News Daypop Archives

On Monday, former first lady Michelle Obama responded to the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy of separating immigrant parents from their children at the border, citing former First Lady Laura Bush’s condemnation, saying: “Sometimes truth transcends party.” Obama is now the fourth first lady to speak out against the policy, including the current first lady, Melania Trump. Hillary Clinton also responded to the policy, telling an audience in New York on Monday that it is a “moral and humanitarian crisis” and that “every human being with a sense of compassion and decency should be outraged.”... [Read Full Story]

Two people were shot and the suspect killed at a Walmart Supercenter in Tumwater, Washington state, police said Sunday. Police responded to a shooting just after 5 p.m. PDT at a Walmart Supercenter in Tumwater, Washington; Tumwater is about 65 miles south of Seattle.  Officers originally responded to a report of a car driving in the wrong direction, but as the officers were in route they were dispatched to reports of a carjacking nearby with shots fired.  Around 5:30 p.m. Thurston County Dispatch began receiving calls of shots fired “in or around the Tumwater Walmart and parking lot,” according to police. Police say the suspect exited the store and attempted to carjack a car in the parking lot, shooting an adult male occupant of the car in the process. The adult male victim was treated for gunshot wounds and was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The suspect attempted another carjacking in the Walmart parking lot, and was approached by two armed civilians. One of the armed civilians shot the suspect, and the suspect died at the scene. ... [Read Full Story]

Thousands of protesters chanted and held signs Sunday, demanding the Trump administration stops separating children from their parents at the border.  A newly-opened “tent city” along the Texas border is now at the center of the national immigration debate. The camp is housing teenage boys who illegally entered the United States — unaccompanied by an adult. The march was organized by Democratic Congressman Beto O’Rourke. “We were told there were 98 kids in this tent city yesterday, we were told today there are 200 kids,” O’Rourke said. “We’ve all got to own this, we cannot blame this on Trump, we cannot blame this on a political party — this is America right now, and so America’s gotta show up.” The Department of Homeland Security numbers show that over a six-week period, nearly 2,000 children were separated from nearly as many adults.... [Read Full Story]

Thousands of protesters chanted and held signs Sunday, demanding the Trump administration stops separating children from their parents at the border.  A newly-opened “tent city” along the Texas border is now at the center of the national immigration debate. The camp is housing teenage boys who illegally entered the United States — unaccompanied by an adult. The march was organized by Democratic Congressman Beto O’Rourke. “We were told there were 98 kids in this tent city yesterday, we were told today there are 200 kids,” O’Rourke said. “We’ve all got to own this, we cannot blame this on Trump, we cannot blame this on a political party — this is America right now, and so America’s gotta show up.” The Department of Homeland Security numbers show that over a six-week period, nearly 2,000 children were separated from nearly as many adults.... [Read Full Story]

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that the United States will not ease sanctions against North Korea until it denuclearizes. Pompeo, meeting in Seoul with top South Korean and Japanese diplomats, said Trump’s claim that the North’s nuclear threat was over was issued with “eyes wide open,” and brushed off a North Korean state media report suggesting Trump would grant concessions even before the North fully rids itself of nuclear weapons. “We’re going to get denuclearization,” Pompeo said in the South Korean capital. “Only then will there be relief from the sanctions.” Pompeo emphasized that the drills, which North Korea claims to be preparation for a northward invasion, could still be resumed if Kim Jong Un stops negotiating in good faith.... [Read Full Story]

The New York attorney general has asked a judge to close down the Trump Foundation, accusing the charity of fraudulent dealings and campaign funding violations. Mr. Trump is accused of using charity money to buy a $10,000 painting of himself, to hang at one of his golf clubs, and of resolving a row about Mar-a-Lago with a donation to charity, made with foundation funds. He is also accused of using a foundation fundraiser to drum up political support for his presidential campaign. US law forbids using a charity to support “private interests” or political campaigns. Barbara Underwood, the attorney general, submitted the documents before the state supreme court in Manhattan on Thursday, at the end of a two-year investigation into the charity.... [Read Full Story]

A former Penn State fraternity brother has entered the first guilty plea in connection with the death of pledge Tim Piazza, who died after falling down fraternity house stairs during an alcohol-fueled hazing ritual, prosecutors said. Ryan Burke, who was accused of forcing Piazza to drink from a bottle of vodka the night of his fall, pleaded guilty Wednesday to four counts of hazing and five counts relating to unlawful acts involving liquor. Burke, now 21, admitted to his role in the hazing and will be sentenced on July 31, according to prosecutors.... [Read Full Story]

Rep. Mark Sanford, one of President Trump’s sharpest Republican critics in Congress, was ousted by a primary challenger on Tuesday after Trump waged a last-minute effort to defeat him. The South Carolina representative lost to state legislator Katie Arrington, who won Trump’s support just hours before the polls closed on Tuesday. Trump lashed out against Sanford, declaring him “nothing but trouble” in a tweet and referencing his 2009 extramarital affair. Sanford becomes just the second House Republican to lose in a primary this year. “Based on the numbers I see, I think I’ll end up losing this election,” a resigned Sanford told supporters Tuesday night. With nearly all the vote tallied, Arrington had slightly more than half the vote — enough to clinch the nomination and avoid a runoff.... [Read Full Story]

After a standoff of more than 21 hours, officers entered an apartment where a felon with a gun had barricaded himself with four children and found them all dead, a police chief said. Orlando Police Chief John Mina said at a news conference just before midnight Monday that Gary Wayne Lindsey, 35, was found dead in a closet when officers entered the apartment around 9 p.m. The children with Lindsey ranged in age from 1 to 11. Two of them were Lindsey’s and two were his girlfriend’s, officers said. A police spokeswoman said Tuesday that the medical examiner, as part of an investigation, would determine when the children were killed.  Court records show Lindsey had an extensive criminal history involving arson, battery and theft. He was on probation for several charges including arson.... [Read Full Story]

An off-duty FBI agent who accidentally fired a gun that dropped out of its holster while he was doing a back-flip at a nightclub was booked into custody on Tuesday. Chase Bishop, 29, was being held in a detention center in downtown Denver. He faces charges for second-degree assault but he has not been formally charged. Denver police have said Bishop was dancing at a nightclub in the early hours of June 2 when the gun fell from his waistband holster and hit the floor. When he went to grab it, the gun went off and wounded a man who was taken to a hospital, where he was listed in good condition. Bishop is not assigned to the Denver office but works out of Washington, D.C.... [Read Full Story]

The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on three Russian individuals and five companies on Monday, saying they had worked with Moscow’s military and intelligence services on ways to conduct cyber attacks against the United States and its allies. The designation blocks all property of those targeted that is subject to U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits American citizens from engaging in transactions with them. In a statement, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said “The United States is engaged in an ongoing effort to counter malicious actors working at the behest of the Russian Federation and its military and intelligence units to increase Russia’s offensive cyber capabilities.”... [Read Full Story]

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Ohio’s law for removing voters from registration rolls does not violate federal laws to protect people who simply choose not to vote. In a 5-4 opinion that split the conservative and liberal justices ans written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.,  the court rejected arguments in a case from Ohio that the practice violates a federal law intended to increase the ranks of registered voters. A handful of other states also use voters’ inactivity to trigger a process that could lead to their removal from the voting rolls. Justice Alito said for the court that Ohio is complying with the 1993 National Voter Registration Act. He was joined by his four conservative colleagues. The four liberal justices dissented.... [Read Full Story]

A growing wildfire in southwestern Colorado forced more people from their homes Sunday as crews tried to slow the blaze being fed by hot, dry and windy conditions. Authorities ordered the residents of 675 homes to evacuate after the fire burning north of Durango nearly doubled in size overnight, to 26 square miles. Residents of 2,156 homes have been ordered to evacuate as of Sunday afternoon. The cause of the blaze, which is being called the 416 Fire, which started in the San Juan National Forest, has not been determined.... [Read Full Story]

President Trump arrived in Singapore on Sunday for his historic on-again-off-again meeting with the North Korea leader, Kim Jong-un. The meeting will be the first ever between a sitting American president and a North Korean leader. Just over two weeks ago, it seemed that the summit meeting was not going to happen. But on Sunday, Mr. Trump arrived just after 8:20 p.m. local time at Paya Lebar Air Base in Singapore aboard Air Force One, a few hours after Mr. Kim landed at Changi Airport on a commercial Air China plane. ... [Read Full Story]

On Thursday, social media platform Facebook acknowledged that it accidentally exposed the private posts of 14 million users over the span of a few days last month. From May 18 through May 22, when Facebook was testing a new feature, any posts published by those 14 million users were automatically made public — even if the user’s privacy settings should have restricted who could see them. Facebook corrected the mistake, and by May 27, it changed back the affected posts. That means someone could have unwittingly shared a post publicly for as long as nine days. Starting Thursday, Facebook is letting the affected users know and asking them to review any posts they made during that time.... [Read Full Story]

Scientists reported on Thursday that NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover has found fresh evidence for the red planet’s past — and possibly present — habitability. The nuclear-powered rover has detected a variety of organic compounds, a requirement for life as it’s known on Earth, in 3-billion-year-old rocks deposited on the floor of Gale Crater. While organics were discovered by the rover earlier, the age and variety of the newly analyzed samples strengthen the case for a habitable environment in the past. “We found organic molecules in rocks from an ancient lakebed,” said Jen Eigenbrode, a research scientist and astrobiologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “Those organic molecules could have come from life.”... [Read Full Story]

President Trump reportedly granted clemency to Alice Marie Johnson on Wednesday, days after Kim Kardashian West traveled to the White House to advocate for the Tennessee grandmother’s release.  Johnson — a 63-year-old woman who has spent more than two decades behind bars for a first-time nonviolent drug offense — was said to be among those on a shortlist of at least 30 people the President was considering pardoning, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Kardashian West met with Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Oval Office last week in a bid to convince them to release Johnson from the federal prison in Aliceville, Alabama. She was handed a life sentence on charges related to cocaine possession and money laundering in 1996.... [Read Full Story]

A White House communications aide who made headlines in May for cracking a macabre joke about the health of Senator John McCain has left the White House. Kelly Sadler made off-the-cuff comments about the Republican senator’s opposition to President Trump’s nominee for C.I.A. director, Gina Haspel, saying that it did not matter because Mr. McCain was “dying anyway.” Mr. McCain has a malignant brain tumor and has been in treatment for several months. The joke was shared with the news media, igniting a firestorm. The White House addressed the departure in a brief statement on Tuesday evening, saying that Ms. Sadler was “no longer employed within the executive office of the president.” ... [Read Full Story]

President Trump abruptly called off the White House celebration honoring the Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles after nearly all of the players and coaches said they would boycott the visit. White House officials said that fewer than 10 members of the team were planning to attend the celebration on Tuesday afternoon on the South Lawn, despite weeks of planning for the event. When it became clear that most members of the team would not attend, Mr. Trump issued a blistering statement disinviting them. “The Philadelphia Eagles are unable to come to the White House with their full team to be celebrated tomorrow,” Mr. Trump said in a statement released Monday evening. “They disagree with their president because he insists that they proudly stand for the national anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country.”... [Read Full Story]

Fashion designer Kate Spade was found dead in an apparent suicide her Manhattan apartment, according to NY law enforcement officials. She was 55. Spade’s body was discovered by her housekeeper at her Upper East Side apartment. The Associated Press reported that Spade left a note and was found with a red scarf around her neck attached to a doorknob. Spade, a world-famous designer, launched Kate Spade Handbags in 1993 with her husband Andy Spade and opened her first store in New York City in 1996. Spade is the sister-in-law of actor David Spade. Spade sold her company in 2007, a year after it was acquired from the Neiman Marcus Group for $125 million by the company then known as Liz Claiborne Inc. In 2017, Coach bought the brand for $2.4 billion. In 2016, she launched a new shoes and handbag line called Frances Valentine, named after her daughter. Spade is survived by her husband Andy and their daughter, Frances Beatrix Spade, 13. ... [Read Full Story]

Bruce Springsteen will join Grammy-winning rock band Portugal. the Man next week in his hometown of Asbury Park, New Jersey for the reopening of concert venue Asbury Lanes. On Monday, June 18th, the event celebrates the renovation of Asbury’s bowling alley, newly outfitted as a music venue. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Monmouth County.  An online lottery via the Asbury Lanes website is available only to Asbury Park residents as part of the commitment to honor the local community. The lottery will accept entries until 8 a.m. Eastern Time on June 7th. Asbury Park Now will also host a giveaway for a pair of tickets as well as a night at the newly-established boutique hotel, The Asbury.... [Read Full Story]

Villages hit by Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire on Monday were met with search and rescue teams, this coming after the volcano spewed lava, ash, rocks and deadly hot gas, killing at least 25 people. The Volcán de Fuego, or Volcano of Fire, began erupting ash and lava early Sunday, according to local reports. Fast-moving flows surprised communities that had not been ordered to evacuate. Ash spread through the sky as far as Guatemala City, some 40 miles away. More than 3,200 residents of communities near the volcano have been moved, and 48 people including have been treated at a nearby hospital, according to officials. Authorities expected the death toll to rise and warned of the possibility of further mudslides.... [Read Full Story]

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a narrow victory to a Christian baker from Colorado who refused for religious reasons to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. In a 7-2 decision the Supreme Court faulted the Colorado Civil Rights Commission’s handling of the claims brought against Jack Phillips, saying it had showed a hostility to religion. In doing so, the commission violated his religious rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The court, however, did not issue a definitive ruling on the circumstances under which people can seek exemptions from anti-discrimination laws based on their religious views. ... [Read Full Story]

First lady Melania Trump will not be joining President Donald Trump on his upcoming trips to the G7 summit in Quebec and the highly anticipated summit between the United States and North Korea in Singapore. The 48-year-old first lady has not been seen in public since May 10, when she and the president welcomed home three American detainees from North Korea. On May 14, the White House announced that Melania Trump underwent a medical procedure to treat a benign kidney condition. She remained at Walter Reed Medical Center until May 19.  Having not been seen in public for the last 24 days, questions have swirled about the state of her health and the hashtag #whereisMelania trended online.  In response, she tweeted that she was “feeling great” and “working hard on behalf of children and the American people.”... [Read Full Story]

Former Vice President Joe Biden and his advisers are hard at work on plans for a busy campaign schedule this fall that could have him appearing at as many as a dozen events each week. As far as the question of a 2020 run for President, Biden himself has said he’s not ruled out what would be a third run for the White House, but a decision will not come until after the 2018 midterms. ... [Read Full Story]

The Trump administration said Thursday it will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Europe, Mexico and Canada after failing to win concessions from the American allies. Europe and Mexico pledged to retaliate quickly, and financial markets fell amid fears of a trade war. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the tariffs would be 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, and go into effect on Friday, as the administration followed through on the penalties after earlier granting exemptions to buy time for negotiations. President Donald Trump had announced the tariffs in March, citing national security concerns. The European Commission’s president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said Trump’s decision amounted to trade protectionism and that Europe would respond with countermeasures. “This is protectionism, pure and simple,” Juncker said.... [Read Full Story]

Tennessee authorities charged a woman with murder in connection with the slaying of Dickson County Sheriff’s Sgt. Daniel Baker as police searched Thursday for a second suspect. Erika Castro-Miles, 38, faces one count of first-degree murder for the Wednesday shooting. An affidavit said she told police she watched as Steven Wiggins shot and killed Baker.  Police launched a manhunt for Wiggins, 31, in connection with the shooting after Baker’s body was found in his vehicle. Castro-Miles allegedly fled the scene after the shooting and police found her hiding underneath a house nearby. Police believe Wiggins to be armed and dangerous. He had multiple active warrants before the shooting, including for aggravated assault and theft.... [Read Full Story]

Harvey Weinstein was indicted Wednesday on rape and criminal sex act charges, the first criminal case to arise from a slate of sexual misconduct allegations against the former movie mogul. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said the indictment brings Weinstein “another step closer to accountability.” The announcement came hours after Weinstein’s lawyers said he’d decline to testify before the grand jury because there wasn’t enough time to prepare him and “political pressure” made an indictment unavoidable.  Weinstein was charged Friday with rape and criminal sex act charges involving two women in New York. Dozens more women have accused him of sexual misconduct ranging from harassment to assault in various locales.... [Read Full Story]

[Read Full Story]

Starbucks shops across the U.S. closed early on Tuesday to hold training for employees on recognizing hidden prejudices. It was part of the coffee chain’s effort to deal with the outcry over the arrest of two black men last month for sitting in a Philadelphia Starbucks without buying anything. After the incident, the company’s leaders apologized, met with the men and scheduled an afternoon of training for 175,000 employees at more than 8,000 U.S. stores. Developed with help from the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and other groups, the training was not mandatory, but Starbucks said it expected almost all of its employees to participate. It said they will be paid for the full four hours.... [Read Full Story]