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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The driver accused of plowing into a crowd enjoying a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans had a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit, police said. The New Orleans Police Department issued a statement identifying the man as 25-year-old Neilson Rizzuto. He’s being held at the city’s jail on charges of first-degree negligent vehicular injuring, hit-and-run driving causing serious injury and reckless operation of a vehicle.   Continue reading “Mardi Gras crash suspect’s alcohol level nearly triple limit”

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CHICAGO (AP) — An influential doctors group is beefing up warnings about marijuana’s potential harms for teens amid increasingly lax laws and attitudes on pot use. Many parents use the drug and think it’s OK for their kids, but “we would rather not mess around with the developing brain,” said Dr. Seth Ammerman.

The advice comes in a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics, published Monday in Pediatrics. The group opposes medical and recreational marijuana use for kids. It says emphasizing that message is important because most states have legalized medical use for adults, and many have decriminalized or legalized adults’ recreational use.  Continue reading “Pediatricians warn against pot use: Not your dad’s marijuana”

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Money is being raised to repair and restore more than 100 headstones that were vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia while police hunt for the person who toppled them. A man visiting Mount Carmel Cemetery on Sunday called police to report that three of his relatives’ headstones had been knocked over and damaged. The discovery came less than a week after similar vandalism in Missouri.   Continue reading “Money being raised to restore vandalized Jewish cemetery”

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MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Police Department is operating a stop-and-frisk program that mostly targets black and Latino residents who are often detained without cause, the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin alleges in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of six black and Latino plaintiffs who say they’ve been stopped once or multiple times since 2010 without a citation or clear explanation. The lawsuit alleges the stop-and-frisk program is citywide but is concentrated in areas largely populated by minorities, including the predominantly black neighborhoods in the north of the city, creating a “deepened public fear of and alienation from” the police.  Continue reading “Lawsuit accuses Milwaukee police of illegal stop-and-frisks”

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BAGHDAD (AP) — Backed by the U.S.-led international coalition, Iraqi forces fought their way Thursday into a sprawling military base outside of Mosul and onto the grounds of the city’s airport, taking control of the runway amid fierce exchanges of fire with Islamic State militants.

The two-pronged advance is part of a major assault that started earlier this week to drive the Islamic State group from the western half of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city The Iraqi federal police units, backed by regular army forces, entered the airport on Thursday morning, according to two police officials who said heavy clashes were underway hours later with IS militants hunkered down inside several airport buildings.   Continue reading “US-backed Iraqi forces enter Mosul airport, military base”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservatives are praising the Trump administration’s rollback of public school bathroom requirements for transgender students, saying the move corrects a legal overreach by the Obama administration that is best left for states to decide. Transgender rights advocates, meanwhile, are vowing to overcome a major setback.

“We’re not discouraged. And we’re going to keep fighting like we have been and keep fighting for the right thing,” said Gavin Grimm, a transgender teen who sued his Virginia high school over its bathroom access policy and whose case is set to be heard by the Supreme Court next month.   Continue reading “End of transgender bathroom rule gets conservative praise”

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CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — Most of the Dakota Access pipeline opponents abandoned their protest camp Wednesday ahead of a government deadline to get off the federal land, and authorities moved to arrest some who defied the order in a final show of dissent.

The camp has been home to demonstrators for nearly a year as they tried to thwart construction of the pipeline. Many of the protesters left peacefully, but police made some arrests two hours after the deadline.   Continue reading “Most oil pipeline opponents leave North Dakota protest camp”

RT

US investment bank Citi has posted a bullish prediction about oil prices. As supply and demand levels continue to rebalance, crude is likely to reach $70 per barrel by the end of 2017, the bank said in a note.

However, the increase will come gradually, and a surge is to be expected a few months later, said Citi.   Continue reading “Oil prices will surge to $70 per barrel by year-end – Citi”

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — In statehouses across the country, lawmakers with loved ones who fell victim to drugs are leading the fight against the nation’s deadly opioid-abuse crisis, drawing on tragic personal experience to attack the problem.

A Minnesota state senator whose daughter died of a heroin overdose in a Burger King parking lot — a friend hid the needles instead of calling for help — spearheaded a law that grants immunity to 911 callers. In Wisconsin, a state representative has introduced more than a dozen opioid-related bills in the years since his daughter went from painkillers to heroin to prison. A Pennsylvania lawmaker whose son is a recovering heroin addict championed a state law that expanded availability of an antidote that can reverse an overdose.   Continue reading “State lawmakers channel grief into fight against opioids”

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CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — The last people remaining at a Dakota Access pipeline protest camp prayed and set fire to a handful of wooden structures on Wednesday, hours ahead of a deadline set by the Army Corps of Engineers to close the camp.

Some of the praying protesters said burning the structures — which appeared to include a yurt and a teepee — was part of the ceremony of leaving. As heavy rain turned to snow, some said they expected no trouble during the eviction, despite a heavy law enforcement presence.   Continue reading “Pipeline protesters pray, set fires ahead of camp closing”

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BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s government-sanctioned paramilitary forces, made up mainly of Shiite militiamen, launched a new push Wednesday to capture villages west of the city of Mosul from Islamic State militants, officials said.

The forces’ spokesman, Ahmed al-Asadi, said on Wednesday that the villages being targeted are located southwest of the town of Tal Afar, still held by the Islamic State group. The spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades, Jaafar al-Husseini, said the troops captured the villages of Sharia and Khirbat al-Jahish.   Continue reading “Iraqi Shiite militias push to take villages west of Mosul”

RT

Oil prices are stuck in a holding pattern, waiting for more definitive data on what comes next. OPEC compliance is helping keep prices afloat, but rising US oil production is acting as a counterweight.

A new problem that has suddenly emerged is the record levels of gasoline sitting in storage. The market has already had to digest the fact that US crude oil stocks were rising, and investors have done their best to explain away the trend. But now gasoline inventories are climbing to unexpected heights.   Continue reading “Biggest gasoline glut in 27 years could crash oil markets”

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NEW YORK (AP) — Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, a veteran diplomat known as a potent, savvy yet personable voice for his country’s interests who could both spar and get along with his Western counterparts, died suddenly Monday after falling ill in his office at Russia’s U.N. mission.

Vitaly Churkin was taken to a hospital, where he died a day before his 65th birthday, said Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov. The cause of his death was unknown. As Russia’s envoy at the United Nations since 2006 and a diplomat for decades, Churkin was considered Moscow’s great champion at the U.N., where he was the longest-serving ambassador on the powerful Security Council.   Continue reading “Russia’s ambassador to United Nations falls ill, dies at 64”

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TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — An Israeli military court on Tuesday sentenced a soldier to 18 months in prison for his deadly shooting of a Palestinian attacker who lay wounded on the ground, capping a nearly yearlong saga that has deeply divided the country.

The sentence, which included a year’s probation and a demotion in rank, was lighter than expected. Prosecutors had asked for a prison term of three to five years. Palestinians dismissed the sentence as a “joke.”   Continue reading “Israeli court gives soldier 18 months for fatal shooting”

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A federal appeals plans to consider arguments over the constitutionality of Ohio’s lethal injection process as the state tries to start carrying out executions once again. At issue is whether a contested sedative, midazolam, is powerful enough to put inmates into a deep state of unconsciousness before two subsequent drugs paralyze them and stop their hearts.

A related issue is whether Ohio has a realistic chance of finding an alternative drug — a barbiturate called pentobarbital — that once was widely used in executions but has become difficult or, in Ohio’s case, impossible to obtain.   Continue reading “Court considers constitutionality of Ohio execution process”

RT

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit, reportedly for discussions on defeating the Islamic State terrorist group. He said earlier on Monday that the US military is not in Iraq “to seize anybody’s oil.”

“I think all of us here in this room, all of us in America, have generally paid for our gas and oil all along and I’m sure that we will continue to do so in the future,” Mattis told a small group of reporters traveling with him, while discussing his top objectives for the trip, Reuters reports.    Continue reading “‘We’re not here to seize oil’: US defense secretary arrives in Baghdad on unannounced visit”

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Omar Abdel-Rahman, the so-called Blind Sheik convicted of plotting terror attacks in New York City in the decade before 9/11 and spiritual guide to a generation of Islamic militants, has died in a federal prison. He was 78.

Abdel-Rahman, who had diabetes and coronary artery disease, died Saturday at the Federal Correction Complex in Butner, North Carolina, said its acting executive assistant, Kenneth McKoy. The inmate spent seven years at the prison medical facility while serving a life sentence.   Continue reading “Blind cleric behind 1990s terror plots dies in US prison”

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — After decades as the crossroads of prairie populists and checkbook conservatives, Iowa has suddenly become solidly Republican like many of its Midwestern neighbors. It was one of four states — along with Kentucky, Missouri and New Hampshire — that flipped to complete GOP control in the November election, but Iowa’s rush of new legislation has been the most intense.

In an all-night session last week, Iowa lawmakers approved a bill similar to one enacted in Wisconsin six years ago that strips most public sector unions of long-held collective bargaining rights, including health insurance.   Continue reading “Known for political temperance, Iowa moves sharply right”

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NEW YORK (AP) — Demonstrations were held in cities around the U.S. this weekend to support Muslim Americans and to protest President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. More than a thousand people of various faiths rallied in New York City on Sunday.

The “I Am A Muslim Too” event was held in Times Square and was organized by several groups, including the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding. Some protesters waved American flags, while others held signs saying “No Muslim Ban.”   Continue reading “Immigration rallies held around US to support Muslims”

RT

Earth has a concealed continent called ‘Zealandia’ hidden in the Pacific Ocean and attached to New Zealand, according to newly published research.

A team of 11 researchers found that New Zealand and New Caledonia are actually part of a huge 4.9 million sq km (1.89 million square-mile) single slab of continental crust that is separate from Australia.   Continue reading “Zealandia: Study confirms Earth has hidden continent”