Mail.com

FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota officer fatally shot a man in a car with a woman and a child, an official said, and authorities are looking into whether the aftermath was livestreamed in a widely shared Facebook video, which shows a woman in a vehicle with a man whose shirt appears to be soaked in blood telling the camera “police just shot my boyfriend for no apparent reason.”

St. Anthony Police interim police chief Jon Mangseth said the incident began when an officer pulled over a vehicle around 9 p.m. Wednesday in Falcon Heights, a St. Paul suburb that Mangseth’s department serves. Mangseth said he did not have details about the reason for the traffic stop, but that at some point shots were fired. The man was struck but no one else was injured, he said.   Continue reading “Man fatally shot by police in Minnesota; video investigated”

RT

Insurers and police across the country are raising awareness of a new trend in car theft, as thieves have been using laptop computers or other devices to hack a car’s electronics.

For the Houston Police Department, the discovery came after watching surveillance camera footage in which a pair of thieves used a laptop computer to start a 2010 Jeep Wrangler before stealing it from the owner’s driveway. Police said the same method was used in four other thefts of late-model Wranglers and Cherokees.   Continue reading “Car hacking: Insurers say car thieves may use laptops in crimes”

Mail.com

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana police officer shot and killed a man following a confrontation outside a Baton Rouge convenience store, authorities said. An autopsy shows Alton Sterling, 37, of Baton Rouge, died Tuesday of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and back, said East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Dr. William Clark.

Officers responded to the store about 12:35 a.m. Tuesday after an anonymous caller indicated a man selling music CDs and wearing a red shirt threatened him with a gun, said Cpl. L’Jean McKneely. Two officers responded and had some type of altercation with the man and one officer fatally shot the suspect, McKneely said. Both officers have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard department policy, he said.   Continue reading “Louisiana officer fatally shoots suspect, sparking protests”

RT

Recoverable oil reserves in the United States now tops that of both Russia and Saudi Arabia, according to an evaluation by a Norway-based independent oil and gas data firm.

Rystad Energy analyzed reserves around the world, distinguishing between those “in existing fields, in new projects and potential reserves in recent discoveries and even in yet undiscovered fields.” The firm determined that the US has about 264 billion barrels, narrowly besting Russia’s 256 billion and Saudi Arabia’s 212 billion.   Continue reading “US oil reserves top Russia, Saudi Arabia – study”

RT

Wet and foggy weather dampened America’s traditional Independence Day fireworks in Washington, DC, on Monday, but millions watching the public television broadcast might have thought everything was fine after old footage was shown instead.

‘A Capitol Fourth’ is a DC tradition going back 36 years. Every Fourth of July, the Public Broadcasting System shows the fireworks display in the nation’s capital from the West Lawn of the US Capitol building. This year, PBS producers apparently decided the mercurial Washington weather wouldn’t be allowed to rain on their parade. After all, who would know?   Continue reading “Oops: PBS gets around rainy Fourth with fake fireworks footage”

Mail.com

CHICAGO (AP) — Abner Mikva, a liberal legend from Illinois who served in all three branches of government and mentored a young Barack Obama years before the fellow Democrat became president, has died. He was 90.

Mikva died Monday of cancer in hospice care at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Brian Brady, national director of Mikva Challenge, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Mikva Challenge is a nonprofit leadership organization that the statesman founded. Brady said he learned of the death from Mikva’s daughters.   Continue reading “Abner Mikva, liberal voice from Illinois, dies at 90”

Mail.com

BALTIMORE (AP) — There will be no trial by jury for the highest-ranking police officer charged in the death of a young black man whose broken neck inside a police van caused civil unrest in Baltimore.

Lt. Brian Rice has chosen to be tried instead by a judge, his lawyers said Tuesday — the same one who already acquitted two fellow officers in Freddie Gray’s death. Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams denied a defense motion to dismiss the case against Rice, whose trial begins Thursday on charges of manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office.   Continue reading “No jury for Baltimore officer charged in Freddie Gray death”

RT

“Please, tell the world what she’s really like,” implored Patricia Smith when recounting Hillary Clinton’s aggressive on-air denial of the facts of their private conversation about the death of her son, Sean Smith, in the 2012 attack on the US embassy in Libya.

The interview comes on the heels of a new report compiled by House Republicans that accuses the Obama administration of deliberately responding to the assault slowly – for political gain. It also adds to the evidence against Hillary Clinton, who as then-Secretary of State flatly denied telling any of the victims’ families about the video Innocence of Muslims, which emerged online shortly prior to the terrifying attack and was later presented by the Obama administration as the suspected motivating factor behind it.   Continue reading “‘She lied to me, then called me a liar on TV’: Mother of slain Benghazi victim on Hillary Clinton”

Mail.com

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Facing a multibillion-dollar deficit, Alaska’s governor on Wednesday cut in half the annual checks that give all residents a share of the state’s oil wealth, but he kept enough money in place to award everyone a $1,000 payout.

Gov. Bill Walker’s administration said the checks had to be reduced in order to save the program. The veto “preserves that ability to provide a check to every citizen in this state forever,” his budget director, Pat Pitney, said.   Continue reading “Alaska governor limits annual oil-wealth checks to $1,000”

Mail.com

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A grizzly bear attacked and killed a 38-year-old mountain biker as he was riding along a trail just outside Glacier National Park, Montana authorities said. Brad Treat and another rider were in the Halfmoon Lakes area of the Flathead National Forest Wednesday when they apparently surprised the bear, Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said.

The bear knocked Treat off his bike, and the second rider left to look for help, Curry said. Authorities found Treat’s body at the scene, but not the bear. Wildlife and law-enforcement officials were searching for the grizzly Wednesday evening.   Continue reading “Grizzly kills mountain biker near Glacier National Park”

Mail.com

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A judge sentenced a career criminal to life in prison Wednesday for a brutal home invasion beating caught on a nanny cam after listening to the victim describe how the attack left her with physical and psychological scars.

Shawn Custis said nothing during the hearing and held a folder of papers in front of his face during the proceeding to block photographers from taking his picture. The woman, who testified against Custis during the trial, gasped and sobbed in the gallery after state Superior Court Judge Ronald Wigler pronounced the sentence and referred to the 45-year-old man as “vicious, depraved and evil.”   Continue reading “Man convicted of beating caught on nanny cam gets life term”

RT

A woman nearing her 100th birthday could be evicted from her apartment in San Francisco over legal fees. This time the fight isn’t with a real estate developer, but with her neighbors who want to convert her apartment into a condo.

Iris Canada, 99, has lived in her home for more than half a century, but she is facing eviction over $164,000 in legal fees that were accrued during a fight in housing court over a previous eviction notice. She won that case.   Continue reading “99yo woman faces eviction from San Francisco apartment she rented for life”

Mail.com

FULSHEAR, Texas (AP) — Authorities on Tuesday released 911 calls that capture the panic in the home of a Houston-area mother before she killed her two daughters, as well as in the home of a neighbor after the shootings.

The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office released recordings of two 911 calls from Christy Sheats’ home and one from a neighbor’s home. Sheats fatally shot her two daughters before an officer killed her.   Continue reading “911 calls capture moments surrounding daughters’ shootings”

Mail.com

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The bodies of dozens of suspected drug peddlers have turned up in the Philippines in recent weeks, providing an eerie backdrop to the swearing-in on Thursday of Rodrigo Duterte, who has warned of a bloody presidency in his bid to eradicate crime.

Some of the dead were killed in gunfights with police; others mysteriously turned up on the street. One was dumped with sign: “Don’t follow me or you’ll die next.” The numbers of bodies have spiked since Duterte swept the May 9 elections on promises to wipe out crime and corruption within six months. That bold pledge won him huge support but also sparked concerns about vigilante justice and a lack of due process.   Continue reading “Drug pusher deaths jump as Philippine leader takes office”

Mail.com

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — The leaders of North America confront a rising tide of economic protectionism and nationalism as they hold a summit Wednesday in the Canadian capital. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the first time is hosting U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in Ottawa for the North American leaders’ summit. Obama will also address the Canadian Parliament.

The meeting comes one day after presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the United States blamed globalization for the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs, and he threatened to extricate the U.S. from the 2-decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump also vowed to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations that has yet to take effect, if he were elected president. And it comes less than a week after Britain voted to exit the European Union.   Continue reading “North American leaders confront rising tide of protectionism”

RT

A new Islamic State video is taunting those grieving after the Orlando mass shooting, celebrating the attack and calling for more like it in San Francisco and Las Vegas. This is the second video praising the Florida massacre – America’s bloodiest so far.

The Sunday video came just as people in SF were celebrating LGBT pride over the weekend, with heightened security measures in place across the city, two weeks after 49 people were gunned down in cold blood at the Pulse gay club in Orlando. Another 53 people were injured in the attack.   Continue reading “Post-Orlando ISIS video calls for lone wolf attacks on San Francisco, Las Vegas”

Mail.com

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The search for courtroom justice in the 1964 “Freedom Summer” killings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi’s Neshoba County is over, more than a half century after they died, but some Mississippians and the relatives of the slain men say the search for another kind of justice still is still ongoing.

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood announced last week there’s no longer any way to gather enough evidence to charge any remaining suspects in the slayings of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner.   Continue reading “Justice quest goes on after ‘Freedom Summer’ court cases end”

Mail.com

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi clerks cannot cite their own religious beliefs to recuse themselves from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, under a ruling a federal judge handed down Monday.

The effect of the ruling by U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves is that the state can’t enforce part of a religious objections bill that was supposed to become law Friday. Reeves is extending his previous order that overturned Mississippi’s ban on same-sex marriage. He says circuit clerks are required to provide equal treatment for all couples, gay or straight. He also said that all 82 circuit clerks must be given formal notice of that requirement.   Continue reading “Judge: Mississippi law creates inequality for gay marriage”

RT

A North Carolina waterpark has closed after a teen girl was killed by a brain-eating amoeba. The 18-year-old got the death disease while taking part in a whitewater rafting.

Authorities said Lauren Seitz was exposed to the amoeba at the US National Whitewater Center (USNWC) when she was riding a raft that overturned.

“Initial test results found naegleria fowleri DNA was present in the whitewater system,” the USNWC said in a statement.   Continue reading “Brain-eating amoeba causes closure of N. Carolina waterpark, after 18-yo girl dies”

RT

A woman has been charged after her six-year-old son accidentally shot and fatally injured his younger brother, aged four, in their home in New Jersey.

The boy was playing with his mother’s loaded gun when he accidentally shot the younger child in the head.

The shooting occurred Saturday around 11:15am at a Norman Street residence in East Orange, according to CBS New York.   Continue reading “Mother charged after 6yo boy fatally shoots younger brother in New Jersey”