Mail.com

MARKSVILLE, La. (AP) — Two law-enforcement officers jailed on murder charges for a 6-year-old autistic boy’s fatal shooting in central Louisiana have been targets of previous complaints that they used excessive force or neglected their duties.

Residents have filed a string of civil lawsuits against Derrick Stafford, 32, and Norris Greenhouse Jr., 23, who have worked as police officers in Marksville but were moonlighting as city marshals when they allegedly opened fire on Chris Few and his son, Jeremy Mardis, inside a car on Nov. 3.   Continue reading “Marshals jailed for boy’s shooting death sued in other cases”

Mail.com

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland has been a magnet for young, creative adults for over a decade, beckoning droves with its quirkiness, liberal appeal and quality of life. But the city’s popularity has had another effect: Those who helped make it cool can’t afford to live here anymore.

A wave of evictions and skyrocketing rents are putting apartments out of reach of many, especially those working part-time, low wage or artistic jobs. It’s even harder to afford a house. Some Portlanders are now looking for better-paying work. Some are giving up and leaving.   Continue reading “With rents skyrocketing, Portland’s creatives pushed out”

RT

In what is a true milestone for the US, shifting demographics have led to a traditionally Polish-Catholic city in Michigan electing ‘the first-ever’ Muslim-majority council in America’s history.

The city of Hamtramck held a recent election, with a total of six candidates vying for three seats. The top three vote-winners were all Muslim. The result is now a six-member council, with four of the members Muslims. Two of the councilors were incumbent and one seat occupied by a Muslim was not up for re-election.   Continue reading “Making US history: ‘First-ever’ Muslim-majority council elected in Michigan town”

RT

Canada’s new government has given the city of Montreal the go-ahead for its plans to dump billions of liters of untreated sewage into the St. Lawrence River. The city says it may damage the environment, but the government says the alternatives are worse.

The dump would last for about a week that is needed to make critical repairs to the city’s waste-water system. Over that time an estimated 7.5 billion liters of contaminated fluid will be discharged. The work must be completed before December 5.   Continue reading “Montreal to dump billion-liter load of raw sewage into St. Lawrence River”

Mail.com

MARKSVILLE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana man lay wounded in the hospital as his 6-year-old son was laid to rest, both victims of a shooting authorities say was carried out by two law enforcement officers who now face charges.

A police body camera recorded the father, Chris Few, with his hands up and posing no threat as police fired into his car, severely wounding Few and killing his son, the man’s lawyer said. “This was not a threatening situation for the police,” said Mark Jeansonne, an attorney for Chris Few, who remained hospitalized and could not attend Monday’s funeral of his son, Jeremy Mardis.   Continue reading “Boy buried after police shooting, father still in hospital”

Mail.com

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The regional parliament of Catalonia launched a plan Monday to set up a road map for independence from Spain by 2017, defying warnings from the central government in Madrid that it is violating the nation’s constitution.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pledged to halt the effort. The chamber, based in the northeastern city of Barcelona, passed the secession resolution by 72 votes to 63. The proposal was made by pro-secession lawmakers from the “Together for Yes” alliance and the extreme left-wing Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP). The groups together obtained a parliamentary majority in regional elections in September that they presented as a stand-in plebiscite on independence after the central government in Madrid refused to allow an official referendum.   Continue reading “Catalan lawmakers approve plan for secession from Spain”

Mail.com

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A U.S. official says the death toll in a shooting at a regional police training center in Jordan appears to have risen to eight.

Jordanian officials have said four people, including two Americans, were killed when a Jordanian officer opened fire on foreign trainers Monday. The officer was shot and killed by troops, according to Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani.   Continue reading “US official: Jordan shooting death toll apparently reaches 8”

RT

Campus employees at New York University made a grisly discovery while carrying out maintenance work as they came across coffins and skeletons buried beneath a famous Greenwich Village square. Anthropologists now hope to try and identify those buried for over two centuries.

The workers were replacing a water main next to Washington Square Park, one of New York’s best loved public spaces and long a hangout for intellectuals, musicians and protesters, when they found the remains of what is believed to be part of a Presbyterian church cemetery, an archaeologist said.   Continue reading “Village of the dead: Skulls & skeletons found below iconic square in NYC’s Greenwich neighborhood”

Mail.com

SOCASTEE, S.C. (AP) — Searchers found the body of a baby in a swollen, murky South Carolina creek on Thursday, two days after a mother said she put the 5-month-old girl into the water, according to police.

Divers found the body about 3:45 p.m., Horry County police Chief Saundra Rhodes said at a news conference. Later, more than a dozen rescuers gathered in a circle, praying. Some of them wiped their eyes.   Continue reading “Searchers find baby’s body in South Carolina creek”

Mail.com

CHICAGO (AP) — A 9-year-old Chicago boy who was fatally shot this week was “lured” from a park into an alley and executed because of his father’s alleged gang connections, police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said Thursday in a crime he described as among the most “unfathomable” of his 35 years in policing.

Tyshawn Lee, an elementary school student headed to his grandmother’s house, was shot in the head and back Monday in a neighborhood alley on the city’s South Side. McCarthy told reporters Thursday that the slaying was the result of two gangs fighting, potentially in a string of retaliatory events dating back months. He said the boy’s father isn’t cooperating with police.   Continue reading “Police: 9-year-old Chicago boy ‘lured’ into alley and shot”

Mail.com

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A charter bus ran off Interstate 40 and hit a bridge abutment on a foggy night in Arkansas, killing six people and injuring many others who were taken from the scene in ambulances.

Arkansas State Police said the crash occurred about 1 a.m. Friday. A heavy storm had recently passed through the area and left light rain and fog in its wake, but it wasn’t immediately known if weather played a role. A news conference was planned for later Friday morning.   Continue reading “6 killed as bus leaves road in Arkansas, hits bridge support”

RT

Hand guns and rifle sales are spiking in Austria, with some shops reporting they are running out of stocks of shotguns, since no license is needed to buy them.

“Yes, I can confirm, the demand in Austria for weapons is growing. My revenue doubled in September. And in October it has doubled again, and we are still in October,” a gun shop owner told RT.   Continue reading “Austrians snapping up shotguns as thousands of Mideast refugees enter country”

Mail.com

TOKYO (AP) — The film set in Japan after a nuclear catastrophe depicts greed, discrimination, loyalty, beauty — traits made more heartbreakingly human by the cast’s inhuman star — a robot.

In this eerie film, aptly called “Sayonara,” people fearfully wait to be picked for evacuation abroad to flee radiation. Politics is involved. The sick, people with criminal records and foreigners are doomed.   Continue reading “Robot star illuminates human themes in nuclear disaster film”

Mail.com

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Two men killed by an explosion inside a World War II-era tank at an Oregon firing range were participating in a video shoot in a military vehicle owned by one of the victims, a collector who had been filmed for shows on the Discovery Channel, the Smithsonian Channel and a video game commercial.

A crew was filming the tank firing rounds when the blast occurred Tuesday east of the city of Bend, killing vehicle owner Steven Todd Preston, 51, and Austin Tyler Lee, 22, Deschutes County Sheriff L. Shane Nelson said.   Continue reading “Victim of blast in vintage tank appeared in TV shows, ads”

Mail.com

DALLAS (AP) — Four people kidnapped a woman and held her captive for three days in a San Antonio-area home, forcing her to ingest drugs and at one point conducting a “blood ritual,” a sheriff’s spokesman said Wednesday.

Authorities believe Mercedes Salazar, 32, was the ringleader who orchestrated the woman’s captivity, according to James Keith, spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. Salazar is being held on charges that include aggravated kidnapping, he said.   Continue reading “Texas woman used in ‘blood ritual’ while being held captive”

RT

The Pentagon has awarded B-2 bomber producer Northrop Grumman with a lucrative contact to develop the next-generation of stealth bombers. The aerospace giant beat Boeing and Lockheed Martin after an intense four-year competition.

“Building this bomber is a strategic investment in the next 50 years, and represents our aggressive commitment to a strong and balanced force,” Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said during a Pentagon briefing announcing the contract.   Continue reading “Pentagon names winner of multibillion dollar stealth bomber contract”

Asbury Park Press – by Steph Solis and Andrew Ford

WALL – A veteran state trooper whose duties included providing security at the Statehouse in Trenton faces drunken driving charges after officials said he crashed his marked police cruiser Monday afternoon in a Garden State Parkway rest area.

Sgt. First Class Michael Roadside, 51, had an open container of alcohol in his patrol car when he rear-ended a white Audi in the Monmouth Service Area near Exit 100 around 2 p.m., according to a news release Tuesday from State Police. No one was injured in the crash, described in the release as “minor,” but Roadside, a 28-year veteran,  was immediately relieved of his duty weapon and taken into custody.   Continue reading “State trooper charged with DWI on Parkway”

Mail.com

BOSTON (AP) — A Salem, Massachusetts, woman who calls herself a witch priestess is taking a self-proclaimed warlock to court over accusations of harassment.

Lori Sforza, who runs a Salem witchcraft shop and leads a pagan church, filed for court-ordered protection against harassment from Christian Day, whose website calls him the “world’s best-known warlock.” Sforza accused Day of harassing her online and over the phone for three years. The two will meet in court on Wednesday.   Continue reading “Salem witch takes warlock to court over alleged harassment”

Mail.com

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — African Union investigators discovered mass graves in South Sudan and found evidence of horrific crimes, including forced cannibalism, according to a long-awaited report. President Salva Kiir’s faction in the conflict is also accused of recruiting an irregular tribal force before the outbreak of war in December 2013.

The report, released late Tuesday, also disputes that there was a coup attempt in December 2013 by former Vice President Riek Machar. Government troops carried out organized killings of members of the ethnic Nuer in Juba, the capital, the report said. When violence broke out, Machar, a Nuer, became a rebel leader. He and Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, recently signed a peace agreement.   Continue reading “AU report cites mass graves, cannibalism in South Sudan”

Mail.com

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Albert Ake pointed to his niece in the promotional photos featuring a small chamber bubbling with a cottony cloud of liquid nitrogen at a Las Vegas cryotherapy center.

Chelsea Patricia Ake-Salvacion liked working at Rejuvenice Cryotherapy so much that she stayed behind when her boyfriend moved back to Hawaii to take a new job, Ake said Tuesday. Ake-Salvacion, 24, planned to spend another year in Las Vegas before opening a similar business of her own in the islands, Ake said.   Continue reading “Spa worker found frozen to death inside cryotherapy tank”