News Daypop Archives

Former first lady Barbara Bush died Tuesday at her home in Houston, Texas. She was 92. Mrs. Bush served as the country’s first lady from 1989 to 1993. She passed away shortly after deciding to forgo further medical treatments for her failing health. A statement from the office of former President George H.W. Bush read, “a former first lady of the United States of America and relentless proponent of family literacy, Barbara Pierce Bush passed away Tuesday, April 17, 2018, at the age of 92.”  Mr. and Mrs. Bush celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary on Jan. 6. Mrs. Bush was one of only two first ladies in the history of the country who was also the mother of a president; George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States. . ...Read Full Story

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Starbucks Corporation’s Chief Executive Kevin Johnson hopes to meet with the two black men arrested at one of its Philadelphia cafes last week to apologize for the incident, which has sparked accusations of racial profiling at the coffee chain. “The circumstances surrounding the incident and the outcome in our store on Thursday were reprehensible … they were wrong,” Johnson said on Monday, amid protests and calls for a boycott on social media. The 2 men had not made a purchase, but were handcuffed and arrested for trespassing on Thursday after a store manager called 911 and reported them for refusing to leave. Witnesses said the men were calmly sitting in the cafe and in a widely viewed video, some patrons asked police whether they were targeted because they are black. Police released the men, who were not charged. The female manager who reported the men to police has left the company, a Starbucks representative said.. ...Read Full Story

U.S. President Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen revealed in court that Fox News host Sean Hannity was one of his clients, this after a federal judge overruled his effort to withhold the client’s identity. Cohen was in court on Monday to ask a judge to limit the ability of federal prosecutors to review documents seized from him last week through a warrant as part of a criminal investigation. Cohen argued that some of the seized documents are protected by attorney-client privilege or otherwise unconnected to the investigation. “I understand if he doesn’t want his name out there, but that’s not enough under the law,” Wood said, before ordering a lawyer for Cohen to disclose the name. Sean Hannity is a conservative television host known for advocating for Trump on his Fox News show.. ...Read Full Story

Former First Lady Barbara Bush is in failing health and will not seek additional medical care after a series of recent hospitalizations, a spokesman for the Bush family said on Sunday. Bush, 92, will “instead focus on comfort care” for unspecified health complications, according to a statement. Mrs. Bush is the wife of former President George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States who is now 93, and mother of 43rd President George W. Bush. “It will not surprise those who know her that Barbara Bush has been a rock in the face of her failing health, worrying not for herself — thanks to her abiding faith — but for others,” a statement from the office of George H.W. Bush said Sunday. “She is surrounded by a family she adores, and appreciates the many kind messages and especially the prayers she is receiving.”. ...Read Full Story

Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said this weekend that “the United States is locked and loaded” to strike Syria again if the country’s regime continues to use chemical weapons. Haley relayed the message from President Trump at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council hours after a U.S.-led bombardment targeted Syrian chemical weapons facilities. Haley also accused Russia of defending Syrian President Bashar Assad and failing to ensure that the war-torn country’s cache of poison gas was destroyed. “When our President draws a red line, our President enforces the red,” she said. “The United States of America will not allow the Assad regime to continue using chemical weapons.”. ...Read Full Story

President Donald Trump said he has “full confidence” in White House lawyer Ty Cobb, who has urged Trump to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.  In a tweet on Thursday, Mr. Trump said “I have agreed with the historically cooperative, disciplined approach that we have engaged in with Robert Mueller (Unlike the Clintons!) He continued, “I have full confidence in Ty Cobb, my Special Counsel, and have been fully advised throughout each phase of this process.” Some of Trump’s strongest supporters have been urging the president to take a more aggressive position toward Mueller’s investigation, in particular after FBI agents descended on the office and home of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. Trump has called the FBI raid an “attack on our country.”  However in a separate Twitter post Thursday, Mr. Trump denied reports that he had tried to dismiss Mueller last year. “If I wanted to fire Robert Mueller in December, as reported by the Failing New York Times, I would have fired him,” Trump said.  Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced legislation to protect the special counsel from being fired without cause.. ...Read Full Story

Puerto Rico was hit with a massive power outage Thursday after a tree fell on a power line, according to Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority.  San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said at least 700,000 people are without power and it could take eight to 16 hours for electricity to be restored. Major blackouts were reported from the northern town of Manatí to Yabucoa, roughly 50 miles southeast. The blackout also includes the capital of San Juan, the most populated area of the island. Hurricane Maria damaged much of the island’s infrastructure and its electrical grid when it made landfall in Puerto Rico in late September. Nearly seven months later, more than 100,000 Puerto Ricans still have no power.. ...Read Full Story

President Donald Trump, in an early morning tweet, told Russia to prepare for “nice and new and ‘smart!'” missile attacks in Syria. This comes after an alleged gas attack in the country. The President’s tweet came after the Russian ambassador to Lebanon said in an interview on Tuesday that “if there is a US missile attack, we – in line with both Putin and Russia’s chief of staff’s remarks – will shoot down US rockets and even the sources that launched the missiles”. Trump also attacked Russia for its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Wednesday’s tweet, saying it “shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!” The warnings come as the United States and several European countries threatened to use military action against the Syrian government and its main ally, Russia, in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town of Douma. . ...Read Full Story

Speaker Paul D. Ryan announced Wednesday that he will not seek re-election in November. Mr. Ryan said he will serve until the end of this Congress in January, which will mark 20 years in Congress. He insisted he will be “leaving this majority in good hands with what I believe is a very bright future.”  Mr. Ryan’s decision caught many in the party by surprise, as he had just hosted a donor retreat last week in Texas and most believed he would not leave until after November. However when explaining his decision Wednesday morning at a meeting in the Capitol, Mr. Ryan said he wanted to spend more time with his children, who live in the same town where he grew up.. ...Read Full Story

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive,, began the first of two marathon hearings in Washington on Tuesday afternoon, answering tough questions on the company’s mishandling of data. This was Mr. Zuckerberg’s first appearance before Congress, which was prompted by the revelation that Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm linked to the Trump campaign, harvested the data of an estimated 87 million Facebook users to psychologically profile voters during the 2016 election. Mr. Zuckerberg faced hours of questioning from lawmakers, who pressed him to account for how third-party partners could data without users’ knowledge. Lawmakers grilled the 33-year-old executive on the proliferation of so-called fake news on Facebook, Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election and censorship of conservative media.. ...Read Full Story

President Donald Trump canceled a foreign trip to Latin America as Trump administration officials consulted with global allies Tuesday on a possible joint military response to Syria’s alleged poison gas attack. Trump spoke with other world leaders and officials said the U.S., France and Britain were in extensive consultations about launching a military strike as early as the end of this week. None of the three countries’ leaders had made a firm decision, according to the officials, who were not authorized to discuss military planning by name. A joint military operation, possibly with France in the lead, could send a message of international unity about enforcing the prohibitions on chemical weapons and counter Syria’s political and military support from Russia and Iran.. ...Read Full Story

President Donald Trump promised quick action on Monday in response to a “barbaric” suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria and made clear that all options, including military action, were on the table. Trump, who was speaking at a Cabinet meeting, said he was meeting with military and other advisers and a decision would be made within 48 hours and might come as soon as the end of the day. “Nothing is off the table,” he said when asked if U.S. military action was a possibility. The suspected chemical weapons attack late Saturday night killed at least 60 people and injured more than 1,000 in several sites in Douma, a city near the capital city of Damascus, according to a Syrian aid organization.. ...Read Full Story

The FBI has raided the office of Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s personal attorney, seizing materials and documents from his office including content related to his payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels (also known as Stephanie Clifford). Law enforcement agents conducted searches Monday at Mr. Cohen’s New York office and New York residence. A court warrant authorizing the raid was obtained. It is unclear what investigation the raid stems from. Cohen has admitted paying Clifford $130,000 after she said she had an affair with President Trump over a decade ago. Cohen has cooperated with authorities and turned over documents to congressional investigators looking into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.. ...Read Full Story

Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham is expected back at work Monday. She was on a one-week vacation that served as a cooling-off period. She has faced backlash by advertisers upset over her tweet mocking a Parkland, Florida, school shooting survivor. many companies say they’ll no longer advertise with Ingraham. Ingraham picked up a strong statement of support from her boss. She also got unexpected backing from liberal talk show host Bill Maher late Friday. Ingraham has apologized for a tweet in which she said 17-year-old high school student David Hogg whined about being rejected by some colleges.. ...Read Full Story

Three people are dead and 20 were injured after a van plowed into a group of people in the German city of Münster Saturday. The driver of the van shot himself after the incident and was included in the casualty count. While officials have not announced the van driver’s identity or motive, but multiple German outlets reported that the suspect was a 48-year-old German man named Jens R. One German news agency said the suspect had connections to the right-wing extremist scene, though there is no current indication that the suspect himself was an extremist. German authorities are treating the incident as a deliberate attack.. ...Read Full Story

Police announced on Thursday that the body of Timothy Cunningham, a missing employee who worked as an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was found this week in a river nearly two months after his “unusual” disappearance prompted a nationwide search. His body was found in Chattahoochee River in northwest Atlanta late Tuesday when fishermen in the area spotted the body. “We have no indications to this point that were was any foul play,” Atlanta Police Department Major Michael O’Connor said in a Thursday news conference. An official cause of death has yet to be released, but a preliminary autopsy suggested the 35-year-old drowned, the medical examiner said at the Thursday news conference.  There are still several unanswered questions surrounding Cunningham’s disappearance. His parents said earlier this week their son sent a “disturbing” text to them 24 hours before he vanished. However, they would not elaborate on the text. A $15,000 reward is being offered for more information.. ...Read Full Story

A 5.3 magnitude earthquake has hit 35 miles southwest of Channel Islands, Beach, Calif., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS says the quake occurred at 12:29 p.m. about 38 miles (61 kilometers) southwest of the mainland city of Ventura. The quake affected parts of South California including the Los Angeles area. Many people who felt the quake reacted to the sudden movement on Twitter, though no immediate damage or injuries were reported.  . ...Read Full Story

President Donald Trump and border-state governors are working to deploy the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border to fight illegal immigration, with some troops potentially arriving later Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said. “The threat is real,” Nielsen said at an afternoon briefing, adding that Trump was signing a proclamation to put the deployment into effect. “It’s time to act.” The announcement came hours after Trump pledged “strong action today” on immigration and a day after he said he wants to use the military to secure the southern border until his “big, beautiful wall” is erected. . ...Read Full Story

Facebook Inc said on Wednesday that the personal information of up to 87 million users may have been improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, up from a previous news media estimate of more than 50 million. Most of the 87 million people whose data was shared with Cambridge Analytica were in the United States, Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer wrote in a blog post.  Last month, Facebook acknowledged that personal information about millions of users wrongly ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica, which worked on U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. Schroepfer did not provide details of how Facebook came to determine its higher estimate, but he said Facebook would tell people if their information may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica.. ...Read Full Story

A 39-year-old woman who alleged that YouTube “discriminated and filtered” her videos has been identified as as Nasim Najafi Aghdam of San Diego. Aghdam opened fire Tuesday at the company’s California headquarters, injuring three people before turning the gun on herself.  Aghdam, a resident of Southern California, appears to have a prolific presence on YouTube. In a harrowing video posted in January 2017, she claims YouTube “discriminated and filtered” her videos. Aghdam’s video links to a website, Nasimesabz.com, on which she railed against YouTube for restricting her videos. “Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!” one post on the website reads. Multiple YouTube channels that belonged to Aghdam, where she frequently posted about animal rights and veganism, were terminated Tuesday night after she was named as the shooter. . ...Read Full Story

Dutch attorney Alex van der Zwaan, who lied to U.S. federal agents investigating former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, was sentenced Tuesday to 30 days in prison in the first punishment handed down in special counsel’s Russia investigation. He was also ordered to pay a $20,000 US fine. Van der Zwaan’s sentence could set a guidepost for what other defendants charged with lying in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation may receive when their cases are resolved. Among them are a former White House national security adviser and a Trump campaign foreign policy aide. Van der Zwaan had faced zero to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, and his attorneys had pushed for him to pay a fine and leave the country. But U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, citing the need to deter others from lying in an investigation of international importance, said incarceration was necessary. . ...Read Full Story

A third woman has come forward with a lawsuit seeking to invalidate a nondisclosure agreement (“NDA”) related to President Donald Trump. Jessica Denson, a former Trump campaign staffer, signed an NDA as a condition of her employment with the campaign. Denson, who says she joined the Trump campaign in August 2016 as a national phone bank administrator, says that her employment was contingent on signing the NDA, which covers anything related to Mr. Trump, his family, his personal life or his business affairs. In November 2017, she sued the campaign for employment discrimination and defamation. Denson claims she was discriminated against, harassed, and subject to a hostile work environment at the Trump campaign. Denson claimed the campaign accused her of illegally leaking portions of Mr. Trump’s taxes. Denson is representing herself in both the original lawsuit and the lawsuit to invalidate the NDA. The current lawsuit was filed on March 26 in federal court in New York.. ...Read Full Story

Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, an anti-apartheid activist in her own right, has died. She was 81. Madikizela-Mandela will be honored by a state funeral on April 14, preceded by an official memorial service on April 11, said President Cyril Ramaphosa after visiting her home in Johannesburg’s Soweto township Monday evening. Many South Africans described Madikizela-Mandela as the “Mother of the Nation” and a champion of the black majority.  She died “surrounded by her family and loved ones,” according to a statement released by Madikizela-Mandela’s family. Madikizela-Mandela was the second of Nelson Mandela’s three wives, and was married to him from 1958 to 1996.. ...Read Full Story

Tens of thousands of public school teachers in Kentucky and Oklahoma plan to attend rallies on Monday at their state capitols in what they hope will be the latest display of muscle by the nation’s educators demanding higher wages and better classroom resources. The demonstrations come less than a month after West Virginia teachers went on a nine-day strike that ended with the governor there signing legislation giving them a 5 percent pay hike — their first raise in four years. The planned rallies also come on the heels of one on Wednesday in which 2,500 teachers in Arizona — who are demanding a 20 percent raise — demonstrated at the state’s capitol in Phoenix. . ...Read Full Story

President Donald Trump said on Sunday that there will be no deal to legalize the status of young adult immigrants called Dreamers and he said the U.S.-Mexico border is becoming more dangerous. After tweeting a “Happy Easter” message on Twitter, he said: “Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release. Getting more dangerous. DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is a program created in 2012 under Democratic former President Barack Obama that Trump sought to rescind last autumn.. ...Read Full Story

Uber has settled with the family of a pedestrian who was killed when one of the company’s self-driving cars hit her while she crossed a road in Tempe, Ariz. earlier this month. Details of the settlement have not been released.  The deceased victim, Elaine Herzberg, was struck by one of Uber’s autonomous vehicles on the night of March 18 as she crossed a busy street while pushing her bicycle. After the accident, Uber paused all of its self-driving vehicle tests, including in California, where the online ride-hailing company is based. Although a human driver was inside the self-driving car as a precautionary measure during this incident, a video of the accident shows the driver looking down until seconds before Herzberg appeared in front of the car. The car was operating in autonomous mode when the accident occurred.. ...Read Full Story

Back in 2014, a picture of a Devonte Hart, tears streaming down his face and gripping a white police officer in an embrace during Ferguson-related protests, went viral.  But now Devonte is missing and feared dead after his parents and three of his siblings were killed in a car crash.  On Monday, a passerby spotted the family’s vehicle flipped onto its roof in the Pacific Ocean at the bottom of a 100-foot cliff in a rural part of California’s Mendocino County, according to officials. Devonte’s parents Jennifer and Sarah Hart, both 38, were both found dead inside the S.U.V., rocked by waves washing in and out, say police. Three of their children: Markis, 19, Jeremiah, 14, and Abigail, 14 were recovered outside the vehicle. However Devonte, now 15, and his two sisters Hannah, 16, and Sierra, 12, remain missing, say police.  Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said at a press conference Wednesday that while police cannot say with certainty that Devonte, Hannah and Sierra had been in the vehicle, “We have every indication to believe that all six children were in there.” Police are seeking the public’s to help in piecing together the family’s final 24 hours before the crash. The Harts are from Woodland, Wash.. ...Read Full Story

71-year-old Richard Phillips, a Detroit-area man whose murder conviction was thrown out after he spent 45 years in prison, was exonerated Wednesday and won’t face a second trial.  A judge granted a request to permanently drop the case against Phillips, whose conviction was erased last year. Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy said a new investigation by her office backed his claim that he had no role in a 1971 fatal shooting. She said a key witness lied at his 1972 trial. The case was reopened at the urging of the Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan law school after a co-defendant at the ’72 trial told the state parole board that Phillips wasn’t involved in the slaying of Gregory Harris. Phillips had been free on bond since December. He likely will be eligible for more than $2 million under Michigan’s wrongful conviction law. Phillips told reporters when asked about his decades in prison that “I’ve never carried bitterness around, so I’m not a bitter man.”. ...Read Full Story

The attorney for former adult star Stormy Daniels filed a motion Wednesday in federal court seeking to depose both President Trump and his attorney Michael Cohen over a $130,000 payment made to Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels attorney, Michael Avenatti, filed the documents in U.S. District Court in California. Daniels has publicly claimed she had a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, and also said Cohen orchestrated a payment to keep her quiet during the election. The White House has denied her claims. At issue is whether the non-disclosure agreement that was signed by Daniels – but not by Trump – is valid. If successful, it would be the first deposition of a sitting president since President Bill Clinton in 1998 had to answer questions about his encounter with Paula Jones.. ...Read Full Story

Larry Nassar’s former boss at Michigan State has been arrested, and charged with sex crimes. Dr. William Strampel, 70, is facing criminal charges for allegedly inappropriately touching a student and storing nude photos of female students on his work computer. Strampel also has been accused of failing to monitor Nassar and enforce guidelines put into place after Nassar was investigated in 2014 for sexual harassment. The former dean of the Michigan State’s College of Osteopathic Medicine was charged Tuesday with a felony, a high court misdemeanor and two misdemeanors and is due to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon. Michigan State confirmed Strampel’s arrest, but didn’t provide any other details at the time. Nassar is in prison for possessing child pornography, has been sentenced to 40 to 175 years for sexually assaulting girls and women across multiple sports at Michigan State and with the national gymnastics program, including U.S. Olympic teams. . ...Read Full Story

Linda Brown Thompson, who as a young girl was the student at the center of the landmark Supreme Court case “Brown v. Board of Education” that declared school segregation unconstitutional, has died in Topeka, Kansas. She was 76. Born in 1943, Brown was in third grade in 1950 when she was denied admission to an all-white elementary school in her hometown of Topeka. She lived 20 blocks from her segregated school, but just five blocks from the all-white school. Kansas schools at the time were segregated by state law. Brown’s father, Rev. Oliver Brown, sued the school district in 1951. The NAACP took up the case, with future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall as the lead attorney for the NAACP. In a unanimous ruling in 1954, the court declared school segregation an unconstitutional violation of the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. . ...Read Full Story

China’s first prototype space station is to crash to Earth over Easter scientists expect, amid rumours that the Chinese space agency has lost control of the craft. Known as Tiangong-1 (meaning “heavenly palace” in Chinese) the craft is expected to drop out of orbit over the next week and plummet through Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of seven kilometres per second. Some scientists fear that debris could survive the atmosphere and land anywhere 43 degrees either side of the equator, though most predict the bus-sized spacecraft is most likely to burn up upon re-entry. Reseachers have warned that a number of the spacecraft’s parts – including its dense rocket engines – would be unlikely to burn up, leaving chunks of the craft to crash towards the planet’s surface.. ...Read Full Story

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Facebook’s privacy practices following a week of privacy scandals including allegations a Trump-affiliated political consulting firm got data inappropriately from millions of Facebook users. Facebook’s stock, which already took a big hit last week, plunged as a result. Acting director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, Tom Pahl, said the probe would include whether the company engaged in “unfair acts” that cause “substantial injury” to consumers.  Facebook’s privacy practices have come under fire after revelations that Cambridge Analytica got data on Facebook users. Facebook said in a statement on Monday that the company remains “strongly committed” to protecting people’s information and that it welcomes the opportunity to answer the FTC’s questions. News outlets reported on the FTC investigation last week, but the FTC hadn’t confirmed it until Monday. . ...Read Full Story

Despite announcing otherwise last week, President Donald Trump will not be adding attorneys Joseph diGenova or Victoria Toensing to his legal team. Mr. Trump’s personal attorney, Jay Sekulow, said in a statement issued Sunday that “The President is disappointed that conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining the President’s Special Counsel legal team. However, those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the President in other legal matters. The President looks forward to working with them.” Toensing and diGenova’s hiring would have replaced John Dowd, who served as Trump’s lead counsel in the Russia probe until he resigned last Thursday. Sekulow did not state specifically what conflicts the two lawyers faced; the duo head the Washington law firm diGenova & Toensing and are married.. ...Read Full Story

Facebook’s CEO apologized for the Cambridge Analytica scandal with ads in multiple U.S. and British newspapers Sunday, saying the social media platform doesn’t deserve to hold personal information if it can’t protect it. The ad, signed by Mark Zuckerberg, said a quiz app built by a Cambridge University researcher leaked Facebook data of millions of people four years ago. “This was a breach of trust, and I’m sorry we didn’t do more at the time. We’re now taking steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” the ads said. Facebook’s privacy practices have come under fire after Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm affiliated with President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, got data inappropriately. The firm is alleged to have created psychological profiles to influence how people vote or even think about politics and society. Facebook’s stock value has dropped more than $70 billion since the revelations were first published.. ...Read Full Story

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe authorized a perjury investigation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions nearly one year ago, looking at whether Sessions lied in his testimony about contact with Russian operatives. The investigation ended without criminal charges, according to Sessions’s lawyer, and was not known to Sessions last week when he made the decision to fire McCabe, according to a Justice Department official.  McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told lawmakers about the probe in a closed-door meeting last year. The inquiry eventually went to special counsel Robert Mueller, who was appointed to investigate possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.. ...Read Full Story

The lead attorney representing President Donald Trump in the ongoing Russia investigation has resigned, according to reports Thursday. Attorney John Dowd’s exit comes as Trump appears to shift to a more combative strategy against Robert Mueller, the special counsel probing possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, as well as potential obstruction of justice on the part of the president. According to the New York Times, Dowd tendered his resignation after finally concluding that Trump was “increasingly ignoring his advice.” Mr.Trump has repeatedly attacked the Russia probe, describing it as a “witch hunt” and an “American disgrace.” He largely avoided directly calling out Mueller.. ...Read Full Story

Austin authorities say the use of “exotic” batteries helped them track down the Austin bombing suspect, which resulted in his death early Wednesday morning. After working to track and find the suspect responsible for the various bombings around Austin, Texas, authorities are confident in identifying the man as 24-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt. Officials say Conditt used “exotic” batteries that one could not find in a regular convenience store or even an electronic store. Most likely these unusual batteries originated in Asia and had to be ordered online; however they became the signature property that allowed investigators to quickly connect the various explosions to the same suspect after they took surveillance footage from a FedEx store which showed Conditt dropping off packages containing the explosives. Conditt died in his vehicle after detonating a bomb on the side of Interstate 35, after SWAT forces began encircling him to bring him into custody.. ...Read Full Story

Congress plans to unveil a massive bipartisan $1.3 trillion spending package Wednesday that will keep the government funded until the end of September. Lawmakers have agreed on funding levels for every corner of the government with $700 billion budgeted for defense and $591 billion slated for non-defense spending, but the legislation also is expected to include policy riders like a bill that incentivizes state and federal authorities to report more data to the country’s gun background check system. Lawmakers have until Friday at midnight to pass the bill before the government runs out of money. The House is expected to vote on the plan later this week, however the main obstacle will be whether the Senate can move quickly enough to avert a shutdown given its rules. If one lawmaker objects, it could force Senate leaders to run out the clock and even face a temporary shutdown into the weekend.. ...Read Full Story

A package that exploded at a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio early Tuesday is being linked to four blasts in Austin this month, according to sources. Tuesday’s explosion occurred around 12:25 a.m. local time (1:25 a.m. ET) in the sorting area of a facility in Schertz, Texas, officials said. At a news conference Tuesday morning, authorities declined to make a connection between the FedEx explosion and the Austin incidents, but a source briefed on the investigation later said that the blasts are indeed linked. Schertz is located 50 miles away from Austin; the bomber is thought to have mailed two packages from a FedEx drop-off center on Brodie Lane in Austin. One of the packages made it to Schertz where it exploded before it was to be sorted and returned to Austin, while the other arrived at a FedEx facility near the Austin airport, according to the source. Both packages are believed to have contained nails, the source said. They were both thought to be bound for Austin.. ...Read Full Story

A 17-year-old student shot and critically wounded two fellow students at a Maryland high school on Tuesday morning. The gunman was shot and killed after exchanging gunfire with a campus security officer, the county sheriff said.  The shooting occurred just before 8 a.m. at Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County, county Sheriff Timothy Cameron said. A 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy were wounded and taken to hospitals. The girl was in intensive care with life-threatening critical injuries, the sheriff said, while the boy was in good condition. The gunman was identified as Austin Wyatt Rollins. Sheriff Cameron said there was “an indication” of a prior relationship between him and the female student, though he said that was still under investigation. Rollins pulled out a Glock semiautomatic handgun around 7:55 a.m. in a hallway and shot the students, the sheriff said. The attack lasted less than a minute, ending after the school resource officer, Deputy 1st Class Sheriff Blaine Gaskill, ran inside the building and engaged with Rollins, with both firing a single round almost simultaneously. The officer was not harmed, however Rollins was confirmed deceased after being taken to a hospital.. ...Read Full Story

President Donald Trump unveiled a plan to combat the opioid epidemic that will include increased funds for treatment and harsher sentences for drug traffickers. One of the major components of the plan will be to pursue the death penalty against drug traffickers. “The Department of Justice will seek the death penalty against drug traffickers when it’s appropriate under current law,” Andrew Bremberg, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council said on Sunday. Mr. Trump’s plan will also ask Congress to pass legislation that lowers the amount of illegal drugs needed to invoke federal mandatory minimum sentences for drug traffickers “who knowingly distribute certain illicit opioids that are lethal in trace amounts.”. ...Read Full Story

After the fourth explosion in less than three weeks in Austin, Texas, officials said on Monday that it appears to be the work of a serial bomber. Authorities warned that the devices appear to be getting more sophisticated. Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said “we are clearly dealing with a serial bomber,” adding that he was unable to answer questions about whether the incidents should be considered domestic terrorism. “We will have to determine if we see a specific ideology behind this.” The most recent occurrence was on Sunday just after 8:30 p.m. local time, when two bicyclists received non-life-threatening injuries after apparently setting off a tripwire in the southwest of the city. “With this tripwire, this changes things,” said Christopher Combs, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio division. “It’s more sophisticated, it’s not targeted to individuals … a child could be walking down a sidewalk and hit something.”  The two latest victims, white men ages 22 and 23, set off the bomb that had been left next to a fence and were recovering in the hospital with “significant injuries,” Manley said. . ...Read Full Story

President Donald Trump on Sunday questioned special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and raised doubts about whether a fired top FBI official kept personal memos outlining his interactions with Mr. Trump. In a series of tweets, the President elevated his tension with Mueller, whose team is examining Trump campaign ties to Russia; former-FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who was fired on  Friday by the attorney general; and former FBI Director James Comey, fired by the President last year.  Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee said this past week that they had completed a draft report concluding, after a yearlong investigation, that there was no collusion or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia; committee Democrats vehemently disagreed.. ...Read Full Story

Vladimir Putin won in a crushing re-election victory Sunday for six more years as Russia’s president.  He told cheering supporters in a brief speech that “we are bound for success.” There was little doubt that Putin would win in his fourth electoral contest as he only faced seven minor candidates. Putin had amassed 76 percent of the vote with ballots from 80 percent of Russia’s precincts counted by early Monday in Russia.  Putin became President in Russia on New Year’s Eve 1999 after Boris Yeltsin’s surprise resignation.. ...Read Full Story

Several fatalities were reported after a newly installed pedestrian bridge at Florida International University collapsed Thursday, leaving several vehicles trapped underneath the sprawling wreckage. Florida Highway Patrol said there were several fatalities after the structure, called the “Instant Bridge,” collapsed just before 2 p.m. at the Miami-area university. No official number was released at press time. Miami police confirmed that Miami-Dade Fire Rescue had recovered six people with injuries. The bridge, projected to be finished in early 2019, was set to link the university’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus, where an estimated 4,000 students live. The bridge is a $9.3 million project and was just installed on Saturday, with many celebrating the new construction. . ...Read Full Story

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the United States believes Russia is responsible for a chemical attack in Britain on a former Russia double agent and his daughter, and the U.N. Security Council should take action. “The United States believes that Russia is responsible for the attack on two people in the United Kingdom using a military-grade nerve agent,” Haley said before the UN Security Council on Wednesday.  “The United States stands in absolutely solidarity with Great Britain.”  The former agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter were found collapsed on a bench in southern England on March 4. They were poisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent, that was smeared on his car door.  The UK has already responded to the incident. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Theresa May announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats, who she said were Russian spies. May also said the UK would freeze the assets of Russians living in the UK under suspicion of undermining British interests.. ...Read Full Story

The seven-year-old daughter of the woman whose French bulldog died after being told to put his carrier in overhead bin by a United Airlines flight attendant is speaking out. Sophia Ceballos, speaking on behalf of her mother, Catalina Robledo, said  “while we were flying, the dog started barking and barking and there was no flight attendants coming. We couldn’t stand up because there was a lot of turbulence so we weren’t allowed to.” Ceballos said that attempts to inform the flight attendant of the situation during the four-hour flight from Houston to New York was unsuccessful. Ceballos also said the United employee lied about what happened during the flight. United Airlines spokeswoman Maggie Schmerin gave the following statement: “This was a tragic accident that should never have occurred, as pets should never be placed in the overhead bin. We are thoroughly investigating what occurred to prevent this from ever happening again.”  The cause of death is not yet known, but, while the overhead compartments are not airtight, lack of oxygen may have been a factor.. ...Read Full Story

One month after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, survivors joined tens of thousands of students across the U.S. by walking out of school on Wednesday morning. The mass protests were held at 10 a.m. local time in each time zone and lasted 17 minutes, one for each of the Parkland victims. Organizers said the purpose was to highlight “Congress’ inaction against the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods.” An estimated 185,000 people in 50 states were expected to join the walkout, with around 3,100 schools planning to participate. At Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, the walkout lasted 30 minutes — 17 minutes for the Parkland victims, and 13 for each victim of the massacre at the high school in 1999. During the half-hour of silence, students released red, white or blue balloons, one at a time, in memory of those killed.  In Parkland, crowds that had gathered cheered as students exited the high school and gathered in the center of the football field.. ...Read Full Story

House Republicans who investigated foreign interference in the 2016 election say they have found no evidence that Russians colluded with any members of the Trump campaign.  This report disputes key findings from the intelligence community that Russia had developed a preference for the Republican nominee during the election. This was the initial statement made from the 150-page report from GOP members of the House Intelligence Committee, who formally brought the panel’s lengthy investigation to an end over the objection of Democrats. Republican Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas said the probe ultimately found no definitive proof that the Trump campaign actively cooperated with any Russians to influence the vote.. ...Read Full Story

President Donald Trump announced a major shakeup in his Cabinet on Tuesday, replacing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo.  Mr. Trump made the announcement on Twitter Tuesday morning. “Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!” Trump tweeted.  White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters Trump had asked Tillerson to step aside. Tillerson said his job would terminate at midnight March 31 and that he plans to effectively delegate duties to his deputy, John Sullivan.. ...Read Full Story

According to a federal official, the pilot who survived a helicopter crash that killed five passengers told investigators he believes a passenger’s bag might have hit an emergency fuel shutoff switch in the moments before the chopper went down. Additionally, the National Transportation Safety Board also is scrutinizing why an emergency flotation device apparently didn’t deploy properly when the tour helicopter went down in the East River. The floats are supposed keep a helicopter upright; the Eurocopter AS350 that crashed Sunday overturned and submerged.  The National Transportation Safety Board investigators began working to find out what caused the crash, which killed a Texas firefighter, an Argentine woman, a young video journalist and two others who were on a charter flight to take photos. Pilot Richard Vance managed to free himself from the rapidly sinking chopper, and was the only survivor. The owner of the helicopter, Liberty Helicopters, has been involved in at least five incidents in the last 10 years, according to FAA data. An August 2009 collision over the Hudson River between a Liberty chopper and a small, private plane killed nine people, including a group of Italian tourists. . ...Read Full Story

Police in Austin say there are “similarities” between three package explosions in Texas’ capital city this month, two fatal, lead them to believe the incidents are related. The latest fatal incident was reported Monday morning, killing a 17-year-old boy and wounding a woman. The boy died at the scene and the woman in her 40s was taken to the hospital with potentially life threatening injuries after the explosion at the East Austin home before 7 a.m.  In an earlier incident on March 2, Anthony Stephan House, 39, was killed when a package exploded at his northeast Austin home. Police also responded Monday morning to a report of an explosion in southeast Austin in which a woman was badly injured. A 75-year-old woman and is listed in critical but stable condition; her injuries are considered life threatening.  A task force had been formed to investigate the incidents, and authorities are urging residents to be careful and not to open suspicious packages. If residents encounter any packages left at their homes they aren’t expecting they are urging them to call 911.. ...Read Full Story

The founder and CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, says the company is planning to launch a spacecraft to Mars and return it to Earth by 2019.  Musk said to the crowd during a surprise appearance at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, on Sunday that “I think we’ll be able to do short flights, sort of up-and-down flights, probably some time in the first half of next year. I can tell you what I know currently is the case is that we are building the first ship, the first Mars interplanetary ship right now,”   A successful mission to Mars in 2019 would be a historic achievement for SpaceX, the private company founded by Musk in 2002 with the mission of enabling travel between planetary bodies. The firm successfully launched its Falcon Heavy rocket in February, catapulting Musk’s own Tesla Roadster toward the Red Planet to the tune of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.”  Musk said at SXSW that SpaceX’s Mars rocket would have twice the liftoff thrust of the Saturn V, the rocket NASA used to send astronauts to the Moon. He said the company is focused on ensuring the rocket’s boosters are reusable in subsequent launches, which dramatically reduces the cost of each flight.. ...Read Full Story

President Trump will propose arming school staff and raising the minimum age to purchase certain firearms to 21 in a school safety proposal the administration will release on Sunday, a White House spokesman said.  Sunday’s announcement came two days after the NRA filed a lawsuit against a measure signed into law by Florida’s governor, Rick Scott, that included raising the age limit on buying a gun from 18 to 21.  Deputy White House press secretary Raj Shah said the President was also likely to back a bipartisan Senate bill that Republican John Cornyn and Democrat Chris Murphy introduced to improve federal compliance with criminal background checks. Shah did not say if Trump’s proposal to raise the minimum age for buying certain guns would involved supporting federal legislation or encouraging states to act, and also said there would be a provision that would involve having “trained individuals” in schools, including staff.. ...Read Full Story

On Thursday, President Donald Trump approved new steel and aluminum tariffs. Shortly before he signed proclamations imposing the tariffs, Trump said in the White House Roosevelt Room, flanked by steel and aluminum workers from Pennsylvania and Kentucky, that “Today, I’m defending America’s national security by placing tariffs on foreign imports of steel.  You don’t have steel, you don’t have a country.” The tariffs — 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum — will take effect March 23, a senior administration official told reporters.. ...Read Full Story

Mississippi lawmakers on Thursday passed what would be the nation’s most restrictive abortion law, making the procedure illegal in most cases after 15 weeks of pregnancy.  Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Legislature hope the issue will eventually make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.  The House voted 75-34 in favor of the measure, and Gov. Phil Bryant said again Thursday that he would sign it. The Senate passed the measure on Tuesday. There are two exceptions to House Bill 1510: if the fetus has a health problem that would prevent it from surviving outside the womb at full term, or if the pregnant woman’s life or a “major bodily function” is threatened by the pregnancy. Pregnancies as a result of rape and incest are not exempt.  The state’s only abortion provider pledged to sue, and the attorney general said he expected a tough legal battle ahead. “The Supreme Court has said and re-said again and again that states cannot prohibit women from obtaining abortions prior to viability, which is what a 15-week ban would do,” said Hillary Schneller, staff attorney for the national nonprofit Center for Reproductive Rights. The New York-based group, which advocates for free access to abortion, called the bill unconstitutional and “medically unsound.”. ...Read Full Story

Former White House communications director Hope Hicks told the House Intelligence Committee last week that one of her email accounts was hacked, according to people who were present for her testimony in the panel’s Russia probe. According to sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Hicks indicated that she could no longer access two accounts: one that she used as a member of President Donald Trump’s campaign team, and a personal account. Hicks told lawmakers that one of the accounts was hacked, according to two sources who were in the room.  Hicks’ correspondence has been a subject of interest for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is running a probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, as well as possible obstruction of justice by Trump associates.. ...Read Full Story

Adult film star Stormy Daniels sued President Donald Trump on Tuesday, alleging that he never signed a nondisclosure agreement that his lawyer had arranged with her.  The civil suit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and alleges that the agreement not to disclose Stephanie Clifford’s (known professionally as Stormy Daniels) “intimate” relationship with Trump is invalid because while both Clifford and Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen signed it, Trump never did.  Clifford and her attorney, Michael Avenatti, are asking the Los Angeles County Superior Court to declare that both the hush agreement and the side agreement “were never formed, and therefore do not exist, because, among other things, Mr. Trump never signed the agreements.” Avenatti said if the suit is a victory, it would allow his client to “tell her story.” “Ms. Clifford believes it’s important that the public learn the truth about what happened,” he said. “I think it’s time for her to tell her story and for the public to decide who is telling the truth.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.. ...Read Full Story