Mail.com

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — D’Army Bailey, a lawyer and judge who helped preserve the Memphis hotel where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and turn it into the National Civil Rights Museum, died on Sunday, his wife said. He was 73.

Adrienne Bailey said her husband died after a long illness, surrounded by family at Methodist Hospital in Memphis. Bailey led the fight to preserve the crumbling Lorraine Motel, where King was slain while standing on a balcony on April 4, 1968. King had stayed at the hotel while marching and making speeches on behalf of striking sanitation workers who were protesting low wages and unsafe working conditions.   Continue reading “D’Army Bailey, National Civil Rights Museum promoter, dies”

Mail.com

SAN DIEGO (AP) — For nearly a century, an urn containing the ashes of a Civil War-era Medal of Honor recipient remained in an unmarked grave with other unclaimed remains at a San Diego cemetery.

Thanks to efforts to locate all those awarded the nation’s highest military award, the cremated remains of Army Sgt. Charles Schroeter were found and will be re-buried Thursday at Miramar National Cemetery.   Continue reading “Civil War-era soldier to be buried at national cemetery”

Mail.com

PROVO, Utah (AP) — A young woman convicted in a 50-mile crime spree that left one Utah sheriff’s deputy dead and another wounded was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

State Judge Darold McDade handed down 18-year-old Meagan Grunwald’s term following emotional testimony about the January 2014 chase from the injured lawman. Utah County Sheriff’s Deputy Greg Sherwood told the judge that after he was shot in the head and fighting for his life in his police cruiser, Grunwald drove past him without stopping to help.   Continue reading “Utah woman convicted in deputy’s death gets 30 years to life”

Mail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of New Yorkers accused of low-level or non-violent crimes won’t face the prospect of raising cash for bail under a plan that seeks to keep such suspects out of the troubled Rikers Island jail complex.

The $18 million city plan, detailed to The Associated Press ahead of the announcement on Wednesday, allows judges beginning next year to replace bail for low-risk defendants with supervision options including daily check-ins, text-message reminders and connecting them with drug or behavioral therapy.   Continue reading “NYC to offer non-bail option for some suspects”

Mail.com

DETROIT (AP) — Telling stories of deep anguish, patients and their relatives described Tuesday how a Detroit-area cancer doctor wrecked their lives through excessive treatments and intentional misdiagnoses while he collected millions of dollars from insurers.

A judge set aside nearly four hours to hear from victims of Dr. Farid Fata, who faces sentencing this week for fraud and other crimes. Some entered court with canes. Others wore elastic sleeves on their wrists, their joints weakened by years of unnecessary chemotherapy. They said they were betrayed by a soft-spoken doctor who won their trust but left them devastated.   Continue reading “Patients lash out at ‘monster’ cancer doctor in fraud case”

Mail.com

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (AP) — An F-16 fighter jet smashed into a small plane Tuesday over South Carolina, killing two people and raining down plane parts and debris over a wide swath of marshes and rice fields.

The two people aboard the smaller Cessna were killed, and the plane was completely destroyed, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said. The pilot of the F-16 ejected and “is apparently uninjured,” he said.   Continue reading “NTSB: 2 killed when F-16, small plane crash; jet pilot safe”

RT

Israeli politicians have voted to continue work on a bill to allow hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners to be force-fed. Opponents argue it’s meant to silence convicts through torture similar to the force-feeding in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

The vote passed with a small majority Monday night at the Knesset plenum. The controversial bill, which could be soon fast-tracked into law, would allow prisons to seek official permission to force-feed a prisoner if a doctor advises there is a grave risk to the prisoner’s health.   Continue reading “Israel a step closer to Guantanamo-style force-feeding of hunger-striking prisoners”

Mail.com

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The reclusive beekeeper who co-founded Burt’s Bees, and whose face and wild beard appeared on labels for the natural cosmetics, died on Sunday. Burt Shavitz was 80.

A spokeswoman for Burt’s Bees said in an emailed statement Shavtiz died of respiratory complications in Bangor, Maine, surrounded by family and friends. Shavitz was a hippie making a living by selling honey when his life was altered by a chance encounter with a hitchhiking Roxanne Quimby. She was a single mother and a back-to-the-lander who impressed Shavitz with her ingenuity and self-sufficiency.   Continue reading “Burt Shavitz, the Burt behind Burt’s Bees, dies at 80”

Mail.com

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The fugitive leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army is sickly and in retreat from an international manhunt that includes U.S. forces, a Ugandan military spokesman said Monday, citing the accounts of recent defectors who are backing up reports that the rebel group is in decline.

Joseph Kony is possibly suffering from diabetes, according to defectors who surrendered to Ugandan troops last month in Central African Republic, said Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda. That account is probably true, he said, because Ugandan intelligence over the years “also indicates that Kony has diabetes.”   Continue reading “Fugitive African warlord Joseph Kony is said to be sickly”

Mail.com

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — While it appears there is broad support in the South Carolina Legislature to bring down the Confederate flag, the depth of that support will get its first test this week as lawmakers return to Columbia to come up with a specific plan.

The General Assembly returns Monday to discuss Gov. Nikki Haley’s budget vetoes and what to do with the rebel flag that has flown over some part of the Statehouse for more than 50 years. Several bills have been filed, but details like when to bring down the flag that currently flies on a pole by a monument to Confederate soldiers in front of the state Capitol, whether to put another flag in its place and what kind of ceremony should mark the removal aren’t specified.   Continue reading “South Carolina lawmakers return for Confederate flag debate”

ARCHIVE PHOTO: An oil sheen is seen off the water at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, May 27 2010 (Reuters / Dan Anderson)RT

Under the agreement reached by BP and five US states along the Gulf of Mexico, the British oil major will pay out $18.7 billion over 18 years. The deal resolves the firm of remaining liabilities from the biggest oil spill in US history.

A record $5.5 billion will cover federal penalties under the Clean Water Act. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas will receive payouts for harm done in the oil spill.   Continue reading “BP to pay record $18.7bn over 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill”

Shark attackMail.com

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A shark bit a 68-year-old man several times Wednesday in waist-deep water off North Carolina’s Outer Banks, officials said, the seventh in a record-breaking year of shark attacks for the state’s coastal waters.

A spokeswoman at the Greenville, North Carolina, hospital where he was taken said Wednesday night that the man, Andrew Costello, was in fair condition. He suffered wounds to his ribcage, lower leg, hip and both hands as he tried to fight off the animal, said Justin Gibbs, the director of emergency services in Hyde County. The attack happened around noon on a beach on Ocracoke Island, right in front of a lifeguard tower, he said.   Continue reading “Man bitten by shark on NC Outer Banks is 7th this summer”

Mail.com

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A cross-country road trip got derailed for a former CNN anchor and her husband after a would-be robber forced his way into their motel room and a shootout ensued.

Lynne Russell told reporters Wednesday that her husband, Chuck de Caro, decided to stop at a Motel 6 on Albuquerque’s western edge because they were tired after a long day of traveling. When she went out to the car to get something and returned to the room, a man was at the door with a handgun.   Continue reading “Robber killed in shootout with ex-anchor’s husband at motel”

Mail.com

MARYVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — 7:30 a.m.

A fire official says about 5,000 people and several businesses are being evacuated in a 2-mile radius around a train derailment and fire in eastern Tennessee. Blount County Fire Department Lt. Johnny Leatherwood says a call came in about the derailment at 11:50 p.m. Wednesday. At least one CSX train car carrying a flammable and toxic gas derailed and caught fire. Leatherwood says the fire was still burning at 6:05 a.m. Thursday.   Continue reading “Tennessee toxic train fire: 5000 residents evacuated”

Charles Steele Jr.Mail.com

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The national president of a civil-rights group says Confederate symbols represent “treason” and should be removed from public objects, including the Mississippi state flag.

Charles Steele Jr., head of the Atlanta-based Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said Wednesday at the Mississippi Capitol that Confederate names should disappear from streets and structures. Debate about the prominence of Old South symbols reignited after the June 17 massacre of nine black worshippers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.   Continue reading “Confederate emblems ‘treason,’ says head of rights group”

Mail.com

CAIRO (AP) — The latest news on the coordinated militant attacks in Egypt’s restive northern Sinai Peninsula that killed 64 soldiers (all times local):

7:45 p.m. Egyptian security officials say 64 soldiers have been killed fighting militants in the northern Sinai in the deadliest battle on the peninsula since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. The militants launched a massive, coordinated assault on army and police positions Wednesday, setting off hours of clashes.   Continue reading “The Latest: Massive militant attack kills 64 Egyptian troops”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that the U.S. and Cuba will reopen their embassies in Havana and Washington, heralding a “new chapter” in relations after a half-century of hostility.

“We don’t have to be imprisoned by the past,” Obama said from White House Rose Garden. “Americans and Cubans alike are ready to move forward.” Cuban television broadcast Obama’s statement live, underscoring the new spirit. A state television anchor read a letter from Cuban President Raul Castro to Obama in which he wrote that Cuba is “encouraged by the reciprocal intention to develop respectful relations and cooperation between our people and governments.”   Continue reading “US, Cuba reach agreement to open embassies”

Barack ObamaMail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Salaried workers who earn nearly $1,000 per week would become eligible for overtime pay under a proposal President Barack Obama unveiled Monday, lamenting that too many Americans are working too many hours for less pay than they deserve.

The long-awaited overtime rule from the Labor Department would more than double the threshold at which employers can avoid paying overtime, from the current $455 a week to $970 a week by next year. That would mean salaried employees earning less than $50,440 a year would be assured overtime if they work more than 40 hours per week, up from the current $23,660 a year.   Continue reading “Obama plans dramatic changes in overtime rules”

Mail.com

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma and Florida moved quickly to resume lethal injections after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of midazolam, a sedative that has been used in several problematic executions.

Attorneys general in both states asked courts Monday to allow executions to proceed, just hours after the high court voted 5-4 in a case from Oklahoma that midazolam can be used in executions without violating the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.   Continue reading “Oklahoma, Florida move quickly to resume lethal injections”