Congress early Friday sent President Barack Obama an ambitious budget and debt measure that averts a catastrophic national default and sets spending priorities for the next two years. The Senate voted 64-35 to approve the bill just after 3 a.m. EDT, with Democrats and Republican defense hawks uniting to overcome… Read More
Commercial airplane catches fire on runway (pics)
A jet plane’s engine caught fire as it prepared for takeoff from Florida and more than 100 passengers had to evacuate using emergency slides. One person was seriously injured, officials said. Dozens of passengers could be seen in video footage Thursday gliding down the slides of the Dynamic Airways flight,… Read More
Illegal immigrant goes on sick crime spree
A Honduran man who has repeatedly entered the United States illegally allegedly kidnapped his estranged ex-girlfriend and repeatedly sexually assaulted her at knifepoint on a drive from Missouri to New Jersey, according to federal prosecutors. Because of a weak Obama administration border policy, this is the third time Jose Amaya-Vasquez had… Read More
Russia bombing hospitals… Where’s the outcry from liberals?
The first missile slammed into the field hospital in the rebel-held Syrian town of Sarmeen, killing a physiotherapist inside. Five minutes later, the aircraft returned, firing another missile that hit nearby just as the first responders were arriving. A total of 13 were killed, and the hospital organizers blamed Russian… Read More
The Alamo: Not forgotten (and getting a facelift)
Centuries of rainfall and punishing Texas sunshine are slowly doing what cannon fire and barrages of Mexican bullets couldn’t back in 1836 — disintegrating the Alamo. That’s why the shrine is undergoing $5 million in emergency repairs, part of a sweeping, state Legislature-approved $31.5 million makeover that may be one… Read More
Justice! Kentucky manhunt ends in dramatic gun fight
A fugitive accused of shooting a Tennessee police officer and firing at a Kentucky trooper was killed in a shootout with authorities early Friday, ending a nearly weeklong manhunt. Floyd Ray Cook, 62, was pronounced dead at the scene in south-central Kentucky after being confronted by state troopers and a… Read More
Labor laws questioned after Indian maid loses arm in Saudi Arabia
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Kasthuri Munirathinam, a 55-year-old mother of four from southern India, was plunged into debt after borrowing money to marry off her daughters. Like many before her, she was recruited through an agency and promised an opportunity to earn 1,000 Saudi riyals ($267) a month… Read More
Medicaid busted enrolling dead people, wasting MILLIONS
An audit has found that flaws in New York’s health exchange resulted in 21 dead people being enrolled in Medicaid and 333 other dead people being provided with government-funded health coverage. The state comptroller’s office says its auditors found overpayments that cost taxpayers $3.4 million for the year starting Oct…. Read More
This awesome cop praised for her “good moves”
Less attacks on police. More dance offs. A Washington, DC police officer helped defuse a fight between teenagers in a park by challenging one of them to a dance-off. Seventeen-year-old Aaliyah Taylor says a woman officer arrived Monday and when she saw Taylor dancing to the popular song, “Watch Me… Read More
17 seconds of terror in Homeland Security office shooting
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Homeland Security Department missed clear warning signs of a disgruntled federal agent’s descent toward violence and could have intervened before he started a deadly gun battle inside a government office building in southern California, according to a confidential, internal investigation obtained exclusively by The Associated Press…. Read More