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Detroit Free Press

GALESBURG, Mich. — A three-mile radius has been evacuated around a massive deadly pileup on I-94 as four semis burn, including one with hazardous material and another hauling fireworks.

Both directions of I-94 are closed in eastern Kalamazoo County due to the wreck involving more than 100 vehicles.

Michigan State Police say one person is dead and multiple others are injured. People who aren’t injured were taken to warming centers, according to State Police Inspector Tracey McAndrew.   Continue reading “Fiery 100-plus vehicle pileup closes I-94 in west Michigan”

Fuel Fix – by Jennifer A. Dlouhy

WASHINGTON — The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday approved legislation to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline, following a divisive debate over climate change that previewed bitter fights to come.

The 13-9 vote to approve the measure — with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin the lone Democrat crossing party lines to back the bill — paves the way for Senate floor debate to begin as soon as Monday.   Continue reading “Senate panel approves Keystone XL bill, despite veto threat”

Bloomberg – by Tony Capaccio

The Pentagon will request about $51 billion in war funding for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, a 20 percent reduction from the $64 billion Congress approved this year and the least since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, officials and congressional aides said.

The Overseas Contingency Operations funding, as it’s known, will be sent to Congress in addition to basic defense spending of about $534 billion when President Barack Obama offers his proposed fiscal 2016 federal budget on Feb. 2, according to the officials and aides, who asked not to be identified before the details are made public.   Continue reading “Pentagon Seeking 20% Cut in U.S. War Funding to $51 Billion”

Fox News

A California newspaper will continue to use the term “illegals” to describe people who enter the U.S. without permission, despite an attack on its building by vandals believed to object to the term.

The Santa Barbara News-Press’s front entrance was sprayed with the message “The border is illegal, not the people who cross it” in red paint, sometime either Wednesday night or early Thursday, according to the newspaper’s director of operations, Donald Katich. The attack came amid wider objections to a News-Press headline that used the word “illegals” alongside a story on California granting driver’s licenses to people in the country illegally.   Continue reading “California newspaper office vandalized over use of ‘illegal’ immigrant label”

Fox 2 Now

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – Friday marks law enforcement appreciation day. The holiday started by the FBI National Academy  to thank officers across the country who take risks to protect their communities.

Every day 780,000 police officers put on a badge nationwide, going to work in the most unknown extreme conditions and dangers. Friday is our day to thank them.   Continue reading “Today is 1st National Law Enforcement appreciation day”

Fox News

Republicans are charging ahead with their effort to block President Obama’s immigration executive actions, teeing up a House vote as early as next week as they move toward a major confrontation with the administration.

GOP House leaders huddled Thursday with colleagues in an effort to build consensus on a bill to “defund” the president’s initiatives. Under the recently struck budget deal, the Department of Homeland Security is only funded through Feb. 27 — Republicans want to use the deadline as leverage to block the immigration spending.    Continue reading “Republicans move toward vote on blocking Obama immigration actions”

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USA Today – by Andrew Griffin, The Independent

The year 2015 will have an extra second — which could wreak havoc on the infrastructure powering the Internet.

At 11:59 p.m. on June 30, clocks will count up all the way to 60 seconds. That will allow the Earth’s spin to catch up with atomic time.

The Earth’s spin is gradually slowing down, by about two thousandths of a second per day, but atomic clocks are constant. That means that occasionally years have to be lengthened slightly, to allow the slowing Earth to catch up with the constant clock.   Continue reading “Computer chaos feared over 2015’s leap second”

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Navy Times – by Karen Jowers

Troops and families in some areas of Europe and the Pacific have been frustrated by empty shelves in commissaries over the last few weeks, shelves that are empty for different reasons.

Commissary officials said they expect the situation to improve in Europe no later than Jan. 14, depending on the location. But for customers in the Pacific, the problems continue.   Continue reading “Commissary shelves still empty in Europe, Pacific”

The Daily Caller – by Casey Harper

One North Carolina city has finally surrendered in a long-fought battle to preserve a veteran’s memorial with a praying soldier and Christian flag.

The city, after spending $50,000 in legal fees, and with little hope of winning a court battle estimated to cost $2 million, ceded to the U.S. army veteran suing the town, the Winston Salem-Journal reports.

The statue of the soldier kneeling before a cross will be removed, as will the Christian flag, from the memorial in the city’s park, ending a four-year dispute.   Continue reading “NC City Agrees To Remove Statue of Praying Soldier, Christian Flag”

ABC News

A family in a minivan called 911 this morning when their car was stuck under a moving semi-truck in Michigan, police said.

A dispatcher received a call at 1:57 a.m. this morning from the family of Matthew Menz, 46, who was traveling northbound on I-75, south of Roscommon, Michigan, according to the Roscommon County Sheriff’s Office.   Continue reading “Desperate 911 Call as Semi Drags Minivan 16 Miles Through Snowstorm”

NBC News – by PETE WILLIAMS, M. ALEX JOHNSON AND JON SCHUPPE

One of the suspects in the Paris attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine has been killed and the two others are in custody, two senior U.S. counterterrorism officials told NBC News.

Authorities earlier had identified the three men as Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi, both French and in their early 30s, and 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad, whose nationality wasn’t immediately clear.   Continue reading “Paris Attack Suspect Dead, Two in Custody, U.S. Officials Say”

BBC News, January 5, 2015

French President Francois Hollande says he wants Western sanctions on Russia to be lifted if progress is made in talks on the Ukraine conflict this month.

He did not specify which sanctions – imposed by the EU, US and Canada – could be lifted. The sanctions began after Russia annexed Crimea in March.   Continue reading “France seeks end to Russia sanctions over Ukraine”

Daily News – by NINA GOLGOWSKI

A shooting outside an Ohio airport left one person dead following a “confrontation” between officers and a man, an airport official said.

An officer opened fire at the male suspect outside Port Columbus International’s departure area at about 1 p.m., leaving the individual dead, David Whiticker, the airport’s vice president of business development & communications told reporters.

“Through that confrontation, the person who was causing the confrontation was shot and killed by police officers,” Whiticker said.   Continue reading “Shooting outside Port Columbus airport in Ohio leaves one dead after ‘threat’: official”

Washington Free Beacon – by Elizabeth Harrington

Custom and Border Protection’s (CBP) drone program is ineffective and surveys less than 200 miles of the southwest border, according to an audit by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Inspector General.

The program operates 10 Predator B drones at a cost of more than $12,000 for every hour a drone spends in the air, funding which could be put to better use elsewhere, according to the OIG.   Continue reading “Audit: DHS Drone Program Ineffective at Border Security”

CNN – by Dana Ford

Both the victim and the shooter in the incident at the El Paso VA Health Care System have died, Maj. Gen. Stephen M. Twitty told reporters.

“All other VA patients and staff are safe. This is an active crime scene, and the shooting incident is under investigation,” he said.   Continue reading “Gunman kills doctor, then himself, at VA hospital in El Paso, Texas”

CNN – by Catherine E. Shoichet

Onlookers anxiously watched the unveiling Tuesday, worrying the items might not have weathered the years very well.   Continue reading “1795 time capsule opened, centuries after Revere and Adams buried it”

Reuters

Twelve people including two police officers were killed in a shooting at the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, a police spokesman said in an update on the death toll.

French President Francois Hollande described as without doubt a terrorist attack.   Continue reading “Police put Paris shooting death toll at 12, including two police officers”