Randy HarrisonThe Guardian

An Oklahoma jury has convicted a veteran police captain of first-degree manslaughter in the death of an unarmed teenager who was running away after scuffling with the officer.

Del City Police captain Randy Trent Harrison shot Dane Scott Jr in the back on 14 March 2012, following a high-speed chase that began when Harrison tried to pull over Scott’s car.   Continue reading “Oklahoma jury convicts police captain of unarmed teen’s manslaughter”

Public Integrity – by Susan Ferriss

Responding to demand for reforms, the nation’s largest school police force — in Los Angeles — will stop issuing tickets to students 12-years-old or younger for minor infractions allegedly committed on or near campuses during school hours.

A memo this month to officers from Los Angeles Unified School Police Department Chief Steven Zipperman outlined the new policy, which goes into effect in December. The announcement comes in the wake of community demands for the school district to “decriminalize” minor school disciplinary matters and use more discretion when involving law enforcement personnel.    Continue reading “Nation’s largest school police force, in L.A., will stop ticketing kids 12 and younger”

BBC News

The Obama administration has announced another delay to its healthcare law, this time to online medical insurance for small businesses.

The marketplace website allowing employers to buy health coverage for their workers will be put off by one year until November 2014.

Ongoing problems with Healthcare.gov, beset by glitches since its 1 October launch, were blamed for the delay.   Continue reading “Obamacare: Small-business enrolment delayed by one year”

Blacklisted News – CBS

New Haven police say they believe that the report of a shooter on his way to Yale University’s campus Monday morning was a “hoax,” reports CBS affiliate WFSB.

Around 9:30 a.m., police say they received an anonymous call from someone claiming his roommate was headed to Yale with a long gun. The university went into lockdown mode, telling students and faculty to stay inside as police searched the area.   Continue reading “Police: Yale University Shooter Warning Call was a “Hoax””

Town Hall – by Katie Pavlich

After seeing two of her Colorado colleagues recalled over anti-gun votes, Democratic State Senator Evie Hudak, will submit her resignation.

 Hudak will hold a news conference Wednesday morning at the Arvada Library.   Continue reading “Avoiding Recall: Colorado’s “You Don’t Need a Gun to Prevent Rape” Evie Hudak Resigns”

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

The leaked TPP draft, pried loose from the “open and transparent” grip of the USTR, is generating plenty of commentary all over the web. After getting a good look inside, it’s little wonder the USTR felt more comfortable trying to push this through under the cover of darkness.

As the criticism of the push for IP maximalism mounts, the treaty’s defenders have leapt into the fray, hoping to assure everyone who wasn’t previously aware of the treaty’s contents (which is pretty much everyone) that there’s nothing to see here and please move along.    Continue reading “TPP Defenders Take To The Internet To Deliver Official Talking Points; Inadvertently Confirm Opponents’ Worst Fears”

The Columbus Dispatch – by Patrick Temple-West and Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration proposed new rules yesterday to rein in tax-exempt groups that have transformed the political landscape by harnessing hundreds of millions of dollars in anonymous donations to influence elections.

The proposal would alter definitions in the tax code that allow limited campaign and fundraising activities by the tax-exempt groups, some of which have been at the center of allegations that the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative tea party groups for extra scrutiny.   Continue reading “New rules proposed for some tax-exempt groups”

ABC News – by PABLO GORONDI Associated Press

The price of oil dropped to near $93 a barrel on Monday as a deal between Iran and six world powers on the country’s nuclear program made it more likely that sanctions choking Iranian oil exports will be lifted.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark U.S. crude for January delivery was down $1.44 at $93.40 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the contract fell 60 cents to close at $94.84.   Continue reading “Oil Prices Drop Sharply After Iran Nuclear Deal”

'El Ponchis', as the now 17-year-old hit man is known, has served a three-year sentence in Mexico and is now being sent back to the United States.CNN – by Catherine E. Shoichet and Rafael Romo

Mexican authorities set free a former teen cartel hit man on Tuesday and sent him back to the United States.

The release of Edgar Jimenez Lugo, a U.S. citizen known as “El Ponchis” or “The Cloak,” comes less than three years after a Mexican court found him guilty of torturing and beheading at least four people and kidnapping three others as an operative for the South Pacific Cartel.   Continue reading “Mexico: Teen hit man freed, sent to U.S.”

The Courant – by Jenny Wilson

A Superior Court judge Tuesday ordered the release of the 911 calls made from Sandy Hook Elementary School to Newtown police on the morning of the Dec. 14, 2012, shootings, rejecting arguments from prosecutors that the audio recordings should remain private.

At Superior Court in New Britain, Judge Eliot D. Prescott, who listened to the 911 calls Monday, ordered the tapes to be released on Dec. 4 at 2 p.m.   Continue reading “Superior Court Judge Orders Release Of Newtown 911 Calls”

This photo of Gail Sandidge was taken from her Facebook page. CNN – by Catherine E. Shoichet

Gail Sandidge rushed to help when screams rang out during a stabbing at a Texas medical center on Tuesday.

Horrified patients and family members watched as a man stabbed the nurse in the chest.

“She was just saying…’I’m hurt. He got me,'” witness Jana Jackson told CNN affiliate KLTV. “And that’s when we realized there was blood all on the front of her scrubs.”   Continue reading “Nurse dies protecting patients in Texas surgical center stabbing”

David Miller of Preston, England - one of the lucky 5,000 to get tickets to the official anniversary event - took a photo of Elm Street's new X on Tuesday.Dallas News – by Robert Wilonsky

One week after workers removed the X that marked the spot on Elm Street where President John Kennedy was gunned down on November 22, 1963, it has returned.

And, says 1500 Marilla spokesman Frank Librio, the city has no intention of removing this X or any other — at least, for the time being.   Continue reading “In Dealey Plaza, the X that marked the spot on Elm Street where Kennedy was killed has returned”

arizkids12.jpgFox News

Three teenage sisters have been rescued from an Arizona home after reportedly being held captive for two years.

Police tell TucsonNewsNow.com the girls, ages 12, 13 and 17, were discovered after the younger two escaped to a neighbor’s house and claimed their stepfather had threatened them with a knife.   Continue reading “3 teenage sisters reportedly held captive in Arizona home for 2 years”