Ry Guy's News!

Three people, including a gunman, have been killed and at least two others wounded in a shooting at a shopping centre in Missouri, US police say.

Kansas City police said a man, whom they did not immediately identify, pulled into a car park outside the mall that was filled with "hundreds and hundreds" of shoppers and immediately fatally shot two people who were parked on each side of him.

The gunman went into the mall and wounded at least two other people, according to Sergeant Tony Sanders.

The assailant was later found dead, but it was not immediately clear if he was shot by police.

Police are also investigating whether an earlier killing at a house not far away from the centre and also a shooting in which a policeman was injured involved the gunman.

The gunman's identity was not immediately released.

Posted by Ryan Zickermann at 10:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards says he is embarrassed about his much-discussed $400 haircut.

Campaign records show the Edwards campaign paid a Beverly Hills stylist $400 to cut the candidate's hair. Edwards said the high-dollar cuts were a simple product of being on the run and ordering up services at the drop of a hat.

"I knew it would be expensive. I didn't know it would be that expensive to have him come over," Edwards told The Associated Press in an interview Friday. "The cost was ridiculous."

The cost of Edwards' haircuts has taken attention away from his plans for revitalizing rural America, which he hoped would dominate his latest campaign swing through Iowa.

Posted by Ryan Zickermann at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The improper use of a cutting torch ignited an underground methane gas explosion in Harlan, Kentucky that killed five coal miners last year, and the mine operator was fined $336,000 for the violations, federal investigators said late Thursday.

MSHA found that the 5 men died in a rogue operation, where basic safety standards and practices were ignored.

Kentucky Darby Mine No. 1 violated six safety and health laws, including the torch and flawed construction of the safety barrier that caused the blast at Darby Mine No. 1, according to the report.

The agency also found 37 other violations not directly related to the explosion.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration met with the miners' family members to discuss their investigation of the deadly blast before their report was released to the public.

Posted by Ryan Zickermann at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A high school club, in Miami, that promotes tolerance of gays must be allowed to meet while a lawsuit is pending, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore ruled Friday.

Okeechobee High School must grant the same privileges to the Gay Straight Alliance that it grants other clubs, as mandated by the federal Equal Access Act.

In his ruling, Moore said the school showed no evidence to back its concern that the group would encourage students to share "obscene or sexual explicit material," and that the school had made that assumption based on the group's name.

School Board Chairman Joe Arnold said board members would discuss their options with their attorney before deciding whether to appeal. The board lawyer, David Gibbs of Largo, could not be reached for comment.

Posted by Ryan Zickermann at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A star circus clown got his custom-made mini-bike back Sunday, a few days after it went missing on a Manhattan street.

Bello Nock, the daredevil clown and star of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus thanked Ricky Robinson, who found Bello's shiny foot-high, 6-inch-wide contraption Friday night.

Robinson found the "bitty bike" outside a restaurant Friday night on Manhattan's west side, not far from Madison Square Garden, where the circus is performing. After reading about it in the newspaper, he brought the bike to the circus Sunday morning.

"Give me a hug. I need my bike. That is my bike. Thank you, buddy," Nock said to Robinson, who did not know how the bike got to where he found it.

In exchange for returning the bike, Robinson, 54, will receive a $1,000 reward, a new bicycle donated by Toys R Us, and free tickets to Knicks games and the circus show named for Bello, "Bellobration."

Posted by Ryan Zickermann at 9:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A 19-year-old Texas A&M University student was killed by her ex-boyfriend, who then dismembered and burned her body on a patio grill, authorities said Saturday.

Investigators say Timothy Wayne Shepherd, 27, confessed Wednesday to strangling Tynesha Stewart because he was angry she had begun a new relationship.

Officials first thought Shepherd had disposed of the body in a large commercial trash bin that had since been emptied, launching a heated debate over whether the Sheriff's Department should conduct a massive and expensive search of area landfills for Stewart's remains.

"I just don't know what to think about it," said Louis Evans, whose balcony faces Shepherd's enclave in northern Houston. "I thought he was a nice normal person. I guess you never know what your neighbors are doing."

Shepherd, who is charged with murder, is being held on $250,000 bond.

Thomas, the sheriff, said Stewart's family had requested privacy and would not respond to media inquiries.

Posted by Ryan Zickermann at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The top two Democratic presidential contenders fought Sunday for the support of African-American voters in Selma, Alabama.

Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama spoke at churches on the 42nd anniversary of the 1965 Selma voting rights march.

Obama won a standing ovation as he paid homage to the "giants" who led the civil rights movement and called for a younger generation to carry on the cause.

Clinton earned a similarly enthusiastic reception at the First Baptist Church nearby.

After their speeches, Obama and Clinton greeted each other at a rally re-enacting part of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Posted by Ryan Zickermann at 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Virginia General Assembly voted unanimously Saturday to express "profound regret" for the state's role in slavery.

Richmond is the former Confederate Capitol and was a center of the slave-trade.

The resolution passed the House 96-0 and cleared the 40-member Senate on a unanimous voice vote. It does not require Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's approval.

The resolution does not carry the weight of law but sends an important symbolic message, supporters said.

Posted by Ryan Zickermann at 7:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A New York man’s body was discovered, more than a year later, in his home after a complaint about a burst water pipe.

The mummified body of Vincenzo Ricardo, 70, was found in front of the TV set, which was still on. The Suffolk County medical examiner said Ricardo appeared to have died of natural causes.

Officials could not explain why the electricity had not been turned off, considering Ricardo had not been heard from since December 2005.

Posted by Ryan Zickermann at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Harvard University announced on Sunday the 28th president to be historian Drew Gilpin Faust. Faust is the first woman to be president at the 371-year-old university.

Faust was chosen after many potential candidates said they were not interested in the position.

Faust is the first president who did not receive an undergraduate or graduate degree from the university since 1672. Faust is also the fifth consecutive president who is not a scientist.

Posted by Ryan Zickermann at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

E. Howard Hunt, 88, died on Tuesday of pneumonia at his home in Miami. Hunt was best known for his involvement with the Watergate break-in.

"I will always be called a Watergate burglar, even though I was never in the damn place," Hunt said.

Hunt a former World War II solider, CIA officer, and author was survived by six children.

Posted by Ryan Zickermann at 2:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)