- PoliticsHuffPost
Senators Cancel Confirmation Hearings For Trump's VA Pick
NO Senators have canceled confirmation hearings for Rear Adm. Ronny L. Jackson, the White House doctor and President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, over concerns he lacks any relevant experience for the job. GAME OF PHONES Trump has reportedly dumped security protocol and taken to calling advisers outside the White House on his private cell phone — possibly so chief of staff John Kelly doesn’t know who he’s talking to. RAND REVERSAL CIA Director Mike Pompeo received a favorable endorsement from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to become secretary of state after a late and not entirely unexpected flip-flop from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
- LifestyleYahoo View
Husband of Southwest incident victim speaks out
The husband of the passenger killed in the mid-air engine explosion aboard a Southwest Airlines plane tells NBC News that his late wife was constantly sending inspirational text messages to friends, spreading love and kindness.
- NewsHuffPost
Police Arrest Waffle House Shooting Suspect, Ending Manhunt
Reinking was arrested Monday about a mile and a half from the Waffle House, the Metro Nashville Police Department announced in a tweet, ending a manhunt that began shortly after the shooting early Sunday. Police responded to a tip from a Nashville resident who believed they saw Reinking in a wooded area, wearing a maroon shirt and dark jeans with a backpack.
- NewsAOL.com
13 semi truck drivers line up under bridge to stop man from committing suicide
After successfully blocking off all lanes of traffic on the highway below, Michigan State troopers allowed 13 semi truck drivers through the barricade and instructed them to park their vehicles side by side underneath the overpass. The Michigan State Police took to Twitter later that day to share a photo of their clever maneuver and to urge those who may be experiencing suicidal thoughts to seek help.
- NewsThe Independent
Young mother killed 'after drunk driver speeds down Texas interstate in wrong direction'
A man faces intoxicated manslaughter charges after he allegedly drove the wrong way on an interstate before crashing into several vehicles, leaving a young mother dead. Dramatic cell phone footage of the moments leading up to and after the crash show a dark SUV driving the wrong way on Interstate near Duncanville, Texas, Sunday. The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office told local media that 31-year-old Guillermo Suarez was driving the vehicle before it sideswiped a vehicle, which caused it to spin out of control and hit another car.
- NewsHuffPost
No, A Monkey Can't Copyright His Selfies, Federal Appeals Court Rules
A monkey can’t sue over copyright infringement of his selfies because he’s not human and therefore has no standing to do so, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday. “We must determine whether a monkey may sue humans, corporations, and companies for damages and injunctive relief arising from claims of copyright infringement,” Judge Carlos Bea wrote in the opinion for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case involved a series of heart-melting snaps of Naruto, a grinning crested macaque, in 2011.
- WorldInside Edition
Toronto Van Attack: Suspect ID'd as 25-Year-Old University Student as First Victim Is Named
The first of 10 victims has been identified following a lunch hour van attack on a Toronto sidewalk on Monday. "Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with all those impacted by this tragic event," President Peter Intraligi said in the written statement. In addition to those 10 killed, some 15 people were hospitalized with injuries after cops say suspect Alek Minassian jumped the curb in a white van and plowed through a crowd of people in Toronto's northern suburbs.
- WorldThe National Interest
America Must Come to Terms with Reality in Syria
The joint attack carried out by the United States, United Kingdom and France on April 14 in Syria—targeting three sites related to Assad’s chemical weapons program—was a firm reaction and punishment for Assad’s continued use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians. What singled out this chemical weapons attack from others Assad carried out over the past year was that it was not limited to the use of chlorine. The large number of civilian casualties and the fact that sarin nerve agent was mixed with the chlorine sparked the second military response by the Trump administration—this time together with the United Kingdom and France—with the aim of upholding the well-established international norm against the use of chemical weapons.
NewsAssociated PressThe Latest: Dad says 'incompetency' led to school shooting
A father whose daughter died in the Florida high school massacre said an investigative commission will discover the deaths could have been avoided it weren't for egregious errors made by law enforcement and school officials. Andrew Pollack is one of three victims' fathers appointed to the 16-member commission investigating the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead, including his 18-year-old daughter, Meadow. The commission held its first meeting Tuesday, hearing from a Broward Sheriff's Office detective who laid out the gunman's actions during the shootings.
- PoliticsHuffPost
'Tree Hugger' Donald Trump Gets Mauled On Twitter Over Planting Ceremony
Folks online called out President Donald Trump over his contempt for the environment after he took part in a tree-planting ceremony outside the White House on Monday. Trump joined his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron to symbolically shovel dirt around
- U.S.WTVR - Richmond
Missing Virginia Girl Identified as Toddler Found Dead in Suitcase Along New Jersey Train Tracks
The toddler found dead in a suitcase in New Jersey has been positively identified as two-year-old Te`Myah Plummer from Richmond.
- U.S.Yahoo News Photo Staff
Waffle House shooting in Nashville – Suspect in custody
The mentally unstable gunman suspected of opening fire at a Waffle House restaurant in the middle of the night was arrested not far from his apartment Monday after hiding from police for more than a day following the attack that killed four people, authorities said. Authorities had mounted a massive manhunt for 29-year-old Travis Reinking, after the Sunday morning attacks, in which a gunman clad only in a jacket used an AR-15 rifle to kill four and injure others. Metropolitan Nashville Police announced Monday on Twitter that he was taken into custody not far from his apartment.
- PoliticsHuffPost
Mick Mulvaney Admits He Spoke Only To Lobbyists Who Paid Him
Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s budget director and the acting head of a top consumer watchdog group, raised eyebrows on Tuesday with an anecdote about his time in the House of Representatives. “We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress,” he said at the American Bankers Association conference in Washington, according to The New York Times. “If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you.
- Technologymotor1
BMW Concept iX3 Plugs Into Beijing With 249+ Miles Of Range
BMW is signaling its intentions towards launching a fully electric X3 with the Concept iX3 debuting today on the dawn of the Beijing Motor Show. As for the body itself, BMW decided to go with a Moonstone Silver shade featuring a matte finish while the wheels were designed with aerodynamic efficiency in mind. The iX3 benefits from BMW’s fifth-generation electric drive system and offers 270 horsepower (200 kilowatts).
- NewsHuffPost
Dog Bites Woman On New York Subway After Allegedly Being Pushed
A viral video of a pit bull attacking a woman on a New York City subway has caught the attention of police. According to CBS New York, the situation unfolded Friday afternoon near Wall Street. Witness Tahysi Kyng told the station that the tension escalated when the dog’s owner placed the pet on the seat next to the woman and she objected.
NewsAFPCanadian police seek motive in van attack that killed 10
Canadian police sought a motive Tuesday for a van attack on a bustling downtown Toronto street that left at least 10 pedestrians dead. "The actions definitely looked deliberate," Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders told journalists. "Horrible day in Toronto," he posted earlier on Twitter.
- WorldThe Independent
Syria crisis: Western countries plan to bypass Russia's UN veto over Douma chemical attack
Western countries are reportedly planning to bypass Russia’s veto at the UN security council over Syria by referring concerns about the suspected use of chemical weapons to the UN general assembly. Russia has used its veto 12 times to block UN action targeting the regime of its ally, Bashar al-Assad. In November, it used its veto to block the extension of a UN mechanism to attribute responsibility for chemical weapons attacks.
WorldAssociated PressAssault on woman by Iranian cops sparks headscarves debate
A grainy video of female officers from Iran's morality police assaulting a young woman whose headscarf only loosely covered her hair has sparked a new public debate on the decades-long requirement for women in the Islamic Republic. While officials of all ranks up to President Hassan Rouhani have weighed in on the incident, it has seen women in Iran not only question the rule that they must wear the hijab in the street but also their faith in the theocratic Shiite-dominated nation. "I used to be a person who would always say her prayers and deeply believed in God," said Afrouz, 28, who like other women who spoke to The Associated Press in Tehran would only give their first name for fear of retribution.
- PoliticsHuffPost
Trump Reportedly Uses Private Cell Phone More Often Amid Kelly's Waning Influence
President Donald Trump has reportedly increased his use of a private cell phone to make calls to a stable of friends and advisers outside the White House. CNN cited sources inside the Trump administration who reportedly said the change may reflect growing fractures between the president and his chief of staff, John Kelly. The White House switchboard sends Kelly a log of everyone Trump speaks to, but any calls made on the president’s private line would bypass that system.
BusinessReutersU.S. Supreme Court upholds legality of patent review process
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday gave its stamp of approval to a government review process prized by high technology companies as an easy and cheap way to combat "patent trolls" and others that bring patent infringement lawsuits. The justices ruled 7-2 that a type of in-house patent review at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office does not violate a defendant's right under the U.S. Constitution to have a case adjudicated by a federal court and jury. The court ruled against Oil States International Inc , a Houston-based oilfield services company that had challenged the legality of the process, called inter partes review (IPR).
- WorldThe National Interest
China Is Building Another Aircraft Carrier (and It Could Be a Game Changer)
The planned carrier is bigger and features aircraft launch pads—some of which could be powered by electromagnetic motors. Despite having similar steam turbo engines, the new carrier will do away with the curled-up bow as aircraft will be catapulted from launch pads, although it remains to be seen if the novel electromagnetic system which the Chinese military has been testing for years will be put into use on the carrier. While China is readying its first home-built aircraft carrier – now doing sea trials in the Bohai Sea – for delivery to the navy by the end of the year, preparations are also underway to build a second carrier in Shanghai.
- LifestyleHuffPost
12 Questions People In Polyamorous Relationships Are Sick Of Hearing
People who practice polyamory understand the world’s curiosity: Loving more than one person at one time isn’t entirely conventional. Below, polyamorous men and women share 12 questions they get asked all too often. “More than any other question, this one makes laugh because polyamory is actually the opposite of cheating.
- NewsAssociated Press
Anger spreads across Puerto Rico over lack of basic services
Puerto Rico's Senate has ordered government agencies to explain why tens of thousands of people in rural areas remain without power or appropriate shelter as anger grows about the lack of basic services more than seven months after hurricanes Irma and Maria. The agencies have been given five days to present a plan on how and when they will address the needs of rural towns, an order that came as police in a small mountain town blocked power crews from leaving Tuesday. Joining the protest was the mayor and dozens of people who noted that nearly 40 percent of Las Piedras' inhabitants were still without electricity service as crews prepared to leave for another town on company orders.
- ScienceHuffPost
Uranus Is Actually A Giant Ball Of Farts Floating In Space, Study Finds
“If an unfortunate human were ever to descend through Uranus’s clouds, they would be met with very unpleasant and odiferous conditions,” Patrick Irwin from the University of Oxford, one of the study’s authors, said in a news release. “Now, thanks to improved hydrogen sulfide absorption-line data and the wonderful Gemini spectra, we have the fingerprint which caught the culprit,” said Irwin.
- NewsHuffPost
Saraland Police Stand By Controversial Arrest Of Woman At Waffle House
Police in Saraland, Alabama, said a disturbance at a Waffle House there very early Sunday morning that led to a viral video had nothing to do with the cost of plastic utensils and everything to do with the alcoholic beverage the guests brought in with them. When the group of three were asked to leave by restaurant staff for bringing in the outside beverage, two complied, but 25-year-old Chikesia Clemons did not, police said at a press conference Monday afternoon. Instead of leaving, Clemons approached workers behind the counter.
