Author: Sunfire

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CLEVELAND (AP) — The city of Cleveland is asking Tamir Rice’s estate to pay $500 for ambulance and medical services he received after being shot by a police officer.

The city requested the money as the 12-year-old boy’s “last dying expense” in a creditor’s claim filed Wednesday in Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH’-guh) County Probate Court. The claim states the money is overdue.   Continue reading “$500 bill sent to Tamir Rice’s estate for EMS services”

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PAJU, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday ordered a military takeover of a factory park that had been the last major symbol of cooperation with South Korea, calling Seoul’s earlier suspension of operations at the jointly run facility as punishment for the North’s recent rocket launch a “dangerous declaration of war.”   Continue reading “N. Korea orders military takeover of inter-Korean factories”

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PACIFICA, Calif. (AP) — Sonja Thompson lives so close to the edge of an 80-foot bluff above the Pacific Ocean that when paragliders fly by “you can almost high-five them.”

Having the Pacific as your backyard has its benefits, and its dangers. Crumbling cliffs have forced dozens to leave their homes and others like Thompson may have to join them as EL Nino-fueled storms batter the coast.   Continue reading “California residents live on the edge of crumbling cliffs”

RT

A prominent Black Lives Matter activist has taken his own life in front of Ohio’s Statehouse. MarShawn McCarrel was the founder of Pursuing Our Dreams, a mentorship program, as well as the creator of a homeless outreach program called Feed the Streets.

McCarrel’s family believes his mental health may have been compromised by the emotionally draining work he had undertaken, the New York Daily News reports.   Continue reading “Black Lives Matter activist commits suicide outside Ohio Statehouse”

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NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors will return to court as they consider whether a rookie police officer who shot an innocent man in a dark public housing stairwell accidentally discharged his weapon, as he says, or whether he acted out of recklessness and did little to help the dying victim, as the prosecution contends.

New York Police Department Officer Peter Liang faces up to 15 years in prison if he’s convicted on manslaughter and other charges in the death of 28-year-old Akai Gurley, who was taking the stairs down with his girlfriend rather than wait for an elevator at the Brooklyn complex.   Continue reading “Jury to decide fate of NY officer in stairwell shooting case”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The administration of President Barack Obama is vowing to press ahead with efforts to curtail greenhouse gas emissions after a divided Supreme Court put his signature plan to address climate change on hold until after legal challenges are resolved.

Tuesday’s surprising move by the court is a blow to Obama and a victory for the coalition of 27 mostly Republican-led states and industry opponents, who call the regulations “an unprecedented power grab.”   Continue reading “Obama vows to press ahead on Clean Power Plan after setback”

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SAN DIEGO (AP) — For nearly 50 years, Sirhan Sirhan has been consistent: He says he doesn’t remember fatally shooting Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in a crowded kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

The Jerusalem native, now 71, has given no inkling that he will change his version of events at his 15th parole hearing on Wednesday in San Diego. He is serving a life sentence that was commuted from death when the California Supreme Court briefly outlawed capital punishment in 1972.   Continue reading “Parole hearing set for Robert Kennedy killer Sirhan Sirhan”

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A terse letter from Andrew Clyde’s credit card-processing company explained it was discontinuing his corporate account because his Georgia firearms business “no longer met our underwriting guidelines.” In a panic, Clyde called three other companies, which denied him, too.

After hearing from Clyde and others in the gun business who reported similar treatment, the industry’s trade association launched efforts in several Republican-led Legislatures over the past year seeking to restrict discrimination by financial institutions.   Continue reading “Legislatures consider special protections for gun industry”

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MIAMI (AP) — Federal transportation officials might soon be looking into a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that ran into high winds and rough seas in the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend.

Sen. Bill Nelson has called for the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the voyage that forced frightened passengers into their cabins overnight Sunday as their belongings flew about, waves rose as high as 30 feet, and winds howled outside.   Continue reading “US senator calls for investigation of cruise ship in storm”

RT

The trial of General Christian Piquemal, a respected former French Legion commander who was arrested during Saturday’s anti-migrant rally in Calais, has been postponed after the 75-year-old was hospitalized, his lawyer says.

He was due to appear in court on Monday in the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer.   Continue reading “French general arrested at anti-Islam rally hospitalized, trial postponed – lawyer”

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BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian army troops recaptured a new village north of Aleppo Monday, bringing troops and allied militiamen to within a few kilometers of the Turkish border as part of a major Russian-backed offensive in the area, the Syrian government and opposition activists said.

State-run news agency SANA said army troops took control of the village of Kfeen in the northern countryside of Aleppo “after wiping out the last group of terrorists there.” Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV and the pro-Syrian, Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen station also reported Kfeen’s capture and aired live footage from the village.   Continue reading “Syria troops make more gains in Aleppo, near Turkish border”

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PARIS (AP) — A former French budget minister is appearing in court on charges of tax fraud and money laundering that forced him to dramatically resign three years ago in the first political scandal under President Francois Hollande.

The trial of Jerome Cahuzac, once a champion in the fight against tax evasion, began Monday afternoon in the main hearing room of the Paris criminal court in the presence of dozens of journalists and a large audience.   Continue reading “Ex-French minister in court for tax fraud, money laundering”

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BERLIN (AP) — More than 91,000 asylum seekers arrived in Germany last month, the government said Thursday, underlining the pressure the country faces to diminish the influx of migrants.

The Interior Ministry said 91,671 people were registered as asylum seekers in January, compared to 127,320 who arrived in December. Officials have said that winter weather was the driving force behind the decline.   Continue reading “Germany: over 91,000 asylum-seekers arrived in January”

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Investigators scrambling to recapture a Los Angeles County murder suspect accidentally released from jail have been notifying potential targets of his freedom, interviewing those who know him best and chasing down tips from the public.

Finding 37-year-old Steven Lawrence Wright is the No. 1 priority of the Major Crimes Division at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Cmdr. Keith Swensson said Wednesday. “This is a critical incident because an accused murderer is now out on the street,” Swensson said, adding that dozens of investigators are focused on tracking down Wright.   Continue reading “Manhunt continues for Los Angeles inmate mistakenly freed”

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — It was one of those dreams-come-true moments that lotteries love to promote when “Lucky Larry” Dawson smiled as he claimed a $9 million jackpot, surrounded by his kids and grandkids. Five years later, the Iowa man has become the first plaintiff in litigation that threatens to cost state lotteries millions of dollars following an insider jackpot-rigging scandal.

A Des Moines law firm filed a lawsuit Wednesday on Dawson’s behalf seeking to declare that his Hot Lotto jackpot in May 2011 should have been nearly three times as big, had the previous one not been fixed. It’s the first in what could be several lawsuits filed by players who claim they were ripped off playing games allegedly rigged by Eddie Tipton, former security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association.   Continue reading “First lawsuit in state lottery-fixing scandal seeks millions”

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Johnson & Johnson, continuing its long quest for a Type 1 diabetes cure, is joining forces with biotech company ViaCyte to speed development of the first stem cell treatment that could fix the life-threatening hormonal disorder.

They’ve already begun testing it in a small number of diabetic patients. If it works as well in patients as it has in animals, it would amount to a cure, ending the need for frequent insulin injections and blood sugar testing.   Continue reading “Johnson & Johnson, ViaCyte testing possible diabetes cure”

RT

Americans are 10 times more likely to be killed by a gun compared to people living in other developed nations around the world. This is according to a new study highlighting the “US has an enormous firearm problem.”

The alarming statistics were published in The American Journal of Medicine, as part of a study carried out by researchers from the University of Nevada-Reno and the Harvard School of Public Health. The report was aiming to put America’s relationship with firearms into perspective.   Continue reading “Propaganda: 80% of firearms deaths in developed world happen in US – study”

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MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The pilot of a passenger plane that was damaged in an explosion from a suspected bomb over Somalia described on Wednesday how the crew jumped into action to fly the plane back to Mogadishu airport and keep the passengers calm as smoke enveloped the passenger cabin.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Serbian captain Vlatko Vodopivec said he and others were told the explosion that created a hole in the passenger cabin was caused by a bomb, though civil aviation authority officials said Wednesday they had found no evidence so far of a criminal act in Tuesday’s blast aboard the Airbus 321 jetliner.   Continue reading “Pilot of plane hit by explosion describes unfolding scene”