Chicago Tribune

Atlanta’s notorious traffic is expected to be more tangled than usual after a massive fire caused a bridge on Interstate 85 to collapse, completely shutting down the heavily traveled highway.

Georgia’s top transportation official said there’s no way to tell when the highway, which carries 250,000 cars a day, can be safely reopened to traffic in either direction following the collapse, which happened Thursday afternoon during rush hour.   Continue reading “Massive fire in Atlanta crumbles interstate bridge during rush hour; none hurt”

CNN

United Nations, New York (CNN)US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced Monday that the United States and almost 40 other nations would not participate in the first-ever talks on an international treaty to ban nuclear weapons.

Flanked by ambassadors from about 20 nations, including nuclear powers United Kingdom and France, Haley couched the decision not to attend the talks, which began Monday, in personal terms.   Continue reading “US leads boycott of UN talks to ban nuclear weapons”

AOL News

President Donald Trump took aim at the growing controversy over the investigation into his campaign’s possible ties to Russia in flurry of tweets sent on Monday night.

“Why isn’t the House Intelligence Committee looking into the Bill & Hillary deal that allowed big Uranium to go to Russia[?]” he asked in a message posted to Twitter.   Continue reading “Trump calls for investigation into Hillary Clinton, Russia connection”

Fox News

JESSUP, Md. –  The father of an 18-year-old Rockville High School student charged with the rape of a fellow classmate has been arrested for being in the country illegally, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

ICE spokesperson Sarah Rodriguez said 43-year-old Adolfo Sanchez-Reyes was arrested last Friday “after a review of his immigration history revealed he was unlawfully present in the United States” from Guatemala.   Continue reading “Father of Maryland high school rape suspect arrested by ICE”

Miami Herald

Police on Tuesday continued their search for six people involved in an ambush-style shooting of two undercover Miami-Dade police officers in their unmarked car.

The detectives were working a gang detail in Brownsville when they were shot late Monday night by suspects who walked past them, opened fire and fled.   Continue reading “Two Miami-Dade police detectives ambushed and shot in their unmarked car”

ABC News

The U.S. military is sending an additional two companies of soldiers to Iraq to help Iraqi troops fighting to retake Mosul from ISIS, defense officials confirmed to ABC News.

Two companies of soldiers is equal to between 200 to 300 soldiers.

Additional members of the 82nd Airborne Division’s second combat brigade are deploying to Iraq on a temporary mission to provide additional “advise and assist” support to Iraqi forces, Colonel Joseph Scrocca, a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve told ABC News.   Continue reading “200 more US troops headed to Iraq to ‘advise and assist’ Mosul offensive”

NASA

Astronomers have uncovered a supermassive black hole that has been propelled out of the center of a distant galaxy by what could be the awesome power of gravitational waves.

Though there have been several other suspected, similarly booted black holes elsewhere, none has been confirmed so far. Astronomers think this object, detected by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, is a very strong case. Weighing more than 1 billion suns, the rogue black hole is the most massive black hole ever detected to have been kicked out of its central home.   Continue reading “Gravitational Wave Kicks Monster Black Hole Out of Galactic Core”

Yahoo News

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Pablo Gomez Jr. was a University of California, Berkeley, senior majoring in Latino studies and a prominent campus activist when authorities say he stabbed to death a popular elementary-school teacher.

Soon, the crime that police described as “very brutal and unusual” in a city that reported just two homicides last year was sucked up into the debate over gender identity when it was reported that Gomez preferred to be called “they” rather than “he.”   Continue reading “Berkeley killing renews debate over gender pronouns”

Yahoo News

SEATTLE (AP) — Millions of gallons of raw sewage and untreated runoff have poured into the United States’ second-largest estuary since a massive sewage treatment plant experienced equipment failures that forced it to stop fully treating Seattle’s waste.

The county-run facility has been hobbling along at about half-capacity since the Feb. 9 electrical failure resulted in catastrophic flooding that damaged an underground network of pumps, motors, electric panels and other gear.   Continue reading “Seattle plant failure dumps millions of gallons of sewage”

Fox News

Fifteen people were shot and one person was killed at a Cincinnati nightclub early Sunday morning, officials said.

Cincinnati police originally said there were “at least a couple of shooters” who opened fire inside of Cameo nightclub, but later said only one shooter was responsible for the deadly assault.

Assistant Police Chief Paul Neudigate says in a tweet there was only one reported shooter but police are still investigating.    Continue reading “Cincinnati nightclub shooting: At least 1 dead, 15 people shot at venue”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

On a day when all eyes are on Washington and the healthcare vote, President Trump just won an important victory as a Virginia judge refused to block his revised travel ban against six predominantly Muslim countries (even though, as Bloomberg reports, the directive remains on hold because of court orders in two other states).   Continue reading “Virginia Judge Refuses To Block Revised Travel Ban”

ABC News

Republican leadership has decided to pull their Obamacare replacement bill at the last minute at the request of President Donald Trump — capping a rocky series of weeks since the controversial measure was introduced and an order from the president for legislators to put their cards on the table today.

Sources tell ABC that Trump called Speaker of the House Speaker Paul Ryan at 3 p.m. to tell him to pull the bill. The next steps were not immediately clear.   Continue reading “Ryan pulls GOP health care bill following call from Trump”

CNBC

An Amtrak Acela derailed as it left New York’s Penn Station at a slow speed during Friday morning rush hour and all 248 passengers were safely evacuated, Amtrak said.

All NJ Transit rail service at the station was suspended after the accident.

The Acela Express train, which originated in Boston and was heading to Washington, derailed around 9 a.m.   Continue reading “Amtrak Acela derails at NY Penn Station, transit service suspended”

Breitbart – by Mona Salama

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared Tuesday that his deputies will block U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from entering New York City public schools — even though agency officials say they are not pursuing illegal immigrants in schools.

“We will not allow ICE agents to threaten that protection, disrupt classes or take any action that would be detrimental to our students,” de Blasio said at a press conference held outside New York’s Tweed Courthouse Tuesday afternoon. “With these updated guidelines, we are reinforcing the fact that a school is a safe and protected location,” he said, adding that his promise would not apply if ICE got a court order.    Continue reading “Mayor de Blasio to Block ICE Officers from Entering City Schools”

AP – by Daniel Estrin

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police on Thursday arrested a 19-year-old Israeli Jewish man as the primary suspect in a string of bomb threats targeting Jewish community centers and other institutions in the U.S., marking a potential breakthrough in a case that stoked fears across the United States.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld described the suspect as a hacker, but said his motives were still unclear. Israeli media identified him as an American-Israeli dual citizen and said he had been found unfit for compulsory service in the Israeli military.   Continue reading “Israeli police arrest a 19-year-old Israeli Jewish man as the primary suspect in a string of bomb threats in U.S.”