N.Y. Fire Department: 7 children die in Brooklyn house fire

N.Y. Fire Department: 7 children die in Brooklyn house fire
Machete-wielding man shot at New Orleans international airport
Obama: Stop 'playing politics' over Lynch
FBI: Autopsy report days away in hanging of Mississippi man
Confronting past, Mississippi town erects Emmett Till museum
U.S. sets first major fracking rules on federal lands
Wisconsin federal judge finds state abortion law unconstitutional
U.S. veterans return to Iwo Jima for 70th anniversary
FBI asks for patience in black man's hanging in Mississippi
Jury convicts grandmother of capital murder in child's death
Guilty verdicts for 2 in Toronto-NYC train terror plot
FDA approves genetically engineered potatoes, apples as safe

Posted: 21 Mar 2015 09:22 AM PDT

The blaze, which tore through the home early Saturday, also left two people in critical condition, authorities said.

Machete-wielding man shot at New Orleans international airport

Posted: 21 Mar 2015 09:31 AM PDT

A 63-year-old man was shot Friday at a security checkpoint in the New Orleans international airport after he cut a guard with a machete and sprayed two others with wasp spray.

Obama: Stop 'playing politics' over Lynch

Posted: 21 Mar 2015 06:11 AM PDT

President Barack Obama called on Republican leaders in Congress to give his nomination for U.S. attorney general, Loretta Lynch, a vote.

FBI: Autopsy report days away in hanging of Mississippi man

Posted: 21 Mar 2015 07:45 AM PDT

PORT GIBSON, Miss. (AP) — The body of a black man found hanging in a tree in Mississippi has been sent from a state crime lab to a funeral home, but the FBI said it will be days before autopsy results are complete. Until then, investigators are holding off on saying whether Otis Byrd was killed or took his own life, and they're urging people to be patient.

Confronting past, Mississippi town erects Emmett Till museum

Posted: 21 Mar 2015 07:10 AM PDT

By Bryn Stole SUMNER, Miss. (Reuters) - Six decades after the brutal slaying of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy, the small Mississippi Delta town where two white men were acquitted of his murder is dedicating a museum to the event credited with helping spark the U.S. civil rights movement. The opening in Sumner on Saturday of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center is timed to coincide with the reopening across the town square of the refurbished Tallahatchie County Courthouse, where an all-white jury set Roy Bryant and J.W. Milan free after deliberating for one hour. Work on both projects in the struggling town of a few hundred people began after the Tallahatchie Board of Supervisors issued a formal apology over the Till affair in 2006. It also established the Emmett Till Memorial Commission to bring attention to a racially charged incident that had for decades gone mostly undiscussed locally, said commission co-chairman John Wilchie.

U.S. sets first major fracking rules on federal lands

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 01:01 PM PDT

$A worker monitors water tanks at a Hess fracking site near Williston$ By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration's new rules governing fracking on federal lands drew swift criticism from all sides on Friday, with green groups calling the measures "toothless" and the energy industry slamming "unnecessary" regulation of a drilling process that has brought the United States to the cusp of oil and gas self-sufficiency. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a controversial technique that involves pumping water, sand and chemicals into a well to extract oil or gas. The new federal rules include beefed-up measures to protect ground water, one of the main health and safety concerns arising from the drilling process. Within minutes of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposal being released, the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and Western Energy Alliance filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Wyoming on grounds that the rulemaking was based on "unsubstantiated concerns" over safety.

Wisconsin federal judge finds state abortion law unconstitutional

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 11:33 PM PDT

(Reuters) - A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled as unconstitutional on Friday a state law requiring any doctor performing an abortion to have privileges to admit patients to a nearby hospital. U.S. District Judge William Conley temporarily blocked the law in August 2013, which requires doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital located within 30 miles (50 km) of his or her practice, shortly after Republican Governor Scott Walker signed it into law. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and Affiliated Medical Services, the state's two abortion providers, challenged the measure in court, saying it could force abortion clinics in Appleton and Milwaukee to close. "The marginal benefit to women's health of requiring hospital admitting privileges, if any, is substantially outweighed by the burden this requirement will have on women's health outcomes due to restricted access to abortions in Wisconsin," Conley wrote.

U.S. veterans return to Iwo Jima for 70th anniversary

Posted: 21 Mar 2015 08:54 AM PDT

IOTO, Japan (AP) — Dozens of aging U.S. veterans, many in their early 90s and some in wheelchairs, gathered on the tiny, barren island of Iwo Jima on Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of one of the bloodiest and most iconic battles of World War II.

FBI asks for patience in black man's hanging in Mississippi

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 04:53 PM PDT

Otis Byrd, a missing 54-year-old black man, was found hanging from a tree near his home.

Jury convicts grandmother of capital murder in child's death

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 07:42 PM PDT

GADSDEN, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama jury convicted a woman of capital murder in the running death of her 9-year-old granddaughter on Friday, rejecting claims that she didn't mean to harm the girl while she was punishing the child for a lie.

Guilty verdicts for 2 in Toronto-NYC train terror plot

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 09:03 PM PDT

TORONTO (AP) — Two men accused of plotting to attack a passenger train travelling from New York to Toronto were found guilty of several terror-related charges and could spend the rest of their lives in prison.

FDA approves genetically engineered potatoes, apples as safe

Posted: 20 Mar 2015 04:27 PM PDT

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Potatoes that won't bruise and apples that won't brown are a step closer to grocery store aisles, but some food suppliers say they don't want any part of it and others are staying silent.