Fox News

A group of Upstate New York fire officials on Monday ordered a department to stop flying American flags from its trucks, calling the patriotic display a “liability” and a possible “distraction.”

Firefighters from the Arlington Fire District in the town of Poughkeepsie removed the flags from three trucks during a ceremony Tuesday, The Poughkeepsie Journal reported.   Continue reading “US flags called ‘liability,’ ordered removed from New York fire trucks”

Public Intelligence Blog

EDIT: Some seem confused about why we sought permission to post this original work by Wayne Madsen. This is not about Marco Rubio being a very active gay in his youth and perhaps still today, this about Marco Rubio’s duplicity in relation to Christian evangelicals – we support gay candidates for office, we do not support people who lie about their secret lives and are therefore subject to blackmail or control as part of the price they pay for lying.   Continue reading “Wayne Madsen: Marco Rubio Gay Homosexual Duplicity Update”

NBC News

A huge sinkhole that won’t stop growing has shut down a stretch of Highway 101 in coastal Oregon.

“It’s massive. There’s just no other way to describe it,” Jared Castle, Department of Transportation spokesman for southwest Oregon, told NBC News.

The state closed down part of 101 in Harbor, Oregon, on Thursday night due to the sinkhole, which is the second sinkhole in as many months in the area. The first one opened on Dec. 13 in a restaurant parking lot next to the highway and, like Thursday’s sinkhole, just kept growing.   Continue reading “‘It’s A Monster’: Massive Sinkhole Closes Part of Oregon Highway 101”

Yahoo News

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group has bought U.S. film studio Legendary Entertainment for about $3.5 billion, turning its chairman into a Hollywood movie mogul as China’s richest man steps up a drive to diversify his business empire overseas.

At a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday, Wanda Chairman Wang Jianlin said he plans to package Legendary, behind hits like “Jurassic World”, with existing movie production assets in China and sell shares in the merged operation in an initial public offering (IPO).   Continue reading “Wanda goes to Hollywood: China tycoon’s firm buys film studio Legendary for $3.5 billion”

Fox News

Gun control advocates are launching a new regulatory push in California to impose first-in-the-nation instant background checks for ammunition sales, a move that comes as gun violence surfaces as a lightning rod issue in the 2016 presidential race.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democratic candidate for governor in 2018, joined with the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence in announcing the initiative last week.    Continue reading “Top California official pushes ammo background checks”

Fox News

A postmortem exam is being conducted Monday on a 24-year-old Brazilian man who collapsed and died aboard an Irish aircraft Sunday after he bit another passenger.

Cork police arrested a 44-year-old Portuguese woman traveling with the man after discovering five pounds of suspected amphetamine powder in her suitcase.   Continue reading “Brazilian man bites passenger on Irish aircraft, collapses and dies; woman arrested for drugs”

KTVU

A California mother says she refused to let her son complete a homework assignment on Islam, sending back an angry message for his teacher.

Tara Cali, of Bakersfield, uploaded a photo of the worksheet to Facebook, bringing it to the attention of a local news station, KGET-TV.   Continue reading “Mom’s angry note to teacher about Islam assignment goes viral”

SF Gate

A rare cloud formation shone like a pink jellyfish over Costa Rica earlier this week wowing spectators.

The clouds could be seen from the capital San José and west towards the Pacific Ocean.

Marcelo Morales Betancohur, a resident of Escazu, was celebrating Costa Rica’s Independence Day when he spotted the cloud, took a photo and posted it on Instagram. He included the hashtag #ElcieloExtraño, meaning “strange sky.”   Continue reading “Photo of shocking “strange skies” over Costa Rica”

KCRA – by Kevin Oliver

RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. —A man who held a cellphone out of his garage door to see what was happening during a police standoff in Rancho Cordova was shot and injured by Sacramento sheriff’s deputies.

On Friday, Danny Sanchez was undergoing surgery at UC Davis Medical Center to remove bullet fragments after he was hit by deputies’ bullets, according to his father, John Sanchez.   Continue reading “Neighbor shot by deputies in Rancho Cordova standoff”

Fox News – by Tia Ghose, Live Science

It started in late May.

When geoecologist Steffen Zuther and his colleagues arrived in central Kazakhstan to monitor the calving of one herd of saigas, a critically endangered, steppe-dwelling antelope, veterinarians in the area had already reported dead animals on the ground.

“But since there happened to be die-offs of limited extent during the last years, at first we were not really alarmed,” Zuther, the international coordinator of the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative, told Live Science.   Continue reading “60,000 antelopes died in 4 days – and no one knows why”

Fox News – by Eric Boehm

A rancher is taking the Environmental Protection Agency to federal court, asking a judge to stop the agency from fining him more than $16 million because he built a small pond on his property.

Andy Johnson of Fort Bridger, Wyoming says he made sure to get the proper permits from his state government before building the pond. After all, this is America in the 21st century, and nothing done on your own property — certainly when it involves the use of water — is beyond government concern.    Continue reading “Wyoming man files suit over massive EPA fines for building pond”

KCRA – by Matt Egan

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) —General Electric shares mysteriously plummeted 21 percent on Monday in the midst of the unprecedented 1,089-point plunge on the Dow.

It was a stunning moment for GE, one of America’s most iconic companies. An astonishing $53 billion of its value vanish in mere seconds — before rapidly recovering nearly as quickly.   Continue reading “The mysterious 21% plunge in GE’s stock”

KCRA – by Tom Miller

PLACERVILLE, Calif. (KCRA) —They came by the dozens, then hundreds.

Fueled by frustrations over a perceived unequal representation in state government, supporters of creating a new state in Northern California packed the El Dorado County supervisor’s chambers in an effort to win their support.

The state of Jefferson would be made up of California’s 20 northernmost counties with a population of approximately 1.7 million people, similar to the number of people living in Idaho.   Continue reading “New Northern California state proposal draws interest”

KCRA – by Claire Doan

VACAVILLE, Calif. (KCRA) —A contaminant in Vacaville’s water supply exceeded new state standards, prompting the city to recently send out notices to residents about hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium-6.

“Our water system violated a drinking water standard,” the notice said, but went on to add that it is “not an emergency” or not an “immediate risk.”

Chromium-6, naturally occurring in the environment in this case, can be hazardous if consumed in large quantities.   Continue reading “Vacaville residents concerned about chromium levels in water”

KCRA

SAN FRANCISCO —Authorities say a magnitude 3.3 earthquake has rattled the San Francisco Bay Area, but no injuries or property damage is reported.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake hit at 1:26 p.m. Sunday, about 8 miles west of San Francisco.

Some San Francisco residents are reporting feeling a quick jolt.   Continue reading “Magnitude 3.3 earthquake hits San Francisco Bay Area”

KTVU – by Paul Chambers

ROHNERT PARK, Calif. (KTVU) — The lawyer for a man who says he was unarmed and minding his own business when a Rohnert Park police officer pulled a gun on him on Thursday announced his client plans to sue the city over the incident.

The man shot cell phone video of the officer drawing his service revolver that will be central to the case.   Continue reading “Man who took video of Rohnert Park cop pulling gun to sue city”

Fox News

Puerto Rico’s government said Friday it would not make a $58 million bond payment due on the weekend and warned that the general fund will run out of liquidity by November if no action is taken.

Gubernatorial Chief of Staff Victor Suárez said at a news conference that the island’s Public Finance Corporation could not meet the payment due Saturday.

“We don’t have the money,” he said, adding that the government still hopes to reach an agreement with creditors on renegotiating its debts.   Continue reading “Puerto Rico says island has no money available to make $58M bond payment”

Fox News

Baltimore reached a grim milestone on Friday, three months after riots erupted in response to the death of Freddie Gray in police custody: With 45 homicides in July, the city has seen more bloodshed in a single month than it has in 43 years.

Police reported three deaths — two men shot Thursday and one on Friday. The men died at local hospitals.   Continue reading “Baltimore killings soar to a level unseen in 43 years”

KTVU 2

A 6.9-magnitude earthquake Sunday night in the central Aleutian Islands in Alaska is definitely not strong enough to send a tsunami to the Bay Area, a tsunami program manager with the National Tsunami Warning Center said.

Tsunami program manager Cindi Preller said the threshold for the occurrence of a tsunami is a 7.0-magnitude earthquake, which might be enough to generate a tsunami near the quake’s origin.   Continue reading “6.9 quake in Alaska poses no Tsunami threat”

Fox News – by Scott Steepleton

An illegal immigrant from Mexico doing time in a federal prison for unlawfully reentering this country is set to appear before a judge next week over his alleged involvement in the killing of a homeless woman 18 years ago in California.

Linda Louise Archer, 43, was beaten to death Aug. 16, 1997, in her campsite off Highway 101 near Castillo Street.   Continue reading “Illegal immigrant nabbed in Calif. cold case killing in homeless camp”