Recently in National News Category

Hazing gone wrong ends in death at FAMU

| No Comments

The drum major of Florida A&M University died after an alleged hazing went wrong on a bus ride home from a losing game in Orlando.

Robert Champion, 26, lay on the floor of the bus, not breathing, as students called 911 ABC reported.

The caller who made the 911 call never revealed why the drum major was so badly hurt. Police are staying silent also.

But, ABC reported that the University president has dismissed four students from FAMU, and 30 students were dismissed from the marching band.

Police are also investigating the hazing of an 18-year-old clarinet player in the FAMU marching band, who came home a month ago barely able to use her legs.

According to ABC, the band director, Julian White, has been fired and Florida's governor is pushing for more strict rules.

Cain suspends presidential campaign

| No Comments

Herman Cain suspended his presidential campaign today after allegations of a long-term affair and sexual harassment were brought down on him.

Cain's wife, Gloria, stood by and cheered him on, as he proclaimed his suspension in front of his brand new campaign headquarters in Atlanta that will now never be used, ABC reported.

"I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distraction, the continued hurt caused on me and my family," Cain said on ABC.

In his announcement, ABC reported that Cain repeatedly mentioned the "false and unproved accusations" that were "spinned in the media" and how that spin has hurt his family.

But, Cain ended his announcement by saying, "I am at peace with my God. I am peace with my wife, and she is at peace with me."

Two University of California, Davis police officers are placed on administrative leave until further investigation after a dispassionate use of pepper spray Friday afternoon.

According to The Guardian, Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi has taken full responsibility for the episode, in which a university police officer fired pepper spray on a line of sitting demonstrators as bystanders scream at the officer to stop.

The New York Times reported that video of the incident spread virally across social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

According to The New York Times, Katehi, said Sunday that she is insisting the investigation is completed in 30 days, when, a day earlier, she said it would take at least 90 days. The university's faculty association asked Katehi to resign due to a "gross failure of leadership," according to The Guardian.

However, a law enforcement official said the use of force is standard police procedure in protests, especially because videos show active resistance from protestors, The Guardian reported.

The use of pepper spray came after students set up tents on campus in support for the Occupy movement and in solidarity with protests at the University of California, Berkeley, the New York Times reported.

Ten people at the protest were arrested, cited and released on misdemeanor charges of unlawful assembly and failure to disperse. Nine students hit by pepper spray were treated at the scene and two were taken to local hospitals, university officials said in The Guardian.

Unusual winter fire in Reno blazes

| No Comments

A fire in southwest Reno, Nev. Friday blazed through more than 400 acres, destroyed 25 homes, killed at least one person and injured several more as the violent winds spread the blaze.

The Washington Post story starts out with Kristina Wright, a woman who lives on the edge of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, sleeping in front of the TV in her home. She awoke to flames, not to snow, as the weatherman predicted.

The fire likely started in Caughlin Ranch, a neighborhood bordering forest-covered hills, after 12:30 a.m. The cause of the fire is still unknown, but a downed power line or a homeless encampment in the area is a probable cause the Post reported.

The violent winds, in excess of 70 mph, likely carried embers up to a mile away from the source, as the police went door-to-door, urging residents to evacuate in the middle of the night.

According to the Post, at least 400 firefighters from a 260 mile radius came to Reno early Friday to help contain the flames.

7 men charged in a massive internet scam

| No Comments

Seven men in Eastern Europe that hijacked millions of computers by redirecting users to ads that the men profited from, were charged Wednesday by U.S. authorities.

According to the Chicago Tribune, since 2007, about 4 million computers in 100 countries were infected with software that swapped online ads with ones the defendants profited from.

The Internet ad scam generated $14 million for the men involved based on the amount of clicks each ad received, the New York Times reported.

According to the Times, the scam was found after 100 computers that belonged to NASA were found with the malicious software through infected Web sites.

Six of the Estonian defendants are in police custody, while the seventh person, a citizen of Russian, the Tribune reports, remains at large.

The Tribune reported that the criminals face five charges with a maximum 30-year prison sentence, and one of the defendants faces an additional 22 money laundering counts.

Dorothy Rodham, Hilary Clinton's mother, died

| No Comments

Dorothy Rodham, mother to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and one of the most accomplished women in American government, died at age 92 after suffering from a heart condition according to the Washington Post.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Dorothy Howell Rodham was born in 1919, the oldest daughter of a Chicago firefighter. When she was 8, her parents divorced and her and her sister, Isabelle, moved to California to live with their grandparents, who were strict authoritarians.

Rodham moved out of her grandparent's home at age 14 and worked as a housekeeper while finishing high school. She returned to Chicago after graduation hoping to reconcile with her parents, but, after being denied, worked in an office to support herself reported the Tribune.

She married Hugh E. Rodham, a traveling salesman, in 1942 and had one daughter and two sons, Hugh and Tony, years later reports the Post.

According to the Post, Rodham was a homemaker that stood by her three children and conservative Republican husband no matter what. Though she rarely gave interviews about her daughter and son-in-law, former president Bill Clinton, she followed them to Arkansas after Bill became governor, then to Washington after Bill became president, then, finally to New York after Hillary became senator.

"I owe it to my mother, who never got a chance to go to college, who had a very difficult childhood," Hillary said in a 2008 debate according to the Tribune. "But who gave me a belief that I could do whatever I set my mind."

Catholics plan for a revised mass

| No Comments

Western Catholics are preparing for the largest translation to their mass texts starting Nov. 27, the first Sunday of the season of Advent USA Today reports.

The idea is to unify the more than 1 billion Catholics worldwide, so every prayer in the Mass is undergoing some renovation to revive the original Latin version. This is the biggest change since the 1960s reports the Star Tribune.

According to USA today, many oppose the changes as it restricts variety in the interpretation of the texts, as much of the debate is over whether the changes ordered by the Vatican are good or bad.

Advocates think the new sacred vernacular is not only a more exact reflection of the original Latin, USA today reports, but is also more poetic and humble in references and allusions to the Bible.

The Star Tribune reports that modern and younger Catholics say the new translation is awkward, less conversational and can potentially distance people from the church
"We have to keep in mind these are prayer texts being used by priests at a mass," Erie, Pa., Bishop Donald Trautman said in the Star Tribune. "People should be able to understand them when they are heard."

Obama announces plan that eases student loan debt

| No Comments

President Obama announced his plan Wednesday at the University of Colorado Denver that will initiate two changes to the federal student loan program and affect up to 1.6 million borrowers according to the Star Tribune.

Though nothing is changing with any private loans, an estimated 5.8 million borrowers of different kinds of federal loans will be able to consolidate them into one loan and reduce their interest rates by up to .5 percent under the new plan starting in January according to The New York Times.

The plan, titled "Know Before You Owe," allows college graduates to limit federal student loan payments at 10 percent of discretionary income and all remaining debt would be forgiven after 20 years, the Star Tribune reports, which is 5 years sooner than the current law states.

Obama, using his power of executive authority, has bypassed Congress to jump-start 3 initiatives that don't require congressional approval to provide mortgage relief, reduce student loan coasts and help employ military veterans the Star Tribune reported.

"You do your job, it's time for them to do their job," Obama said in the Star Tribune. "We don't sit around and wait for things to happen. We're Americans."

About this Archive

This page is an archive of recent entries in the National News category.

Local News is the previous category.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.