A 20-year-old man was arrested late Saturday in the shooting death of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes, who was killed in a drive-by shooting while sitting in the backseat of her mother’s car in Houston last month, police said. Eric Black Jr., 20, was charged with capital murder following the deadly shooting on Dec. 30, Harris County Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release Sunday. Black, who investigators identified as a suspect based on a tip, reportedly admitted to “taking part in the shooting.” He told investigators he mistook Barnes’ family car for another one he saw the night before the deadly shooting... [Read Full Story]
President Trump made a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room Thursday for the first time since becoming president, but took no questions from reporters. ... [Read Full Story]
U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi made history by becoming became House Speaker for a second time as the new Congress took office Thursday. Pelosi, 78, became the nation’s first female House speaker when she took the gavel in 2007, and now becomes only the third person to serve in that capacity in non-consecutive terms.... [Read Full Story]
According to State Department officials, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman has visited a U.S. citizen detained in Russia, and expressed support for him by offering the embassy’s assistance. It is unusual for the U.S. ambassador to be the one to make that consular visit, which is usually handled by embassy staff.... [Read Full Story]
Immigrant youth looking to start over in the United States are having their applications for green cards rejected because the Trump administration says they’re too old. U.S. government programs in place since 1990 has let young immigrants subject to abuse, abandonment or neglect by a parent seek a court-appointed guardian and a green card to stay in the country and applicants must file paperwork before age 21. However, the Trump administration has said some are too old to qualify once they turn 18, prompting a flurry of denial notices over the past year in New York, Texas and California and additional questions of applicants in New Jersey.... [Read Full Story]
A 2-year-old child was rushed to a hospital after slipping and falling into a rhino exhibit Tuesday at a Florida zoo. The injury occurred after the toddler came into contact with one of the animal’s snouts, zoo officials said. The child was taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, and the child’s mother was taken to Orlando Regional medical center with “non-critical injuries” to her arm. The incident happened at the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne during a hands-on, educational experience called “Rhino Encounter,” according to a statement from zoo spokesperson Elliot Zirulnik. Each session is open to guests ages 3 and up, and is led by a zookeeper, lasting about 20 minutes.... [Read Full Story]
According to court documents filed by the state attorney general, California’s largest public utility provider — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) — could face murder or manslaughter charges if it were found responsible for causing the state’s recent deadly wildfires.... [Read Full Story]
A 22-year-old intern at a North Carolina zoo was killed Sunday after a lion escaped a locked space. The Conservators Center in Burlington announced that the intern was killed during a routine cleaning of an animal enclosure at about 11:30 a.m. ET. The intern was identified by the Caswell County Sheriff’s Office as Alexandra Black, 22, a native of New Palestine, Indiana, and was a recent graduate of Indiana State University.... [Read Full Story]
On Thursday, attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev asked an appellate court to overturn his conviction and death penalty sentence for helping carry out the 2013 attack, which killed three people and wounded more than 260 others.... [Read Full Story]
Negotiations among Democrats, Republicans and the White House appear to be going nowhere, as the partial government shutdown entered day six on Thursday.... [Read Full Story]
President Donald Trump made a surprise visit to American troops in Iraq on Wednesday, his first trip to an active combat zone since he took office. The President was joined by first lady Melania Trump, and spent three hours on the ground with U.S. forces and met with the U.S. ambassador and commanders on the ground. ... [Read Full Story]
An 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died in government custody early Tuesday. This is the second immigrant child to die in detention this month. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the boy, identified by the Guatemalan consul in Phoenix as Felipe Gomez Alonzo, died shortly after midnight. The boy showed “signs of potential illness” Monday and was taken with his father to a hospital in Alamogordo, New Mexico, CBP said. After he was release, the boy was returned to the hospital Monday evening and died hours later, CBP said. The official cause of death is not known, and in accordance with CBP policy, the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility will conduct a review. ... [Read Full Story]
President Donald Trump on Tuesday, Christmas Day, wished U.S. troops stationed around the country and the world a Merry Christmas. President Trump spoke by video conference to members of all five branches of the U.S. military, saying in part: “I know it’s a great sacrifice for you to be away from your families, but I want you to know that every American family is eternally grateful to you, and we’re holding you close in our hearts, thoughts and prayers. We love what you do and love your work. Amazing people.” ... [Read Full Story]
The government will be partially shut down through Christmas, as Washington remains divided over budget negotiations and nowhere near a resolution to the shutdown that began early Saturday morning. All sides now anticipate the impasse will continue into the first weeks of January. On Sunday, incoming chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said the shutdown could continue into the next congressional session in January. Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives on January 3rd. ... [Read Full Story]
President Trump announced Sunday that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will leave the Trump administration at the beginning of the new year. This is nearly two months earlier than Mattis said he would depart in his resignation letter submitted to the president last week, following Trump’s sudden decision to remove U.S. troops from Syria.... [Read Full Story]
On Thursday, attorneys generals from nine U.S. states sued the Trump administration to stop future seismic tests for oil and gas deposits off the East Coast, joining a lawsuit from environmentalists concerned the tests harm whales and dolphins. The lawsuit names Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and the National Marine Fisheries Service as defendants. It also says the prospect of seeing marine mammals is an important draw for tourists to the states and helps coastal economies.... [Read Full Story]
House Speaker Paul Ryan emerged from a last-minute White House meeting Thursday between President Donald Trump and House Republicans, and said that the President told them he will refuse to sign a stopgap funding bill as it’s currently written — a measure that would avert a shutdown before a Friday midnight deadline.... [Read Full Story]
Brian Kolfage, a military veteran, has raised more than $3 million in donations from more than 50,000 people as of Thursday in a crowdsourced campaign for construction of the border wall.... [Read Full Story]
Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a vote on a resolution that would have allowed the Senate to intervene in a federal lawsuit against ObamaCare. The lawsuit by the state of Maryland seeks to preserve the Obamacare law in a case that also challenges Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general.... [Read Full Story]
On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that it has started the process of withdrawing all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria after the White House confirmed President Donald Trump had given the surprise order to leave because ISIS there had been “defeated.”... [Read Full Story]
Authorities say that two Chicago police officers were killed Monday after being struck by a metro train. Officers Conrad Gary and Eduardo Marmolejo were responding to a shots fired call on the city’s South Side when a passing train hit them, Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told reporters. The train had been traveling at 60 mph to 70 mph, he said. A suspect was ultimately taken into custody and a gun was recovered, Johnson said.... [Read Full Story]
Roger Stone, a longtime GOP consultant and former adviser to President Donald Trump, has settled a defamation suit that sought $100 million in damages over false online statements he published on InfoWars.com.... [Read Full Story]
President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order before the end of the year creating a U.S. Space Command as a major military command. U.S. Officials said that Vice President Mike Pence will make the announcement Tuesday at the Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Trump could sign the order as soon as Tuesday. This move is separate from Trump’s goal of creating a “Space Force” as an independent armed service branch.... [Read Full Story]
The White House is pushing the federal government closer to the brink of a partial shutdown later this week, digging in on its demand for $5 billion to build a border wall as congressional Democrats continue to stand firm against it.... [Read Full Story]
President Trump tweeted Sunday morning that he will be reviewing the case of a former U.S. Army Green Beret who has been charged with the murder of a suspected Taliban bomb maker; indicating that the president may be considering granting a pardon.... [Read Full Story]
Kotex tampons are being pulled off the shelves by retailers across the U.S. and Canada after complaints of the product unraveling and pieces being left in the body. Some users even had to seek medical attention to remove the lost tampon pieces.... [Read Full Story]
Apple is expanding its presence in the U.S. as a part of a billion-dollar investment that the company said would generate at least 5,000 new jobs. According to a statement released early Thursday morning, the company plans to build a new $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas, and open new offices in Seattle, San Diego and Culver City, California, to broaden its U.S. footprint,... [Read Full Story]
