Reuters – by David Dekok

Opening arguments are expected to begin on Tuesday in the murder trial of a Pennsylvania police officer who shot and killed a suspect last February as he lay face down in the snow, immobilized by a Taser charge.

The shooting death of David Kassick, 59, by Officer Lisa Mearkle, 37, was captured on the video camera in her Taser, police say. Her lawyers successfully fought release of the video prior to her trial, saying it could taint potential jurors.   Continue reading “Pennsylvania officer who shot, killed prone suspect heads to trial”

Washington Post – by Michael E. Miller

Across the country, high schools are increasingly confronting a thorny issue: Should transgender students be allowed into the locker room?

And increasingly, the federal government is stepping in to provide an answer: Schools must give trans students full locker room access.

Or else.   Continue reading “Feds say Illinois school district broke law by banning transgender student from girls’ locker room”

Fox News – by Christina Corbin

It might be the world’s most expensive gas station — not to mention a gross misuse of taxpayer money, according to a top government watchdog.

The Department of Defense spent $43 million to build a gas station in Afghanistan that should have cost roughly $500,000, the lead oversight team monitoring U.S. spending in Afghanistan has found. The discovery came as part of a broader investigation into allegations of criminal activity within the DOD’s premiere program to kick-start the Afghan economy.    Continue reading “‘Colossal waste’: DOD slammed for $43M, US-funded gas station in Afghanistan”

NBC News – by Ari Melber

On Monday, President Obama is announcing a new order to reduce potential discrimination against former convicts in the hiring process for federal government employees.

It is a step towards what many criminal justice reformers call “ban the box” – the effort to eliminate requirements that job applicants check a box on their applications if they have a criminal record. While the rule was once seen as a common sense way for employers to screen for criminal backgrounds, it has been increasingly criticized as a hurdle that fosters employment discrimination against former inmates, regardless of the severity of their offense or how long ago it occurred. Banning the box delays when employers learn of an applicant’s record.   Continue reading “Obama Bans Hiring Bias Against Ex-Cons Seeking Federal Jobs”

From Enemy of the State.

NBC News – by ELISHA FIELDSTADT

A 35-year-old man has been charged with two of seven fires set in the span of two weeks in St. Louis, authorities said Friday.

David Lopez Jackson was detained Thursday and is facing two counts of second-degree arson, said St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson.   Continue reading “Man Arrested in Connection With St. Louis Church Fires”

Yahoo News – by Julia Harte and Julia Edwards

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Almost a third of 6,000 federal prisoners scheduled to be freed between Friday and Tuesday, part of a push to reduce America’s soaring incarceration rate, will immediately be turned over to U.S. immigration authorities for deportation proceedings.

While this weekend will be a happy occasion for the thousands of inmates who are U.S. citizens and will reunite with their families, many of the roughly 1,780 foreign inmates to be put on the deportation track will leave family members behind in the United States.   Continue reading “Mass release of U.S. prisoners spells deportation for hundreds”

CNN – by Ralph Ellis

Three people were killed in downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Saturday morning before city police officers shot and killed a suspect, reported the sheriff’s office of El Paso County, Colorado.

Police received a report of a shooting about 8:45 a.m. along with a description of a suspect, the sheriff’s office said.   Continue reading “4 dead, including suspect, in Colorado Springs shooting”

Sent to us by the author, Spike Timmons

Indiana Freedom Talk Radio

John Killen, a long time patriot. And his family are being attacked by the Kentucky CPS via Florida CPS. Florida has asked Kentucky to look into the matter. In other words, a fishing expedition involving 3 children, ages 3.5, and who are Mr. Killen’s grandchildren.

An anonymous call to CPS stating the children were playing in the yard and one was dirty is what started this situation. (Did you get dirty as a child playing??? Of course you did.)   Continue reading “Alert Alert Alert”

Platts

Several US companies have sought permission from the Obama administration to export crude oil to European, Asian, African and Latin American countries, but have been rejected because they have failed to qualify for strict exemptions to long-standing crude export restrictions, a key administration official said Thursday.

These companies, many of whom sought exchanges with countries similar to a 75,000 b/d exchange announced by Mexico’s Pemex this week, were not allowed to export US crude to several other countries because they could not prove the oil could not be marketed in the US, the US Commerce Department’s Matthew Borman said during an Argus conference in Houston.   Continue reading “Commerce Department Denied Several US Crude Oil Exchange Applications: Official”

Sent to us by a reader.

GetZone

Savannah River Armory presents the first webisode in their series “Uncertain Tomorrow.”

This video depicts how a family could survive a global catastrophe resulting in civil unrest, assuming they are prepared.   Continue reading “If the world collapsed tomorrow, families of survivors would look like this”

ABC News

A somber Albuquerque police chief stood surrounded by dozens of law enforcement officials Thursday as he described a well-liked, highly decorated officer who was gunned down outside a pharmacy last week.

Officer Daniel Webster died early Thursday at University of New Mexico Hospital, a little more than a week after he was shot by an ex-convict, Chief Gorden Eden said. Webster’s death followed an especially violent week in New Mexico’s largest city in which police say another gunman shot and killed a 4-year-old girl amid a road rage dispute.   Continue reading “New Mexico Police Officer Dies After Being Shot on Duty”

CNN – by Ann O’Neill, Ed Lavandera and Jason Morris

Waco, Texas (CNN)After the guns fell silent on May 17 — one of the bloodiest afternoons in the history of American motorcycle clubs — nine bikers lay dead in a strip mall parking lot littered with weapons.

Many more were injured, bleeding from gunshots and knife wounds. A police officer asked what every other cop there must have wondered at that moment: How many of you are armed?   Continue reading “Knives, guns, blood and fear: Inside the Texas biker shootout”

The Hill – by Mike Lillis and Peter Schroeder

House lawmakers in both parties joined forces Wednesday to pass a sweeping budget deal that marks both a parting victory for outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and a valedictory gift for his likely replacement, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

The final vote was 266 to 167, with 79 Republicans joining every Democrat in sealing passage. Ryan was among the supporters.   Continue reading “House approves budget deal in big 266-167 vote”

LA Times – by Veronica Rocha and Matt Hamilton

A Kern County sheriff’s deputy arrested this weekend for allegedly aiming a handgun at children was arrested again Tuesday evening and then managed to escape, prompting a manhunt in Bakersfield, authorities said.

Days after Edward Tucker, a deputy for more than 18 years, was arrested and then released after allegedly flashing a handgun at a group of girls, a person asked for a welfare check on him, said Kern County sheriff’s office spokesman Ray Pruitt said.   Continue reading “Central California deputy escapes from custody after 2nd arrest, prompting manhunt”

New York Times

Military officials were scrambling Wednesday to retrieve an unmanned Army surveillance blimp that detached from its moorings in Maryland and drifted north over Pennsylvania.

Two American fighter jets were tracking the blimp, military officials said, that had been tethered at Aberdeen Proving Ground and broke free around noon.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado posted an official statement, saying that the aerostat was “drifting northward & has descended near the ground.”   Continue reading “Fighter Jets Tracking Runaway Military Surveillance Blimp”

AP

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Authorities in Georgia are investigating after they say two Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police officers and a third person were shot.

News outlets in Savannah report that the officers were shot around midnight Tuesday. Police spokeswoman Eunicia Baker says both officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries.   Continue reading “Authorities say 2 Savannah-Chatham police officers shot”

Fox News

House Republicans on Tuesday introduced a resolution to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, accusing him of making “false statements” under oath and failing to comply with a subpoena for evidence.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and 18 other committee members introduced the resolution to begin impeachment proceedings. In doing so, they followed through on a threat first made over the summer, when Republicans accused the IRS leader of making inaccurate statements to Congress regarding the Tea Party targeting scandal and its aftermath.   Continue reading “House Republicans introduce measure to impeach IRS Commissioner Koskinen”

NBC News

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday that the U.S. will begin “direct action on the ground” against ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria, aiming to intensify pressure on the militants as progress against them remains elusive.

“We won’t hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL, or conducting such missions directly whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground,” Carter said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services committee, using an alternative name for the militant group.   Continue reading “Ashton Carter: U.S. to Begin ‘Direct Action on the Ground’ in Iraq, Syria”