KLTV 7 – by Stephanie Frazier

EAST TEXAS (KLTV) – Governor Greg Abbott has been busy signing laws in recent days, but one he signed Monday will likely be the favorite among Texas children.

It’s a lemonade stand law; Abbott called it a “common sense law” that had to be passed so that police would not shut down children’s lemonade stands. The bill was introduced by Fort Worth Republican State Rep. Matt Krause. It proposed that the sale of lemonade and other non-alcoholic beverages on private property and in public parks would be allowed. It would also prevent homeowner associations from drafting rules that would prevent neighborhood lemonade stands. It was sent to the governor, who signed it with a bit of humor, ending his video with, “cheers.”  Continue reading “Gov. Greg Abbott signs ‘lemonade stand law’ so kids’ drink stands can’t be shut down”

CBS News

A Russian destroyer nearly collided with an American guided-missile cruiser in the Philippine Sea, the U.S. Navy said on Friday, calling the incident “unsafe and unprofessional.”  The Russian Pacific Fleet, meanwhile, blamed the U.S. for the close encounter.

The U.S. Navy released an aerial photo and dramatic video of the incident.  Continue reading “Video shows Russian destroyer nearly colliding with U.S. warship”

The New Orleans Advocate – by Keith Spera

Malcolm John Rebennack Jr., known around the world as Dr. John, initially aspired to be a professional songwriter, producer, session musician and sideman, like the utilitarian New Orleanians who forged his creative worldview in the 1950s. He wanted to work behind the scenes, not out front.

But after assuming the persona of Dr. John the Night Tripper in the late 1960s, Rebennack was behind the scenes no more. His idiosyncratic style and sound – the gravelly growl, the sly, deceptively leisurely phrasing, the hipster patois, the hybrid Big Easy piano – embodied both New Orleans and its music.  Continue reading “Pianist, singer Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack, an icon of New Orleans music, has died”

The Weather Channel

It’s hard to imagine a city running out of water, but it could happen. Cape Town, South Africa, came perilously close to running out in early 2018.

Aggressive conservation and efficiency efforts got the city through April 12, the day taps were going to be cut off, CityLab reported. Then in June, the area saw average rainfall for the first time in four years and reservoirs rose.  Continue reading “5 U.S. Cities That Potentially Could Run Out of Water”

The Weather Channel

Storms in Louisiana on Thursday killed at least one person and left homes and other buildings damaged, cars overturned and streets flooded.

“We unfortunately had a confirmed fatality associated with the weather we’ve experienced today,” Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said in a press conference late Thursday morning.  Continue reading “One Person Killed as Louisiana Storms Flip Cars, Damage Buildings and Flood Dozens of Streets”

New York Post – by Larry Celona and Natalie Musumeci

A West Point cadet was killed and 22 others were wounded when an armored military personnel vehicle overturned and plummeted at least 15 feet down a hill near a training site at the prestigious military academy Thursday morning, officials and sources said.

The chaotic incident unfolded at about 6:45 a.m. when a 2.5-ton capacity Light Medium Tactical Vehicle carrying the crew for summer training flipped over on a dirt road off Route 293 near the Camp Natural Bridge training site, the US Military Academy tweeted.  Continue reading “Cadet killed, 22 injured in military vehicle accident at West Point”

AOL

Police departments in at least five states are investigating, and in some cases condemning, their officers’ social media feeds after the weekend publication of a database that appears to catalog thousands of bigoted or violent posts by active-duty and former cops.

The posts were uncovered by a team of researchers who spent two years looking at the personal Facebook accounts of police officers from Arizona to Florida. They found officers bashing immigrants and Muslims, promoting racist stereotypes, identifying with right-wing militia groups and, especially, glorifying police brutality. All the posts were public. Continue reading “Racist, violent posts by police: Departments investigating”

KBTX TV

BRYAN, Tex. (KBTX) – A local businessman says the city of Bryan is trying to tear down his business. But the city says it’s more of a safety issue.

“Things have only gotten worse, not better,” said C.E. Hodde, owner of a motorcycle parts and accessories store in Bryan.  Continue reading “Local businessman suing the City of Bryan over building dispute”

WSAZ News

COAL GROVE, Ohio (WSAZ) — UPDATE 6/3/19 @ 10:53 a.m.
The Village of Coal Grove has lifted a do not drink order after pink water ran through the water system.

Hundreds of people woke up to pink water in their taps and toilets Monday morning. Officials said the water was not dangerous for people, but possibly bad for clothing. Continue reading “Do not drink order lifted as village works on pink water issue”

LA Times

The Energy Department’s most environmentally important and technically ambitious project to clean up Cold War nuclear weapons waste has stalled, putting at jeopardy an already long-delayed effort to protect the Columbia River in central Washington.

In a terse letter last week, state officials said the environmental project is at risk of violating key federal court orders that established deadlines after past ones were repeatedly missed.

Continue reading “Nation’s most ambitious project to clean up nuclear weapons waste has stalled at Hanford”

New York Post – by Lee Brown

A Virginia Beach city worker was confronted by gunman DeWayne Craddock three heart-stopping times during the workplace slaughter — but was spared each time.

Ned Carlstrom said he assumed it was an active-shooter drill when he first came face to face with his co-worker carrying an “obnoxious-looking gun” during Craddock’s slaughter of 12 people on Friday.  Continue reading “Virginia Beach shooting survivor was spared three times during massacre”

KBTX TV

BRYAN, Tex. (KBTX)- Texas lawmakers have passed a bill that will allow DNA samples to be taken during felony arrests. That sample will then be put in a national DNA database and run against existing unsolved crimes.

The Department of Public Safety estimates that obtaining DNA samples during intake would expand the database to more than 40,000 defendants per year.  Continue reading “Texas lawmakers pass bill that will expand DNA database”

Texas Monthly – by Christian Wallace

The horizon was thick with iron derricks. All around us, pumpjacks were scattered across the muddy fields like an army of giant iron grasshoppers. They bowed their bulky heads and lifted rich extractions from the earth: a record 3.5 million barrels of crude every day. In fact, half of the U.S. drilling rigs in operation that day were boring holes in the surrounding mesquite-studded pastures.   Continue reading “The Permian Basin Is Booming With Oil. But at What Cost to West Texans?”

Reason – by C.J. Ciaramella

A bill would have closed a notorious loophole that lets Texas police departments hide records of jail deaths. But it failed to pass the Texas legislature, thanks to fierce opposition from one of the most powerful police unions in the state.

Texas enacted a statute in 1997 exempting records of police investigations that didn’t end in a conviction from the state’s public record law. The aim was to protect the privacy of innocent suspects, but police departments soon figured out they could also use it to withhold information on deaths in police custody, since you don’t convict a suspect who’s dead.  Continue reading “Texas Police Union Kills Effort To Close State’s ‘Dead Suspect Loophole’”

AOL

GROVE CITY, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s health authority on Friday ordered a newly opened hospital outside Columbus to immediately flush and disinfect its water lines and take other steps to protect the public’s health after seven patients were diagnosed with potentially fatal Legionnaires’ disease.

The Ohio Department of Health said in a statement that the first Mount Carmel Grove City patient diagnosed with Legionnaires’, a severe form of pneumonia, was admitted to the 200-bed hospital April 29, the day after it opened. The statement described state Health Director Amy Acton’s adjudication order as a rare event.  Continue reading “7 patients at new Ohio hospital diagnosed with Legionnaires’”

AOL

LAKEWOOD, Wis. (AP) — Word of the arrest — via a friend’s text message — hit Wayne Sankey like a thunderbolt.

“I said, ‘You gotta be kidding me,'” Sankey recalled. “And then I told the wife and she couldn’t believe it. ‘There’s no way,’ she said. ‘Ray down the road?'”  Continue reading “Arrest in 43-year-old murder case stuns Wisconsin town”

Daily Mail

Hundreds of thousands of activists are preparing to paralyse London with mass demonstrations during Donald Trump’s state visit next week.

More than 20,000 police officers will be deployed at 20 separate events planned across the country in a security operation expected to cost about £18million.  Continue reading “Protesters vow to paralyse London during the President’s visit with marches, a rude robot and THAT blimp”

Daily Mail

A man set himself on fire near the White House on Wednesday morning with shocking footage showing him engulfed in flames.

Video of the incident was posted online showing the unidentified individual walking calmly across the Ellipse near the Washington Mall, an area popular with tourists, with flames covering his body.  Continue reading “Man sets himself on fire and calmly strolls around a lawn outside the White House”

Newshub – by Vita Molyneux

A hilarious video of a man with an unusual passenger has surfaced online.

The video, thought to be shot in rural Pakistan, shows the man speeding along the road with what looks like a bundle of blankets. 

As a person filming from pulls up alongside the motorbike, the bundle of blankets turns out to be a well wrapped up cow – and not a small one either.  Continue reading “Man rides motorcycle with cow as passenger in Pakistan”