Author: Sunfire

Mail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Officials are calling the death of a black man who they say was repeatedly stabbed with a sword by a white U.S. Army veteran an assault on the city’s inclusiveness and diversity. James Harris Jackson, of Baltimore, had taken a bus to New York to target black men, authorities said. He encountered Timothy Caughman, who was collecting bottles from trash cans, and stabbed him in his chest and back with a 26-inch sword, Assistant Chief William Aubry said. Jackson, 28, had been wandering the streets in a long overcoat, which concealed the sword, Aubry said.   Continue reading “Official: Sword death of black man is assault on diversity”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — More people sought U.S. unemployment benefits last week, but applications are still at a low level that points to a healthy job market. THE NUMBERS: Weekly unemployment benefit applications rose 15,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 258,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week average ticked up 1,000 to 240,000.   Continue reading “Applications for US jobless aid rise to still-low 258,000”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Middle-age white Americans with limited education are increasingly dying younger, on average, than other middle-age U.S. adults, a trend driven by their dwindling economic opportunities, research by two Princeton University economists has found.

The economists, Anne Case and Angus Deaton, argue in a paper released Thursday that the loss of steady middle-income jobs for those with only high school diplomas or less has triggered broad problems for this group. They are more likely than their college-educated counterparts, for example, to be unemployed, unmarried or afflicted with poor health.  Continue reading “Why a lack of education raises death risk for some Americans”

Mail.com

BEIRUT (AP) — U.S. aircraft ferried Syrian Kurdish fighters and allied forces behind Islamic State lines on Wednesday to spearhead an assault on a strategic town belonging to the extremist group outside its de facto capital, Raqqa, the Pentagon said, marking the first time U.S. forces have provided airlift for local forces on a combat operation in Syria.

The airlift was part of what Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon described as a large, high-priority offensive to secure the area around Tabqa and the associated Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates River. “This is a significant strategic target,” said Pahon. If successful, the operation would “basically cut ISIS off” from the western approaches to Raqqa.   Continue reading “US forces ferry Syrian-Kurdish fighters behind IS lines”

Mail.com

BOSTON (AP) — The former head of a Massachusetts pharmacy was convicted Wednesday of racketeering and other charges over a meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people across the country and was traced to fungus-contaminated drugs.

Prosecutors said Barry Cadden, 50, ran the business in an “extraordinarily dangerous” way by skirting regulations on cleanliness to boost production and make more money. Cadden, president and co-founder of the now-closed New England Compounding Center, was charged with 25 counts of second-degree murder, conspiracy and other offenses under federal racketeering law.   Continue reading “Ex-pharmacy exec convicted in deadly meningitis outbreak”

Mail.com

MARKSVILLE, La. (AP) — Christopher Few remembers hearing the gunshots that tore into his flesh and killed his 6-year-old autistic son. The barrage of bullets didn’t stop when he stuck his hands out the window of his car in a sign of surrender.

But the 26-year-old father of Jeremy Mardis testified Tuesday that he never heard any warnings before two Louisiana law enforcement officers fired 18 bullets at his car at the tail end of a 2-mile (3-kilometer) chase.   Continue reading “Father: No warning before officers fired on car, killing son”

Mail.com

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — During a night of vodka, cocaine, marijuana and video games, Joey Meek listened as a childhood buddy confided that he hated blacks so much he was going to kill them at a South Carolina church.

Meek said he thought his friend was all talk until a week later, when news broke of a deadly shooting rampage at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. But instead of calling authorities, Meek talked another friend out of going to police and giving them Dylann Roof’s name. And then he lied to the FBI about his conversation with Roof.   Continue reading “Tearful friend of Dylann Roof apologizes at sentencing”

RT

Global crude benchmarks staged a recovery on Tuesday on reports production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could be extended.

North Sea Brent crude was trading 45 cents higher, slightly above $52 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate gained 38 cents, trading at $48.60.   Continue reading “Oil prices rise as OPEC considers extending cuts”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch faces hours of questioning from senators as frustrated Democrats are determined to press him on everything from abortion and guns to his independence from President Donald Trump.

Republicans are unanimously supporting Gorsuch, and certain to give him what cover they can as he appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for Day 2 of his confirmation hearings on Tuesday. But Democrats made clear on the first day that they were in no mood to “rubber stamp a nominee selected by extreme interest groups and nominated by a president who lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes,” as Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont put it.   Continue reading “High court nominee to face daylong questioning in Senate”

Mail.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A teacher accused of kidnapping a 15-year-old female student in Tennessee had been investigated by the school system after another student reported seeing him kiss the girl, a lawyer for the missing girl’s family said.

Yet according to attorney Jason Whatley and school records, teacher Tad Cummins was allowed to continue working at Tennessee’s Culleoka Unit School for two weeks. Culleoka is about 60 miles south of Nashville near the Alabama state line.   Continue reading “Tennessee teacher had been reported kissing missing student”

Mail.com

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Jurors are set to hear attorneys’ opening statements Monday for the trial of a Louisiana law enforcement officer charged with murder in the shooting death of a 6-year-old autistic boy.

Derrick Stafford, 33, is one of two deputy city marshals charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder over the November 2015 shooting that killed Jeremy Mardis and critically wounded his father, Christopher Few, after a car chase in Marksville.   Continue reading “Jurors to hear opening statements in officer’s murder trial”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Battered by a nude photo-sharing scandal, the Marine Corps has issued a longer and more detailed social media policy that lays out the professional and legal ramifications for service members culpable of online misconduct. Among the coming changes: a requirement that all Marines sign a statement acknowledging they have read and understand the new guidelines.   Continue reading “Battered by scandal, Marines issue new social media policy”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thirteen months after Antonin Scalia’s death created a vacancy on the Supreme Court, hearings get underway on President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace him. Judge Neil Gorsuch, 49, is a respected, highly credentialed and conservative member of the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. His nomination has been cheered by Republicans and praised by some left-leaning legal scholars, and Democrats head into the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Monday divided over how hard to fight him.   Continue reading “Senate hearings get underway on Trump Supreme Court pick”

Mail.com

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jeff Jones, president of the embattled ride-hailing company Uber, has resigned just six months after taking the job, the company confirmed Sunday. In a brief statement, Uber didn’t say why Jones left. “We want to thank Jeff for his six months at the company and wish him all the best,” it said.

Jones told the tech blog Recode, which first reported his resignation, that his values didn’t align with Uber’s. “The beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber, and I can no longer continue as president of the ride sharing business,” he said in a statement.   Continue reading “President of embattled Uber leaves after 6 months on job”

Mail.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Police say an officer was shot in the hip in Ohio’s capital city at a home where the gunfire suspect was arrested and another man was shot in the leg. Columbus police say a 22-year-old man shot at police entering an apartment house to search for illegal drugs under a warrant Wednesday night. They say the officer returned fire, and the man dropped his weapon.   Continue reading “Police: Ohio officer, man hit by gunfire amid drug search”

Mail.com

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — Rejecting arguments from the government that President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban was substantially different from the first one, judges in Hawaii and Maryland blocked the executive order from taking effect as scheduled on Thursday, using the president’s own words as evidence that the order discriminates against Muslims.   Continue reading “2 federal judges find new Trump travel ban discriminatory”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump unveiled a $1.15 trillion budget on Thursday, a far-reaching overhaul of federal government spending that slashes many domestic programs to finance a significant increase in the military and make a down payment on a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Trump’s proposal seeks to upend Washington with cuts to long-promised campaign targets like foreign aid and the Environmental Protection Agency as well as strong congressional favorites such as medical research, help for homeless veterans and community development grants.   Continue reading “Trump budget slashes agencies to focus on wall, defense”

RT

Amid a staffing shortage and regular budget deficits of $250 million, Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on cosmetic changes for his deputies’ uniforms.

McDonnell insists the change is important to maintaining the professional appearance of the LA County Sheriff Department’s deputies. Changing the color of the belt buckles from silver to gold will make all the little pieces of brass in the uniform, such as the tie clips, lapel pins and six-pointed star badges all the same color, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.    Continue reading “LA County sheriff to spend $300k on gold belt buckles for deputies”