From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
Fox News Channel host Bill O’Reilly lost custody of his teenage children over allegations of domestic abuse by his ex-wife.
The New York Appellate Division unanimously ruled that O’Reilly’s 13- and 17-year-old children should live full time with their mother, Maureen McPhilmy, who was married to the conservative commentator for 15 years. Continue reading “Fox host Bill O’Reilly loses custody of children amid abuse allegations”
A neighborhood in turmoil after the death of a man who police say was wanted on a drug charge is awaiting answers about what led an officer to fatally shoot him as authorities continue investigating.
Eyewitnesses have offered descriptions of what happened to the man after an officer chased him into a backyard, and one woman said she ran down a side street after hearing gunshots. The only thing Raleigh police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown would say is that a gun was found near the man’s body, but did not say whether it was his. Continue reading “Community Awaits Answers After Officer Shoots Man in Chase”
Three men of Sudanese origin were found dead inside an abandoned house in Fort Wayne. Police said they had been shot multiple times “execution style,” but no hate crime is suspected. The killings occurred the same week as the mass shootings in Kalamazoo.
Police found the bodies of Mohamedtaha Omar, 23, Adam Kamel Mekki, 20, and Muhannad Adam Tairab, 17, all of Sudanese origin, on Wednesday evening, AP reported. The crime scene was an abandoned house in Fort Wayne, Indiana, known among locals as a hangout spot for younger immigrants living in the town. Continue reading “3 Sudanese men shot ‘execution style’ in Indiana, police see no hate crime”
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A 17-year-old boy who authorities say was wielding a metal stick was shot and critically injured by Salt Lake City officers Saturday night, touching off unrest downtown as officers donned riot gear and blocked streets and bystanders threw rocks and bottles.
The teenager shot by two Salt Lake City Police officers was in critical condition at a local hospital Sunday after being struck twice in the torso, according to Detective Ken Hansen with the Unified Police Department, which is investigating the shooting. Continue reading “Salt Lake City police shoot teen, face rock throwers”
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea presented a detained American student before the media on Monday in Pyongyang, where he tearfully apologized for attempting to steal a political banner — at the behest, he said, of a member of a church back home who wanted it as a “trophy” — from a staff-only section of the hotel where he had been staying.
North Korea announced in late January it had arrested Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old University of Virginia undergraduate student. It said that after entering the country as a tourist he committed an anti-state crime with “the tacit connivance of the U.S. government and under its manipulation.” Continue reading “North Korea puts tearful detained American before cameras”
PHOENIX (AP) — The Phoenix home where a man gunned down his parents and sisters was always a place of fun family outings. Vic Buckner, 50, manned the grill and was known for his barbecue skills. His wife, Kimberly, 49, was a gracious host. Their daughter Emma, 6, loved drawing and ballet, and older sister Kaitlin, 18, was studying to become an ultrasound technician.
The family bonds were shattered this week when the oldest son, Alex Arthur Buckner, 26, opened fire in the home Tuesday morning, killing his parents and his two sisters. He then shot at officers who tried to rescue the victims, authorities said. Continue reading “Shootings, fire shatter happy family bonds in Phoenix home”
NEW YORK (AP) — A district attorney said Wednesday a young woman who accused five teenage boys of chasing away her father and gang-raping her in a playground has recanted her story and he’s dropping criminal charges against them.
The collapse of the case was no surprise after a series of revelations that challenged the woman’s initial story that she’d been attacked by a group of boys who drove off her father with a gun to get her alone. Continue reading “Woman recants; prosecutor to drop charges in park rape case”
BAILEY, Colo. (AP) — Martin Wirth spent recent years fuming over police brutality and corrupt mortgage companies, fueled by his own run-ins with the law and a yearslong battle to salvage his two-story home in the forested Colorado mountains from foreclosure.
That fight came to a violent end Wednesday when Wirth, 58, shot three law enforcement officers trying to serve an eviction notice, killing one and wounding the others, authorities said. Officers fired back, killing Wirth. Continue reading “Friend: Man who shot Colorado deputies at ‘end of his rope’”
HOUSTON (AP) — Some faculty members at the University of Houston say sensitive subjects may become taboo in their classrooms because of a law allowing Texas public university students to bring guns to class.
Jonathan Snow, president of the faculty senate at the university, told University of Houston regents that staff concerns about the law are growing, the Houston Chronicle reported (http://bit.ly/1KMs1Wz ) Wednesday. Continue reading “Some Texas professors say guns in classes could chill debate”
ROCKLAND, Maine (AP) — Singer Don McLean is pleading not guilty to additional charges stemming from his domestic violence case in Maine. The “American Pie” singer didn’t appear in court during a proceeding related to the case Monday. The Knox County district attorney’s office added five charges against McLean last week, bringing the total to six. Continue reading “Singer Don McLean pleads not guilty to more charges in Maine”
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — As bathrooms become battlegrounds in the national debate over anti-discrimination laws, a city council’s decision to protect the restroom choices of transgender people in Charlotte, North Carolina, was cheered Tuesday by rights advocates as a courageous move. But it may not stand for very long. Continue reading “Bathrooms become battlegrounds in anti-discrimination debate”
MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian opposition activist bluntly accused Chechnya’s Moscow-backed regional leader of involvement in the killing of a prominent Kremlin foe, describing the Chechen strongman as a top security threat to Russia in a report released Tuesday.
Ilya Yashin said he had “no doubt” that Ramzan Kadyrov was behind the killing of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead on Feb. 27, 2015, outside the Kremlin in Moscow. Yashin said he was sure the suspected triggerman, an officer in Kadyrov’s security force, and his alleged accomplices wouldn’t have acted without Kadyrov’s approval. Kadyrov has denied the accusations and the official probe has failed to identify the mastermind behind the murder. Continue reading “Report blames Chechen leader over killing of Kremlin critic”
BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP) — Burundi’s president promises to release 2,000 people detained during months of violent unrest, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday while visiting the violence-plagued country. Continue reading “UN chief: Burundi leader promises to release 2,000 prisoners”
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed to “once and for all” close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and transfer remaining detainees to a facility in the U.S., though his plan does not specify where.
Obama said that despite significant political hurdles and congressional opposition he is making one last effort to shutter the facility. “I don’t want to pass this problem on the next president, whoever it is. Are we going to let this linger on for another 15 years?” he said, in an appearance at the White House. “Keeping this facility open is contrary to our values. It undermines our standing in the world. It is viewed as a stain on our broader record of upholding the highest standards of rule of law.” Continue reading “Obama: Guantanamo Bay undermines security, must be closed”
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — As details emerge about the night authorities say Jason Dalton has admitted gunning down six randomly chosen victims in and around Kalamazoo — attacks apparently carried out over hours during which he also ferried passengers around town as an Uber driver — any hint as to why remains stubbornly elusive. Continue reading “Details only deepen mystery surrounding Kalamazoo shootings”
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The Syrian government and the main umbrella for Syrian opposition and rebel groups announced on Tuesday they both conditionally accept a proposed U.S.-Russian cease fire that the international community hopes will bring them back to the negotiating table in Geneva for talks to end the war.
The announcement came after the United States and Russia agreed on a new cease-fire for Syria that will take effect on Saturday, even as major questions over enforcement of that truce have been left unresolved. Continue reading “Syria government, opposition accept US-Russia proposed truce”
The Battle of Saipan was a turning point in the Allied war against Japan. US Private First Class Thomas Davis earned a Silver Star for risking his life to rescue an injured comrade during the bloody fight – and apparently, he also lost his dog tag.
Flash forward 70 years, to 2014, when historian Genevieve Cabrera found his tag sticking out of the soil on a farm. Continue reading “Closure: Rare WWII dog tag to be returned to soldier’s family”
PANMUNJOM, North Korea (AP) — Tensions have increased significantly along the Demilitarized Zone since North Korea’s recent nuclear test and rocket launch, a North Korean military official told The Associated Press on Monday, adding that while he could not comment on operational details, “the reality is that it is touch and go.”
Though parts of the world’s most fortified border can seem like a tourist trap, drawing throngs of camera-happy visitors on both sides every year, to the military-trained eye the Cold War-style standoff along the 257-kilometer (160-mile) DMZ — established when the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty — is an incident waiting to happen. Continue reading “Tensions rising on DMZ, North Korean officer tells AP”
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — Jason Dalton lived with his wife and two kids in a small ranch-style house in a rural area of Michigan and shuttled people around the Kalamazoo area for the ride-sharing service Uber.
The 45-year-old former insurance adjustor had no known criminal history before he was arrested Sunday in a series of seemingly random shootings that killed six people, including a father and son shopping at a car dealership and a retired teacher at a restaurant. He’s expected to appear in court Monday on murder charges. Continue reading “Neighbors say Kalamazoo suspect showed no signs of violence”
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The mother of a man who shot four Mississippi law enforcement officers and was killed in a shootout says authorities refused to let her talk to her son during nearly six hours of negotiations.
Katherine Hudson said she thinks family members could have convinced Charles Lee Lambert, 45, to end the standoff without bloodshed. Lambert had holed up in a house near Iuka in northern Mississippi. Authorities stormed the house early Saturday and Lambert began shooting. James Lee Tartt, 44, an agent in the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, was killed and three other officers were wounded in the shootout that followed. Continue reading “Mother: Family might have ended standoff without bloodshed”