trump will attend the ceremony, as will Governor Scott Walker, who helped arrange local, state and federal incentives to woo the company.   Continue reading “Foxconn breaking ground on Wisconsin plant it received $4 billion to build”

Fox News

A sprawling, compromise GOP immigration bill that would have provided a path to citizenship for young illegal immigrants while directing $25 billion for the construction of President Trump’s border wall failed in the House on Wednesday, despite encouragement from the president for Republicans to support it.

The bill was overwhelmingly rejected 301-121, in part because some Republicans are reluctant to vote for any bill they worry could be portrayed as “amnesty.”  Continue reading “GOP compromise immigration bill defeated on House floor”

ABC News

President Donald Trump shifted away from a proposal to impose limits on Chinese investment in American technology companies and high-tech exports to China on Wednesday, choosing instead to call upon Congress to strengthen an existing review process.

The announcement followed intense internal battles over the issue and reports of impending bans on Chinese investment that had sent financial markets into a nose dive at the beginning of the week.   Continue reading “Trump backs off imposing China investment limits”

NBC News

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a crippling blow Wednesday to unions representing millions of the nation’s public employees.

The justices said in a 5-4 opinion that state government workers who choose not to join a union cannot be compelled to pay a share of union dues for covering the cost of negotiating contracts. Unions had said such an outcome would cut off a source of income and diminish their political clout in the 23 states where they bargain for both members and non-members alike.   Continue reading “Supreme Court ruling deals major blow to public worker unions”

Fox News

A federal judge in California on Tuesday ordered the U.S. Border Patrol to stop separating families at the U.S.-Mexico border and to reunite families already separated within 30 days.

Any children younger than 5 must be reunited within 14 days of Tuesday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego ruled.   Continue reading “Federal judge orders end of family separations at US border”

Business Insider

The Supreme Court just quietly overturned a decision that upheld the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II as part of a ruling upholding President Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban that primarily targets majority-Muslim countries.

During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which led the US government to force more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent into detention camps.   Continue reading “The Supreme Court just quietly overturned a decision that allowed the US government to place Japanese-Americans in ‘concentration camps’ during World War II”

Fox News

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld President Trump’s controversial travel ban affecting several mostly Muslim countries, offering a limited endorsement of the president’s executive authority on immigration in one of the hardest-fought battles of this term.

The 5-4 ruling marks the first major high court decision on a Trump administration policy. It upholds the selective travel restrictions, which critics called a discriminatory “Muslim ban” but the administration argued was needed for security reasons.   Continue reading “Supreme Court upholds Trump travel ban on some Muslim-majority nations”

The Hill

Border patrol agents have stopped referring adult immigrants who cross the southern U.S. border illegally for criminal prosecution, raising questions about the future of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy.

The Associated Press reported Monday that Kevin McAleenan, the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said he ordered his staff to halt referrals after President Trump signed an executive order last week to stop the separation of migrant families.  Continue reading “Border agents suspend prosecution referrals for illegal border crossers”