Month: September 2014

Mail Tribune – by Mark Freeman

A Monday afternoon wildfire roared through part of the Northern California city of Weed, burning more than 100 structures and leading to the evacuation of more than 1,500 people and a three-hour closure of Interstate 5 before firefighters quelled the flames.

The Boles fire was more than 400 acres and 0 percent contained late Monday night. The destroyed or damaged structures in and around Weed included Roseburg Forest Products mill buildings and at least one church, according to the California Department of Forestry.   Continue reading “Fast-growing wildfire burns 100 homes in Weed, Calif.”

New York Times – by JONATHAN WEISMAN

WASHINGTON — The House will likely vote Wednesday to grant President Obama the authority to train and equip Syrian rebels to battle the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, but Republicans will insist on a detailed accounting of how the program fits into a broader strategy to defeat the militants, Republican aides said Monday.

House Republican leaders plan to offer the ISIS legislation as an amendment to a broader bill to keep the government funded into December and the Export-Import Bank open through June. The Senate would try to pass the bill by the end of the week.   Continue reading “House Expected to Vote on Training Syrian Rebels to Fight ISIS”

Yahoo News – by Julie Pace

The United States would retaliate against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s air defenses if he were to go after American planes launching airstrikes in his country, senior Obama administration officials said Monday.

Officials said the U.S. has a good sense of where the Syrian air defenses, along with their command and control centers, are located. If Assad were to use those capabilities to threaten U.S. forces, it would put his air defenses at risk, according to the officials, who insisted on anonymity in order to discuss the administration’s thinking on the matter.   Continue reading “AP Sources: US would retaliate against Assad”

Daily Mail – by DAVID MARTOSKO

The United States government is sending thousands of military troops to the west African nation of Liberia as part of the Obama administration’s Ebola virus-response strategy, the White House said late Monday night.

‘U.S. Africa Command will set up a Joint Force Command headquartered in Monrovia, Liberia, to provide regional command and control support to U.S. military activities and facilitate coordination with U.S. government and international relief efforts,’ a statement from the White House press office said.   Continue reading “US to send 3,000 troops to Ebola danger zone as Obama administration shuffles military’s mission in Africa”

KRGV 5 News

WESLACO – A new court opinion could have a big impact on the thousands of Central American women and children who have fled violence in their countries and recently arrived in the United States.

The opinion focused on a woman fleeing Guatemala because she was a victim of domestic violence. No one disputed the facts of the case.   Continue reading “Court Opinion May Benefit some Immigrants”

KRGV 5 News

McALLEN – State officials released new details about the Texas Department of Public Safety surge in the Rio Grande Valley.

The report states troopers face threats even when they are not on the clock. It also highlights the growing violence in the region. Crimes never before made public were revealed.   Continue reading “State Officials Release Report on DPS Surge”

Variety – by Dave McNary

The National Labor Relations Board has ordered CNN to rehire 100 workers and compensate 200 others for a labor dispute that originated in 2003.

The 11-year dispute stems from CNN’s decision to replace a unionized subcontractor called Team Video Services, which provided the network with audio and video technicians, with an in-house nonunion work force in its Washington and New York bureaus.   Continue reading “Labor Board Orders CNN to Rehire 100 Fired Employees”

New York Times – by MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT

WASHINGTON — Militants for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have traveled to Mexico and are just miles from the United States. They plan to cross over the porous border and will “imminently” launch car bomb attacks. And the threat is so real that federal law enforcement officers have been placed at a heightened state of alert, and an American military base near the border has increased its security.   Continue reading “U.S. Pushes Back Against Warnings That ISIS Plans to Enter From Mexico”

Breitbart – by Merrill Hope

DALLAS, Texas — The ideological battle over the Texas Social Studies textbook adoption process is inching towards a showdown as the State Board of Education (SBOE) convenes to hear public comment on the classroom learning materials followed by reviewer reports and the board’s recommendations for history, geography and civics books. It’s all part of the state’s multi-month review process that is meant to be transparent but leftwing attack dogs are trying to convince Americans that school books have been taken hostage by rightwing fundamental evangelicals, according to Politico with an assist from the Washington Post.   Continue reading “Proposed Texas Textbooks Are Full of Progressive Bias, Says Curriculum Accuracy Expert”

Breitbart – by ILDEFONSO ORTIZ

LUBBOCK, Texas — A U.S. Army soldier in uniform allegedly tried to smuggle illegal aliens into Texas, according to court records obtained by Breitbart Texas. Authorities claim the soldier attempted to drive across a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint with two illegal immigrants hiding in his vehicle.

The court records show Border Patrol agents working the immigration checkpoint in Sarita, Texas arrested Eric Rodriguez earlier this week.   Continue reading “US Soldier Allegedly Smuggled Illegal Aliens Into Texas”

NoDisInfo

Is it normal for family members who just realized that their loved one suffered a gruesome death to be filled with happiness and smiles? ًThen, what about family members who realize that this loved one was just butchered to death through a savage beheading?

A ‘public’ beheading? Really? Moreover, virtually all the known relatives are smiling and/or smirking? No one sheds even the slightest tear? Who finds such inanity believable?

How would any person really react to the thought that, for instance, such a one’s son or brother was just slaughtered on video in cold blood before the entire world?   Continue reading “The Smiley Faces of the James Foley Beheading Hoax”

Concealed Nation – by Brandon

A family who owns a convenience store in Houston has been the subject of numerous robberies since they first opened three years ago. During this robbery though, the store owner sent an entirely different message.

The day was uneventful until a man came barging into the store with a shotgun. He went up to the counter and pointed it directly at the cashier. The cashier’s brother, 20-year-old Usman Seth, wasn’t about to let anything happen to his sister.   Continue reading “Convenience Store Owner Takes Down Armed Robber After He Threatened His Sister”

Huffington Post

The proportion of coal miners who suffer from an advanced form of black lung disease has skyrocketed in central Appalachia in recent years, according to experts with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

In a letter published Monday in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the NIOSH scientists wrote that the prevalence of progressive massive fibrosis, or PMF, a particularly lethal form of black lung, had reached its highest rate since the 1970’s in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia.   Continue reading “Black Lung Disease Rates Skyrocket To Highest Levels Since 1970s”