| Man has life support accidentally cut off by wrong family after being mistaken for someone else Posted: 04 Jul 2019 09:40 AM PDT  A man died without his relatives knowing after a mix up led to another family turning off his life support.Relatives say Elisha Brittman, 69, was misidentified as Alfonso Bennett after he was found naked and unresponsive with serious facial injuries beneath a car in Chicago in April.He was taken to Mercy Hospital, where he was listed as John Doe while his family continued their desperate search for him, according to the CBS 2 news channel.Mr Bennett's family later received a phone call from the hospital, which said he had been identified through mugshots and that he was in intensive care.When he showed no signs of improvement, the Bennett family agreed to have his ventilator removed and he died days later.The family were in the middle of arranging the funeral when the real Alfonso Bennett turned up at a barbecue.Mr Brittman's relatives, who still believed he was missing at the time, learned of his death after he was eventually identified through fingerprints at the morgue.Both families have now filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Chicago and Mercy Hospital, accusing them of negligence.They say the mix up, which has been devastating for everyone involved, may never have happened if Mr Brittman had been fingerprinted in the first place.Mr Bennett's sister Rosie Brooks, who received the phone call saying her brother was in hospital, told a press conference on Wednesday: "I said 'how did you all verify this was Alfonso Bennett' –they said 'through the Chicago Police Department'."In my heart I could not recognise him."She added: "If this [the fingerprinting] had been done when they first picked that body up we wouldn't even be here today."State senator Patricia Van Pelt said she would look into introducing legislation which would require an unconscious person to be identified through fingerprints.Anthony Guglielmi, chief communications officer for Chicago Police, said in a tweet last month: "To say that we currently have questions is an understatement."We have detectives looking into every aspect of this incident – from the incident response to the circumstances leading to the hospitalisation and the notification of family members."A spokesperson for Mercy Hospital said it would not be providing a statement at this time.The Independent has contacted Chicago Police Department for comment.
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| Timeline: 'Sewing Circle' to murder case against Navy SEAL Posted: 02 Jul 2019 08:55 PM PDT  The case against Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, a sniper and medic accused of stabbing to death a wounded Islamic State fighter, caused fissures in the normally cohesive and secretive community of Navy SEALS, some of the world's best trained troops who often are called on for the most difficult assignments in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places. Other SEALS were responsible for providing incriminating information that led to a formal investigation that produced murder and other charges against Gallagher. Just before the trial began, President Donald Trump considered a pardon for Gallagher but demurred as critics said it would undermine the military justice system.
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| Poll: Kamala Harris surges in Iowa as Bernie Sanders suffers after debate Posted: 03 Jul 2019 03:29 AM PDT  A new Suffolk University/USA TODAY Poll in Iowa, which holds the opening caucuses, shows Kamala Harris surging as Bernie Sanders struggles after the debate.
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| Southern California rocked by strongest quake in two decades Posted: 04 Jul 2019 04:45 PM PDT  Southern California was rocked by its largest earthquake in two decades on Thursday, but the 6.4-magnitude tremblor caused only "minor" injuries. The shallow quake, which was followed by dozens of aftershocks, struck in a sparsely populated portion of the Mojave Desert, six miles (10 kilometers) from the city of Ridgecrest at 10:33 am (1733 GMT). It was felt 160 miles away in Los Angeles and even as far afield as Las Vegas in the neighboring state of Nevada, as the United States celebrated its July 4 Independence Day holiday.
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| Woman who 'died' for 27 minutes writes chilling note after she's resuscitated Posted: 03 Jul 2019 09:10 AM PDT  An Arizona woman who "died" for a total of 27 minutes asked for a notepadafter she was resuscitated to share an urgent message about the afterlife, herfamily claims
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| Video Alert: Watch an Iranian F-14A Launch a Fakour-90 Air-To-Air Missile Posted: 03 Jul 2019 02:48 AM PDT  The following interesting video is the first known footage that shows an Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) F-14A Tomcat firing a Fakour-90 air-to-air missile.The missile is a copy of the Hughes AIM-54 Phoenix missile that was sold together with the F-14 to Iran in the late 1970s.The missile was developed by the Iranian Army, Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, and IRIAF. In Oct. 2011, it was announced that the missile had reached the stage of mass production.The U.S. Navy retired the iconic Tomcat on Sep. 22, 2006 and today the F-14 remains in in service with IRIAF.In Jan. 2007, U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced that sales of spare F-14 parts would be suspended over concerns of the parts ending up in Iran and in Jul. 2007 the remaining U.S. F-14s were shredded to ensure that any parts could not be acquired.However in Oct. 2010 IRIAF commander stated that his country was overhauling its F-14s and mentioned that Iran-made radar system had been installed on the fighter.
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| A Teen From a 'Good Family' Allegedly Bragged About Raping a 16-Year-Old. Now a Judge Is Under Fire for His Leniency Posted: 03 Jul 2019 11:41 AM PDT  The judge denied a request to try the boy as an adult. An appeals court reversed his decision
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| Trump team weighs giving China a get-out-of-jail free card on Iran Posted: 03 Jul 2019 02:02 AM PDT  The move would breach a vow to bring Iran's oil exports to zero.
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| Navy SEAL accused of killing Iraqi detainee acquitted of murder, thanks Trump for support Posted: 03 Jul 2019 08:15 AM PDT  Gallagher was convicted on a single charge: posing with the 17-year-old militant's corpse.
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| Chinese police arrest man who allegedly poured water over Baidu CEO's head Posted: 03 Jul 2019 10:57 PM PDT  Chinese authorities have detained a man in connection with an investigation of an incident in which a man poured a bottle of water over Robin Li, chief executive of Chinese search giant Baidu Inc, at a conference, police said on Thursday. Li was making a keynote address on Wednesday at the opening of an annual Baidu event to promote its advances in artificial intelligence (AI), when a man approached the stage and emptied a bottle of water over Li's head. Baidu alerted police about the incident, Beijing police said.
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| Indiana man writes the Declaration of Independence on his driveway every July 4th Posted: 03 Jul 2019 12:16 PM PDT  Joe Spangler, 66, has just spent about four hours on his knees, with chalk in one hand and a pipe in the other, drawing on his Fishers driveway.
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| Southern California struck by 6.4 magnitude earthquake Posted: 04 Jul 2019 01:02 PM PDT  A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.4 struck Southern California near the city of Ridgecrest, about 113 miles northeast of Los Angeles, on Thursday. The Kern County Fire Department said it was working on "nearly two dozen incidents ranging from medical assistance to structure fires in and around the city of Ridgecrest." Ridgecrest Mayor Peggy Breedon said the city was dealing with fires and broken gas lines, as well as falling objects that hit people, as the city endured many aftershocks. "We are used to earthquakes but we're not used to this significance," she told MSNBC. The quake is the largest in Southern California since the 1994 magnitude 6.6 Northridge earthquake, which was centered in a heavily populated area of Los Angeles and caused billions of dollars of damage, US Geological Survey (USGS) geophysicist Paul Caruso said. My dads liquor store in Ridgecrest (11 miles from the earthquake) �� pic.twitter.com/4RC0mY3eha— Zomo (@zomo_abd) July 4, 2019 Ms Breedon said she had never felt a quake "like this long rolling" temblor, adding she was driving in her car when it happened and immediately pulled up her emergency brake. She said the city of Ridgecrest had asked residents to look after others, especially the elderly, which form a large part of the city's population. The USGS said the quake, initially reported as a magnitude 6.6, was very shallow - only 5.4 miles - which would have amplified its effect. The temblor, which struck at around 1:30pm EDT in an area on the edge of Death Valley National Park, was felt throughout Los Angeles, as far north as Fresno, and as far east as Las Vegas, Nevada. It was even felt south of the border in Mexico, where buildings were evacuated in the towns of Tijuana and Mexicali, according to Baja State officials. This is my friends chandelier after the earthquake �� earthquakeridgecrestearthquakepic.twitter.com/UqjHupfvLA— Yunuen Valencia (@_yv0214) July 4, 2019 According to European quake agency EMSC, the quake was felt in an area inhabited by some 20 million people. "We were just panicked trying to get out of the house because everything was just falling out of the cabinets, off the shelves, off the walls, pictures ... They were flying like missiles off the shelves," resident April Rodriguez in Trona, California, south of Ridgecrest, said on CNN. The epicenter was very close to Ridgecrest, a town with a population of more than 27,600 in the high desert. The area is associated with the Eastern California Shear Zone and has suffered earthquake swarms in the past, including a series of some 2,500 tremors over the course of five weeks in the summer of 1995. According to poweroutage.us, there were some 5,851 customers without power in Kern County. Temperatures in the area were expected to climb to nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8°C) on Thursday, with extremely low humidity, the Weather Channel said. USGS seismologist Lucy Jones said on CNN the area would be hit by many more aftershocks in the coming days, and could even be hit by a larger quake. A magnitude 6.4 quake is considered strong and is capable of causing severe damage. US President Donald Trump said that the situation appeared to be under control amid reports of scattered damage. "Been fully briefed on earthquake in Southern California. All seems to be very much under control!" Mr Trump tweeted. The quake struck near the city of Ridgecrest and the US Navy's China Lake weapons testing range. A hospital damaged by the quake in Ridgecrest was being evacuated, and an official at China Lake said there was "substantial damage" to their facilities, including fires, water leaks and spills of hazardous materials.
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| Australian student detained in North Korea released Posted: 04 Jul 2019 07:24 AM PDT  A 29-year-old Australian student detained in North Korea arrived in Tokyo on Thursday, hours after surfacing in Beijing where he said he felt "great" after being released. For days Sigley's family received no word about his whereabouts or wellbeing, stoking fears he may have been the latest in a long line of foreigners to become entangled in North Korea's police state. Earlier, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told lawmakers that Sigley had "been released from detention in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" and was "safe and well".
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| Trump administration attempt to indefinitely detain asylum seekers blocked by federal judge Posted: 03 Jul 2019 09:49 AM PDT  A federal judge has blocked an order issued by the Trump administration that would have kept thousands of migrants detained for an indefinite period while they waited for a resolution to requests for asylum in the United States.The order issued by attorney general William Barr had represented the latest step by the administration to discourage migrants from seeking asylum, but a federal judge on Tuesday ruled that the measure could not be enforced.Judge Marsha Pechman of the US district court in Washington DC, said in her court ruling that the order, which would have seen a significant number of migrants seeking asylum denied a bail hearing, was unconstitutional.The judge had issued a preliminary injunction earlier this year that required migrants seeking asylum, who are given a hearing in their proceedings, to be released within seven days after that hearing had been granted.Mr Barr's order, issued in April, had been the latest step by the Trump administration to prevent the release of migrants into the country, and attempt to deter asylum seekers from crossing the border altogether.The Trump administration in recent months has raised fees for migrants applying for asylum seekers and slowed processing at legitimate ports of entry as it fumbles to find a policy that could reduce record numbers of immigration.For over a decade, migrants who have a credible fear of persecution in their home countries have been allowed to request hearings to be released on bail rather than be forced to wait in custody while waiting for their cases to be heard.The order from Mr Barr, would have denied that right to a hearing to migrants who had illegally crossed the border into the country, even after he accepted it would aggravate conditions at overcrowded detention facilities.Ms Pechman, in her ruling, also took issue with an aspect of Mr Barr's measure that would have left open the possibility that migrants could be re-detained by ICE immigration officers after they had been released on bail.The office of the White House press secretary condemned the decision in a statement on Wednesday morning, saying it incentivised smugglers and traffickers. "The district court's injunction is at war with the rule of law," it said.Ms Pechman's ruling comes amid a widespread shortage of immigration judges that has caused unprecedented delays in processing asylum cases. At the end of April, records showed the backlog stood at nearly a million cases.Top officials involved in setting immigration policy have insisted a hard-line approach is necessary to stem the tide of migrants from entering the US, but many of the measures – some blocked by court orders – have largely failed."Hearing dates were being scheduled as far out as August 2023 in New York City, October 2022 in Los Angeles, and April 2022 in San Francisco," the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) reported.Michael Tan, a migrant rights lawyer, said in a statement: "The court forcefully rejected the Trump administration's bid to arbitrarily jail asylum-seekers without a hearing."The justice department is expected to appeal the ruling.Additional reporting by agencies
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| View Photos of our Long-Term 2019 Hyundai Veloster N Posted: 03 Jul 2019 09:08 AM PDT |
| Trump says officials working on holiday on census dispute Posted: 04 Jul 2019 05:08 AM PDT  President Donald Trump said administration officials were working on Independence Day in hopes of finding a way to have the 2020 census include a citizenship question even though the government has begun the process of printing the questionnaire without it. "So important for our Country that the very simple and basic 'Are you a Citizen of the United States?' question be allowed to be asked in the 2020 Census," Trump said in his first tweet of the holiday. Trump's administration has faced numerous roadblocks to adding the question, including last week's Supreme Court ruling that blocked its inclusion, at least temporarily.
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| AOC Releases Plan to Address Immigration Crisis Posted: 03 Jul 2019 03:17 PM PDT  Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday released a plan to address the increasing numbers of migrants crossing the southern border, calling among other things for decriminalizing illegal border crossings.In her four-point plan, the New York Democrat calls on the Trump administration to "reinstate US humanitarian aid in the Northern Triangle, where people are fleeing" as well as "start acting like a real partner in Latin America, & increase visas where we intervene."Secondly, the progressive congresswoman tied in her signature issue, climate change, saying that the refugee crisis is partly due to natural disasters."There is broad consensus from military to activists that resource strains (droughts, famine, etc) & nat disasters are drivers of refugees," she wrote on Twitter. "People are fleeing places that were once livable & are no longer. It will get worse the longer we do nothing."Third, Ocasio-Cortez called for repealing the laws criminalizing crossing into the U.S. without proper documentation, saying the Trump administration is using the statutes to "mindlessly throw people in cages.""We have to take these proceedings out of criminal code & into civil code," she said. "Torture accomplishes nothing."Finally, the congresswoman proposed "large-scale public investment to spur job creation for citizens & immigrants alike." She mentioned climate change again, expressing her hope that the "investment transitions us to a sustainable economy (climate & income-wise)."Ocasio-Cortez's plan rollout comes days after she visited Customs and Border Protection detention facilities, where she said she witnessed migrants being held in disturbing and unsanitary conditions and experienced CBP agents behaving in a "physically & sexually threatening" manner towards her.CBP has also faced outrage and is under scrutiny this week after the discovery of a secret border patrol workers' Facebook group containing offensive content about migrants.
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| Vietnam asks firms to use local materials as US threatens tariffs Posted: 04 Jul 2019 02:52 AM PDT ![Vietnam asks firms to use local materials as US threatens tariffs]( "Vietnam asks firms to use local materials as US threatens tariffs") Vietnamese manufacturers should use domestically-sourced raw materials to avoid incurring U.S. tariffs, Vietnam's foreign ministry said on Thursday, days after Washington said it would impose large duties on some steel products shipped through the Southeast Asian country. The U.S. Commerce Department said on Tuesday it would slap tariffs of up to 456% on certain steel produced in South Korea or Taiwan which are then shipped to Vietnam for minor processing and finally exported to the United States. "The Ministry of Industry and Trade has warned local companies about possible moves by importing countries, including the United States, to apply stricter requirements in trade protection cases," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said at a routine news conference in Hanoi.
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| Alabama DA to drop manslaughter charge against woman whose fetus died after shooting Posted: 03 Jul 2019 12:54 PM PDT  Marshae Jones, 27, was arrested last week after another woman shot and killed Jones' fetus in December 2018.
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| A Funky Pool Float Is the Perfect Summer Accessory Posted: 04 Jul 2019 05:00 AM PDT |
| Australian student detained in North Korea 'released, safe' Posted: 04 Jul 2019 02:03 AM PDT  A 29-year-old Australian student detained in North Korea surfaced in Beijing on Thursday, saying he felt "great" after being released. For days Sigley's family received no word about his whereabouts or wellbeing, stoking fears he may have been the latest in a long line of foreigners to become entangled in North Korea's police state.
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| I asked Latinos why they joined immigration law enforcement. Now I'm urging them to leave. Posted: 03 Jul 2019 03:04 AM PDT  Latinos make up half of American Border Patrol agents. But it's not self-hatred driving them to work for agencies deporting their communities.
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| Appeals court: Trump can't use Pentagon cash for border wall Posted: 03 Jul 2019 06:06 PM PDT  An appeals court on Wednesday upheld a freeze on Pentagon money to build a border wall with Mexico, casting doubt on President Donald Trump's ability to make good on a signature campaign promise before the 2020 election. A divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed with a lower court ruling that prevented the government from tapping Defense Department counterdrug money to build high-priority sections of wall in Arizona, California and New Mexico. The decision is a setback for Trump's ambitious plans.
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| Bad news for Bernie has his backers getting antsy Posted: 04 Jul 2019 05:02 AM PDT ![Bad news for Bernie has his backers getting antsy]( "Bad news for Bernie has his backers getting antsy") His campaign says his organization will win out and that predictions of his demise are way premature.
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| UPDATE 1-Baby boy of murdered pregnant woman in London has died Posted: 03 Jul 2019 02:37 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Baby boy of murdered pregnant woman in London has died]( "UPDATE 1-Baby boy of murdered pregnant woman in London has died") A baby boy delivered after his heavily pregnant mother was fatally stabbed in London has died. The boy, named Riley, was delivered in the early hours of Saturday by paramedics after his mother, 26-year-old Kelly Mary Fauvrelle, was found stabbed inside a house in Croydon, south London. British police released CCTV footage of a man they wish to trace.
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| Search underway for missing 2-year-old girl after mother crosses Rio Grande River, Border Patrol says Posted: 03 Jul 2019 08:26 AM PDT  A missing 2-year-old girl from Brazil is the focus of Border Patrol agents as they search the Rio Grande River.
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| Update: City officials fill giant Edison Park pothole after residents raise concerns Posted: 03 Jul 2019 12:01 PM PDT  City officials have filled a giant pothole on Touhy Avenue after residents complained pothole caused homes to shake.
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| China's Navy is Going Blue Water (Starting With 6 Aircraft Carriers) Posted: 03 Jul 2019 08:00 PM PDT  China's rush to rival the United States as an aircraft carrier superpower reflects Beijing's conviction, inculcated after the perceived humiliation of the Third Taiwan Crisis, that China can neither defend its eleven-thousand-mile-long coastline nor project seapower throughout the East Asia region without fielding a modernized carrier fleet; specifically, six of them by 2035.China is forging ahead with the construction of its third aircraft carrier in under a decade, highlighting the scale of Beijing's maritime ambitions.A series of satellite images from the Jiangnan shipyard, recently published by a China-focused think tank, shed light on the ongoing construction of China's Type 002 carrier. The images reveal a typical military vessel construction site, replete with a floodable basin and multiple sluice gates. While the haziness of the photos makes it difficult to discern the carrier's dimensions, the hull appears to measure forty meters in width by forty-eight meters in length. If prior reports are accurate, Type 002 will be larger and much heavier than its predecessors at a displacement of up to eighty-five thousand tons versus the sixty thousand to seventy thousand tons. The carrier is widely expected to feature a conventional propulsion system, though other technical details remain scant.
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| North Korea says US 'hell-bent on hostile acts' despite wanting to talk Posted: 03 Jul 2019 09:23 PM PDT  North Korea's mission to the United Nations accused the United States on Wednesday of being "more and more hell-bent on hostile acts" against Pyongyang, despite President Donald Trump wanting talks between the two countries. In a statement the mission said it was responding to a U.S. accusation that Pyongyang breached a cap on refined petroleum imports and a letter that it said was sent on June 29 by the United States, France, Germany and Britain to all U.N. member states urging them to implement sanctions against North Korea. "What can't be overlooked is the fact that this joint letter game was carried out by the permanent mission of the United States to the U.N. under instruction of the State Department, on the very same day when President Trump proposed for the summit meeting," the statement said. Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in North Korea on Sunday when he met leader Kim Jong Un in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas. The pair agreed to resume stalled talks aimed at getting Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons program. Donald Trump became the first sitting president to step into North Korea Credit: Susan Walsh/AP The North Korean U.N. mission said the June 29 letter to U.N. member states "speaks to the reality that the United States is practically more and more hell-bent on the hostile acts against the DPRK, though talking about the DPRK-U.S. dialogue." North Korea is formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The U.N. Security Council has unanimously boosted sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in a bid to choke funding for Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, banning exports including coal, iron, lead, textiles and seafood, and capping imports of crude oil and refined petroleum products. The United States, backed by dozens of allies, told a council sanction committee last month that North Korea had breached an annual U.N. cap of 500,000 barrels imposed in December 2017, mainly through transfers between ships at sea. Washington wanted the 15-member North Korea sanctions committee to demand an immediate halt to deliveries of refined petroleum to North Korea. However, Pyongyang allies Russia and China delayed the move. The letter from the United States, Germany, Britain and France cited by North Korea's U.N. mission - and viewed by Reuters - was actually dated June 27. Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, expects nuclear talks to resume in mid-July Credit: Susan Walsh/AP It urges all U.N. member states to comply with Security Council sanctions requiring the repatriation of all North Korean workers by Dec. 22, 2019. "It is quite ridiculous for the United States to continue to behave obsessed with sanctions and pressure campaign against the DPRK, considering sanctions as a panacea for all problems," the North Korean U.N. mission said on Wednesday. Following Sunday's meeting between Kim and Trump, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said a new round of denuclearisation talks would likely happen "sometime in July ... probably in the next two or three weeks" and North Korea's negotiators would be foreign ministry diplomats. The United States and other U.N. Security Council members have said there must be strict enforcement of sanctions until Pyongyang acts, while Russia and China have suggested the council discuss easing the measures. "All U.N. member states will have to keep vigilance against deliberate attempts by the United States to undermine the peaceful atmosphere that has been created on the Korean Peninsula in no easy way," the North Korean statement said.
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| This Is the Devastating Aftermath of an Airstrike That Killed 53 Migrants at a Libyan Detention Center Posted: 04 Jul 2019 09:26 AM PDT  These photographs capture the devastation of the airstrike in Libya on Wednesday, that left at least 53 dead and 130 injured.
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| Venezuela opposition pledges equal treatment for creditors in possible restructuring Posted: 03 Jul 2019 02:50 PM PDT  Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's economic advisors have proposed treating most creditors equally in a possible debt restructuring should the coalition oust President Nicolas Maduro from power, according to a document published on Wednesday. The South American country has debts worth around $200 billion to a diverse group of bondholders, commercial suppliers to state-owned firms with unpaid accounts receivable, and companies whose Venezuelan assets were expropriated. The government has defaulted on most of its debt, but creditors are reluctant to negotiate a restructuring due to U.S. sanctions intended to force Maduro from power.
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| Proud to be an American? Gallup poll hits historic low of 45% ahead of Fourth of July holiday Posted: 03 Jul 2019 05:37 AM PDT ![Proud to be an American? Gallup poll hits historic low of 45% ahead of Fourth of July holiday]( "Proud to be an American? Gallup poll hits historic low of 45% ahead of Fourth of July holiday") The highest readings on record, of 69% and 79%, occurred between 2002 and 2004, according to Gallup.
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| 'Dangerous overcrowding' decried at Texas migrant detention centers Posted: 02 Jul 2019 10:47 PM PDT  The report by the agency watchdog came a day after a group of Democratic lawmakers toured detention centers for undocumented immigrants in the state bordering Mexico and denounced "horrifying" conditions there. "We encourage the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to take immediate steps to alleviate dangerous overcrowding and prolonged detention of children and adults in the Rio Grande Valley," acting DHS Inspector General Jennifer Costello said in a memorandum to acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan. The report included images taken at several Texas sites, showing dozens of migrants including young children packed shoulder to shoulder into cage-like holding areas or cells.
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| After deadly NH biker crash, thousands of out-of-state traffic notices found untouched by Massachusetts RMV Posted: 03 Jul 2019 08:44 AM PDT  Tens of thousands of notifications detailing traffic incidents involving Massachusetts drivers in other states sat untouched.
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| Florida residents urged to kill iguanas 'whenever possible' amid overpopulation fears Posted: 03 Jul 2019 12:10 PM PDT  The advice to residents of Florida about the rapidly multiplying green iguanas could not have been clearer – kill them, "whenever possible".Naturalists say the lizards, which are an invasive species to the state, are reproducing more quickly than usual because of an extended warm spell. They can cause damage to infrastructure by burrowing, and foul swimming pools and lakes. Given the creatures can lay up to 75 eggs a year and reach up to 5 feet in length, officials have urged residents to help."Green iguanas are not native to Florida and are considered to be an invasive species due to the damage they can cause to seawalls, sidewalks, and landscape plants. This species is not protected in Florida expect by anti-cruelty law," said a notice posted by the state's fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC).It added: "Homeowners do not need a permit to kill iguanas on their own property, and the FWC encourages homeowners to kill green iguanas on their own property whenever possible."The creatures, originally from South America, have long been a menace in Florida, and there have been various attempts to try and deal with them.Authorities say iguanas brought to Florida as pets or hitchhiking on ships have flourished in the conditions found there.Another invasive species, the Burmese python, is wreaking havoc in the Everglades because the big snakes eat almost anything and have no natural predators, the Associated Press reported.Joseph Wasilewski, a scientist from the University of Florida who studies wildlife in Florida and the Caribbean, told ABC News the iguanas were a "serious problem from many standpoints". "They will destroy agriculture, undermine roads, cause electrical transformers to fail, they can transmit salmonella," he said. Yet, he said he was not delighted the authorities had decided to kill the lizards. "It saddens me that all of these magnificent animals, along with multitudes of other invasive reptile species have to be put down," he said. "There is no alternative for the problems."
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| The 25 Best-Selling Cars, Trucks, and SUVs of 2019 (So Far) Posted: 03 Jul 2019 07:30 AM PDT |
| Look Closely: Is This Picture the Future of the U.S. Navy? Posted: 04 Jul 2019 01:36 AM PDT  Boeing is also looking to convince the Navy that the CMV-22 could fulfill all sorts of secondary roles that S-3 Vikings or helicopters used to fulfill, such as anti-submarine patrols, search-and-rescue of downed airmen, special ops insertion, and electronic warfare.Only time will tell whether the pricy CMV-22B brings about the revolution in logistics the Navy is hoping for.For over fifty years, the Navy has operated C-2A Greyhound cargo haulers with twin turboprop engines to ferry personnel, supplies, mail and spare parts to its massive aircraft carriers at sea—a mission known as Carrier Onboard Delivery (COD). The Greyhound, which is derived from the Navy's E-2 Hawkeye radar planes, can haul up to five tons of cargo or 26 passengers while still managing to land and takeoff from the three-hundred-meter-long carrier flight deck—and then fold its wings to fit in the hangar deck below.(This first appeared last year.)In the late 2000s, however, the Navy began looking to replace the aging Greyhound. Candidates to take up the COD mission included modernized C-2s and the Navy's recently retired S-3 Viking anti-submarine jets. In the end, though, the Navy gave in to urging from the Marines and decided to pursue the most expensive option—the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.
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| Democrats' suit for Trump's tax returns assigned to Trump-appointed judge Posted: 03 Jul 2019 09:18 AM PDT  Trevor McFadden has previously ruled for the administration in another high-profile fight with Democrats,
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| Putin, after three days, says fire-hit Russian submarine was nuclear-powered Posted: 03 Jul 2019 11:49 PM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin disclosed on Thursday for the first time that a secret military submarine hit by a fatal fire three days ago was nuclear-powered, prompting the defense minister to assure him its reactor had been safely contained. Moscow's slow release of information about the incident has drawn comparisons with the opaque way the Soviet Union handled the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster, and another deadly submarine accident -- the 2000 sinking of the nuclear-powered Kursk, which claimed 118 lives. Russia, which says the details of the submarine involved in the latest accident are classified, said the fire took place on Monday, though it was only officially disclosed late on Tuesday.
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| Polls show Biden a favorite for general election as Harris surges Posted: 03 Jul 2019 02:01 PM PDT  Following the first Democratic debate, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris show a strong standing in new ABC News polls ahead of holiday weekend appearances in Iowa.
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| China spotlights military drill amid Hong Kong protests Posted: 02 Jul 2019 11:19 PM PDT  An army-linked newspaper in China has run photos of a week-old military drill in Hong Kong, a move analysts described as a warning to Beijing's critics as the city grapples with a wave of anti-government protests. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has maintained a garrison in Hong Kong since the former British colony was returned to Beijing in 1997, but its troops generally keep a low profile and are rarely seen in uniform in public.
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| Ice cream licker in viral video could face 20 years in jail, federal charges Posted: 04 Jul 2019 05:16 PM PDT  Blue Bell Creameries has removed all half-gallon containers of "Tin Roof" from a Walmart in Lufkin, Texas, police said.
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