From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — A police officer in suburban Dallas has resigned after he was recorded on video pushing a teenage girl to the ground outside a pool party and brandishing his gun at other teens.
Officer David Eric Casebolt’s actions were “indefensible,” though he was not pressured to quit, McKinney Police Chief Greg Conley said at a press conference after the officer submitted his resignation Tuesday. Continue reading “Officer recorded in Texas pool party incident resigns”
US journalist Mark Dice has asked the people of San Diego to sign President Barack Obama’s “plan” to nuke Russia to “maintain America’s superiority.” The majority of beachgoers didn’t appear to get the joke, and signed the fake petition.
The “experiment” was recorded on video, which Mark Dice then shared on his Twitter, YouTube and Facebook accounts. Continue reading “‘Obama zombies’: Americans sign prankster’s petition to nuke Russia”
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he has no alternate plan if the Supreme Court invalidates a key benefit of his health care law and he places the burden on the Republican-controlled Congress to fix the law if the high court wipes out insurance for millions of Americans.
Voicing confidence he will prevail before the court, Obama insisted Monday that the health care law is working and that the justices “will play it straight” and leave the law intact. Should he lose, he added: “Congress could fix this whole thing with a one-sentence provision.” Continue reading “Obama: Congress can fix health law if court rules against it”
McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — Hundreds of demonstrators marched Monday night to the pool where a white police officer pinned a black teenage girl to the ground and pulled a gun on others over the weekend. The protesters carried signs that included the phrases, “My skin color is not a crime” and “Fire Eric Casebolt.”
Some community activists in McKinney, an affluent, predominantly white Dallas suburb, have accused Casebolt, a 41-year-old officer, of racism. Others urged calm until the facts are investigated. According to neighbors, a woman who lives in the community reserved the pool for a party, said Benét Embry, a black local radio personality who witnessed the Friday incident. The homeowners’ association limits the number of guests each homeowner may have at the pool to two. But about 130 people, mostly kids, showed up. At one point, several kids began jumping over the fence to get into the pool area and were causing a disturbance, Embry said, and a couple of fights broke out. Continue reading “Protests follow video of officer drawing gun on black teens”
New Jersey state police in riot gear were dispatched to MetLife stadium with tear gas, armored vehicles and a helicopter to disperse an unruly crowd of youths reportedly trying to break through a jammed door during the Summer Jam festival.
Thousands of concert-goers hoping to attend what was advertised as “the hottest hip hop event of the year” were faced with sealed and barred doors at MetLife stadium, while a thick line of armored police faced off against rioters just outside the building’s entrance. Continue reading “Arrests, tear gas at NJ stadium as riot police face bottle-throwing youths”
TRANG BANG, Vietnam (AP) — He stands in the northbound lane of Vietnam’s Highway 1, traffic swirling around him, horns honking. He is pointing. Right there, he says — that’s where it happened. That’s where the screaming children appeared. That’s where I made the picture that the world couldn’t forget.
Huynh Cong “Nick” Ut was 21 on that day more than half a lifetime ago when he stood on the same road, pointed his camera northeast and captured one of history’s most famous images — a naked Vietnamese girl screaming and fleeing after South Vietnamese planes looking for Viet Cong insurgents attacked with napalm from the air. Continue reading “‘Napalm girl’ photographer returns _ with iPhone, Instagram”
DANNEMORA, N.Y. (AP) — Investigators are looking into whether civilian employees or private contractors helped two convicted killers obtain the power tools they used to break out of a maximum-security state prison near the Canadian border, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.
Cuomo said during a round of appearances on television morning news shows that he’d be shocked if a prison guard was involved in the escape from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, 20 miles south of the border. Continue reading “Cuomo: Prison escape probe focuses on likely ‘inside’ help”
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The United States government is defending itself against a Chinese tourist’s $10 million injury claim with the testimony of a surprising witness — a border agent the government initially fired and charged criminally in the case.
Customs and Border Protection employee Robert Rhodes, who was cleared of wrongdoing and reinstated, said he jumped at the chance to testify in the lawsuit filed by Zhao Yan, even though the U.S. government’s prosecution of him left him bankrupt. Continue reading “US government challenges Chinese tourist’s injury claim”
A man rushed inside his car and set it and himself alight at a gas station in the city of Austin, Texas. But the alleged suicide attempt was unsuccessful – he was saved by two police officers, though he received injuries.
The dashcam video that recorded the moment was published by Austin Police Department, which said that on Tuesday they “responded to a check welfare call … for a man threatening to light his vehicle on fire.” Continue reading “Blazing Texas: Man sets car, himself on fire, blast throws policemen clear”
ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Flooding in Ghana’s capital swept stored fuel into a nearby fire, setting off a huge explosion at a gas station that killed 73 people and set alight neighboring buildings, authorities said Thursday.
The blast took place as dozens of people sought shelter at the gas station and in nearby shops in central Accra to escape the torrential rains. The disaster raised anew concerns over the city’s inadequate infrastructure. Continue reading “Flooding sparks Ghana gas station blast, killing at least 73”
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A 67-year-old man who was convicted of killing four men more than three decades ago has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to keep him from becoming the oldest Texas prisoner put to death in an execution scheduled for Wednesday evening.
Lester Bower Jr. faces lethal injection for the October 1983 fatal shootings at an airplane hangar on a ranch near Sherman, about 60 miles north of Dallas. Prosecutors say he killed the four after stealing an airplane that he had been trying to buy from one of his victims. Continue reading “Texas inmate, 67, set for execution in slayings 31 years ago”
A newly introduced bill in the US Senate would require states to collect information on incidents in which people are shot, injured or killed by police officers. It would bring transparency and accountability to law enforcement departments nationwide.
Senators Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) and Barbara Boxer (D-California) introduced the bill – dubbed the Police Reporting of Information, Date and Evidence Act – on Tuesday, arguing it would provide information on cases when civilians are harmed by law enforcement that would help federal, state and local officials better protect the public as well as police officers. Continue reading “New bill would force states to provide data on police shootings”
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has signed into law the USA Freedom Act, which extends three expiring surveillance provisions of the 9/11-era USA Patriot Act. It also overhauls the most controversial provision, which had been interpreted to allow bulk collection of U.S. phone records by the National Security Agency.
Questions and answers about the bill the Senate passed on Tuesday and the House approved earlier: Continue reading “Questions and answers about newly approved USA Freedom Act”
Oklahoma’s Republican governor recently signed a bill that stops local lawmakers from banning hydraulic fracturing or other oil and gas drilling operations.
Governor Mary Fallin said the legislation affirms the three-person Oklahoma Corporation Commission as the primary regulator of oil and gas drilling, adding the agency allows for “reasonable” restrictions regarding setback, noise, traffic issues and fencing. She said the bill was needed to prevent a patchwork of municipal regulations across the state. Continue reading “Oklahoma lawmakers officially prohibit local fracking bans”
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Despite a fatal lion attack the previous day, business ran pretty much as usual on Tuesday at the Lion Park north of Johannesburg, and visitors were driving through with all their windows rolled up.
An American woman — still unidentified — was killed by a lioness Monday when the animal attacked her through a car window. The car’s windows were open, contrary to park rules, park management said. Scott Simpson, assistant operations manager at the Lion Park, said Tuesday that it is “operating as usual” except the area where the attack occurred has been closed off. At the entrance, tour guides and private operators shepherded dozens of visitors into the park, driving minibus taxis and safari vans covered in wire mesh. Continue reading “Business as usual at SAfrican lion park after fatal attack”
JIANLI, China (AP) — Divers on Tuesday pulled three people alive from inside a capsized cruise ship and searched for other survivors, state media said, giving some small hope to an apparently massive tragedy with well over 400 people still missing on the Yangtze River.
The tally of those brought to safety stood at 15 and at least five people were confirmed dead after the ship capsized during a storm Monday night with 458 people aboard, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The cruise was from Nanjing to the southwestern city of Chongqing, and many of those aboard were elderly. Continue reading “Survivors pulled from China boat capsizing; hundreds missing”
The US Department of Defense has granted 307,123 waivers to the Buy American Act since 2007, according to a new report. Instead of investing in home production, it has spent over $176 billion of taxpayers’ money on goods produced by foreign firms.
US Senator Chris Murphy has released his report on the US Department of Defense’s (DoD) overuse in a bid “to sound the alarm over the billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of Buy American waivers used by the federal government.” Continue reading “‘Buy American Act almost meaningless’: Report says foreign firms get billions of taxpayer money”
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — In 55 years as a fugitive, Frank Freshwaters got caught twice.
The first time, in 1975, the escaped Ohio inmate’s good behavior helped him avoid a trip back to prison when West Virginia’s governor refused to extradite him, citing Freshwaters’ “flawless 16-year residency,” according to records obtained by The Associated Press. Continue reading “Twice-caught fugitive’s clean life led to decades of freedom”
CHULA VISTA, Calif. (AP) — Police say the wife of a gunman and two children have emerged safely from a San Diego-area apartment after a standoff began when the man killed a neighbor.
The three walked out of the apartment in Chula Vista shortly before 4 p.m. Thursday and got into a police car that drove away. Police have not given the relationship between the adults and the two boys. One of them is 8 years old. The other is younger but his exact age is unclear. Continue reading “Wife of gunman, 2 kids leave safely from California standoff”
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The Colorado River is expected to crest two feet lower than previously expected in and around the southeastern Texas city of Wharton, where residents have been asked to evacuate about 300 homes. City spokeswoman Paula Favors said Friday that river level is expected to crest Saturday morning at 43 feet, not the 45 feet predicted Thursday.
She says a 43-foot crest would likely flood several residential streets in low-lying areas of Wharton, a city of roughly 8,500 residents about 60 miles southwest of Houston. Favors says residents have been good about heeding the warnings to head for higher ground. Continue reading “Latest on Flooding: River’s Threat Reduced for Texas City”
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