| Can feds ensure Ferguson probe is fair? Posted: 14 Aug 2014 12:01 PM PDT  The DOJ division leading the Ferguson probe hasn't had a director in more than a year.
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| National Guard troops post up at Texas-Mexico border Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:18 PM PDT  The first wave of National Guard troops has taken up observation posts along the Texas-Mexico border.
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| Ariz. math teacher arrives drunk to class, keeps drinking: police Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:22 PM PDT An Arizona math teacher arrived drunk at her high school and hit the bottle again in the classroom, where she yelled at her students before one of the pupils alerted administrators, authorities said on Thursday. Kathleen Jardine, 57, a teacher at Poston Butte High School faces one count of public consumption of alcohol stemming from the incident on Wednesday in the community about 35 miles southeast of Phoenix, said Sergeant Pat Ramirez, a spokesman for the Pinal County Sheriff's Office. Ramirez said a student called the main office to alert them that Jardine appeared drunk and was yelling at the students. |
| Worst TB outbreak in 5 years hits Alabama prisons Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:51 PM PDT  Alabama's prison system, badly overcrowded and facing a lawsuit over medical treatment of inmates, is facing its worst outbreak of tuberculosis in five years, a health official said Thursday.
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| McDaniel files challenge to Miss. Senate results Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:12 PM PDT  JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A tea party-backed candidate asked a Mississippi court on Thursday to declare him the winner of the June 24 Republican runoff against incumbent U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran or order a new election.
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| Iraq's al-Maliki steps down as prime minister Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:16 PM PDT  PM Nouri al-Maliki has agreed to step aside and support his nominated replacement, Haider al-Abadi.
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| Troopers to take over security in Ferguson Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:15 PM PDT  Governor: Troopers to take over security in Mo. suburb where teen was fatally shot by cop.
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| Williams had early Parkinson's Posted:  Robin Williams was also suffering from anxiety, depression and sober at death, wife says.
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| Officials seek Justice probe into N.Y. chokehold death Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:53 AM PDT  Members of New York's congressional delegation are asking the Justice Department to formally investigate the police custody death of Eric Garner and the law enforcement strategy known as broken windows.
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| Obama vows ‘justice’ in Missouri shooting Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:31 AM PDT  President promises to ensure "justice is done" for slain teenager Michael Brown.
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| Ebola crisis: U.S. orders embassy families out of Sierra Leone Posted: 14 Aug 2014 10:06 AM PDT  The United States on Thursday told the families of its diplomats in Sierra Leone to leave the country to avoid exposure to the deadly Ebola epidemic. "The embassy recommended this step out of an abundance of caution," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, citing "a lack of options for routine health care services at major medical facilities due to the Ebola outbreak." Harf said that the State Department was also "reconfiguring" its staff at the embassy in Freetown to "be more responsive" to the crisis ravaging the country. "We remain deeply committed to supporting Sierra Leone and regional and international efforts to strengthen the capacity of the country's health care infrastructure and system -- specifically, the capacity to contain and control the transmission of the Ebola virus and deliver health care," Harf said in a statement.
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| Jersey casino heist could be script for 'Ocean's 8' Posted: 14 Aug 2014 09:58 AM PDT  ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A recently fired casino security guard used his knowledge of when and where large sums of money would change hands to help plan and pull off a daring robbery that netted more than $180,000, authorities said Thursday.
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| Police: Man strangled 2 after caught taking porno pictures Posted: 14 Aug 2014 02:12 PM PDT  A New Jersey ex-con was charged with strangling his cousin and her 10-year-old foster daughter after the woman found him taking pornographic pictures of the girl, authorities said Thursday.
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| Obama vows ‘justice’ in MIssouri shooting Posted: 14 Aug 2014 07:25 AM PDT  President promises to ensure "justice is done" for slain teenager Michael Brown.
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| Man who beat girlfriend's 3-year-old, then took vacation, faces sentencing Posted: 14 Aug 2014 01:32 PM PDT  BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) — Prosecutors are recommending 30 to 60 years in prison for a man who beat his girlfriend's 3-year-old son and then went to the Universal Orlando Resort in Florida.
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| Surprising social media warning from Wa. state's police Posted: 14 Aug 2014 01:32 PM PDT  SEATTLE (AP) — Police in Washington state are asking the public to stop tweeting during shootings and manhunts to avoid accidentally telling the bad guys what officers are doing.
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| Severe sentence for 'Bandit Queen' killer Posted: 14 Aug 2014 06:03 AM PDT  NEW DELHI (AP) — The upper-caste killer of India's "Bandit Queen" was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for gunning down the outlaw-turned-legislator who was idolized as a champion of the lower castes.
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| 2 Amish girls feared abducted in NY Posted: 14 Aug 2014 03:32 PM PDT  ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Searchers scoured a patch of far northern New York on Thursday for two Amish girls who were apparently abducted from their family's roadside farm stand, a hunt hampered by the lack of photos of the girls for authorities to circulate among a frightened community.
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| Yezidi 'genocide' avoided on mountain Posted: 14 Aug 2014 06:17 AM PDT  Downplaying US special forces role, Pentagon says air strikes, aid drops helped Yezidis.
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| Pope to Koreas: Enough saber-rattling Posted: 14 Aug 2014 08:04 AM PDT  'Greeted' by N. Korea rocket salvo, Pope Francis opens 5-day visit with reconciliation message.
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| Outside concert to promote peace in Philly, man shot dead Posted: 14 Aug 2014 06:13 AM PDT  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A man was fatally shot outside a Philadelphia concert being held to promote peace and stem violence in the city, police said Thursday.
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| Hawaii judge upholds timing of makeup primary Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:17 PM PDT  HILO, Hawaii (AP) — A Hawaii judge upheld the timing of a makeup primary election Thursday for more than 8,000 voters on the Big Island despite a last-minute challenge from a Senate candidate who said residents should have more time to recover from a tropical storm that damaged the area.
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| Robin Williams' death highlights Parkinson's-depression link Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:15 PM PDT  By Piya Sinha-Roy and Eric Kelsey LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Robin Williams was suffering from the early stages of Parkinson's disease along with severe depression at the time of his apparent suicide, his widow said on Thursday, drawing public attention to the correlation between the diseases. Although the gifted comedian had spoken before about his depression, Parkinson's experts have noted how the incurable and debilitating nervous system disorder that causes tremors and slowness of movement also affects people emotionally. "The neurochemicals that are impacted by Parkinson's disease and the pathways that control motor functions are also integrally involved in the control of mood," said Dr. Irene Richard, a neurology professor at the University of Rochester in New York. More than half of those who suffer from Parkinson's also experience clinical depression, according to the National Parkinson Foundation, which advises all Parkinson's patients to be screened for depression.
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| These are the 10 most popular music streaming services Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:15 PM PDT  Listening to unlimited music within the confines of the law is now possible thanks to the advent of music streaming services, but deciding which service to use is becomingly increasingly complicated. Writing for Time, FindTheBest declares that there are currently 102 individual streaming services on the market that allow users to stream music for as long as they want — some for free, others for a low monthly fee. There are countless subtle differences between each service (some allow you to select your music on-demand, others function more like radio stations), but at the end of the day, they all exist to serve the purpose: deliver streaming music. Rather than try to rank the services by what they offer or how much they cost, FindTheBest
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| Peaceful protest in 'war zone' US town Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:12 PM PDT  Police shot and killed unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown on Saturday in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, triggering protests and then a police crackdown in which authorities fired tear gas and rubber bullets and arrested reporters, sparking complaints led by President Barack Obama. Brown's death and the subsequent action by a mainly white police force in a majority black town led to allegations of racism and stirred comparisons with the February 2012 fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida. State Governor Jay Nixon said the decision to draft in the Missouri Highway Patrol had been taken after Ferguson was left looking "like a war zone" after four days of rioting -- and there was an altogether different atmosphere on the streets after the governor's move. "Now is the time for peace and calm on the streets of Ferguson," Obama said.
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| Hundreds of unseen Andy Warhol films to be digitized for public screenings Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:12 PM PDT  Approximately 500 movies made by pop art icon Andy Warhol, many of which have never been seen by the public, are in the process of being digitized. The project — a collaboration between The Warhol museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and two visual effects companies — will see almost 1,000 rolls of 16mm film converted to 2K resolution after being scanned frame by frame. The painstaking process means the project is is set to take several years to complete, but some of Warhol's unseen movies will be available for public consumption sooner than that.
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| Protesters march through streets of Ferguson Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:12 PM PDT  FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Hundreds of people protesting the death of a black Missouri teenager shot by a white police officer are marching peacefully through the streets of Ferguson alongside state troopers.
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| Motorsport - Stewart to skip race as fatality probe goes on Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:10 PM PDT  - Tony Stewart will skip the NASCAR race in Michigan on Sunday as a probe continues in the incident in which his car struck and killed a fellow driver in a dirt track race. Stewart-Haas racing announced on Thursday that their star driver would not race in the upcoming event at Michigan International Speedway. The team said Jeff Burton will drive instead, but the change only pertains to the upcoming race, leaving the door open for Stewart to return to NASCAR's top flight series this season.
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| Maliki, Iraq's rebel-turned-PM who fought to the end Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:07 PM PDT  Iraq's Nuri al-Maliki, a rebel-turned-leader who rose from anonymous exile to powerful premier widely criticised as authoritarian, fought to the end for another term but lost support and ultimately his office as security collapsed. After a strong showing in April polls, the two-term premier insisted the top job should again be his, but President Fuad Masum tasked Haidar al-Abadi, a member of Maliki's Dawa party, with forming a new government instead. Maliki, a 64-year-old Shiite Arab, vowed to sue Masum, a Kurd, railed against him for allegedly violating the constitution, and ordered a massive security deployment in Baghdad. "I announce before you today... the withdrawal of my candidacy in favour of the brother Doctor Haidar al-Abadi," Maliki said in a televised address on Thursday, with his successor at his side.
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| Evidence suggests Ebola toll vastly underestimated: WHO Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:04 PM PDT  By Saliou Samb CONAKRY (Reuters) - Staff with the World Health Organisation battling an Ebola outbreak in West Africa see evidence the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimates the scale of the outbreak, the U.N. agency said on its website on Thursday. The death toll from the world's worst outbreak of Ebola stood on Wednesday at 1,069 from 1,975 confirmed, probable and suspected cases, the agency said. The majority were in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, while four people have died in Nigeria. "WHO is coordinating a massive scaling up of the international response, marshalling support from individual countries, disease control agencies, agencies within the United Nations system, and others." International agencies are looking into emergency food drops and truck convoys to reach hungry people in Liberia and Sierra Leone cordoned off from the outside world to halt the spread of the virus, a top World Bank official said.
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| Coca-Cola pays $2.2 billion for major stake in Monster Beverage Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:04 PM PDT  By Anjali Athavaley NEW YORK (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co said Thursday it is making a cash payment of $2.15 billion for a 16.7 percent stake in Monster Beverage Corp as the world's largest soda maker seeks to expand into faster-growing categories such as energy drinks. Under the agreement, Coke will have two directors on Monster's board. Coke will transfer ownership of its worldwide energy business including brands like Full Throttle and Burn, to Monster. Monster will transfer its non-energy business, which includes Hansen's Natural Sodas and Peace Tea, to Coke.
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| Tennis - Sharapova reaches Cincinnati quarter-finals Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:01 PM PDT  - French Open champion Maria Sharapova booked her quarter-final berth at the Cincinnati ATP and WTA hard court tournament on Thursday with a straight-sets win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
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| Gunn Yang advances to US Amateur quarterfinals Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:00 PM PDT  JOHNS CREEK, Georgia (AP) — South Korea's Gunn Yang advanced to the U.S. Amateur quarterfinals Thursday, birdieing the final three holes to beat top-ranked Ollie Schniederjans 1 up at Atlanta Athletic Club.
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| Manfred elected next MLB commissioner Posted: 14 Aug 2014 05:00 PM PDT  BALTIMORE (AP) — Rob Manfred was elected baseball's 10th commissioner Thursday, winning a three-man competition to succeed Bud Selig and given a mandate by the tradition-bound sport to recapture young fans and speed play in an era that has seen competition increase and attention spans shrink.
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| Iraq's Maliki finally steps aside, paving way for new government Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:59 PM PDT  By Raheem Salman and Michael Georgy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Nuri al-Maliki finally bowed to pressure within Iraq and beyond on Thursday and stepped down as prime minister, paving the way for a new coalition that world and regional powers hope can quash a Sunni Islamist insurgency that threatens Baghdad. Maliki ended eight years of often divisive, sectarian rule and endorsed fellow Shi'ite Haider al-Abadi in a televised speech during which he stood next to his successor and spoke of the grave threat from Sunni Islamic State militants who have taken over large areas of northern Iraq. "I announce before you today, to ease the movement of the political process and the formation of the new government, the withdrawal of my candidacy in favour of brother Dr. Haider al-Abadi," Maliki said. Maliki's decision was likely to please Iraq's Sunni minority, which dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein's iron rule but was sidelined by Maliki, a relative unknown when he came to power in 2006 with U.S. backing.
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| Synthetic drug seller gets 17½ years in prison Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:57 PM PDT  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The owner of a now-closed Minnesota head shop was sentenced to 17½ years in prison Thursday for selling synthetic drugs in a case that prosecutors said should remove any doubts that substances sold under such names as "incense," ''spice" and "bath salts" are illegal.
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| Samsung buys home-automation startup SmartThings Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:56 PM PDT  Samsung Electronics Co Ltd will buy SmartThings, a startup backed by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin that helps connect household devices, one of its largest U.S.-startup acquisitions to date. The South Korean electronics maker joins fellow technology heavyweights Apple Inc and Google Inc in exploring ways to integrate connected household gadgets such as thermostats and lights with mobile apps, a trend commonly known as "Internet of Things." Samsung did not disclose financials. SmartThings, which lets people use a mobile app to control connected devices, says it has some 5,000 developers building devices that connect to its open platform.
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| Villegas takes 1-stroke lead at Wyndham Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:56 PM PDT  GREENSBORO, North Carolina (AP) — Camilo Villegas got away from golf for a little while, and got his game back.
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| Japanese cabinet ministers visit shrine to war dead on anniversary of World War Two defeat Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:54 PM PDT  By Minami Funakoshi and Antoni Slodkowski TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese cabinet ministers paid their respects on Friday at a Tokyo shrine to war dead seen as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, a move likely to anger Asian neighbors and put at risk attempts to improve regional ties. The visit by cabinet officials including Internal affairs Minister Yoshitaka Shindo to the Yasukuni shrine on the 69th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War Two is likely to prompt more sharp protests from Beijing and Seoul. The shrine honors 14 Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal, as well as Japan's war dead.
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| Some polygamous families face eviction over fees Posted: 14 Aug 2014 04:48 PM PDT  SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Fourteen families who live in a community once controlled by polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs could be evicted from their homes on the Utah-Arizona border in the coming weeks if they don't begin paying a $100-a-month fee to authorities appointed to oversee their property.
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