KQED

San Francisco supervisors voted 8 to 1 Tuesday to ban the use of facial recognition software by police and other city departments, becoming the first U.S. city to outlaw a rapidly developing technology that has alarmed privacy and civil liberties advocates.

The ban is part of broader legislation that requires city departments to establish use policies and obtain board approval for surveillance technology they want to purchase or are using at present. Several other local governments require departments to disclose and seek approval for surveillance technology. Continue reading “San Francisco Bans Police, Municipal Use of Facial Recognition Technology”

LA Times

Doris Day, a leading box office star of the mid-20th century who achieved indelible fame in big-screen bedroom farces and put a sunny face on the working woman in postwar America, has died. She was 97.

The Doris Day Animal Foundation confirmed Day died early Monday at her Carmel Valley, Calif., home. The foundation said she was surrounded by close friends.

Continue reading “Doris Day dies; legendary actress and singer was 97”

The Weather Channel

As the swollen Mississippi River continues to rise in the South, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a statewide emergency amid continuing torrential downpours and storms.

In an effort to relieve stress on New Orleans levees, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the Bonnet Carré spillway about 28 miles north of the city on Friday.  Continue reading “Louisiana Declares Statewide Emergency as Mississippi River Rises; Army Corps Opens Spillway”

Fox News

FAWN RIVER TOWNSHIP, Mich. – The Latest on a 9-year-old boy accused in the fatal shooting of his mother in southern Michigan (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

Court records show a 9-year-old boy has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of his mother with a rifle in their southern Michigan home.  Continue reading “9-year-old boy charged in mom’s shooting death”

AOL

The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over an unredacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and President Trump’s efforts to obstruct the probe.

“This is not a step we take lightly,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said before the vote. “This is a culmination of three months of requests, discussions and negotiations with the Department of Justice.”  Continue reading “House committee votes to hold Attorney General Barr in contempt”

The Denver Post

Denver is poised to become the first city in the nation to effectively decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms.

After trailing in results postings Tuesday night and early Wednesday, final unofficial results posted late in the afternoon showed a reversal of fortune — with Initiative 301 set to pass narrowly with 50.6 percent of the vote. The total stands at 89,320 votes in favor and 87,341 against, a margin of 1,979.  Continue reading “Denver first in U.S. to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms”

Axios

The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr. to answer questions about his previous testimony before Senate investigators in relation to the Russia investigation, sources with direct knowledge told Axios.

Why it matters: It’s the first congressional subpoena — that we know about — of one of President Trump’s children. The subpoena sets up a fight that’s unprecedented in the Trump era: A Republican committee chair pit against the Republican president’s eldest son.

Continue reading “Senate Intel subpoenas Trump Jr. over Russia matters”

Weather Channel

Flash flooding has killed at least one person and prompted evacuations, road closures, school closings and rescues in Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma as storms trek across the Midwest and southern Plains.

The severe weather may also be responsible for a fire that broke out at a natural gas refinery in Columbia County, Arkansas, Wednesday evening. KSLA News reported the fire was caused by a lightning strike. A dispatcher for the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office told weather.com that firefighters were on the scene but no other information was available. A portion of US Highway 371 was reportedly closed as they battled the blaze.  Continue reading “Flash Flooding Kills 1, Prompts Rescues, Evacuations in Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma; Tornado Reported in Texas”

Washington Examiner – by Cassidy Morrison

Three Kennedys have rebuked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his fierce opposition to vaccinations and his help in spreading “dangerous misinformation over social media” about vaccine safety.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Joseph P. Kennedy II, and Maeve Kennedy McKean wrote in a Politico op-ed published Wednesday that while they support RFK Jr.’s crusade to save the environment, “however, on vaccines he is wrong. And his and others’ work against vaccines is having heartbreaking consequences.”  Continue reading “Kennedy family denounces RFK Jr. over anti-vaccine stance”

Penn Live – by Steve Maronni

LONDONDERRY TOWNSHIP – When more than 600 workers leave the area, that ripple effect will be felt throughout the region.

That’s 600 people and their families who will have to relocate to other parts of the country if they still want to work for Exelon, the owners of Three Mile Island.  Continue reading “Loss of Three Mile island will be major economic hit to region”

The Oregonian – by Everton Bailey Jr.

A Portland man who offered four times to pay a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent thousands of dollars to have his estranged wife and daughter deported last year was sentenced Monday to four months in prison.

Antonio O. Burgos, 48, and his wife were in the process of divorcing when he followed an ICE deportation officer from the agency’s Portland office to Vancouver last May, offered the agent money to deport his family to El Salvador after the officer pulled over and confronted him and gave the officer his contact information after he was turned down, federal prosecutors said.  Continue reading “Portland man who offered ICE agent $4,000 to deport estranged wife, child gets 4 months in prison”

USA Today

HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — A “juvenile female” was identified as the second suspect in a shooting rampage at a suburban Denver school that left one student dead and eight others wounded, authorities said Wednesday.

Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said Devon Erickson, 18, and the unnamed girl opened fire in two classrooms Tuesday at STEM School Highland Ranch, igniting chaos as students ran for cover and hid in closets and under desks.  Continue reading “Second suspect in Colorado school shooting is a girl, sheriff says”

NBC News

A senior at the Colorado school where two fellow students opened fire Tuesday, killing one and injuring eight, recalled the moment one of the shooters, a male classmate, pulled out a gun in her English class.

Nui Giasolli, a student at STEM School Highlands Ranch, a K-12 school in a Denver suburb, was in her British literature course when the shooting occurred.  Continue reading “‘Next thing I know he is pulling a gun’: Colorado student on school shooting that killed 1, injured 8”

ABC 13 News

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The Harris County District Attorney’s Office will determine whether a sheriff’s deputy should be charged with a crime for knocking a man to the ground after encouraging the man to slap him.

The deputy involved did not have his body camera on at the time, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. ABC13 Eyewitness News obtained video that was recorded on another deputy’s body camera.  Continue reading “Deputy knocks 61-year-old man to ground outside IHOP”

KOCO News – by Abigail Ogle

GUTHRIE, Okla. — A 28-year-old man who is a young father suffered a major stroke.

Josh Hader of Guthrie tore an artery in his neck leading to his brain. The cause of the stroke? He popped his neck.  Continue reading “28-year-old Oklahoma man suffers stroke from cracking his neck”

AOL

TAPACHULA, Mexico — Hours after a mass escape from an immigration detention center in southern Mexico, throngs of detained migrants raised their fists in the air Friday and chanted “We want food! We want out!”

It was the largest mass escape from a Mexican immigration center in memory and the latest example of how the government has become overloaded by a flood of Central American, Cuban and Haitian immigrants.  Continue reading “Hours after mass escape, migrants chant for food, freedom”

Daily Mail

A once-prominent New York City surgeon who told police officers ‘I’m the hero’ during a parking ticket dispute in 2016 won a $1.2 million lawsuit on Friday, after successfully arguing the cops used excessive force.

Rachel Wellner, 43, initially filed a $30 million suit against the city, claiming her civil rights were violated when an officer allegedly pushed her and grabbed her arm during a traffic stop in Midtown, three years ago.  Continue reading “Surgeon who told police ‘I’m the hero’ during a traffic dispute and then hit a cop with her car as she tried to flee the scene wins $1.2 million lawsuit after claiming officers used excessive force”

TxDPS

Texans will be able to stock-up on select emergency preparation supplies and not have to pay taxes on the items the weekend of April 28-30. The bill for the sales tax exemption was passed in the 84th Legislature.

This year’s holiday begins at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, April 28, and ends at midnight on Monday, April 30.  Continue reading “Emergency Preparation Supplies Sales Tax Holiday! April 28-30”

ABC Action News

A Florida man has been hospitalized at a Tampa hospital after contracting a life-threatening flesh-eating bacteria while fishing out in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mike Walton is being treated at Tampa General Hospital for flesh-eating disease, necrotizing fasciitis, a bacterial infection that’s extremely rare in the United States.  Continue reading “Flesh-eating bacteria infects Florida man fishing off coast of Palm Harbor in Gulf of Mexico”