Month: June 2019

Fortune – by Shawn Tully

Erin Burrus has endured some misfortune in recent years: After a cancer diagnosis, she lost her home to foreclosure. Today she’s healthy again, and a stable job in sales has helped her mend her finances. “I’m climbing my way back up,” says Burrus. One symbol of her stability is the two-­bedroom home she shares with her husband and their children in Greenwood, a solidly middle-class suburb of Indianapolis. The family rents the place rather than owning their home. But it was important to Burrus that they not be in an apartment. “I wanted to get a house with a yard for the kids, for that family atmosphere,” she says.  Continue reading “Meet the A.I. Landlord That’s Building a Single-Family-Home Empire”

Press Herald

RANDOLPH, N.H. — Seven people were killed in a crash between a truck and several motorcycles in New Hampshire, state police said Friday, in what witnesses described as a “devastating scene” as bystanders grabbed first aid kits and blankets to treat injured motorcycle riders scattered along the highway.

State police said that a 2016 Dodge 2500 pickup truck collided with the riders on Route 2 in Randolph. Authorities said additional details would be provided as they investigate the crash.  Continue reading “Seven killed in crash between truck and motorcycles in New Hampshire”

The Ledger – by Kathy Leigh Berkowitz

LAKELAND — A 32-year-old woman was arrested on June 15 when she gathered her husband’s guns to turn them over to the Lakeland Police Department.

According to Courtney Irby’s arrest affidavit, she told police her husband had been taken to jail for trying to run over her with a car. Irby said she went to Joseph Irby’s apartment on Village Center Drive in Lakeland and searched for the guns she knew he had.  Continue reading “LPD: Woman arrested for turning in husband’s firearms to Lakeland police”

American Military News – by Cheryl Hinneburg

A 75-year-old grandmother with a loaded rifle kept a suspected car thief on his knees in her front yard until law enforcement showed up.

When Marcia Black saw a car thief approach her porch, she realized it was the same suspect who had been fleeing police for hours, so she reached for her rifle and called the police, according to WAAY 31 News.  Continue reading “75-year-old grandma holds car thief at gunpoint until AL police arrive”

Wired – by Nathan Hodge

The pilots waging America’s undeclared drone war in Pakistan could be liable to criminal prosecution for “war crimes,” a prominent law professor told a Congressional panel Wednesday.

Harold Koh, the State Department’s top legal adviser, outlined the administration’s legal case for the robotic attacks last month. Now, some legal experts are taking turns to punch holes in Koh’s argument.  Continue reading “Drone Pilots Could Be Tried For ‘War Crimes,’ Law Prof Says”

Reno Gazette Journal – by Jennifer Kane

No shocker here: Burning Man is deeply concerned about the possibility of federally-sanctioned screenings for weapons and drugs at the event.

On Thursday, the Burning Man organization responded to a more than 300-page report from the Bureau of Land Management that will largely determine future conditions of the 80,000-person event in Northern Nevada’s Black Rock Desert.  Continue reading “Burning Man: Drug searches ‘gravest’ concern from BLM report, urges better trash disposal”

The Texas Tribune

The gap between Texas’ Hispanic and white populations continued to narrow last year when the state gained almost nine Hispanic residents for every additional white resident.

With Hispanics expected to become the largest population group in Texas as soon as 2022, new population estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau showed the Hispanic population climbed to nearly 11.4 million — an annual gain of 214,736 through July 2018 and an increase of 1.9 million since 2010.  Continue reading “Texas gained almost nine Hispanic residents for every additional white resident last year”

Fellowship of the Minds – by Dr. Eowyn

On Wednesday, June 19, after just four hours of deliberation, a New York jury found Keith Raniere, 58, founder of the creepy NXIVM sex-cult, guilty on all counts — racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and attempted sex trafficking. (Daily Mail)

Raniere now faces life in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for September 25 and he will continue to be held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn without bail.  Continue reading “NXIVM: Founder found guilty; ties to Clinton and other prominent Democrats”

The Last Refuge – by Sundance

A carefully redacted footnote within a report by FISA Court Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer has always appeared to be a clue to a domestic surveillance program.  Now details behind the redactions tell a concerning story.

A brief refresher is needed for those new to the story. In April 2017 Judge Collyer wrote a highly critical FISA Court opinion following discoveries by Director Admiral Rogers of government contractors accessing the NSA database, and extracting illegal search results from the electronic records of every American.  Continue reading “The “Secret Research Project” – an IRS List, an NSA Database, and Resulting “Files” on Americans…”

Daily Mail

A £100 million superyacht seized from a disgraced party-loving financier is set to become this summer’s ultimate Med party venue as it has been put up for rent.

The 300-ft vessel boasts rooms for 22 guests including a master suite and three VIP state rooms, a spa, a beauty salon, a cinema, a gym, a deck-pool, an outdoor bar, its own helipad and is serviced by a 29-strong crew.  Continue reading “£100 million superyacht seized from shamed financier dubbed the ‘Asian Great Gatsby’ is YOURS to rent (as long as you’ve got a cool £1m-a-week!)”

The Intercept – by Murtaza Hussain

FOR OVER 17 years, Moath al-Alwi has been held at Guantánamo Bay without charge. A Yemeni citizen, al-Alwi is one of Guantánamo’s “forever prisoners,” those whom the U.S. government has not charged with a crime but is unwilling to release. On June 10, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in his case, the latest setback in al-Alwi’s long effort to obtain due process rights. Even though the court wouldn’t take al-Alwi up, Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote that it would only be a matter of time before the court had to grapple with the forever prisoners and the scope of the government’s power to hold them. Continue reading “In Guantánamo Case, U.S. Government Says It Can Indefinitely Detain Anyone — Even U.S. Citizens”

Good News Network

Three beagles successfully showed they are capable of identifying lung cancer by scent, a first step in identifying specific biomarkers for the disease – and researchers say the dogs’ abilities may lead to the development of a safe, effective, and inexpensive means for mass cancer screening.

After eight weeks of training, the beagles – chosen for their superior olfactory receptor genes – were able to distinguish between blood serum samples taken from patients with malignant lung cancer and healthy controls with 97% accuracy. The double-blind study is published in the July edition of The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.  Continue reading “Dogs Detecting Lung Cancer With 97% Accuracy May Spell the End of Expensive Screening Methods”